Ambassador Louis Cartier St Croix stood on the balcony at the Monaco residency and looked down across the ocean, wondering how he had managed to do this for so long and his thoughts went back to his family.

His wife Lenore was downstairs, getting ready to go down to Monte Carlo for the evening and watch the ballet. Lenore was much younger than he was and he had met her when she was working as an intern on his senate campaign. They had become close and fallen in love, but there was too much pressure, politically. He wasn't as young as she was and that was not good, considering that she was black and he was white. It was too much for people to accept and he had been cut off by the party, and shipped to Algeria as the US Ambassador.

He didn't care, because no matter what happened he was with the woman he loved, and they started to raise a family, and now he had four amazing children. Monet was four years old, Marius three and the twins Nicole and Claudette were a little over a year old, and it had not been long since they had relocated to Monaco, a much better place to raise the children.

"A penny for them?" said Lenore as she approached her husband and he looked at her.

"I was just thinking I must have done something incredible to gain you and the children."

"Your tie is crooked," she said as she fixed it for him and he kissed her on the forehead.

"Thank you, dearest," he said and he slipped his hand in to hers and they looked over the city below.

"Gayle's here and she will keep an eye on the children for us," she said.

"We can enjoy our evening, then," he said. "Let us go say goodbye to the children and then we will be off."

"Yes," she said and they headed off to let the children know they were going out, but Lenore was not interested in that, as she knew what was happening and she turned as the voice in the darkness echoed to her.

"You will not save them, any of them. That is the price you must pay."

"Do not be so sure," Lenore said, ignoring the voice and looking at Nicole and Claudette. She had expected the signs to come from Monet first, perhaps even Marius, but not the youngest, not them. All these years she had kept a secret from them, from her husband, from everyone she knew and now it was coming back to haunt her. She knew that they knew what was going to happen this night. "I will save you," she said. "All of you."

The car went down the mountainside and was travelling along the road. Their driver had become ill very suddenly, he had felt weak and been very pale and so St Croix said he would drive down to the ballet himself and Lenore agreed it was acceptable and leaving the children in the capable hands of Colonel Gayle Cord-Becker and headed off to the event, but as soon as they got halfway down the mountain, St Croix realised that something was wrong and the car was no longer handling very well.

"Hang on," he said to his wife as he tried valiantly to regain control of the vehicle but it was out of his control and the car careered off the side of the road and headed down the rocky mountainside as he tried to avoid the trees and rocks on the way down and eventually the car rolled and thudded and came to a halt at the bottom of the hill. Bloodied, bruised he managed to get the door open and he looked at his wife who was leaning to one side and he realised she hadn't been wearing her seatbelt.

"Lenore?" he said. "Lenore!" He staggered over to the passenger side and looked at her and gasped. She too had a mutant gift and half her body was encased in some kind of black crystal. "Honey?"

"Didn't know," she was saying deliriously. "Thought..."

"Don't try to talk," he said as he heard the sound of sirens. Someone at the mansion must have seen the accident and called for emergency aid and he cradled his wife in his arms. "You're going to be okay," he said. "I'm here."

"The children are safe," she said.

"They're back at the mansion," he said. "They weren't here, they didn't want to come."

"Ambassador!" said one of the paramedics as they came over. "Ambassador, are you..." The voice died as the man saw Lenore.

"I'm fine," he said, not realising. "It's my wife..."

"I..." said the paramedic, his eyes fixed on the black crystal. "I... don't know how to treat that..."

"Don't be a fool, it's a mutation, not an injury you can't treat..." His colleague too was shying away from them. "HELP HER DAMN YOU!"

"It's over," Lenore, said softly. "This is how it was meant to be..." She closed her eyes and a slight gasp escaped her lips and she went limp in his arms.

"Lenore?" he said. "Sweetheart?" There was no response. "No..." Tears started to pour down his face as his wife's body lay in his arms.

"Mama!" wailed Nicole.

"Momma," said Marius, in horror. "She's gone. I felt her go in my head."

"I did too," said Monet. "I don't how, but I felt her." She looked at Claudette who was crying. She was the youngest of the twins be half an hour, and she knew that what had caused her the pain was the fault of her and her sister, but she didn't quite understand. The attempt by a child too young to comprehend what was going on was too much for her and inside her head something switched off and she escaped the pain, heading to her own private place.

There she was safe, there she would be fine and nothing would happen to them anymore.

"Ambassador, my name is Charles Xavier."

"I know of you. You've written many books on the mutant condition. Are you looking for a new subject to study, sir? Perhaps a thesis on why my wife was not treated?"

"No, Ambassador," the man in the wheelchair said. "On the contrary, I have come to speak with you to see if we can prevent such a tragedy from occurring ever again."

"I don't understand," St Croix said.

"I know of your children, I know of their gifts," Xavier continued. "I know because I am not just an expert in genetics." He continued speaking but this time his voice entered the mind of St Croix. ~I am a mutant myself~

"Incredible," said St Croix.

"Perhaps," Xavier said. "I have come to speak with you as you have been most vocal about mutants, their rights, and the way they are treated and shunned by some people."

"You want me to stop?"

"Not at all," Xavier said. "I want you to become part of my Underground."

"The Underground? What is that?"

"The Mutant Underground Support Engine, or MUSE. A secret organisation made up of mutants and normal humans working towards the goal of living in peace, of ensuring that the world is safe and that the kind of situation that occurred with your wife does not occur with anyone else."

"Why underground? Are you ashamed of what you are, what you are doing?"

"Quite the reverse," said Xavier. "My goal is to ensure the vision becomes a reality, but as you will be aware, there are many who do not share that opinion, there are those who call mutants freaks, would have them locked away and those who support them would be in as great a danger if not worse, as they do not have the gifts to defend themselves from harm. I cannot in good conscience allow good people to be attacked, sullied."

"And if they were all taken care of there would be no support."

"That has also been pointed out to me," said Xavier. "The underground will provide the ways and means to make sure we all achieve what we want."

"And who is he?" St Croix looked over at the tall man standing there. "Another mutant?"

Xavier smiled. "Think of him as a connection from the Underground to myself, a cable, if you will."

"And who is this cable?"

"He is a man who has provided an insight in to certain areas and provided me with technical expertise in some of the computer and technological systems I have set up."

"I see," said St Croix. "I must consider this."

"I understand," said Xavier, looking up and seeing the young girl looking down at them. "More than you know."

Many years later, Monet and Marius started to develop powers, mutant abilities and St Croix knew they had inherited the x-factor gene from their mother. He had done what he could for Xavier and the Mutant Underground, using his influence and connections to introduce Xavier to many people, similar to himself. His own vocalisation for mutant rights had not gone unnoticed, but perhaps unheeded and he had watched from afar in horror and trepidation as he saw what was going on at home.

He had watched Xavier become bolder in his actions, ensuring that he had people in place to do what they could for the mutant movement via his X-Men and though he could not condone the violence that accompanied what they did, he knew that a dream worth having was a dream worth fighting for. That was what America had been built on, the dreams of freedom, the dreams of independence. It was not Xavier's idealism that St Croix admired, but the dedication to the ideals, that he had gone to so much trouble, so much sacrifice to do what he thought was the best thing to do, the right thing to do.

Monet's powers were impressive in their own right. She had superhuman strength, incredible speed, agility and reflexes to go with, endurance, a limited invulnerability but also a heightened rate of healing, and enhanced senses that included a vast intelligence. And she could also fly. He could see what people could fear when he saw what she was capable of, but it was fear of the unknown and yet there was more unknown than known. However with her powers at one end, there was Marius at the other.

Where Monet was vast, Marius was focused. His ability was perception, the ability to see reality at a new level. He could identify auras, he could divine what the auras held, the memories, the focus of their mind, the abilities contained within them, but Marius was afraid of his powers. He could also see mutants and they were like flashes of colour in a world of grey, and he had spoken with his father about what he saw, what he could do. St Croix had told his son what he believed, that he was a good person and that it was the intent not the powers that defined him. Marius had accepted it but he did not truly accept and that broke his heart, to see his son suffer so.

He looked at the twins and he knew one day that he would have another two mutants in his family and he wished their mother was alive to see this, to see what she had given the world, the next generation of humankind, the beginning of those who would inherit the world, and that was how it should be. What was needed was the training, the belief in themselves that they had been given these powers to make the world a better place. If he had done nothing else, he had tried to ensure that the children had been taught that and as he watched them sleep he truly hoped that was the case.

"Father has left for the airport," Monet said to the twins, who had by now developed powers of their own. "He will be in America soon enough."

"I hope he brings us presents when he returns," Nicole said. Claudette was in her own special place, but Monet knew she was aware. It was similar to what the doctors called autism due to her inability to respond to stimuli, something that happened when she was upset or under a strain of some kind. She missed her father and it had triggered a retreat.

"Nicole," said Monet, shaking her head. "Be grateful for what we have. There are many who are not as comfortable as we are." Nicole nodded, but Monet knew she was not listening to her. She liked the comfort that material possessions gave her, because with her telepathic powers she knew how people reacted to them and she liked that even more.

"Monet!" said Marius, pale and in a sweat as he entered the room. "Something is wrong, I can feel it..."

"You're imagining things," she said and then she stopped, her enhanced senses picking something up. She had not noticed it until now, but Marius' abilities were able to pick up things before she did with either her senses or psionic talents. "No, you're right. There's a presence here, but I can't quite find it..."

"I can't sense it either," said Marius. "It's not happened before."

"I can see it," said Claudette, surprising them all by her soft response. "It does not fully exist in this dimension..." Her power was to open dimensional portals, powering them with psionic energy and in doing so she could also perceive the immediacy of those dimensions around her. Monet had surmised that when she was in her own little world, she may have been in one of those dimensions, observing that world.

"I see it now," said Monet, linking her mind with her sister and seeing through her eyes, and linking the others as well.

"Clever children," a voice said and a figure appeared before them. "Your mother would be proud..."

"I see you now," said Marius. "You killed our mother, Platus!"

"She killed herself, child," Platus said. "She killed herself so that her children would be safe and for a time you were, but that time has passed and I have returned to claim what is rightfully mine."

"You will never claim us for your own, incubus," said Monet, seeing what Marius saw. Platus was a creature from another realm, a creature that had been summoned by witchcraft and sorcery and their mother and her friends had called on one to find out what a demon lover was like, thinking it would bring them wealth and power but they had made a mistake and they had brought forth a creature they could not control and the demon had taken them as his lovers, feasting on their passion and their flesh as he took them, ensuring they were his and his alone but in doing so he had killed the women, all except Lenore.

She had somehow transformed in to a black crystal form and it had protected her from the completion of his assault and healed the injuries he had caused her by being fully in her presence. He had come to her many times over the years, and when she had married her husband Platus had used his body to get to her and finally take her. That was the truth, that the children were the prodigy of Lenore, Louis and Platus, three beings creating one child, a new demon but because they were only a third of the demon they were not true incubi or succubi. That was why Marius had always known there was a darkness within him, it was because there was.

"I already have you," said Platus. "Your mother's death destroyed my physical form as I was about to claim you but now I am whole once more. My children..." He looked upon them and they found they could not move, that they were held in place by the demonic powers Platus possessed. "Monet, first of my daughters, heir to the world itself, you were born to rule. Can you not feel the need to touch, the need to be with others to take them and make them in to your own?"

"No," she said. "I know better, I know my humanity. I know the difference between good and evil."

"Good and evil are concepts made to make you feel better, for in truth there is only creation and death and if you are not with me, then I will feast upon you. The strong survive..."

"Leave her alone!" Marius shouted. "You will have to kill me before you get to her."

"Marius," Platus said. "I do not need to kill you. You can feel the need to feast. You sense those who will sustain you, those who can and will be the best to breed from. You shy from your powers, your true nature. Nicole embraces it, Nicole knows the pleasure but her youth and naivety do not tell her what she can gain from them. As she grows older her sexuality will assert itself and she will create scions of incubi and succubi. Come to me, my daughter..." He held out his hand and Nicole began to walk towards the demon, willingly knowing her father spoke the truth and it was what she wanted.

"NO!" shouted Claudette and her powers created a flash, breaking the hold that froze the three remaining siblings and Monet leapt at Platus, knowing she was the only one of them who could defeat the demon and she fought, using everything she had to strike at him, but Platus was a demon of experience and she was just a young girl with no training and she was easily beaten back by the creature, but it was the distraction that was needed so that the other two could work on Nicole, who hissed and scratched at her brother and sister as they tried to hold her back.

"Come back to us," Claudette pleaded. "Come back to me." Nicole could sense the meaning in her twin's word and she saw that there was nothing of the demon's persona within her, for she had that within herself and that it had been divided between them when they had been in their mother's womb and she knew the truth, that she needed Claudette as Claudette needed her. They were two parts of a whole person and that neither would be complete without the other.

"Claudette," she whispered as she returned to her senses and the sisters embraced. "I do not know how I can fight the hunger..."

"We will find a way," she said and Marius noted that Monet was badly injured and incapable of resisting while the demon fed upon her. Platus was going to kill her if he did not do something, but what? He focused his powers on the demon and he knew what he had to do, he knew the cost but he knew it would save Monet, it would save Nicole, it would save Claudette. This was what their mother would have done and he jumped at Platus, shoving him off his sister.

"I feed on you!" he cried and he placed his hands upon the demon, forcing the demonic power within him to come forth and he could feel the darkness within him growing, changing as he fed upon the creature was his father. But Platus was not done and he would not die that and he grabbed Marius, feeding on him at the same time.

Only one thought was in their heads, only one of them would survive and as the devouring forces met each other there was a break in the role because Marius was not a full incubus, and the two thirds of humanity was something that became a wildcard and it was not the procreation that the demonic power would normally generate and there was an explosion and when the dust settled neither Platus or Marius was there. A new creature existed and Nicole looked at the creature and could sense that he was half their brother and half their father, a gestalt of them both, neither human nor incubus, but somewhere in-between.

Then there was Monet and for all her powers, her wounds were too much. Platus had defeated her and he had feasted on her. "She's dying," she whispered.

"Look," Claudette said and Nicole could see that Monet's body was changing, altering and becoming a crystalline form.

"Like Mother," she said. "She'll survive..."

"But you will not," a voice hissed, a distorted version of their brother. "I hunger..." The creature reached towards them, two openings on it's palms, opening's with teeth and Claudette screamed, seeing what her brother had become, retreating in to her mind once again and Nicole pushed her out of the way.

"Fight it, Marius," she said.

"Marius is dead, I am Emplate and I need to feast..." Nicole scrambled back out of his reach but stumbled and fell and Emplate reached down towards her, only to be met by Monet, now similar in shape to humanoid ruby. She grabbed the thing that had once been her brother, but his hands locked on to her and he began to feast on her as he had intended to feast on Nicole and his body started to become crystalline in form. With Claudette in her own world, she couldn't get rid of him so what were they to do?

"HELP!" she shouted and a portal opened, sucking Emplate and Monet in to it and it closed as quickly as it opened, and they were gone. In their place a little man with grey, wiry hair sat there. "Who are you?" she asked, but she got no answer, so she reached in to his mind and saw what was in there, the way of the world, the Path, the balance, the psionic power and she knew that there would be a need for the world. Monet had a role to play, but now she was gone and this man, who thought of himself only as Gateway, had the solution.

"Is this the only way?" she said, but Gateway did not reply and Nicole looked at her sister. She went over to her and placed her hands upon Claudette, and initiated the feed, at the same time using her psionic power to make Claudette feed upon her and as it had happened with Marius and Platus it began to happen to them but Nicole, guided by Gateway, controlled what was going on and when the dust settled they were gone and Monet was in their place, or a Monet that was as close to the original as possible and then the door opened as people rushed in to see what had happened...

"How do you know what happened after you left?" said Magma, as Monet told them the story of what had happened and how it had happened. The reversal process had worked and Penance was gone, with only the real Monet remaining.

"There are precious few things I don't know," said Monet, looking at Allison and then she looked at Jubilee. "And I remember so much. You were my friend."

"I still am," said Jubilee, wondering how much Gateway had been influencing them all. Emma Frost simply looked on. So much had been inside Penance, so much she had been unable to discover, yet Xavier... damn the man, she thought.

"I like this team better and better," said Radius. "There's more chicks than anything else."

"Don't get any ideas, Canuck," said Magma. "Nobody's that interested."

"Give it time," said Jared. "Welcome to the X-Men, Monet."

"Who says I want to be an X-Man?" Monet said. "I'm grateful for what you've done but..."

"You've a destiny, Monet," said Cyclops. "Heir to the world itself, you were born to rule, according to the demon. I say you were born to lead, to guide humanity and mutantkind alike from the place we're in. Each and every one of us here has the capacity to bring forth a new age, to ensure that we all survive. We're better doing it together than doing it alone."

"We need your help," said Jubilee. "There's so much to catch up on." Monet nodded and then looked across, staring Emma in the eye.

"What about you?" she said. "What do you think, Miss Frost?" Emma took a deep breath but before she could answer Cerebro interrupted.

"Cyclops, there's something going down, something major league..."

TO BE CONTINUED IN X-MEN: SON RISE!