[[c.f: Preparing from the Resistance (via Hiatus) ]]

Sam’s body arced through the sky with all the grace a human rocket could exhibit, the lower half of his body bathed in yellow flame from the chemical reaction of his powers and air whilst the exhaust smoke trailed away behind him. His powers forbade him the elegance of a flyer like Angel, whose wings beat and rode upon the thermals and currents of air as by rights Sam shouldn’t even have been able to fly, but for one prolonged explosion thrusting him onwards and upwards to his destination. It was the same place as it had been since his late teens after all and now the Xavier Mansion was like a second home to him, just like it was for all the other X-Men.

Second homes were all well and good, but there was still only one true home for him and that was back in Caldecott County, Kentucky, and it was from where he’d just left. Call it a holiday a timeout or a vacation, it all came to the same thing – The events of the past few weeks had taken such a toll on him both physically and mentally that a couple of days in the relative ‘tranquillity’ of being surrounded by his younger siblings and under the care of his Mother was just the thing he needed to clear the cobwebs out. It was the Alcatraz mission that had been the final straw for him, as even though the Shi’ar tech had healed up the holes in his hand and foot, it was the failure to rescue Cable – or even find any sign of him – plus being attacked and wounded by ‘another’ in pseudo-Magneto that had left him feeling at such a low ebb.

And when things got that bad, sometimes a guy just needed his momma and as the most prolific ‘producer’ of mutant children to common knowledge, Lucinda Guthrie had advice and experience to dish out by the bucket load… regardless of how much her brood wanted to hear it, but for a change, Sam was willing and receptive to just soak it all up. The change in perspective help as she was able to get her eldest to look at his problems from another angle and deal with the things he could affect rather than just rolling with the punches and wallowing in self-pity. Of course, there was another matter to discuss as one of his youngest brothers had run away to join up with the school in direct defiance to Lucinda’s wishes and Sam received the sharp end of Lucinda’s tongue for leaving him behind at the school and not flying him back the second he turned up at the door.

To make matters worse, his brief trip home coincided with the rise of Apocalypse and although Kentucky was a long way from the epicentre of the crisis, the burning red sky overhead affected them the same as everywhere else, but once the sky cleared the rested and recuperated Sam could make the return journey… but as the Mansion came into view for the first time, the vista that greeted Cannonball from behind his flying goggles revealed that the Mansion had suffered a lot worse since he’d left than he’d imagined.

”What in the world?”

Sam slowed his descent to land on both feet with a skid in what used to be the front lawn, but from his perspective, the Mansion was a sight to behold as the front porch way and the first few rooms were little more than wreckage. There had been casualties that affected one of his closest friends, but Sam had only one concern on his mind.

”Oh, god…. JEB!”

And with a burst of flame, Cannonball launched himself into what was left of the mansion.

[[TBC: Library -> Comfortably Numb]]