The Golden Condor Reborn

   Written by Mathew Bailey

A multiple crossover of “Beauty & the Beast,” “The Mysterious Cities of Gold” Nickelodeon animated series, “X-Men” and “Ghostbusters”

Synopsis:

After issues of having the Golden Condor limited to only solar-powered flight, the Children of the Sun, along with Catherine, and with the help of the X-Men and the Ghostbusters, eventually have the ship flying both without and with solar power.

List of characters: 

From ‘Beauty & the Beast:”

Ron Perlman (as himself)

Vincent 

Catherine Chandler

Mouse

Jacob Wells-Chandler

Jennifer Wells-Chandler

Father/Jacob Wells Sr.

Elliott Burch

From “Mysterious Cities of Gold:”

Esteban

Zia 

Tao

From “X-Men” (with X-Men names in parentheses unless otherwise noted), including other Marvel characters:

Charles Xavier (Professor X)

Jean Grey Summers (Jean Grey)

Logan (Wolverine)

Ororo Munroe (Storm)

Rogue

Henry "Hank" McCoy (Beast)

Forge

Callisto

From “Ghostbusters:”

Egon Spengler

Winston Zeddemore

Peter Venkman

Raymond "Ray" Stantz

Louis Tully

Janine Melnitz

Slimer (from “The Real Ghostbusters”) 

Chapter 1

April 11,2013,11:30 a.m.,Ghostbusters Central.

"Hello, Ghostbusters. Janine Melnitz here," she answered.

"Janine," Catherine said. "Have Ray and the others returned yet?" she asked.

Janine stared toward the entrance in time to see the red and white 1959 Cadillac station wagon named Ecto 1 stop in front of the entrance. "They just arrived, Miss Chandler," Janine said. 

"Great. I need to discuss some private matters with them," Catherine said.

The left side doors of the vehicle opened and out stepped two men, one with glasses, his uniform bearing the name "SPENGLER," and the other, a brown-skinned, black-haired man whose uniform bore the name "ZEDDEMORE." Two more men in the same Ghostbusters uniforms appeared in the entrance. One person’s name patch read "VENKMAN" and the other person's red and black name patch read "STANTZ."

"Ray…you guys…it's Catherine Chandler," Janine said. "It's a confidential matter," she said, showing the fluffed-haired Raymond Stantz, known as Ray for short, and the others Catherine's number on her phone’s screen as she disconnected the call.

There was silence as Catherine heard the call disconnect, and a moment passed, and then Catherine heard her phone sound. Her cell phone's screen then displayed Dr. Stantz, Ray, Ghostbusters.

"Ray, it's Catherine," she said.

"Cathy, what's up?" Ray questioned. He had his cell phone on speaker while all four of them were gathered in Peter Venkman's office.

"Ray, I need your help soon. I have three kids that need help with their aircraft."

"Aircraft? You mean a toy or RC aircraft?" Ray asked.

"No. All of you…it's hard to explain," Catherine said. "It's a huge gold one that they themselves fly in - in the shape of a bird. It’s shaped like a condor," she said. "I'm serious. I'm not joking with you. Are any of you familiar with a cartoon series called ‘The Mysterious Cities of Gold’?" Catherine asked.

There was a brief moment of silence, and then all of them heard, in the background, in close proximity to Catherine, a voice that belonged to Esteban.

Chapter 2

All of the Ghostbusters' eyes lit up and ears perked up with mixed excited emotions, except that Winston Zeddemore was momentarily befuddled. "What do you mean, ‘Mysterious Cities of Gold’?" Winston asked.

"The cartoon, Winston," Ray said to him.

"The Children of the Sun and their solar-powered Golden Condor, which is their aircraft and means of transportation," the brown-haired, bespectacled doctor known as Egon Spengler mentioned.

"You mean those kids are here in New York?" the frizzle-haired doctor known as Peter Venkman asked.

"Of course they are here, I'd never play games," Catherine said. "They're not people in costumes pretending to be them either,” she told them.

Just then a picture appeared on the screen of Ray's phone that Catherine had sent. From the left to the right of the image appeared the three children from “The Mysterious Cities of Gold.”  All four of the Ghostbusters saw the image. On the left was a Caucasian twelve-year-old boy with brown hair with a tuft of it protruding from the rear of his head. He had brown eyes and a gold medal hanging from his neck over a white shirt, and he wore two leather belts, one with a sheathed dagger hanging from it, and a pair of navy blue pants and what looked like a pair of old brown leather sandals on his feet.

Winston immediately recognized the boy as Esteban.

Next to him, in the middle of the image, was Tao, with black shower-cap-like hair which also was similar to what some male Jamaican people wore. He wore a yellow dress-like shirt with a large horizontal orange stripe near its bottom. His sandals were similar to Esteban's, and to those of a girl next to him, but they were brownish-yellow.

Peter recognized the girl standing next to Tao, on the right-hand side of the image, as Zia by her black hair and dress, her gold medal and sandals, and the Incan girl's  light skin color, which was between Caucasian and brown.

All three of the children, by their appearance, were twelve years of age.

"Anyway, I need your help with the kids' Golden Condor," Catherine said. "It seems it can only fly in sunlight, which…"

"…which is probably a major limitation," Egon added.

"Egon, I'm wondering if you could figure out how to have it fly by night, as well," Catherine told him.

"Well, the first consideration is where and how I'm going to find out how the Condor's power systems work," Egon said.

"If necessary, we'll be over in a while and have a look," Spengler said. "Where do you want to meet with that Condor?" he asked.

Catherine told Egon, “St. John's Park,” and mentioned she'd have the X-Men over as well, then she ended the conversation and hung up.

Chapter 3

"X-Men?" questioned a sort of high-pitched cartoon-like voice that came from a small bright green blob of vapor which had a pair of yellow eyes, a nose, and a toothy mouth; the mouth, which was also kind of cartoonish, was hovering, previously unnoticed.

"Of course, Spud, plus three kids and a giant gold bird," Ray replied at the ghost known as Slimer.

"Last time they were here, Slimer got hold of Gambit. You remember how he got that Cajun's hair and clothes all messy!" Winston mentioned.

Just then they saw the sky become dark for a brief moment. They ran toward the entrance of the former firehouse that was their home and headquarters. As they looked up from the sidewalk in front of their 14 North Moore Street address, they saw a bright golden glint in the air. A moment later, they saw the massive Golden Condor appear; it circled around once then disappeared, seemingly into the buildings nearby, but without any hint of harm to them.

All four Ghostbusters and Slimer got into Ecto-1 and drove toward St. John's Park. Nearing St John's Park, they caught a glimpse of the reflective gold skin of an aircraft and, on arrival, the Golden Condor, in full view. It had its neck and head bent downward and its large wings folded partway upward. The Condor's large beak was hanging open and Winston could make out a series of ladder-like steps within it.

They could see that Catherine was already there, along with Esteban, Zia and Tao, next to the large ship.

"My god," Winston exclaimed, "that thing looks somewhat bigger than a Lear jet!"

Winston stopped Ecto-1 next to the Golden Condor and could see a reflection of the vehicle in the Condor's gold skin.

Esteban, Zia, Tao and Catherine saw the red and white vehicle stop next to the Condor. Esteban saw a drawing on one side of Ecto-1 and on its hood: a ghost that had a red circle around it. Positioned at a diagonal angle was a red bar connected to both inside edges of the red circle and in front of the ghost.

The first to exit the vehicle was Slimer. He recognized Catherine and then flew toward Zia, Esteban and Tao.

"Mmmm…big bird," Slimer uttered.

Ray exited Ecto-1, followed by Winston, Egon and Peter.

Catherine greeted them and introduced Zia, Esteban and Tao to Slimer and the four Ghostbusters. "Esteban, Tao and Zia, this is Ray, Egon, Peter and Winston, known as the Ghostbusters. These kids have been watching your movies and cartoons and Tao found a toy proton pack that Mouse repaired." she said.

“How about showing them the real stuff?" Ray suggested.

Chapter 4

They followed the Ghostbusters over to Ecto-1 and as the side and rear doors on the vehicle were opened, all three children recognized the proton packs, plus some additional equipment that Esteban couldn't figure out. They saw the arrangement of hoses, cables and wiring on the proton packs, and the attached proton throwers, and the distressed black paint on them from the multitude of busts involved. They also saw some traps, as indicated by the alternating yellow and black stripes on them.

Catherine helped Esteban put on one of the proton packs that Winston removed from the vehicle.  It felt a bit heavy to him as the pack's straps bore the load of it against Esteban's shoulders.

Ray asked about touring the Golden Condor and Catherine agreed.

They looked around the outside and Egon could see the means of propulsion hidden within the Condor's tail. Egon also spotted some engine exhaust ports on the bird's underside.

Winston was carrying another proton pack on his back and all of them, including Catherine, climbed through the Condor's beak into the cockpit.

All four Ghostbusters and Slimer saw several tall gray seats that each bore a red circle surrounded by several small red triangles. The rear wall of the cockpit was red, and on it was a larger version of the same sun emblem in orange.

Egon spotted the cylindrical horizontal gold console at the front of the cockpit. Near either end of the console was a vertical row of lights, and between them was a triangular-shaped sort of screen. Directly below it was a red cross-like emblem within a circle with a red dot in its center, surrounded by red triangles around the outside of the circle.

Everything on the console was dark, then Esteban touched the emblem below the triangle and the entire console lit up with various colors. The gold, snake-like control stick appeared and Esteban grasped it.

"Are you sure these kids know how to fly this thing?" Peter Venkman asked.

"Trust me, I've flown in it a few times," Catherine replied.

There were some muffled snaps as hidden relays within the Condor engaged. A humming sound followed as the bird's neck and head straightened out for flight and the lower half of its beak swung shut. Several more hums were heard as the Gold Condor’s engines came to life. A slight shudder was felt and then the ground began to drift straight downward as the Condor lifted off.

Esteban and Winston had not noticed their proton packs were still on their backs. 

"Hang on, everyone," Esteban said, and the aircraft's wings straightened; its feet, which served as the landing gears, retracted.

They were high above Manhattan and five hundred additional feet in the air, enough to clear the top of the Empire State Building's antenna mast as they flew directly over it. They flew higher and higher at high speed until they were one mile above the earth.

Ray and Winston looked through the closed glass canopy, only to find that New York City was fully obscured from sight by the distance and by clouds.

Chapter 5

Esteban began demonstrating some maneuvers as he banked the Condor to the left and turned it so that it was literally sideways. He did the same with the opposite side and then pushed forward on the control stick.

Winston found the Condor pointing straight up as he felt several G forces and forces of motion. "Man! From what he's doing, I ought to get me one of these Gold Condors!" Winston exclaimed.

"How many is Esteban pulling, Egon?" Ray asked.

"I should say that Esteban is doing…whoaaaa!" Egon exclaimed as he felt the Condor become horizontally level again.

Slimer lost his grip and tumbled through the air toward Esteban, missing Zia, then landed on Esteban's lap and abdomen, passing through him, leaving Esteban partially covered in clear green slime. But Esteban did not seem to notice what Slimer had done. The clouds moved upward some then stopped.

"I should say three and one half to four G's." Egon explained.

Esteban turned the ship horizontally to the right and as he did so, a black object came into view.

Catherine's cell phone sounded and, answering it, she heard a familiar, almost redneck-like female voice and accent in her ear. "Hello, Catherine, sugah," the lady said. "I do see a gold bird to mah right," she said.

"Yes, Rogue, and I’m aboard it right now," Catherine replied. "Is that the Blackbird I see?" Catherine asked.

"Yuh got it,” Rogue responded and then hung up.

Catherine had Esteban come closer to the Blackbird and he could see an elongated black arrowhead-shaped aircraft to his left. Its wings were positioned backwards with its angled tailfins protruding straight upward. It had a circular emblem with an “X” inside it that connected with the inside of the circle. Underneath either wing were black cylindrical nacelles encasing the engines.

Ray wanted to show Esteban something and so Esteban brought the Condor to a dead hovering stop. He opened the cockpit's canopy and they were greeted by a fifteen mile per hour breeze. They were still one mile above the earth and the air was more than enough to be breathable. Tao took over the controls, and Ray said, "Winston, show these kids what the proton packs can do."

Winston obliged, and both he and Esteban arose to their feet. Winston showed Esteban where the power switch on his proton pack was and switched it on. The pack emitted a high-pitched whine as it came to life and lights on it lit up.

Esteban found the switch on his proton pack and switched it on and it, too, whined to life.

The X-Men's Blackbird was also at a hovering dead stop next to them.

By way of demonstrating to Esteban, Winston unholstered his proton thrower from the pack and aimed at one of the clouds. Winston pressed the trigger button on the thrower and fired. There was a sizzling, whooshing sound and the smell of ozone as an orange proton stream shot forth and disappeared among the clouds. Winston released his thumb from the thrower’s switch and holstered the thrower on his pack. 

Zia and Tao looked at Winston with shock and Esteban with awe. Esteban then did the same; after managing to free his proton thrower, he found the trigger switch and fired into the clouds almost ahead of him, but purposefully missed the Blackbird by a great distance. He then placed the thrower back where it had been and switched off the pack with help from Egon.

Chapter 6

Tao closed the Condor's glass canopy and began heading back to New York City.  Egon was talking with the other Ghostbusters about teaching Esteban, Zia, Tao, and others how to safely use the Ghostbusters equipment.  

When approaching New York City, Winston noticed that the X-Men's Blackbird was not in sight as it should have been. Winston repeatedly tried to contact the Blackbird, but there was only silence for response.  

The Condor came within view of New York City, but what shocked the Ghostbusters and Catherine was that there were no buildings and there was no sign of Central Park at all, nothing other than trees and forest.  

Ray looked for any signs of vessels and bridges, but there were none. "Egon, what happened to New York!?"  

"Where are we?" Peter exclaimed in question.  

"I'm not certain," he responded. "We're somewhere over New York, but in a different time, is all I can guess."  

"Tao, Esteban, do you know where we are?" Egon asked.  

Both of them said they could not explain what had happened. 

"All I suspect is that we're in a different time," Egon mentioned. "Possibly pre-discovery New York." 

"Pre-discovery?" Winston asked. "If it's pre-discovery then what period?" he asked. 

"All I can guess is, it's the early 16th century," Egon responded. 

"If it's the early 16th century, how are we going to get back?" Tao asked.  

"All I know is that we can try flying around again, but in the opposite direction," Egon said. "What do you think, Esteban?" he asked.  

Esteban nodded, and Tao flew around in the direction suggested.  

Soon they were again approaching New York City. This time the 2013-era city came into view as Central Park and the various buildings became visible. 

Tao flew the Golden Condor toward St. John's Park and began landing it. As they landed, everyone could see the X-Men's Blackbird jet in a nearby area. They could see several people in the park, Ecto-1, and a black motorcycle that Catherine could make out as a Harley-Davidson. The Condor landed where it previously had, and everyone, including Slimer, who was a bit dazed, exited though the aircraft's open beak.  

A Caucasian man with curly silver-gray hair atop his head, wearing a hint of a mustache of the same color, approached Catherine and the others. 

Catherine, recognizing him, uttered, "Ron, it's good to see you!” as she saw the actor known as Ron Perlman.

Chapter 7

"Catherine, what happened? All we know is that you and your friends went missing," he said.

Several of the X-Men that she recognized approached. One of them was a Caucasian/Native American man with short black hair and a ponytail; Esteban noticed him especially.

His right arm and hand, plus his right leg, were made of metal. They appeared at first to Esteban to be armor, but they in fact were somewhat mechanical. The man wore a black mustache and brown fringe-topped leather boots extending halfway up his lower legs, and he also had a circular “X” emblem on his belt. He had a phone in his hand and spoke into it. "Xavier, we found them. All of them and their aircraft are unharmed." He then turned to Catherine and said, "Catherine, what happened?"

"Same thing with us," Winston replied.

"We could tell that Vincent, Father, and others were worried," a large, almost dark, gray-furred man that Catherine recognized as Dr. Henry McCoy, another of the X-Men, said.

"Enough explaining for now," Catherine said, speaking especially to a Caucasian man with black hair and ponytail, wearing a black mustache and beard, known as Elliott Burch.

She introduced everyone else to Esteban, Zia and Tao, and also to Kokapetl, Mendoza, Sancho, and Pedro.

The above-mentioned furry man of the X-Men, known under the code name “Beast,” explained that he was to install a temporary reserve power unit within the Golden Condor as soon as he, Egon, and the above-mentioned mechanical-armed and -legged man known as Forge figured out the Condor's workings. It would, with Tao's help, take them a few days to figure out the ship’s workings and, with the help of the Ghostbusters, order and make the hardware and parts that were needed.

Chapter 8 

After a few days of being known to and acquainted with the Ghostbusters and the X-Men, Tao, Zia and Esteban were at Ghostbusters Central. They were at a table in front of Janine Melnitz's desk, and were enjoying some food and refreshments that Janine had made for them. Janine had told the gluttonous Slimer to wait until they were finished. None of the three, however, seemed to mind the Class 5 blob's sometimes annoying habits and sometimes laughed at his antics.  

Just then,Ecto-1 appeared and drove in, stopping ten feet away from where the children were seated. All four Ghostbusters exited the vehicle with their proton packs, ghost traps and other equipment from the day's final bust. Ray had a tour of Ghostbusters Central in store for the children, and instead of hanging up their equipment, Esteban, Zia and Tao put on three proton packs and were each handed a ghost trap, Ecto goggles, and a PKE meter.  

All seven of them headed into the basement, and the children first were shown around it. They were then shown the huge Ecto Containment Unit that housed all the Ghostbusters' captures. Esteban, Zia and Tao's PKE meters were beeping noisily and all were told to look through their Ecto goggles.  

Esteban could see that his trap, along with some of the others’, were glowing, evidence that a ghost had been caught. In the background, a stereo was playing the RUN DMC version of the Ghostbusters theme. The children were told to remove their Ecto goggles and, as Winston opened the door of the containment unit, Esteban and the other two children saw the rectangular opening that accommodated each ghost trap. 

"Here's how we put the traps in," Ray explained.  

Winston inserted a trap, closed the door, and pulled a lever up to the right of it. 

Esteban saw three lights above the door, and the top light went red. It went out, and the middle light went yellow, then it, too, went out, and the bottom one went green. All the children saw a warning sign above the door that read "DANGER-HIGH VOLTAGE-AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY." There were two more lights higher up; one of them was lit green.  

Winston pulled the lever down and the containment unit's door opened. Winston then pulled the empty trap out and told Esteban to insert his trap.  

Esteban inserted it and pulled the lever up. The door swung upward to its closed position and the lights blinked in sequence then the bottom light went green. Esteban saw the red light higher up go out and the green light to the right of it light. He then pulled the lever down and the door with the empty trap opened. Esteban then pulled his trap out of the opening, and Zia and Tao took turns with theirs. 

After enjoying the basement tour, they toured the second floor and the top one, the third floor.

Chapter 9

They had just finished touring Egon's lab, and Egon had given Tao back the book he had borrowed from him when he had first met Tao, Zia and Esteban.

Egon was speaking to Winston, Peter and Ray about the technology, diagrams, etc., he had seen in Tao's book. "Seems that Tao's ancestors were extremely smart," Egon said. "There's even the technology involved with our proton packs and our other equipment. From my analysis and watching ‘The Mysterious Cities of Gold,’ I know that Tao's ancestors made this book thousands of years ago."

"You mean, way before Tao was born?" Peter Venkman asked.

"Exactly," Egon replied as all of them headed to the ground floor.

"With additional information I researched from the episodes, besides Atlantis, there was a massive continent in the Pacific Ocean that took up most of it called Mu," he said.

"Wow, a large Pacific continent," Winston Zeddemore replied.

"Seems that the Mu/Hiva and the occupants of Atlantis traded technology and knowledge," Egon spoke. "Some of that was obtained seemingly from extraterrestrials."

"I had somewhat of a feeling aliens were involved," Peter said.

"Anyway, eventually there was a war between Mu and Atlantis. That eventually led to Mu and Atlantis being destroyed or sunk," Egon explained. "Also about Tao, he's a native Galapagoan, but he's also the last descendant of the Mu/Hivan race," Egon told them. "What is in this book was eventually and gradually passed down through generations, even to now, through various people," Egon said.

Esteban, Zia, Tao, and all four Ghostbusters entered Ecto-1 and headed toward St. John's Park, where the Golden Condor was again awaiting. Already the spectacled Louis Tully, one of the Ghostbusters staff, along with the X-Men and Catherine Chandler, were there. Esteban, Zia and Tao had enjoyed their first ride in Ecto-1.

Catherine had the children come with her to take a tour of Manhattan.

The equipment for installation in the Condor was being prepared and Egon, Forge and Beast, along with Mouse, were inside it. Some parts of the aircraft's innards were removed and Egon was inside its fuselage along with others.

The bespectacled, brown-haired Dr. Egon Spengler had found the Condor's power supplies, converters and propulsion units within the brightly lit fuselage. He and the others were looking over its schematics on their laptop computers and various handheld devices.

Chapter 10

They were busy connecting and adjusting various hardware and equipment, and Egon was making adjustments to a pair of proton packs. It took them several more minutes to connect the proton packs to the Gold Condor’s equipment. Egon ordered Beast and Forge to run some tests using the Condor's controls. There were clicks from the ship’s relays and the proton packs came to life.

There were additional noises as the Condor switched from its solar power source to the packs. The lights inside the fuselage briefly went dark then lit up as power was switched over. A moment passed and the proton packs switched off but the interior lights remained lit. The Condor's relays clicked once again and the packs switched on as power was transferred to them, this time without the ship's lighting going dark. The proton packs then switched off again without even any brief darkness resulting.

"Perfect. Just perfect," Egon said, and made the final adjustments to the proton packs. "Seems we're ready now for final tests," he said.

The temporary reserve power unit had been disconnected and removed and was outside, along with various other equipment and tools. Egon took a final look at the proton packs  inside the Condor's fuselage that were vertically mounted to its walls before the panels that hid them were replaced. There were also hidden power cells Egon originally intended to install in some of the Ghostbusters' proton packs that he had newly designed and built new packs for, for backup in case the packs installed in the ship experienced a failure or other issue. Esteban, Zia, Tao, and Catherine arrived just as the others had finished reassembling the Condor's panels and hardware.

The brown-skinned, white-haired, blue-eyed woman and member of the X-Men, Ororo Munroe, known as Storm, was patiently waiting to participate with the tests. Esteban, Zia, Tao, and Catherine entered the Condor's cockpit and were told to activate the Condor. Esteban did, and after being told, switched it to automatic mode. Receiving the cue, Ororo flew up into the air and stopped, hovering still. She raised her arms and Esteban and everyone else saw the sky turn dark with storm clouds. The Condor switched itself over to the proton packs and power cells upon sensing there was no sunlight to power it. The clouds cleared and the sun shone and the ship switched itself back to solar power. Esteban then took the gold control stick and the Condor lifted off until he was high above the ground. Ororo once more summoned the storm clouds, and the ship once again switched power sources without any issue. The clouds again lifted, revealing the sun, and the Condor automatically responded by switching back to its original power source, again without issue. Esteban then landed the aircraft in the park and a roar of cheering was heard.

Chapter 11

"You did it! You did it! It works!" Zia exclaimed joyfully, and Esteban, Zia, Tao, and Catherine began embracing each other in a fit of joy. They exited the ship through its beak and were immediately joined by the X-Men, Ghostbusters and the others.

Loud cheering was heard among them, and Slimer was energetically flying around them. Slimer then briefly peeked through the ship's closed canopy at the cockpit's interior and kissed the cockpit’s glass, leaving behind a clear, green, slimy mark. He flew back into the crowd, joining everyone.

"Now you children can fly your Condor, rain or shine, day or night," Ororo cheerfully said to the children.

"Hey, it's not over yet," Beast replied. "Remember, Catherine needs us to do tests on Esteban, Zia and Tao."

Two days later, Esteban, Zia and Tao flew the Condor to the X-Men's headquarters, known as the X-Mansion, with Ororo joining them in the cockpit. Esteban brought the ship to a vertical landing on the mansion's vast front lawn.

Beast was waiting, along with the red-haired female X-member Jean Grey Summers, known as Jean Grey. Next to her, in a strange-looking chair that seemed to Esteban to be hovering above the ground, seemingly with no wheels or anything else beneath it, was a bald-headed man with a circular X-Men emblem on his clothes. He first approached and greeted Esteban before introducing himself.

"Good morning and greetings to you, Esteban, Zia and Tao," he said. "I'm Professor Charles Xavier, leader and founder of my team of mutants known as the X-Men."

"Mutants?" Esteban replied.

"This is also one of my members, Jean Grey Summers."

Jean and Xavier shook hands with Esteban, Zia and Tao.

"We heard what had happened several days ago to you, Catherine Chandler and the Ghostbusters," the female Summers replied.

They entered the mansion and there were some people there who did not look like mutants at all, but were. An adult Jubilee looked their way and said, "Hey, it's the three Children of the Sun."

"We know Vincent, Catherine, the Ghostbusters, and your friends, and even met them long ago, even before you first arrived in New York," Ororo said.

"We even have been in Vincent's world beneath New York, and even have been with him," the gray-furred Beast spoke.

"There are even mutants among Vincent and his friends, both below and above," the Patrick Stewart-looking and -sounding Xavier mentioned.

"These are mostly our team members and students," Jean said.

"Students?" asked Zia.

"What do you mean?" asked Tao.

"This is our school and residence, known as the Xavier Institute, Xavier replied.

“Newcomers?" a rough-voiced man who was muscular in appearance with rough-looking hair to match replied. He had hands, each with three small metal-like objects on them.

"This is Logan, known as Wolverine," Jean said.

"Catherine Chandler, Vincent, and their friends sent them here," Xavier replied.

Chapter 12

They introduced Wolverine to Esteban, Zia and Tao.

"Oh, you mean those kids from that cartoon," Wolverine replied. "I also remember," Wolverine chuckled, "when Mouse tried to disassemble Cerebro, just to see how it worked!" he said.

Some of the mutants broke into laughter as a result.

"Which is where we'll be after getting you acquainted and known with everyone here," Jean added.

After several hours of being treated to the X-Men and others, and touring the grounds, it was time for Esteban, Zia and Tao's tests.

Esteban was the first to undergo the various tests and was led into a large room with Ororo and Jean. There was a strange-looking but comfortable chair, and above it Esteban saw a helmet with cables protruding from it which disappeared elsewhere within the room. On either side of the chair were small control panels, the likes of which Esteban had never seen.

Jean calmed Esteban and had him sit in the chair while she and Ororo had him relax. Jean lightly and gently placed the helmet onto Esteban's head and looked up at a window; on the other side were Xavier and Beast. Jean gave the cue and Esteban heard a high-pitched sound, identical to one of the Empire State Building’s elevator motor-generator sets that he had heard, signifying the machinery starting.

The lights dimmed and Esteban heard soothing music playing through the helmet. He heard a friendly female human-like computer voice mention, "Cerebro Test Subject. Name, Esteban. Begin test when ready." Esteban heard nothing more than the music and, while listening, drifted off to sleep.

An hour had gone by. Esteban heard Ororo say, "Wake up, Esteban, we're done with the test."

Esteban opened his eyes as Jean removed the helmet. Esteban exited the room with the adult Jubilee and followed her to the front interior of the mansion after taking an elevator with her to ground level.

Two more hours passed, and then Zia and Tao appeared. Jean and Ororo appeared and were discussing the test results with Dr. Henry McCoy, known as Beast.

"It seems that Esteban is capable of controlling the sun," he mentioned. "Even without his medal, he still has that capability," Beast added.

"So the conclusion is that Esteban is a mutant?" Jean asked McCoy.

"Exactly confirmed," he said. "Normally, a person's mutant powers would not manifest at or before twelve years of age, but Esteban's an exception," he said.

Chapter 13

The return to New York City aboard the Gold Condor went as normal, with Ororo and Jean accompanying the children. Esteban landed the ship in its usual hiding place, quickly and easily accessible from the Tunnels. 

The Condor mechanically bent its neck and head down towards the ground, and its beak opened. All five occupants exited the ship and proceeded through the Tunnels into the main area. Vincent, Catherine, and others were waiting and gave them a surprise greeting. They were conversing around tables and enjoying some food and drinks. 

Ororo and Jean were privately conversing with Catherine about Esteban's tests. Jean and Ororo had e-mailed the children's test results to Dr. Egon Spengler, one of the Ghostbusters. 

Vincent, Jacob, and also their adult daughter Jennifer had, through the months, developed a bond with the three children of the sun, Zia, Tao, and Esteban, as well as other people, including with Mendoza, Sancho, and Pedro. 

Night had fallen a few hours earlier, and Ororo and Jean decided to stay a few days with everyone and the Helpers. 

Callisto, one of the female tunnel inhabitants and also a leader of the Tunnel community known as the Morlocks, which knew and were familiar with Vincent and his friends and the X-Men, had visited for a couple of hours. The Morlock Tunnels were connected with the Tunnels that Vincent and his friends inhabited. 

Vincent had finished reading poetry to Esteban, Zia, Tao, Catherine, and others, and the three children were in their night clothes. Jean and Ororo were already in their guest chambers, and everyone else retired to their chambers for the night.  

Vincent and Catherine were in Vincent's chamber, peacefully drifting off to sleep in bliss, as the moon outside shone in the clear, starry night.

THE END.

WRITTEN BY MATHEW BAILEY

BEAUTY & THE BEAST COPYRIGHT RON KOSLOW FILMS, CBS/VIACOM/REPUBLIC PICTURES

GHOSTBUSTERS COPYRIGHT IVAN REITMAN, COLUMBIA PICTURES/SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT

MYSTERIOUS CITIES OF GOLD COPYRIGHT STUDIO PIERROT/NHK

X-MEN COPYRIGHT MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT GROUP/MARVEL COMICS/DISNEY

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT OR INFRINGEMENT OF ANY KIND INTENDED