NOTE: Any elements from this story reminiscent of the X-Men franchise will be explained through the perspective presented in the Stargate SG-1 TV Series. Any other X-Men related elements are just borrowed and given a new perspective. This is not an X-Men crossover.

PART 5: "Plane Crash"

With almost complete disregard for her complaints and inquiries Lex was forced to board the plane at Colonel Warrington's command alongside the two others and join them in what appeared to be a military type operation underwent by the non-governmental organization of which apparently she had unwillingly became a member.

"You said the trip to China was off. Where are we going? You shoved us in this plane without a single clue of where we're heading to," Lex snapped minutes after they had taken off.

The Colonel was not disturbed by this whatsoever and she kept her calm as she gaze up from a laptop's screen where Leah was showing her some pieces of information in relation to their current mission.

"I apologize, Miss Woods. I forgot you are still new to us. Here I am accustomed to my subordinates obeying my orders without questioning."

"I am not one of your subordinates."

"Spend some time with us and you will realize that we can offer you the opportunities to practice your career at its full potential, also benefiting from both personal and professional achievements."

Perplexed by the ambiguous yet intriguing answer Lex sat back in her sit and waited for the Colonel to continue.

"The mission I was speaking of is not one you have been accidentally dragged into, but one in which we count on your support, given your experience in the matter. As I have said before, it involves the queen of the extraterrestrial species you have encountered in your previous expedition."

"I have no experience. I don't know anything about these creatures. The only thing we did there was run for our lives. Our weapons were no match for them. Those other aliens, the … hunters," she paused to search for an appropriate term, "they had weapons powerful enough to kill those creatures. It was pure luck that helped me survive."

"But the hunters did give you one of their spears and besides we have some pretty advanced weapons at our disposal," Leah smirked proudly while Lex shot her a curious stare.

"However, we are not sure we will have to battle any aliens," the Colonel continue quickly. "General Stryker called me shortly after we took off to inform me that the missing alien queen might have been taken to a secret underground facility located beneath a chemical factory situated in the vicinity of a small, secluded North American town called Serene Valley. So far this underground facility was believed to be only a small laboratory used for the production of common industrial chemical compounds, but if the Committee intend to keep the creature there and experiment on it, then the base is probably far more extended than we thought. We will receive in no time a thermo geographic scan presenting the exact size and form of the structure."

"The Committee?" Lex asked.

"A shadow group behind the rogue operations of the NID, a civilian branch of the US government dealing with national and international security issues. The men that assaulted you today were rogue NID agents."

"It sounds like these guys are just waiting for aliens to drop in their back yard at any time," Lex burst into a short laugh but when she turned to the Colonel, instead of finding an equally amused expression she saw the woman, and even the more joyful girl next to her looking back at her with plain, serious looks on their faces, as if her joke had actually been a statement that they knew to be true.

"You're kidding! There have been others? Other aliens on Earth?" Lex cried a bit frightened by the premise.

"More or less," Leah giggled innocently.

"There is much you and the world don't know. If you join us permanently all your questions will be answered."

Lex starred at her puzzled, pondered for half a moment then sprung up to her feet.

"You are aliens as well, aren't you?" she whispered in realization. "He … ," she wanted to say what she saw Zero doing earlier, but when she turned to him standing in the back of the plane, unloading some weapons from a large, metal trunk and assembling them, she met his cold stare that stopped her from continuing the sentence. She turned to the Colonel, who understood what Lex wanted to say and saw her giving the man a threatening look, just before their eyes met once more.

"If by aliens you mean that we have spawned from a race of humans that settled on our planet thousands of years ago, coexisting with our own self-evolved homo sapiens, then yes, you could call us that, but bear in mind that you as well can be an alien, for we have no way of telling whether any of the extraterrestrial humans who came to our planet are our ancestors or not. On the other hand, if by aliens you refer to people who possess certain peculiar abilities, then once more I must say that you too could possess such abilities. The human organism has unimaginable potential. As you may or may not know the human DNA contains many dormant genes whose function has not yet been determined. It is known however that sometimes in the natural course of human evolution, one by one these genes begin to be active. So far on Earth individuals have started to be born, about a century ago, with one of these dormant genes activated. This means that these people can do things that to the general population appear to be supernatural. Because history offers us many reasons to believe that individuals with such powers have been born in the past as well we cannot tell if our own species has started to evolve or if these special individuals all have ancestors among the alien race of humans I spoke of earlier."

Realizing that she had been speaking for too long, the Colonel stopped and waited for Lex to acknowledge the information she had received and recover from her shock.

"This is unbelievable."

"The initial shock is inevitable and natural but it will not be difficult to accommodate to this new reality."

"So you have … powers too?" Lex questioned with curiosity.

"That's odd," Leah interrupted, concentrating on her laptop.

"What?" the Colonel inquired.

"There seems to be some interference with the transmission."

That same moment the plane was shaken by turbulences and Lex sat down, bucking her seatbelt. In the back of the plane Zero kept mending the weapons, but when the turbulences returned with increased force he put them back in their case and took a seat as well. More turbulences followed with the plane shacking as if they were on the ground and there was a powerful earthquake. Then outside the sky around them began to darken the same as during a solar eclipse and before anyone could make any assumptions, what looked like a giant space ship passed above them. The ship flew by at great speed and so close that it almost brushed against the much smaller and feebler airplane. Whether the spaceship actually touched them or it had been only the powerful current of air, the next thing they knew their plane was crashing violently.