This is takes place directly after the events in Illyana's Waltz, but consider it a slightly left-of-middle universe from there, where Jubilee isn't quite so well adjusted. I know some of you are going, "What the...?" Yeah, well, what can I say? The actual second part of this story will be up..... eventually. Yeah, eventually. Anyways, all these characters belong to someone who's not me(a.k.a. Marvel), except for Allison Kivirin, the Voice, and Mrs. Web, who are my creations. Feedback wanted! With that out of the way, onward......
The term "Summer's Children" is taken from the poem of the same name by Richard Shelton. If you would like a copy of it, I would be more than happy to email one to you.
This type means psychic powers of some variety in use.
**Indicates telepathy**
The Voice/Other
Shattered Images
An Alternate Interlude/Part Two
Jeannne M. Sunstar80@hotmail.com
Despite Emma's suggestion, Jubilee did not raid Sean's coffee stash. Unless, that is, you consider downing his treasured whiskey shots at a time as drinking coffee. For each insult the Webb woman said that was actually true, Jubilee happily downed two shots. If she was wrong, no shots. Thief, guilty. Emotionally unstable, hmm.... most likely guilty, so only one shot. Vandal, guilty! Dangerous to society if not sent to a correctional institute for troubled teens, ouch. Not guilty? Jubilee sighed, and glanced at the nearly empty bottle. Mental note- replace Sean's alcohol stash before he notices and blames Angelo.
There you go again, drowning your problems in sin. Aren't you underage? Not that it matters, what do we care for their laws? The system failed you, failed us, and now they're trying to cover the fact up. You realize if the bitch has her way, you'll be out of here by the end of the hour, and you won't be seeing daylight again for a very long time, right?
"Not again! Look, I'm busy, ok? Just bugger off and find someone else to drive mad. There's plenty of angst to choose from." Jubilee slammed down her shot glass, putting her head in her hands. "Please, just shut up!"
You think I'm bad? Just think of all those poor little telepaths. Day after day, hearing millions of millions of voices, clamoring inside their heads, just filled with hate and anger and despair. And you only have me to deal with, consider yourself lucky. That reminds me, why haven't you told one of Chuckles' pet telepaths about me? They could 'fix' me permanently, ya know.
"No it wouldn't. You'd be back. Don't lie to me, it's beneath both of us. I don't even try to deceive you anymore, do I?" Jubilee's head snapped up and her eyes began to glow neon blue as she jumped out of Sean's desk chair and heads towards his private bathroom. "No. Because I know you, we're two of a kind, that's why you're still here." Jubilee paused before the sink mirror. "Boo. I see you."
Very funny. Ha ha ha. Ever wondered why your 'latent telepathic ability' never has surfaced? I'll give you a hint. Do you have any idea how much effort you put into keeping me here? You channel so much of that power into keeping me trapped in here and hidden away from your precious X-friends that you'll never be more than a 'lucky hunch' grade telepath. You may think drinking all that bad whiskey will shut me up for awhile, let you focus your powers, but have you ever thought of the price? How many battles have you fought while drunk or high, just so that you wouldn't accidently lose control of me and your powers, and kill your friends?
"A lot. It gives me control, control over my paffs that I can't master on my own because I have to keep you from getting us both killed!" Jubilee reached out, touching the mirror, blue eyes swirling with energy. "Out of a morbid curiosity, what are you? Why did you choose me?"
Guess what kiddo, I am you. I am the killer instinct that was going to slaughter those punks who killed your parents. I'm the person you became to survive, and when you met the X-sheep you started using that cheery facade to hide the darkness and emptiness inside. It was your powers gave me life, my existence, when you started living your new double life! I am you, and I will never go away. You need me to survive, to stay sane, to remind you of what you could be if you just gave in to yourself. And I am tired of being a shadowy second! I want to have a life, my life, and not forced to simply watch while you live and I am condemned to remain in the twilight realm between reality and hallucination. I didn't choose you, you choose me.
"So you're an old psychic imprint? Great, that's just peachy. I'm the one who's driving me nuts. How typical is that?" Jubilee threw up her arms. "Ok, now shoo. Get out of my head." She waved her hands in a dismissal gesture towards the mirror. "You heard me. Out."
If it was that easy, my pet, I would have been gone a very long time ago. With that, Jubilee's eyes slowly stopped swirling, returning to their normal sapphire hue as she felt the shadowy presence slip back into dormancy. She breathed a sigh of relief, the alcohol was finally working. It was about time. She leaned in to the speaker phone, hoping that she hadn't missed anything.
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"Jubilation Lee is not going anywhere. If you honestly had the girl's best interests in mind, you would understand that removing her from the first stable home she's had in the past five or more years would be incredibly disruptive and quite possibly negate all the progress she's made." Emma was not a happy person, and she was quickly considering the pros and cons of using her telepathy to make this woman Go Away. "As you may notice, she was one of the top students in her class and an Olympic contender in gymnastics before the traumatic death of her parents. When she was placed in a state correctional facility the first time, that is when she began to show rebellious inclinations. She was not given any access to continuing education, and I know for a fact she was abused during that time due to old scartissue and bone fractures that date to that time. And don't try to tell me she got them in street fights Ms. Webb, because I have the medical records here to prove they were caused during her tenure at your precious prison."
"The wee lass has been enrolled here for three years ma'am. In that time, she's made up all the school levels that the poor thing missed when she was livin' on the streets, and surpassed where she should be. The fact is that the child is taking college level classes. Once again, she's in training for her gymnastic abilities. An if ye look at yer own files, the lass has no criminal record. I dinnae know what yer talking about when you call the bairn a criminal. She was incarcerated in that hellhole because she had no family and no money. She ran away because of abuse and fear." Sean tapped his fingers against his arm. "Now, can ye honestly tell me that the lass would be better off in a group home where she will be surrounded by negative input than she would be here? Where she receives one on one attention supervision, and schooling from one of the top academies in the world? We don't let just anyone into this school, if you had done yer research, ye would know that."
Adrienne remained silent, but quirked one eye at Emma and gestured subtly to the file Ms. Webb had flung on the desk. Emma thought about it, then decided to confer with Sean.
**Sean, my sister wants to use her powers on Webb's file and see what she gets. She seems to think that something's fishy, and I agree with her. Shall I give her the go?**
**Aye. An' Emma? If she gives ye the smallest hint something's up, scan the cursed wench. I dinnae like this sudden interest in our wee lass at all.**
Emma broke contact with Sean, giving Adrienne an imperceptible nod. Adrienne reached for the file nonchalantly, as if to study it. Both Emma and Sean watched as she stiffened slightly, her eyes glazing over as she 'looked' at the pages. Images of all the people to touch the file began to flow in her mind so quickly that she had a hard time locking down and separating all of them. Many were only fleeting, but there were a handful who left powerful imprints. Time did a twistloop, and suddenly Adrienne was standing amid the torrent of pictures which ran without regard to sequence or owner. Images began to overwhelm her ability to sort them.
Jubilee, younger, but definitely Jubilee, spitting defiance at someone behind a desk. Pain, searing pain. Anger. Hate. Pain. A deal, money for the girl? Testings, training. She must not remember. She must not be allowed to leave. Special, this one was special. A mutant. More tests....pain. Jubilee stealing the file the night before she left, just looking to see what it held. PAIN!!!!! Fight, must fight. Drugs? They were.....drugging them. Testing on them... Alison Kivirin protesting being removed from Jubilee's case. She knew, she was horrified...was going to go public....PAIN!!! Jubilee's pain, overwhelming everything else. Testing on them.... they were testing on the children. Unwanted.....unmissed....they were experiments....
She broke contact, almost dropping the file with a gasp. Everyone turned to look at her, startled. "Sorry, paper cut." She quickly slid her finger along a page, and held it up to show a small red line. "I'll be right back, let me wash this off." She moved behind Emma, leaning over to drop the file before her. "It's not pretty. Scan the bitch." She hissed as she stood back up and left the room.
**Sean, I'm scanning her. My sister saw something she most definitely didn't like.** Emma narrowed her eyes at the woman sitting before her, slipping right past her natural defenses and into her mind without effort.
Ms. Webb was not happy. Her boss had said that if she got the Lee brat out of the Academy and back at County, then there would be a reward in it for her. She didn't know why they wanted the girl, only that they did. There were some heavy-hitters who wanted the girl firmly under their control, and the longer she was here the harder it would get to break her again. She didn't know what had happened to Ali, and she didn't care to know. And if she didn't get the little slut back to her boss, there was a strong possibility it could happen to her too.
"Ms. Webb, you may leave my academy. Now." Miss Frost stood up, anger snapping in her eyes. "I see nothing ordering the girl into your clutches, and I will not give her up of my free will. This isn't even a visit to see if she's alright, you're just asking me to hand over my ward because some orphanage wants her back. It will not happen. That is final. Get. Off. My. Property. I'm sure you can find the door."
"This isn't over Miss Frost. If not California County Juvenile, then some less pleasurable institution will have Miss Lee, it is in everyone's best interest." Webb shot out of her seat, grabbing her files and stalking from the room.
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Jubilee grinned. This was good. This was very good. Maybe she wouldn't have to split after all, the thought of seeking refuge in the streets of Boston was not a pleasant one, too cold in the winter. But it was so tempting just to slip between the cracks in the system again, to disappear and become a streetrat, a gutterpunk, another statistic.
That's right. The freedom. Doing whatever you want, whenever you want. Answerable to no one. Only the strong survive out there, with the Summer's Children. You could do it again, you know. Rule the alleys. Out there, forgetting the human/mutant shit. It doesn't matter in the dirt....... Tempting....so very tempting. Whispering.
"You just wanna split so that I won't keep you locked away anymore."
Idiot child! Out there, we are one, we are whole. I accept you and you accept me. We are Jubilee. To survive, we merge. You want me gone? Leave here. No more voices, no more arguing with yourself. You'll finally be whole.
Jubilee snorted. "If I let us 'merge' as you say, then I would have to put up with other voices. If keeping you out stunts my telepathy, whatever it may be, then so be it. Small price not to go bonkers like Chuck or Jeannie."
Bitch! Selfish, petty bitch!
** Jubilation?** the Other fled as Emma's telepathic glow filled Jubilee's mind. ** Are you alright? Did you hear all that?**
** Just the verbal parts, I'm assumin' yer sister did her scanning-thinggie judging by yer reaction. I dunno what she saw.** Jubilee answered her headmistress. She relaxed, covertly basking in the feeling of care and warmth radiating from Emma. She knew the White Queen didn't usually show her care for her charges, projecting like this was more Jean's territory.
** She did, I think we need to talk. I'm going to need to know what happened, Jubilee. After all your run-ins with the social work system, I think you know this is all highly irregular.** Emma could feel her youngest student's mind quickly flinch and fade slightly from the link. ** Jubilee?!?!**
** It's ok Frostie, I'm still here. Sorry, automatic reaction. It's just.... I don't wanna talk about County, ok?**
** No, it's not okay. You forget Miss Lee, something is afoot. I understand your hesitation, I assume you remember my time in a correctional facility. But we need to talk. Please. This is important.**
Jubilee looked down into the last dregs of the whiskey, her mind in turmoil. She watched her reflection in the alcohol as her eyes flared neon blue for an instant. ** Sure Emma, sure. I'll talk. Ya ain't gonna like it, but I'll talk.** She moved to place the bottle back where she found it. ** Just tell me when.** She felt Emma fade from the link, only to have the Other come bursting back.
Traitoress! Bitch! You talk to her, and you'll give away everything!
"Aww.... shove it." She muttered. The presence faded, resentfully. Jubilee wandered back into Sean's bathroom, staring into the mirror. "Sure Em, sure. We can talk." She balled her hands into fists, lost in the paths of her mind. "We can talk."