Riley pulled his jacket more tightly against his chest as he was reminded of the weather's temperament in London. It hadn't begun to rain, yet, but the great gusts of wind were a tell-tale sign that water droplets weren't far behind. It was the first time he'd returned to his home city, or country for that matter, since his father had shipped him off to be slaughtered. Despite that, he was excited to be back for one reason, the reason he'd come altogether: he would get to see his sister.
Ri had no indication of where he'd find her, but could only try and track her down the old-fashioned way. He'd chosen to start his search at the house he'd last known them to be at. Old trees and lamp posts dragged on and on as his eyes searched along he old, ratty brick houses for the one numbered 1346. Unlike with himself, nothing much seemed to have changed along this old street of his, unless you counted things looking increasingly run-down and trashy. There were whole chunks of the sidewalk missing in some places, and in others if the sidewalk had endured, it was over-grown with weeds sticking out of cracks in the cement. The cars parked along the road looked rusted, and each was missing something, whether it was hub caps, headlights, windows, or whole doors. The houses were all equally worse for wear.
Finally, he stopped, having noticed that his steps had subconsciously carried him right to the front door of a place he'd once lived, but never considered much of a home. Checking, for no more reason than to hesitate, he saw it was indeed 1346. Riley took a deep breath, and memories came rushing back.
He did his best to banish them from his mind, but at this point only prayed that when he would knock, it wouldn't be his father on the other side of the door. All the same, Ri wasn't sure how recognizable he would be to his father, who assumed he was dead anyway. The most obvious sign, his eyes, were covered with a shiny pair of aviators, which otherwise were entirely unnecessary with all the clouds. Other than that, in the nearing-10 years he'd been gone, Riley had grown taller, had his face thin out, and had added a significant amount of muscle mass.
After a couple minutes, he released a deep breath he didn't know he'd been holding, raised his knuckles, and rapped them promptly against the wooden (and splintered) door. Movement was heard behind the door, and it sounded as if one or more things were bumped over, before he heard a lock slide, and the wall between him and a middle aged woman swung open. She had her hair tied up in an eccentric fashion, and looked like someone who was always out of breath and busy beyond belief. Her good-looking visitor, who she'd expected to be someone asking for money, had, instead, just brightened her day, so to speak (as Riley felt the first raindrop land on the crown on his head).
'Well there, how may I help you?' she asked as her foot suddenly stuck out to stop a medium-sized dog from bolting out the open door.
'I lived here once,' Riley explained, 'I was wondering if the previous owners to you were my family… older guy, my height, and a younger girl…' He saw her thoughts working, and then he saw what was likely a nod, thus continued. 'I hoped you might have an address of where they moved next… somewhere to forward mistaken post, or the like…?'
She seemed to pause again, think, then nod. As she turned and moved up some creaky stairs, she stuck out a hand behind her and motioned for Ri to step inside. He didn't particularly want to, but did so, and pulled the door shut to stop the dog from escaping. He glanced around silently as she disappeared to find the address, and almost jumped upon seeing a pair of tiny blue eyes observing him from between the next floor's railings. The child couldn't be older than 3 or 4, but as soon as he'd been spotted, he scampered off for a moment. He returned more quickly than his mother, and so Riley continued to watch him with curiosity. He returned wearing a glass-less plastic glasses frame which was held together with duct tape. Ri gave a light smile, remembering what a younger sibling was like who tried to mimic your every mood, and apparently here, fashion statement.
It was then that the lady returned holding a yellowed piece of paper.
'This should be what you're looking for. Keep it, I've been here almost 5 years and haven't once gotten mail for the Bonds,' she said as she handed Ri the page. He glanced down at it but quickly looked back away. There was no doubt it was his father's handwriting.
'Thank you very much,' he replied, and soon was back outside, where the rain had picked up and was now accompanied by the sound of thunder, and lightning.
The newest address led him to a tall condominium building with fairly small sized homes within. It looked less run down than the neighborhood he'd just come from, but not by all too much. The main difference here was Riley couldn't just go knocking on doors, he'd have to be buzzed in.
Hesitating again like he had back at the house, Ri verified the room number before moving a finger to the appropriate button. As he pressed it in, he heard a loud buzz which he knew had just also sounded within the room.
There was a pause before, 'Hello?' The voice sounded scratchy, and not just from the old speakerphone. It was also slow and groggy, as if hungover or high. Riley's mouth immediately ran dry and he felt his heartbeat stumble.
'Garron Bond?' Riley asked without needing to, after waiting probably a moment too long.
'Yeah.'
'Is Samantha there?' he then asked relevantly, getting straight to the point, although he still felt like the inside of his mouth was the Sahara. But his question warranted a silence long enough that it left Ri hearing his own heartbeat pound in his ears.
Finally, '…The fuck am I talking to?'
'That depends. Where is she?' His tone this time had gained strength and subtle aggression. But instead of earning a spoken reply, after yet another pause, the gate buzzed, to allow Riley to enter the building. There was no option but to accept the invitation and enter. The elevator ride up didn't seem to take nearly long enough.
He'd already decided his course of action when he reached the door, and once more, knocked. The door had only been opened a crack when Ri put his powers' training to use, and bought a blindfold of darkness over his father's eyes. In that darkness, he'd not been visible, and he quickly moved inside, and wrestled with the blinded man. As he had somehow known he'd have to, Riley made his first priority getting the hand gun from his father's grip. Succeeding, he then used a bit of his powers to drag Garron to the ground, where he knelt over him to hold him down, and pressed the barrel of the cold weapon to the man's forehead.
Having correctly assumed about the gun, Riley was now entirely positive that he'd not find his sister here, but he still needed a lead as to where to look next.
It took every fibre of Riley's self control to not just end the monster's life then and there. Garron would not have known what hit him, and currently was still mentally catching up on what had just happened. The continuous darkness didn't help him, Ri was sure. On a less serious level, he'd noticed that his father had gained traces of a beer belly, and hadn't shaved in weeks. Ri's proudest realization was that there was still an evident scar across the man's face.
'Where's Sammy?' Ri said, dragged himself back into the current moment, the one where he now noticed that he was shaking from a combination of rage, fear, and pure adrenaline.
Garron, still having no clue just who it was who had him pinned to the ground after he'd been wanting to ask just who this motherfucker thought he was, gave a chilling laugh before exclaiming, 'That bitch… haven't seen that embarrassing slut months! Second worst thing that ever landed on this earth, she was…'
Instead of verbally replying, Riley just cocked the gun, delivering a clear message, while also slowly losing his fight with self-control.
'Blood fuck! You're mental! I don't know where she went, but stay the fuck away from my daughter,' his father growled, struggling now against Riley's hold. Finding it futile, he instead spat blindly at the kid's face.
Before Garron would have been able to process it, he'd been pistol whipped across the face. If he'd done anything to his sister that he was trying to talk his way around… but Riley didn't finish the thought because the air was filled with a long string of more curse words from his father.
'Make me ask you where she is again,' Riley threatened as he moved the gun to touch it to the older man's knee, 'and I make your patella resemble Cheerios.'
More swears, proceeded by a shouted, 'All I know is the whore said something about theatre school! …But who knows, maybe I was too drunk to really remember.'
One more pistol whip to the head, this one strong enough to knock Garron unconscious, and Riley begrudgingly shadowed out from there, allowing his shadows to lift. Where he reappeared, Ri threw the gun in his hand with extremely great force into the lake in front of him. He couldn't let himself be tempted by it to return to dear old daddy.
Riley begun by following the only lead he now had: theatre school. He'd slipped into an internet café and researched all the Drama and Art schools in the London area, and would search each and every one of them until he got a better lead to go on. Reviewing the list, he knew this would take a while. Ri imagined it like being handed the whole internet, and being told to find one specific site, without being given the URL; no search engines allowed, you'd just have to go through others one by one, address after address.
By foot, train, and bus, he was able to visit a couple schools a day, and by now he was beyond used to hearing the 'classified information' regarding students answer, but thus far had been able to get past that with a short, sob-story version of him being the older brother in search of his sister after years of lost contact. A week or so into his search, Ri found himself half-leaning against this young woman's desk, who was currently searching her computer student records for a "Bond, Samantha". When she opened her mouth, Riley could almost already hear the 'I'm sorry' beginning, but instead his ears perked when she said something quite to the contrary.
'Yes, here we are. Samantha L.. Bond, first year student, taking several drama courses.' She smiled towards Ri, seemingly proud of herself as she watched his reaction. He was ecstatic, and with a rush of adrenaline had taken down the address of her residency and was off in that direction with a wave of anticipation gripping his stomach.
He'd been brought to another apartment-type complex. It wasn't the closest one to the school itself, and probably housed non-student residents at the same time. For a third time, the building where he'd arrived was in anything but good shape, and this one appeared to have been the victim of decades of student pranks. But he entered regardless, keeping his profile low and eyes to himself as he noticed several shadier groups of people hanging around, many of those he passed watched him like hungry vultures. Ri was an outsider to them, and the fact that his clothes were clean, and he looked well put together was curious to them, and a change. It was a very surreal change, after most of the years he'd spent in New York where he was viewed as the rough, poor, street kid.
But he arrived at her door unharmed, and as Ri knocked, he found that it was open a tad, and so he pressed it open and entered. All the excitement and anticipation he had flipped right into confusion as he looked around inside.
'Well, you're new… and a sight for sore eyes… may I help you?' a girl said as she walked up to him and away from a group of several other girls. All were scantily clad and wore layers of make-up. He looked over every one of their faces from where he was but didn't immediately recognize any of them as his sister. But, then again, it'd been years since he'd seen her. Not to mention, at the moment, he was greatly hoping he'd just walking into the wrong room.
'Does a Samantha live here…?' he asked, without answering or yet addressing anything else that was running through his mind, however Ri believed the confusion was visible on his face. He also noticed that, with that type of question, he's begun to sound like a broken record player in these last couple days.
'Well… isn't Sammy just the popular one…' the girl nearest him replied with an obvious hint of sudden ice in her voice, and an even more obvious cockney accent. 'She's finishing up with another client right now, should be out in 5- 10 minutes.'
Riley's eyes narrowed behind his aviators, which now were an odd accessory, considering he was inside. Half-noticing this he removed them as he moved, despite the girls' feeble and lack of effort attempts to stop him, past them and towards the only other doorway in there. Through it, he was met with a hallway of doors, but only one of them was closed. He raced past the open ones, and felt his heart sinking further when he saw inside of them through his peripheral vision.
Riley finally didn't hesitate a single second when he reached the door. He tried the handle and was grateful it was unlocked, though for a moment it'd felt stiff, and the thought of breaking the door right down had crossed his mind. The sight inside caused him such a great wave of varied raw emotions, he felt his heart miss a couple of beats, and it almost caused him to fall to his knees. At that moment, Riley's powers took over, and with a single forceful pull, they'd torn the man on top of his sister off and he was thrown so hard into the wall on the other side of the room that he went right through it.
Had it been a situation in which reason was expected and within reason, he would have known that it was a bit much to do to the guy. So Ri backed off of his instant instincts and, moving towards Sam, only tore the guy into unconsciousness, instead of going further. On his way, he'd taken off his own, sufficiently long coat, and brought it around her to help cover herself as he lifted her off the grungy bed and into his protective arms.
Since he'd entered, she'd simply looked at him with confusion, and then disdain when her paying customer had been thrown across the room. But now, recognition swept over her face and whole disposition, when she finally recognized the eyes of the man now holding her. Looking into them, Ri saw that her gaze seemed somewhat far off, glazed over in the slightest, which made the situation feel worse a hundred times over.
'Riley…' she whispered in disbelief.
His own disbelief matched hers, for finally finding her, but in a place like this, and he replied with a quiet, 'I'm here Sammy.'
She had passed out, or fallen asleep, only moments after their exchange of words. Riley'd brought her back to where he was staying by use of his shadow travel, and had lain her down in the bed, covering her with sheets. He knew he probably should have actually dressed her more properly, but when he'd removed his jacket from her, it'd been a hard strike to see how devastatingly skinny she was. While it was almost selfish, he couldn't force himself to see it.
When he'd removed the unnecessarily large loads of make-up though, he was able to see how truly beautiful a woman she'd grown into.
Now, having left the door open to be able to monitor her, Ri was cooking up some cheap soup the room had provided, for the time when she did wake up, some coffee for himself, and had ready some strong painkillers for the migraine he assumed she'd wake with. It was a few hours before these things would come in handy, time in which Riley's thoughts ran rampant, blaming his father for the situation he'd found Samantha in, feeling unparalleled rage towards him, but at the same time himself for never returning for Sam sooner. Though he knew that before now it'd been impossible.
She stirred, eyes opening a fraction, before he watched her cringe from the low light; he was right—migraine.
'Here, down these with this,' he said in a tone barely above a whisper, holding towards her the painkillers and a glass of water. She complied sans complaint, albeit her movements were slow.
Riley wasn't allowing any deep conversation until she'd eaten, dressed in a clean pair of his boxers and a baggy T-shirt, and he'd made sure that she was well-enough rested. But, his taking charge hadn't stopped her from giving a small, 'I can't believe it's really you…' Which made sense, she'd had to settle with him being dead for almost a decade.
Eventually, they found themselves facing each other, sitting on the room's couch. She was deeply nestled within multiple blankets, and after a long moment, Ri became the first to break the silence.
'Sam, what were you doing…?' his tone made it clear he was referring to what she'd been in the middle of when he'd found her.
'Riley… I was only doing it to pay for school… I'd tried working 2 or 3 jobs, that wasn't cutting it, it wasn't paying the bills… this way, I do that a few times a week, have one part-time job, and also have time to actually be at school…' she replied, pleading for his understanding, but it was met with a harsh reply.
'Then why were you high?' It explained that look she'd had in her eyes, and her migraine. He had to be harsh with that one because he had to make sure this all stopped abruptly with him entering the picture.
'Because… it makes me feel good even when submitting myself to that, and it saves me from needing to remember it afterwards…' She looked away from him, and Ri noticed that she was fighting off the tears welling in her eyes. When he didn't reply, not knowing what to say (though his eyes had softened), Samantha was glad to switch the subject. 'Where have you been all this time? Dad said… he told me that you weren't coming home… later he told me what he'd done…'
'Sent me off to a "boarding school", which was really a slaughter house for mutants… yeah, that sounds like him…' he sighed. 'Obviously for good reason, I didn't trust him, and once I arrived in New York, I set off on my own, lived on the streets for a few years… then after a certain confrontation with some of the people I used to ally myself with—'
'What happened?' she suddenly interrupted, looking worried, but had fought away her earlier tears.
'It doesn't matter,' this didn't appear to make her look anymore assured. If Ri was keeping it from her, it was apparently quite scary, although that assumption was true. 'After that though, I sought out a school and home for mutants, stayed there for as long as I could sanely do so, before transferring to a similar one near Boston. There, helped teach a few things about combat, learned better control over what I can do, and then the day I turned 21, I started work out in the city as a bartender. The moment I had enough money, I came out here to find you.'
'Looking for me… did you see dad…?'
'Yeah… came close to blowing his brains out, truth be told… didn't let him know it was me, though…'
'Oh.'
There was another long silence before Riley asked slowly, not sure if he wanted to hear an answer to it, 'After I left, did he ever…'
'It doesn't matter,' she replied, not needing him to finish before delivering an answer he'd given her all too recently, along with a sad smile.
'I should have blown out that motherfucker's brains, and then maimed the body,' Riley said, withholding as much rage as he could manage. It was after that he noticed that his sister had reached over and taken hold of his one hand for comfort. Which was ridiculous, he thought, he should have been comforting her. But the physical contact was welcome, being reminded that he HAD found her, and that was what was important. Ri leaned in and placed his lips to her forehead in a protective kiss. Keeping each other close, now really acknowledging how much each other's company had been missed, he muttered, 'You're coming back to the States with me.'
It didn't take much to convince her, though she did seem disappointed about leaving theatre school, however Riley reassured her he'd pay everything he had for her to be able to continue in a country which would be much safer for her. After all, Ri was vividly aware that he couldn't merely take Samantha away from her one current employment without there being dangerous repercussions. Distance was their best friend.
The entire time they took too get back, Ri stuffed her full of nutrients bars and fruit, and sugar. After a couple days, he was relieved to see her regaining some very necessary weight back already. He was also beyond relieved when she wasn't having any addiction detox effects, after not taking anymore illicit drugs, meaning it truly wasn't an addiction to them she'd built. Most importantly, it was phenomenal to see how much she could smile; enough that it more than made up for the fact that Riley rarely ever did.
Upon arriving back at the Massachusetts Academy, Samantha was put into a completely speechless awe to see where he brother had been living. That was only seeing the outside. Once they moved through the giant oak doors, while Ri was trying to be discreet, it was ruined when she literally squeaked, and had her eyes widen ten times their normal size. Immediately Christian had heard, looked towards them, and was now approaching, opening his mouth to speak as he wore a large grin. It was Riley's turn to widen his eyes, and he abruptly took hold of Sam and had shadowed them away before he heard any words escape Chris' mouth. There was no way that was going to be the first person Sam met here after he'd had that happen first hand.
Soon after, Riley had taken her to the kitchen to get her eating once more. They found some decent looking cereal, when out of nowhere, the Headmistress herself, Emma Frost, strolled in.
'My, my, now who do we have here? Another bed buddy for Riley, I assume?' she said in a bored, skeptical tone, and was taken aback by the emotion Ri put into a reply.
'No,' it was both fierce and icy, and had left no room for Sam to say anything, had she even wanted to. But, this caused Emma to tilt her head with curiosity, and a moment later, realization entered her eyes, along with some surprise. Of course this came after reading Riley's mind about it.
'Oh! My apologies darling… Riley, you wanted to speak with me, then?'
Knowing Sam would be fine for a few minutes, albeit confused as to what had just happened, Ri nodded to Emma and he moved out into the hallway, passing Dazzler on the way out, who was probably going into the kitchen for some sort of light fruit snack.
Outside, Riley was the first to start, 'She can stay here for a few weeks, right?'
'She's not a mutant, Riley,' was her immediate reply, though was more interested in seeing how much fight Ri had in him than she was actually keeping his sister out.
'And Filch was a squib, but Dumbledore made exceptions.'
'Wait, excuse me?'
'Look, it's not going to be for that long, I—' he continued arguing, knowing it wasn't worth it to try and explain his previous reference.
'I know. I read your mind, didn't I? And I can't say I think it's a good idea,' she was now speaking of what Ri had concocted, not Sam staying there.
'Well I don't give a fuck if you approve or not, I'm doing it for her, that's all I care about right now,' he replied fiercely. Emma sighed at him.
'Alright, but she sleeps in your room, doesn't interrupt classes, and doesn't cause any more goddamn drama than there already is. That includes absolutely NO return of a few of her former… activities.' With that, the conversation was over, Emma left, and as Ri re-entered the kitchen, he once again passed Dazzler, who was now on her way out, apple in hand.
Inside, Sam looked as if she'd seen a ghost, which—in a mansion for mutants—wasn't inconceivable.
'Riley,' she whispered towards him sounding to be in a shocked awe, 'that was Alison Blaire! You didn't say anything about her being here…!'
'Eh? …Oh, Dazzler! Yeah, yeah,' he replied, as if it was easy to forget that one of your housemates was a celebrity, looking away a little bit simultaneously.
'Was she one of those "bed buddies", Riley?' Samantha asked with honest curiosity, and possible teasing, following what the White woman had said not too long ago.
'No…no! You need to learn to ignore everything that Emma Frost says.'
'You did kiss her though,' she continued, unrelenting, 'you're more obvious than you think you are.'
Ri rolled his eyes. Besides, kisses didn't mean anything. However… an idea was rapidly forming in his mind.
It was a few days later, after Riley had approached Alison with a big enough favour to ask, that she was able to get back with him. She handed him a long list, written in her flowing handwriting, with numbers, names, and bulleted details covering the page.
'I was able to talk to a few friends, and the guys on this list here are pretty renowned in Hollywood… and more than happy to speak with you… see what your sister's got,' she said with a sparkling, warm smile.