Disclaimer: I own nothing when it comes to this story. Well, maybe only Lucky.
Author's Note: This is my first X-Men fanfic. Just an idea I wanted to write down, inspired by my own hitchhiking experiences. In this story Rogue and Bobby are an item and Logan/Wolverine is tamed somewhat, meaning he's ok with being at the mansion and being one of the X-Men. Well, you'll know what's going on as you read it.
To all of my Pitch Black fanfic readers: don't worry, I'll continue with Whatever It Takes. I just needed to get this one out, you know.
Any feedback is really welcome.
LUCKY
by sirli
God, I'm starving, Lucky thought and shifted the heavy guitar-case strapped to her back. Her black duffle bag in hand she headed to the gas-station's toilets.
Hitching rides can be fun and easy, except when it comes to two things. Personal hygiene and the overall uncertainty of what the tomorrow would bring. Safety wasn't such a big deal for her. Things just happened to go the way she wanted them to. Thus, her nickname.
Lucky had gotten used to (and with experience also skilled at) talking men out of wanting to fuck her. A little joke here, a fitting lie there and no whining anywhere made the men think she's too good to be treated badly by anyone. She was one of the guys, always had been. Lucky thought she's be a great actress with all the different roles she'd played in her drifter's life in order to stay out of harms way. And it always worked.
Now it was time to take care of the personal hygiene part. God knows when might be the next time she'll be able to empty her bladder. If the driver doesn't feel like stopping, she'd just have to hold it. Sighing, she pushed the door open to the toilet. Lucky was pleased to find it relatively clean and completely empty. Just the way she liked it.
After a while she was half way through washing up. Her long gipsy skirt was pulled up as she was washing her long feet in the sink and shaving one. A man pushed the door open and came in.
Lucky guessed the man hadn't seen her at first. But when he did, he stopped on his tracks and stared at her with obvious surprise. She couldn't blame him though. Lucky decided it would be wise to say something.
Without stopping what she was doing or even looking up, she said: "Unisex bathrooms can be a real bitch, huh? Hope me shaving doesn't ruin your image of women as born beauties." Her tone was casual and she herself very relaxed. No need to make a fuss over such a small thing here. It's not like this was her first time being in this kind of situation.
The man shrugged and turned to take a piss. Lucky saw that he was a trucker, so she knew not to expect any trouble. Truckers were nice if you treated them right. So she only said: "No worries. Hope me taking a leak doesn't ruin your image of men as gods that we are." Both of them laughed at that and the man opened his zipper, back turned to Lucky.
When the man was done, he left abruptly. Guess his mama never taught him to wash his hands, she thought and shook her head in mock resentment. Lucky knew there had been plenty of times she had had to use leaves to wipe her ass and only dream of modern luxuries. Because of lack of money she couldn't also afford a hotel room and therefore slept wherever she could. That left her without showering opportunities more often than she would have liked. But just to humor herself, she added bitter Men! in her head.
By then she had done all the washing up possible in the current conditions and turned to her bags. A leather wallet on the floor caught her eye. It must be that man's, she thought.
The woman only smiled gratefully and picked it up while saying a silent thank you to her guardian angel – the Lady Luck. Just when I was hungry! She headed out and thought about all the good things she can now buy for her late breakfast.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Xavier had called all the X-Men together to his office. The women – Storm, Jean and Rogue, where sitting while the men – Scott, Logan and Bobby stood behind them facing Xavier.
Scott cleared his throat. "What's our mission?" he asked since he was the team leader.
Xavier leaned over his desk a bit and his face was troubled as he explained: "I have a signal from a very powerful mutant. She's somewhere between Seattle and Portland. I need to search a little deeper for her, but it shouldn't be difficult. I want you to go and bring her here. But be careful – there is something very…foggy about her."
The team was silent as they processed the information. Scott was first to open his mouth again. "We'll get the yet ready. Can you send the coordinates of her whereabouts over there?"
Xavier nodded. "Yes, you can go ASAP. She'll be a great help for our cause."
Nobody commented that since there was no reason to make useless words. The team had its comfortable routine. They all knew how to do their thing.
They landed a while later on a deserted road a little off their destination. Logan was grumpy since he didn't like flying and Scott always tried to bug him because of that. Wolverine sure as hell didn't keep himself from voicing his anger. "One Eye, you're just begging for me to kill you!" he roared after he was safe on solid ground again.
Cyclops held back his laughter as he oh so innocently explained to the Wolverine: "I had to do that Death Circle to avoid hitting a bird!"
Logan growled back: "Sure. There are dozens of birds flying 16 miles up. And you have those miraculous reflexes to turn the plane, flaying three times the speed of sound before the fucking bird comes even to the sight."
The rest of the team only laughed. It was the same old same old. Rogue came to pat Logan's shoulder, but had to go back to stand by her boyfriend's side when she couldn't hold back the maniacal laughter.
"Let's just go already," Wolverine snarled and they headed to a small diner just a little off the highway. That's what Xavier's data said the new mutant should be at.
The X-Men entered the diner. The place looked just like any other diner slash truck stop. Logan had seen plenty of those in his time. Since there were no other women there except for the middle-aged waitress, Scott led the team to Lucky. Logan gave her a once over, his natural instinct. Not bad, he thought to himself. Long light red hair and female curves. Fuckable, he summed it up. She was sitting, but Logan estimated her to be tall, about 5'9.
Lucky was in the middle of hunching through her second plate of pancakes with strawberry souse. Yummy! But then four strangers scooped themselves in her booth and two other men stood near her table. To say she was surprised would be underestimating it. It's not like she had alien contact every other day. And that's the impression Lucky got seeing them in those stupid leather costumes.
"Excuse me? I'm eating there," she told them annoyed.
Scott, who was also sitting down, spoke: "Hello. We're the X-Men and were here to help you."
Lucky raised an eyebrow as she didn't understand what he was talking about. "I don't need any help and I think you got me confused with someone else," she said to them with compassion. If that's his regular pickup line, then he was the one needing help and not her.
"You don't have to be afraid of us. We're mutants," Scott tried again.
Lucky thought a bit before replying again: "That's good for you, honey. I totally support the whole coming out to the open thing. Now, if you guys don't mind, I'd like to finish my breakfast."
Scott, as well the rest of the team, seemed a little put off by her casualness. Jean leaned forward as she said: "You don't have to hide from us. We know you're a mutant too and we're here to take you to New York, to a perfect place for our kind to have a normal life."
Jean sounded so honest and comforting, but Lucky was getting tired of this stupid game. "Listen, I'm telling you that you have me mistaken for someone else. Cuz I'm not a mutant," she said as if explaining a very simple thing to a total idiot. After a beat she continued: "Not that I have anything against you people. Rock on, but somewhere else please, because I'd really like to eat now."
The team exchanged worried glances. Maybe Xavier had made a mistake? Maybe they had revealed their identity to a complete stranger? Maybe this meant real trouble?
Without a single word they left the diner. No need to make a scene. As they stood outside in the late summer sun Jean connected the professor and had a quick telepathic conversation with the man. No, she was it, professor confirmed. Jean signaled to her fiancé and to the others as well that they had been right. Logan cursed and Bobby tried to seem like a man by throwing in his own vulgar vocabulary.
"Guys, lets just wait her here and then talk again," Rogue suggested.
Jean shook her head. "It's so strange. When I looked into her head it really seemed like she's just a regular human."
Scott shrugged. "But if the professor is sure she's the one we came for, then we must give it another try."
Logan wasn't that pleased with this situation either. "If she doesn't want to come, then, why on earth should we try to save her? She doesn't want to be saved, Cyc," he told to he man next to him.
Storm was confused too, but she suggested talking again in somewhat more private place might give better results. "Maybe she was afraid someone would overhear us?"
"We should just crab her and take her to the mansion before the Brotherhood finds her," Bobby suggested, but such brutal behavior was unacceptable for the most of X-Men.
Lucky was puzzled by the weird incident. Who were those people? She asked herself over and over again. Then she paid her bill and both hands full with her bags, headed outside. Another beautiful day to stand by the road with her cardboard sign. Mexico was still far away.
She saw the leather clowns the moment she stepped outside. They had been waiting for her in the shade of the diner, leaning against the wall. Lucky turned the other way, thinking that maybe giving those freaks the cold shoulder will make them go away. No such luck.
The man with red sunglasses walked by her side. "Nobody can hear us now, so let's talk."
Lucky rolled her eyes, but didn't bother herself with the replay. That encouraged Storm to continue the team's sell-speech. "We know you're a mutant and you don't need to be afraid of us. We can help!"
"Hey!" Lucky finally snapped. "I ain't a mutant and the only way you can help me right now is by getting lost! Got that?"
Scott sighed and asked very calmly. "You're name is Lucky, right?"
Lucky stopped abruptly. "How you know my name?" she asked with growing suspicion. Just who the fuck were these people?
"And you're 22? Born at Florida? Being traveling for four years all over the states and currently headed to Central America?" Scott kept on asking. With every passing word Lucky's mouth fell more and more open. This was creeping her out!
The silence lasted for a good half a minute until Lucky was startled by the passing truck. With fear she carefully asked Scott: "What the hell do you want from me?" Sure as hell she didn't want to get on the wrong side of those people. Nope, she didn't want to die.
Scott tried to smile and told her: "We want you to at least give us a chance, to talk to you."
Lucky nodded. She was so numb. Scott led her away from the highway and the rest of the team fell in step around them. No one said a word until they reached the far end corner of the truck stop. There weren't anyone around. That scared Lucky even more. Perfect place to shoot her between the eyes and all…
Jean took over the talking since she could sense Lucky's fear and thought she might know how to push the right buttons. "We know about you because out leader is a very powerful telepath. His name is Xavier and he told us that you are a powerful mutant. Maybe your powers haven't surfaced fully yet. But they will, Lucky. We would like to welcome you to join the School for the Gifted. It's a perfect place where no angry humans could hurt you, Lucky. You'd be at home there."
Lucky looked at Jean like she was some mad woman. "This sounds as if I'm being recruited to the CIA," Lucky stated. She was still afraid and that warm look in the redhair's eyes didn't help any. There were always hidden motives if a stranger was overly nice to you. That meant danger.
Jean laughed softly, but not overly so. "The X-Men are nothing like CIA. We are Xavier's team to fight for the peace between humans and mutants and to protect the mutants."
"I'm not a mutant, so I don't need your protection," Lucky told her.
Logan cut in since he was tired of this whole talking business. "You will need it when the Brotherhood finds you," he said and lit his cigarette.
The smell of tobacco overwhelmed Lucky's senses and she welcomed it. Logan must have seen it since he held his pack out. Lucky didn't hesitate. She scooped one out and took the lighter Logan offered to light it. God, the first smoke of the day is always the best, Lucky thought blissfully.
To enjoy herself fully, Lucky dropped her bags and sat on them, while hungrily inhaling the smoke. Logan crouched next to her and talked to her as the rest of the team watched. This time Lucky didn't mind it that much – she had plenty of time to kill and she just got a free cigarette out of it. Nice.
"We ain't the bad guys. But the Brotherhood is. What it comes down to is, do you want to kill people or do you want peace. Simple as that."
Lucky exhaled and watched the smoke as she answered Wolverines unspoken question. "I ain't gonna kill no one, man. I'm just minding my own business and I'd really appreciate if you'd listen to me when I say I'm not a mutant."
Logan didn't let her stubbornness distract him. "When the Brotherhood gets you, they'll brainwash you. They'll turn you into a killer." Lucky didn't know what to say. She just smoked. Logan was already putting out his smoke, when he spoke once more: "Give us a chance. We came a long way for you and as you've seen we ain't hostile."
Lucky got up too since it was weird to be the only one sitting down. "I have plans, you know!"
Logan saw an opportunity and told her: "Come now and see it for yourself. If you don't like it at the mansion, then Xavier will buy you the ticket wherever you'd like."
That was Lucky's breaking point. Nothing to lose. If those people wanted to give her money, she was game. It's not her fault after all, that those fools had made a mistake thinking she was a mutant. "Fine," she told the team with a casual smile.
The team was headed to god knows where, but Lucky followed them. Just so to make a point, she added to no one particular: "Traveling is not about the destination, but the road there."
Rouge was next to her and because of her own experiences she knew exactly what she meant. "You're doing the right thing. Trusting Luck to take you off your course. You just might find something better than what you were looking for."
Lucky smiled at that. Luck was her magic word.
Author's Note: So, what do you think? Should it be ONESHOT?
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