Jubilee thundered down the stairs, struggling to get her leather jacket on.
"Get a move on, Jubes! I'm not gonna wait forever!" Logan shouted from the door, hiding a smirk.
"Keep your shirt on, Wolvie!" she shouted, waving her boot in her hand. "Jeeze, you give a girl only five minutes to get up and dressed and you expect her to be ready!" she pulled on her boot and zipped it up, pulling her leathers down over it.
Logan threw her helmet at her and got on his bike, firing it up.
"Where are we going, anyhow?" She shouted as they accelerated down the highway.
"Dunno." He shouted back, gunning the throttle. Jubilee grinned, her head pressed against his leather jacket.
Logan was grinning behind his own visor. He'd missed the little tear away while she was at school.
The sheriff's eyes narrowed as the sound of a powerful motorbike reached his ears. Shaking his head at his deputy, he reached out and grabbed his gun belt, strapping it on.
"Damned Hells Angels." He growled, grabbing his hat and stomping to the door. He spotted the bike outside the diner and walked over, preparing himself for a fight.
"Who owns the bike outside." He called out when he walked inside, his eyes taking a moment to adjust to the darker light.
"Um…that would be me…I mean, Logan. He's using the rest room." A young Asian girl with bright blue eyes blinked up at him, and she was the only other person there, save for the waitress. "Is there a problem? Is it the bike? I told him he shouldn't park there, but he wouldn't listen. Said it would be fine." She shook her head and put down the cup of coffee she had just taken from the waitress. "I'll get him to move it. Sorry."
"That's ok, kid. I thought you were Hells Angels…we've had a bit of trouble with them lately…you aren't, are you?"
Jubilee shook her head and smiled. "Nah. Family would kill me." She gestured to the seat in front of her. "Though they probably wouldn't be surprised." She sniggered, unzipping her jacket and putting it down beside her.
"My name is Eric Fry. You're not from around here, are you?" He asked, taking off his hat and smiling up at the waitress as she poured him a cup of coffee. "Thanks, Lola."
"Nah. We're from New York…well…Logan is…and I was…but I go to school in Salem…but I'm originally from LA…and Logan's from Canada…kind of…" she rambled.
"Every thing ok here?" Logan growled as he came up behind Jubilee, ready for a fight. Jubilee twisted around in the booth and smiled.
"He thought we were Hells Angels 'cos of your Hog. They've been having trouble with them." She moved over to let him sit down and handed him the menu, saying "I've already ordered you a steak. Rare."
"You remembered?" He sounded surprised and she rolled her eyes.
"Wolvie, you've ordered the same damn thing for the last week. For breakfast, lunch an dinner…of course I bloody well remembered!"
"you've been on the road a week?" Fry asked, nodding to Lola as she held up the menu, pointing to his normal meal.
"Give or take a few days." Jubilee yawned, stretching her back. "Summer holidays. He promised to take me away on a whirlwind adventure. So far, all I've seen is road kill."
"And the largest ball of twine." Logan muttered.
"And the largest ball of twine. Ooh oh! And that guy who flashed me in Hope and Glory."
Logan's head snapped around to stare at her. "You never told me that!" He protested angrily.
Jubilee shrugged, her cheeks blushing. "You were getting the bike fixed. It wasn't exactly a big deal…really…quite small, really. Seen bigger."
Fry sat back and watched the play of expressions on Logan's face.
"Jubilee, I am going to ask you this question, and I want you to answer me truthfully. When exactly have you seen bigger?" He asked carefully, his voice slightly strained.
"Well, remember that time when Bobby started playing with Hank's solution…the one that dissolves fabric…and he tripped in the lab…and it got sprayed on Scott, Hank and Remy, and all down Bobby's front…I was there…it was funny, really. Who knew that about Scott? And then there was the time that Angelo sleep walked out into the halls…didja know he sleeps naked? And then there was the time when Everett decided to go for a moonlight swim in the pool, in the nuddy…me an' Paige nicked his clothes." A sly smile crossed her face as she remembered a very embarrassed Everett running from bush to bush back to the School. "Don't worry, Wolvie, I'm as pure as the day you met me. I'm still jail bait!" she exclaimed as Lola put the plates down in front of them.
"Tell me you're eating more than that." Logan growled, seeing the small salad in front of her.
"I'm not that hungry."
Logan shook his head. "Miss, bring a plate of that roast chicken with all the trimmings. You've been eating like a goddamned sparrow all week, Jubes. You don't need to eat like that. You're small enough as it is."
She opened her mouth to protest, but closed it with a snap when he began to growl and she saw the look Fry was giving her.
"I'm gonna use the rest room." She muttered, shoving Logan out of the way.
"Damned supermodels. Give kids bad ideas." Logan growled, cutting into his dinner.
Fry nodded. "I know. I got a niece about the same age as her. Always on some goddamned new fad diet. Last one was eating nothing but white food." He rolled his eyes, stirring his spaghetti around his plate. "She looks fine to me."
"Seems like a nice quiet place you got here." Logan murmured as they waited for Jubilee's new meal.
"It is. Except when the Hells Angels come around. Last week, they put out most of the windows along the main street. And then tried to set fire to the library, tried to carry off the Librarian. They've been tearing around the County causin' trouble everywhere…"
"They still around?"
"I don't know. I'm just waiting for them to come back and cause more trouble."
"You got much back up here?" Logan cocked his head to the side as Fry shook his head.
"Not really. There's four of us. We're all on call 24 7, but we need to sleep some times. If things get real bad, we can call in help from the neighbouring towns and the State Troopers have offered their services. But it takes 'em a while to get here, so by the time the Angels are gone, they're arriving usually."
"I'll be back in a minute." Logan stood up and walked to the rest rooms. He came back with his arm slung around Jubilee's shoulder.
"How do you guys feel about mutants?" Jubilee asked brightly, cutting up her chicken.
"As long as they're not hurting anybody, I don't give a damn." Fry muttered, wondering what was going on. "Some people around here are mutants. Lola, for instance. If she touches a plant, she can get it to grow real fast."
"Jubes and me, we're staying around here for a while. If the Hells Angels come back while we're here, I'm offering my services."
"And mine." Jubilee's legs were swinging as she stuffed a fork full of meat into her mouth.
"You want to help?" Fry asked, sitting back in the booth. Jubilee nodded, taking a sip from her straw.
"Yup. Logan's good to have on your side in a fight."
"Let me guess, you guys are mutants?" Fry asked quietly. Logan nodded and let an inch or so of metal claws to slide out of his knuckles.
"I've been known to win a bar brawl or two." He admitted quietly.
"On his own…against the rest of the bar." Jubilee butted in dryly, trying to hide some of the chicken beneath a napkin.
Logan shrugged noncommittally as he leaned forwards and put some of his steak onto the plate.
Fry almost laughed at the power play going on between the two of them. Both were obviously used to getting their way, and it was definitely nothing new between the two.
"So, you guys obviously aren't related, but how'd you get to know each other?"
Jubilee and Logan shared a look.
"Kid saved my life a few years ago." Logan growled, turning his attention back to his dinner.
"And then he saved mine by giving me a home and a new family." Jubilee countered, taking the chicken back from under the napkin and putting the steak back on his plate. "Which, considering how annoying I can get, was a really nice thing to do. So, do you want our help or what?"
Fry's eyes went distant as he thought about what he was being offered. Logan let him alone with his thoughts, continuing the battle to get Jubilee to finish her dinner.
"I don't know what's come over me, but thank you. We would appreciate it. But the kid's not to get involved, ok? She's too young and I won't have her getting hurt on my conscience."
Logan nodded, ignoring Jubilee' protests. "Sure. Sounds good to me." He reached out and pinched Jubilee's lips shut with two fingers. "Shuddup, kid. If I bring you back with so much as a scratch on ya, whaddya think Jean and Frost would do to me? Or Scott? Hank? Chuck himself? I was told I could bring you on this trip, provided nothing happens. And if you do get hurt, that'd put paid to us going up to Canada for Christmas."
Jubilee humphed and sat back with a pout, her arms crossed tightly. "Man, they spoil all my fun. So, any nice digs around here?"
"This place is nice." Jubilee murmured through the connecting door between their two rooms. Hers was bright and airy with a TV in the corner…with Satelite TV.
"It will do." Logan growled, throwing his bag into the closet. "About what I said, it was just to keep him happy. You see something going down and I can't handle it, wade in like you usually do." He gave a small smile as she grinned impishly at him.
"Was planning on doing that anyway, Wolvie." She giggled, jumping onto the bed. "Gotta show those wannabe Hells Angels not to mess with honest folks." She kicked off her shoes and stretched. The last couple of nights they'd stayed in flea bitten motels and she was getting sick of having to let Logan check and see if she'd have company that night in the form of bed bugs.
"It's getting dark." Logan commented, drawing the curtains in her room.
"Want to check out the night life?" Jubilee said dryly, knowing that there was only one bar in the area.
"One horse town." Jubilee said softly, only loud enough for Logan's sensitive hearing. He nodded slightly, eyeing up what was around. Three old men were drinking in the corner, and two men that were young enough to fight were at the bar.
"Does it get busy around here?" He asked the waitress casually as she brought them their drinks. The woman shook her head.
"Those are our regulars. Not many around here, you know. Mostly non drinkers as well. It might get busy on a Saturday night. I hope not."
"Hells Angels?" Logan asked dryly, nodding as she closed her eyes and nodded.
"They were in here last week. We've just got the bar back to the way it was." She sighed, taking his money. "Any more, just holler."
"Get under the table." Logan growled, his ears picking up the sound of approaching bikes. "Ma'am, you might want to give the Sheriff a shout. Angels on the loose." He murmured, taking off his coat and cracking his knuckles. They'd been hanging around for three days and Jubilee had started to get antsy until Fry had started teaching her how to shoot his gun.
"Only come out if it looks like I can't handle this on my own." He warned, grabbing her head and pushing it further under the table. Jubilee nodded and crept further into the shadows. She blinked as twelve well built men stomped inside and then swallowed a lump in her throat when she saw their tattoos. These weren't wannabe Angels. They were the real deal. Logan stayed where he was, seemingly preoccupied with his drink…at least until the first heavy grabbed one of the waitresses and tried to drag her out of the door. Logan stood up and sighed, cracking the bones in his neck as he rolled it around and stepped into the brighter light.
"Put the lady down." He growled, walking forwards.
The fight was going well until someone slammed him in the back with a crowbar. Jubilee winced as Logan swung his fist around and heard the bones in the man's face crack. And then the tide of the fight turned when one man produced a gun just as several more Hells Angels poured in the door.
Jubilee screamed loudly as the man calmly drilled bullets into Logan's chest. She darted out from beneath the table and ran straight for him, tears pouring down her face as she screamed out his name. The Hells Angels stared in silence as she knelt by him, running her hands over his chest, trying to stem the flow of blood.
"NO!" She screamed. His eyes were glazed and she felt at his neck for a pulse, finding none. With wild eyes, she turned around, her now bloody hands blazing with her power.
"You killed him!" She screamed madly, her hands and eyes flaring blue. As Fry ran in the door with reinforcements from neighbouring towns, she was trapped between two men. A brief hesitation was all it took for one man to hit her over the head with a bottle. The man in front of her took the opportunity to thrust the broken pool cue into her chest. Jubilee dropped to her knees, looking down at the wood protruding from her top in a widening pool of red. She looked over at Wolverine and slowly crept over to him, ignoring the manic fight going on around her. When she reached him, she put her head down on his chest and held one of his hands in her own, cupping his cheek with the other.
There was a wail of sirens in the distance as the last Biker was brought down and Fry finally had a chance to look around him. Several of the law enforcers, various state troopers and deputy's were nursing minor wounds, with one or two having slightly more serious wounds. A deputy from the neighbouring town ran inside, shouting that there were ambulances on their way as well as an Air Ambulance.
Fry was listening to his deputy when his eyes lit on the two heaps in the corner. He ran forwards, slowing to a stop when he saw the pool of blood surrounding the two.
"Jubilee, is he ok?" He asked, going down on one knee and putting his hand on her shoulder. When she didn't move, he turned her over and shouted out for help.
Emma gratefully kicked off her high pumps as she sat down on the sofa at the Xavier Institute in Westchester. It had been a long day. Opposite her, Jean and Scott were sitting with their eyes closed as Jean nursed a migraine. Thanks to their telepathic link, Scott had a mild headache too. Charles and Hank sat in the corner attempting to finish the game of chess that had now been going on for nearly three weeks. Emma grinned as Sean carefully began to massage her foot and she sighed happily.
"Better, lass?" He crooned in his Irish brogue. She nodded wordlessly.
"Do you know, I'd rather go head to head with Magneto and Juggernaught than with Accountants. At least Drake is on my side." She groaned as he found the pressure point that made her melt.
"Thanks, Em." Bobby muttered, loosening his tie and taking a swig from a bottle of beer out of Logan's 'hidden' stash.
"Any time, Drake. You are saving me millions." She shot up, jerking her foot out of Sean's grasp, giving a small cry. Jean's eyes snapped open and she half-fell from the sofa, clutching at her head as Charles mimicked her actions, shouting out Jubilee's name.
"Professor…what is wrong?" Hank asked, leaning forwards to stop him from tumbling from his chair.
"Something's wrong…" He murmured, shaking his head to try to clear the pain.
"Logan…" Jean whispered.
"He's dead." Emma finished. "Jubilee…her grief…"
"Jubilee's projecting her grief onto the psi plane." Charles explained quietly as he began to recover, his face pale.
"Where are they?" Bobby asked carefully.
"No Hope. A place called No Hope."
Remy carefully guided the jet up into the air as the others behind him tried to deal with their grief over Logan's death.
"Are you sure you can't feel him?" Scott asked, looking for final assurance that Logan was dead. Jean shook her head. "I can't find him, Scott. He might be still alive, but if he is, he's in a deep coma." She suddenly shot to her feet again as Charles and Emma clutched at their heads.
"What is it?" Remy's head snapped around and he stuck the plane onto autopilot.
"So much pain…." Emma murmured. "Jubilee…" her eyes widened. "It's gone…the pain is gone…no…oh, no."
After a few minutes, Bobby finally managed to speak. "She might still be alive, though, right? You said you can't tell whether or not they are dead. She might be unconscious, or in a coma. Or just hidden…"
Fry looked up tiredly at the sound of a car pulling up outside the building. A strange group of people walked in, their faces strained.
"How can I help you?" He asked flatly, looking up at the clock. He had hoped to be gone to the hospital by now.
"We are looking for two friends of ours. We know they were here, but…" Jean broke off trying not to sound like she was going to cry.
"We're not sure if they are still here." Scott continued on, taking her hand and squeezing it tightly. "We think they might have been injured…"
"A lot of people were injured here yesterday." Fry muttered, sitting back down. "A bunch of Hells Angels decided they wanted to take one of the waitresses from the local bar. We had to get reinforcements from neighbouring towns and some State Troopers to help us."
"These weren't Hells Angels…" A tall black woman with snow white hair stepped forwards. "One was just a girl, she is fifteen, Asian. The other is about six foot tall, quite heavily built…"
"Logan and Jubilee?" Fry murmured, rubbing his face as he nodded.
Jean nodded, sensing the pain and weariness flooding from him. "Yes…have you seen them?"
"I'm just about to go out the door to see them. They were involved in that fight last night. If it wasn't for them, that poor woman would be god only knows in what state."
Jean sagged with relief. "They are still alive?" She breathed, having to sit down when Fry nodded again. She started to cry with relief, gripping Scott's hand tightly as it rested on her shoulder. He himself turned away from everyone, his head hanging low.
"What happened to them? I felt…we felt their pain from Westchester…" Emma demanded to know.
"Logan was shot nearly a dozen times in the chest. That's when the kid came out from under the table where he'd put her. She was holding her own until she got hit over the head with a bottle and…well, she's not doing so good. She got stabbed with a snooker cue. She hasn't woken up yet. Neither has Logan, but his wounds are starting to heal by themselves, and the doctors said that that's a good sign. I explained to them about his healing factor. They've replaced the blood he's lost and they are just leaving his body to it. They're afraid to disturb him. I spent most the night at the hospital with him, but I had to come back to deal with the paperwork those bastards have racked up. They were brought straight to the city jail. We aren't the only one's they've racked up offences with. They are wanted in four more counties and at least sixteen different towns. They won't be getting out any time soon."
Jean stopped at the door to Jubilee's room, her hand firmly pressed to her mouth. "Scott…"
"She's going to be ok, Jean." He murmured, urging her forwards, deathly afraid he was lying to his wife. Jubilee looked bad. She was hooked up to so many machines, with tubes going in and out of her, draining fluids and replacing them. As Jean stood beside the bed, the doctor approached Hank and Scott and introduced himself.
"How bad is it?" Scott asked.
"The wood entered her at an angle, puncturing her lung. Several splinters were millimetres away from her heart…two actually penetrated it. We have repaired the damage that was done as best we can. Her head, on the other hand is another matter. She has a fractured skull. Several splinters of bone did penetrate her brain cavity…and I cannot promise that she will wake up, either soon or at all." He said gravely. "If there is anyone to be notified, I would do so, and quite soon. There is only a slim chance she will recover."
"The kid…" Ororo looked up from where she sat by his bed and stood, leaning over him.
"Logan."
"Storm…the kid…" He said thickly, his eyes blinking in the light. "Where is she? Why isn't she here?"
Storm looked down at the sheet, unwilling to meet his eyes. "Logan…she is very badly hurt." She said softly, pressing him back against the sheets. "As are you. You must keep still. Your body is finding it difficult to repair you."
"Don't...care." he growled with a wheeze, coughing slightly. He threw the sheet aside and struggled to get up, having to brace himself as the room span. "Want…need to see her…"
"Bobby get a wheelchair." Ororo ordered crisply as she tried to support his weight. A few minutes later, they wheeled him into the room holding most of the X-men team, clustered around the bedside.
"Logan…" Scott trailed off, swallowing convulsively. Logan nodded, siginifying that no words were needed. Ororo brought him to the side of the bed, and he reached out with a wince to take her limp hand.
"I tried to protect her." He growled softly. "I told her to stay under the table…"
"When you were shot, she stood over your body and fought them off for a time." Jean murmured from her place at the other side of the bed. "Logan…the doctors don't think she is going to make it…"
Logan nodded, his eyes closed. He could smell the imminent death in the room.
"I know, Jean…I can smell it in the air. He's comin' fer her an' there's nothin' we can do…but wait and see. This is her battle…"
"How long has he been sitting there?" The doctor asked the nurse as they peered in the glass window in the door.
"Three days now. Since he woke up. He won't move. We've tried…"
"At least she's looking better." The doctor looked over the chart carefully. "All her Stat's are up."
Jubilee clutched at Logan's hand fearfully as she jolted out of her dream, a shooting pain rushing through her chest.
"Easy, kid. Easy. Yer ok. Yer gonna be ok."
He watched her eyes widen, and she slowly turned her head until she was looking at him, and wonder filled her face.
"Wo…ali…" She stammered fearfully, and he raised her hand to brush it along his stubble.
"I'm alive, kid. An' so are you, even though you gave us a bit of a fright.
"No…pulse…dead." She whispered, still slightly disbelieving.
"It takes more than a couple of bullets to kill me, sweetheart. But about our trip to Canada…"