Reunion

Reunion

Disclaimer: X-Men characters and settings are property of Marvel and their respective owners. Renegade, Talon, and all other original characters are joint property of me and Leslie Brown and may not be used without our permissions.

The street was quiet. The sun was barely up as a rather large square platform settled on the pavement beside a row of mailboxes next to a block of town homes. Three people dressed in street clothes jumped to the ground. The youngest of the three, who appeared to be of Chinese descent, looked up at the woman with white hair and dark skin.

"Are you sure this is the place?" he asked nervously.

The woman fingered a rumpled bit of paper. "How should I know, Ice? This is the address. If we don't hurry the real mailman is going to come and our goose'll be cooked."

The third member of the group, a skinny blue-furred man looked warily around.

"You might want to drop that letter already. There's a UPS truck three blocks away."

The boy's eyes widened and he bolted toward the row of mailboxes. At that moment, a small woman with dark brown hair emerged from her house carrying a long white cane.

The white-haired woman stiffened and looked toward her. "Well, Ice, this is the right address. We'd better make tracks before she hears us."

The blue-furred young man smiled, his eyes shifting to the woman. "Hey! Not bad. I mean let's go!" at that precise instant, the UPS truck made the turn into the complex and roared toward them. The Chinese boy lunged toward the mailboxes and forced the letter into the still locked door just enough so that it wouldn't be on the ground and then bolted for the platform which rose into the air.

"What was that?" the woman mumbled as she moved toward the mailboxes.

"Hey!" yelled the driver of the truck. "You might wanna let me take a look at that. I just saw some aliens take off from here like they was in a God awful hurry."

The woman paused. "Uh, are you okay?"

"Yeah. A'course I am. You didn't know the earth was bein' envaded? They's everywhere, everywhere I tell ya! Last week I saw this woman buy five eight-packs of D batteries. Now who needs that many D batteries? She drinks'em I tell ya. That's what she does with'em. Oh, and just last week I saw one'a them circles in my yard."

The woman cleared her throat and elbowed her way past him to get at her mailbox.

"Sir, I'm not worried about aliens. If they want me they can come and get me. I've learned most of them have better sense than we do. Besides, I've got a job interview in half an hour and I really don't have time for your story."

The man just stared at her as she approached the box and took out her keys.

"Don't touch that letter!" he yelled from behind her as she reached out to unlock the box.

At last, she turned to face him. "Sir, if you don't get away from me!" she reached out and let her hands brush the letter, a puzzled expression on her face. Instantly, years of former training came into play and she paused. What if the letter wasn't really a letter? She carefully felt the edge of the envelope, and shrugged. "There's a CD in here." She mumbled. Finally, she decided the letter was safe and pulled it from the mailbox and retrieved the rest of her mail.

"Ma'am? If you could, tell me what them aliens said to you."

The woman sighed and turned for her house. "Now who'd be sending me CDs?" she mumbled. "Maybe it's just one of those stupid AOL demos."

A few minutes later, she sat speechless, staring at her computer. "Okay, so the Institute for Higher Learning's class of nineteen eighty nine is having a reunion? Great. Don't they know all the genetic junk's been boiled out of my blood now?" she sighed. "Oh who cares? I'm sure everybody'll be glad to see me. Gees, I wonder who's left? I think I'll call Jessica and see if she got one. This should be interesting with two Wildcats. Maybe they meant her instead of me. It wouldn't hurt to see."

Elsewhere:

"Matthew Ian, Carole Vera, I want the both of you to stop your nonsense and play together nicely. If you don't…" the blue eyed female sighed heavily in her hands and shook her head at the wall. She was hunched over a stack of papers… most of them scattered in an organized case of chaos. "Mommy needs only a few more minutes to get this done and then we can go to the park."

"PARK!" came the unison shouts from the living room.

Jessica groaned again and stood up. All of Cyclops' Danger Room sessions were a breeze compared to the challenges of motherhood and the "real world", as it were. Her novels were going nowhere and she was starting to develop a headache from trying to push her stubborn muse into action. A few more minutes of pushing and listening to the two fighting, she gave in. "All right. Find your shoes and coats and we'll head out now. Mommy's going to check the mail. Make sure your room is picked up before you get your coats on."

"Okaaaaaaaaaay," came the expected reply.

As she reached the mailbox, Jessica found herself pausing at the edge of the road. That's odd, she thought. I haven't smelled him in years. Her eyes scanned the surrounding area; her hearing sharpening a bit as she let a bit of her former self come to surface. All right, I've been watching too much of those poorly made X-Men movies. I'm starting to get paranoid. She 'returned' to herself and turned to the mailbox… silently thanking her lucky stars that she had before the hot-rodding motorcyclist roared by. With a quick flick, she opened the mailbox and grabbed a handful of envelopes. "Bill, bill, bill," she sighed, scanning through them as she crossed the road again. She stopped suddenly. "Not a bill…" she mumbled as she opened a letter from the Institute. "A reunion? Who has time for one of these?" Shaking her head again, the brown haired mother of two walked into her home and laid everything on the table just inside the door.

Later that evening, when the minions were in bed, Jessica pulled out a worn trunk from the back of her oversized closet. Of course, she had to throw off several blankets and some old posters, but what was most difficult was finding the key that went with it. After almost an hour of digging through every nook, cranny, and drawer she had, she successfully raised a small silver key into the air from her spot on the ground. "Finally," she breathed, inserting the key into the lock and opening the trunk… whose hinges groaned in protest. It seems that it had been quite happy to never have been opened again. Inhaling sharply, Jessica began to shift through the memories. "The pieces of the search-and-find, my old stasis device, Aardvark's food bowl, a class picture… hey! Talon's in here. I wonder if she got one of these letters." Stretching the crick out of her back, Jessica grabbed her cell phone and dialed.

"Hello?" came a bored voice on the other end.

"Hi, Cousin. I've got a question."

The voice paused. "Jess, come on. We haven't spoken for almost seven years and the best you can come up with is 'I have a question'?"

Jessica paused. "Well if you'd answer the question, we might have a normal conversation."

Leslie sighed. "Okay then, what's the question already?"

"Did you get a letter in your mailbox from the IOHL this morning?"

There was a long pause. "Yes. I did."

"Are you going?"

Leslie laughed. "Uh, let's see. I handed in my teleporter and all my gear and I'm by myself in this apartment with…"

At that moment a disembodied voice floated across the room from downstairs.

"Hello? Hello? Are you receiving me?"

"What was that?" Jessica asked.

"I, don't, know." Leslie said. Jessica could hear by the sound of her footsteps that she was on her feet and moving stealthily toward the landing at the top of her stairs.

"Helllloooo?" called the voice. "You've gotta be there. The GPS of the letter indicates that it's inside your house."

"Uh, Jess?" Leslie said nervously. "I think Big Brother's found me. I'm not sure if I should go down there."

"Is it a person?" Jessica asked.

Leslie sighed. "No. I'm still the only one here but my television is talking and I know it's not on because that's my roommate's set and I don't know how to use the remote."

"Be careful, Talon." Jessica said as she could hear Leslie descending the stairs.

"Hello?" Leslie called.

"Hello?" answered the Television. "Something's wrong. I still can't see you."

"There might be a good reason for that." Leslie said. "What if I don't want you to see me?"

There was a pause and the voice cleared its throat. "Then we might have a little problem. If I can't see you I can't get you in range, and if I can't get you in range…"

Suddenly, Jessica broke in. "Oh! Talon, I don't know who that is but, I know what they're trying to do."

Leslie stopped in the small doorway between the bottom of the stairs and her living room. "Okay. What are they doing?"

"They did the same thing to me when I was a baby. Mom told me about it. They teleported me using the television."

Leslie laughed. "Uh yeah. I don't want to end up like that guy on Timeline who got turned inside out by being teleported using the fax machine principle. I think I'm happy with my heart inside my chest, not out of it."

"I assure you, you have nothing to worry about." Jessica said. "Just walk in front of the TV with everything you need for the trip and wait."

Talon sighed. "Okay but if my foot ends up in Frankfurt and my eyes end up in Ireland my mouth will be blaming you."

"Ha, ha." Jessica said. "Just do it."

Leslie sighed. "Right. Well, I suppose I need to end this call now or I'll get torn into pieces by the conflicting signals."

"I'll come when Andrew gets home." Jessica said.

Leslie was confused. "Andrew? Who's Andrew?"

"Never mind. I'll fill you in later." With that they hung up.

"Okay." Leslie said to the television. "I'm coming. What do I need to bring with me?"

"Nothing yet." said the voice. "I need to get a look at you to see if Cerebro has your facsimile in the system." Leslie stepped in front of the television. "Yeah!" said the voice. "You're the woman from this morning. This is going to be sweet… I mean no. You're the right person. Mr. Summers was talking like he wanted to speak with you and someone called Renegade. You might want to plan on spending the night. Several maybe. Then I could meet… I mean then he can discuss what he needs to discuss with you."

Leslie paused. "Who are you?" she asked nervously.

"Ummmmm, the future love of your life? No. I'm kidding. I'm Furball."

Talon sighed. "If you don't quit with the flirtatious remarks I'll be changing your name to hairball and coughing you up."

"Ouch! Okay. I'm sorry. A standard issue overnight bag should be enough."

Five minutes later, a bit dazed but otherwise unharmed, Talon stood in the large entrance hall of the Institute of Higher Learning. There were people everywhere, but none of them seemed to know she was there.

"Um did that guy's teleport malfunction and make me invisible or what?" she mumbled.

"You might not want to make a habit of talking to yourself. People might wonder about you." said a soft voice with a German accent.

Talon's heart leapt and she whirled around. "Night crawler! Hi! What's happening?"

"A lot. Would you like an agenda? I'm supposed to be handing them out to all the alumni. Let's see. Doctor McCoy gave me two Braille ones. Let me see if I can find them." He mumbled, digging through a large sack of little booklets. "Yes. Here's one."

Talon paused. "Who's the other one for?"

Nightcrawler shrugged. "I don't know. You were part of the class of eighty nine not me."

Talon took the nine-page booklet and scanned it cursorily. "Okay. This is going to be interesting."

Back with Jessica:

The door to the bedroom creaked a bit as Andrew tried to creep into the room. Jessica let him think she hadn't heard him as she lay there listening to her headphones. He had always asked her why she listened to it on the lowest setting and here she was about to tell him why. Lifting her eyes to him as he leaned in to plant a kiss on her head, Jessica smiled at him. "Hey, handsome," she said.

"Hey, baby," he said. His deep bass voice rippled through the room at a low rumble. "How was your day?"

"Interesting," Jessica replied as she popped her earbuds out of her ears. "I got a reunion invitation for my old class and I was thinking of going."

"That's great," Andrew replied, lying on the bed next to her. "When is it?"

"This weekend," she replied nervously. "They had a bit of trouble tracking me down and I finally got the invitation today. I laughed when I saw the dates, but I really want to go."

Andrew shook his head in disbelief. "This weekend? What school is it?"

"I trust you completely, Andrew," she said hesitantly. "And I hope you can forgive me for not telling you earlier. Well, you know how I kept joking that I wasn't exactly human?"

The wiry male nodded his head. "Yeah, I do. You told me just yesterday."

"Yeah, well, it's true. I'm not human. I'm a mutant." Jessica shifted her form, eyes closed in fear, until she was half human, and half panther. When she opened her eyes, now a green in color, she saw her lover with a shocked expression on his face. She couldn't help the mournful expression that crossed her face/muzzle at his reaction. Shifting back, she turned to leave the room. "At least let the kids stay the night and then we'll be gone."

Andrew shook his head clear, practically leaping off the bed to stand next to her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you think you're going?"

Her head hanging, Jessica shook her head in defeat. "Your expression said it all, darlin'."

Chuckling, Andrew lifter her off her feet and tossed her gently on the bed. "You still can't read people, baby. I am… surprised, but you being half cat doesn't change anything. I'm not throwing you out." He crawled next to her, covering them both with the lighter of the two furry blankets. "Did Jackie know?" he murmured sleepily.

"No, I never told him."

"Good."

Jessica smiled to herself as she drifted off to sleep, images of the Institute and all her former colleges rolling through her head. She made a mental note to call Talon in the morning.

Two days later:

Jessica mashed her teleport button, antiquated as it was, even though the current hand was raised in a farewell wave. She watched her family dematerialize from in front of her and the familiar scene that was the Institute of Higher Learning appeared before her eyes. It hadn't changed much, but it wasn't exactly as she had last left it. She had left it a little smaller. It had grown a little. Sighing, she looked around for a familiar face.

"Thought you weren't comin', kid," grunted a harsh voice from her left.

Spinning around, Jessica smiled. "For a moment, so did I, Logan."

"You stayin' the whole weekend?"

"Yeah, I am. Where are the others?"

"Inside. I had a feelin' you were comin'. Them kids o' yours must be a handful if they're anything like their mother."

Jessica heard the smirk in his tone and nodded. "They're manageable, considering they're dad."

"Heard that didn't end well."

"No, but the current one seems well enough. I've already told him what I am. He's ok with it and I smelled no deceit on him."

Logan grunted, his claws sliding out of their sheaths briefly. "Well, if this one becomes a problem, you know where I am."

Jessica nodded. "Yeah, I always have, Logan. It's good to know that some friends never fade."

Throwing an arm around the female, Logan pulled her to his side. "Com' on. The others are waitin' for ya."

Leaning into the hardened, seasoned, cigar-smelling warrior, Jessica smiled. "Yes, I suppose they would be."

They made their way to the dinning room. Dinner was set on the table, but there was no one else in the room yet… only Logan and Jessica. "Give 'em a moment," Logan grunted.

Jessica only looked confused. "Ooookaaay."

"A lot's changed since ya left." Logan said.

Jessica nodded. "Yeah. I noticed. I can't wait to see the professor. Where is he?"

Logan paused and cleared his throat nervously.

Catching the silence and its meaning, Jessica looked up at him, her face drained of color. "No. No!" she said in a disbelieving whisper.

Logan nodded and looked away from her at the sound of footsteps and voices.

"Mutanemia Duplex. May twenty ninth." He said shortly.

Most of Jessica's happy mood sank away through her toes, but some of it revived again when she saw a weird-looking knot of bodies fighting its way into the room.

The one in the middle appeared to be shorter than the other two and didn't seem as if it wanted to be there. "Hey, look, I can walk you know! Doggone you, Kay! Put me down! Beast, I can't believe you went along with this. There's no one in here except Wolverine and I think he'd much rather talk to me on his own… ou! Time." At that moment both of the larger figures let out simultaneous yelps and a very flustered Talon fell to the floor rear first.

Beast seemed about to collapse with laughter, leaning on a table. Kay, now a rather handsome man in his early twenties, bent to help Talon to her feet. "It was still funny." He babbled. "The way you reacted when he just scooped you up."

Talon rubbed her head and tried to get her shoulder-length hair to lay flat.

"Oh, Wildcat!" Logan gasped. "You hacked your hair! Why'd ya do that?"

Talon blinked, still shaking off her abduction. "It was hot. Besides what do you care about my hair?"

Logan laughed. "Because there's less to pull you around with."

Talon groaned. "Please don't embarrass me. Could somebody find my cane? I think it's wrapped around the artificial plant outside."

Finally, Jessica decided to make her presence known. "Hi, Talon!"

Talon raised her head and stood frozen for a minute before coming unglued. "Hi, Jess! It's been… forever. What's happening?"

Instantly the other four melted into the crowd that was hurriedly filling the dining room. As the two stood talking, Jessica noticed several new faces in the crowd. There was a tall, lanky blue-furred young man who looked a lot like Beast, a nervous-looking preteen girl who appeared to be a centaur, and several new staff members. Deep within the crowd, Jessica saw another face, one that she recognized but didn't believe. At first, she thought she was staring into the face of Magneto, but another look at the eyes made her pause. They were brown, but the expression in them was anything but cordial. Quietly, she elbowed Talon. "Hey, Les. Do you sense anything weird around here?"

Talon looked up at her. "Jess, I can't. Remember? My blood was almost pasteurized a year ago. I'm as tele-blind as a human."

Jessica frowned. "Something's not right about that blond headed guy in the corner."

Talon stiffened. "What's wrong about him?" she asked.

Jessica shrugged. "I don't know. It's just the way he's looking at us."

Talon blinked. "How's that?"

"I don't know. He's looking through us like we're insects."

Talon turned to her cousin. "Okay. You go check out the weird kid, I'll handle the crowd. I've gotta find Cyclops anyway. He said he wanted to talk to me."

Jessica put a hand on her shoulder. "I think I know what he wanted to tell you."

Talon looked up at her cousin. "What is it?"

Jessica sighed. "I'd rather not discuss it right now. I've got some exploring to do."

Leslie turned and moved off into the crowd only to be grabbed by the shoulder by Rogue. "Hey you! Long time no see. Are you planning on coming back to school?"

Talon shook her head. "I don't know. Right now I'm trying to get used to being solid again. That's enough work in itself."

Rogue nodded sympathetically. "I'm teaching flying this year. Wahoo. It's fun but not when I have to keep up with a buncha flyin' five-year-olds."

Talon smiled, but her eyes and ears were trained on her cousin who was gabbing her way across the room toward the strange kid. Before she could politely excuse herself, a familiar footfall sounded on the marble floor.

Rogue wasn't even fazed and continued with her story. "I mean one broke her nose, two started scrappin', and then…"

"Wildcats one and two!" boomed Cyclops. "Come with me, please. Furball, you come too."

Talon groaned. "Oh no. So much for peace and quiet."

AN: Hello and welcome to a year long co-written work between me (Jhessill) and my cousin, Leslie. She visited last year during Thanksgiving and we started writing just like we used to do a decade ago when we were in high school. Work and jobs and general moving made it impossible to keep in touch, but finally we back in touch when I moved back down south. So, anyway, here's the result of two starved muses finally getting to a feast.

Renegade: Shut up and get on with it.