TITLE: Must Be The Music: Show Your Hand
AUTHOR: Beaubier
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: .rentATgmailDOTcom
FANDOM: X-Men: Evolution
PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Any time, just let me know!
CATEGORY: Action/Friendship/Romance…? Hell if I know.
RATINGS/WARNINGS: Rated T for language
SUMMARY: Eighth story in Must Be The Music. Havok becomes the new hotness, but before he can enjoy it too much, gets wrapped up in Berzerker's Family Issues—with the Morlocks. This one has Forge, Nerd Love, and Gummi Bear Adventures.
DISCLAIMER: I didn't invent the X-Men and I have nothing to do with Evolution. If you somehow think I do: Thanks for the compliment, mislaid thought it may be.
NOTES: This series is a sort of sequel to Thicker Than Water (which was a sequel to Relativity and then Here Comes Trouble), but it's not necessary to read that saga to catch on here. These stories will be written in chronological order beginning a few months after the end of TTW. They're stand-alone, but this one does have some minor crossover in the beginning with the last one, Love in Plaster.
This is Alex's. If The current line up is Wanda, Warren, Jean-Paul, Jean, Rogue, Sam, Pietro, Alex, Scott, Aurora. Two more to go!
WARNING: Boys kiss each other in this story. Yeah, not really warning-worthy, but I don't want to hear it!
Risty deserves double cheers for this one again: She not only beta reads with her skillz of crazy awesome, but I also based my Forge on hers. Hers is a lot weirder and cooler, but definitely Alien Hot, and king of the sweet vinyl collection. And he's definitely the reason I decided I needed to write this one, oh, three or four years ago. (Yeah, I'm slow these days. I know.)
Must Be The Music Pt. 8
Show Your Hand
Turn your face to the sunshine
And all the shadows will fall behind
Walk to your future
Leave your troubles to one side
You walked the plank and made it through:
The chances a million to two point two.
Whatever
Show your hand now
I'm jumping off the fence into your corner
-Super Furry Animals
Alex stepped into his room—and almost ran smack into his roommate. Ray was clearly on the way out, and a little surprised to see him there.
Which was weird, since last time he checked, Alex lived there too. "Hey uhm," he paused for a second to chew on his lip. He had the feeling he'd interrupted something. Kinda uncomfortable. "How's it going?"
"Good." Ray used that distracted voice, the one people used when they weren't really paying attention, and gave answers like good.
Alex made a face, but didn't argue. He'd been wanting to ask forever, and now not asking was habitual. So all he said was, "Right, dude."
Ray nodded down at the fat textbook in his own arms. "Fuckload of homework though."
"Metric?"
"Yeah. Mr. Handley is a douche. Need to blow of some steam before I can face it, I think."
Alex knew the feeling. X had been freaking out (well, in his weird sedate X way) about him controlling his super-nuke powers better, Scott was being kind of bitchy lately and wouldn't say why, JP was never around, Forge had been holed up in his lab all day…
He was just a little bit lonely, or restless, or something generally twitchy. But for all that, kinda perversely anti-social, too. He wasn't sure what to do with that.
"I think 'Berto and Rahne are organizing some soccer thing," he said.
"At night?" Ray made that funny face where his lips scrunched up on one side and his eyebrows waggled a little.
Alex smiled. "Yeah dude."
"That could work." Ray looked down at his book again, but this time doubtfully. "Maybe I'll hit that up. You coming?"
Alex moved past him then, toward his bed. He let his bangs fall over his eyes, just in case. "Nah."
Ray turned, watched him for a sec. "What's up in Alex Land?"
"Just kinda tired, I guess." Alex felt secure enough behind his Fortress of Hair to tell such a bold-faced lie. But being emo was one thing—whining about it was another, and way beyond uncool.
Ray paused before replying. "Okay." But then he stopped, took a few steps forward, and took a deep breath. "Hey."
The way he said it made Alex look up finally.
"I've been kinda fucked up lately, I know. But it's not about anyone here, okay?"
Whoa. Dude. Had he just brought it up?
"Is everything cool?"
"I don't know, that's the bitch of it. I—not to bring it up and then tank it, but I can't talk about it. I get all… you know."
Electricity-crackling angry, from the look on his face. Crap. "Um, I didn't mean to—"
"No, dude." Ray shook his head, dropped his book on his own bed and held out his hands in a kind of wax-on/wax-off gesture. "Seriously, don't go all puppy dog eyes. It's not about me, is all. Just family stuff."
Whoa, again. Ray had… family? "Oh."
Then, out of nowhere. "You're a good guy, Alex."
Huh… whatever that meant was hard to tell, but Alex decided he'd take it as a sign of good faith. Ray was what Scott liked to call inscrutable, so trying to figure it out would just give Alex a headache. (Good word, inscrutable, but Alex always had trouble getting it into a conversation somehow.) "I try, man."
Ray cracked a smile. "Change your mind about the soccer, I'll see you out there."
But Alex knew he wouldn't, so he flopped back, stretched out in his bed, and stared at the ceiling while Ray slipped out the door.
And then he got super hella twitchy again. Only one thing for it.
He got down on the floor on his knees, grabbed his little tin box and pulled out a bag of Forge's Finest Hydroponic Herb. He shoved it into his pocket, prayed to all the gods that he wouldn't come across Mr. Logan in the hall, and started out the door.
Alex had learned a lot of cool shit, being buds with Forge over the past couple of months, but Forge's method of calming his hyperactive brain just might've been the coolest of them all. Only thing missing was the man himself, usually a crucial component, but if Forge said no because he was still busy, Alex didn't think he'd take it very well. Not that dude ever told him no, but the idea of a Forge Rejection was way scary, in this lame-o mood.
Alex rounded the corner and for the second time that night, almost slammed into someone.
But this time it was Jean-Paul Beaubier, looking weird and pale and all dressed up.
JP glared at first—just kinda automatically, but then his eyes seemed to focus and he relaxed. "Alex. Sorry."
Alex tried to smile at him, but dude just looked so bad he couldn't really make himself. Instead he just said, "You look freaked. What's up with everyone tonight?"
Jean-Paul made an unhappy kind of face, then started chewing on his nails. Major bad sign. "An evening of small disasters," was all he said.
Alex looked him over quickly again. He was all dressed up because he had gone out, that was right. "Didn't you go clubbing with Dude Maximoff?"
"Yes," JP snapped, taking his finger out of his mouth. It was cool, though. Alex, even in this alien fragile state, knew JP didn't mean to snap at him, exactly. "Funnily enough, though, I wasn't the one to go home with him."
Whoa. Heavy. "Man… are you okay?"
"No." But then Jean-Paul looked him over, all cold and appraising at first. He blinked a few times, then looked Alex in the eye again. "You don't look okay either."
But Alex didn't want to talk about it. He didn't even know what it was, anyhow.
"I'm cool," Alex said. He paused for a second, stuck his hand in his pocket, felt the crunch of the plastic bag, and looked back up at Jean-Paul, who'd gone back to chewing at his nails.
What was the worst that could happen?
"Not to be weird, but… do you get high?"
JP's eyelashes fluttered a little, maybe in surprise. "Alex, do me one favor."
"Sure dude, anything."
"Marry me."
oo
Alex looked up at his companion from an excellent vantage point—which was on the ground with his head in Jean-Paul's lap. JP looked really funny from down here, but it was totally interesting. Like he could see him in a different light, see things he'd never seen before. Perspective shift for the win.
He could see up JP's nose, too. But that was the funny part.
He's no-one. What a fucking thing to say about this guy. "Oh man," Alex sighed. "I can't believe dude said that. That's heinous."
Jean-Paul made a face. He ran his fingers through Alex's hair again, like he had been for the past… er, long while.
Alex felt better now.
"He's such a little whore. Mon dieu." JP dropped less and less French into his sentences the longer he was at the Institute, but apparently he slipped back into it when he was stoned. Alex had figured that out like, a half hour ago. "I—I really—"
Yeah, man, Alex totally got him. Really.
He extracted his head from the lap and sat up. Slowly. It was awesome to move this slow, like he had super-slow powers instead of crazy blow up the world powers.
That would be the best power ever, if he could slow time down so he could have more of it, just to think. He could solve all his problems and Jean-Paul's.
Deep.
Once he was upright he looked at JP again, and saw this sad look on his face. Alex's heart hurt. How many times had JP picked him up off the ground when he was feeling shitty? Sure, he returned the favor once in a while, but Jean-Paul hardly ever gave anyone the chance. Barring massive catastrophes, like, say, Aurora freaking out and Pietro disappearing at the same time.
No, Alex had to seize this opportunity. And so he did, helpfully announcing, "Don't feel bad. I love you, Jean-Paul."
Jean-Paul gave him a very serious look from behind very heavy eyelids. "Thank you. I love you too, Alex."
Alex leaned his back against the tree, and his shoulder against JP's. Comfy. Warm. "Boys suck," he declared.
"If you're lucky."
Alex started laughing, and hoped he'd be able to stop. A few minutes ago JP had made a joke about Gambit's latest pair of jeans and Alex's stomach had hurt after, he'd laughed so hard. But before he could spiral out of control, he managed to say, "So you tell me, man."
Jean-Paul looked very serious again. "You're still not getting laid."
It wasn't really a question, but Alex shook his head in reply anyhow. Not that it was a big deal, because it totally wasn't, but—
"You still haven't talked to Ray?"
Alex sighed, leaned his head against JP's shoulder now. Super comfy, almost as comfy as Forge's, in similar situations. "Something serious is going on with him."
"The same something serious from… ages ago?"
Alex nodded—or tried to. "Few months, yeah. He started to tell me tonight but, like… guess he's not ready."
During that whole conversation, Alex now realized, he hadn't once had, ah, inappropriate thoughts about his roommate, either. It happened less and less these days, which was pretty much what he'd hoped for. Ray was cool with everything, pretty literally everything, but he just… wasn't into dudes, as far as Alex could see.
And that was cool.
Whoa. Even deeper.
"I meant about the fact that you want into his pants, not his issues. This mortification of the flesh doesn't suit you."
Alex giggled again, but somehow managed to get enough control to say, "No, dude. I mean… I think I'm kind of over it. I hope I am."
But Jean-Paul just sighed. "If he knew, he couldn't refuse you. You're adorable."
Alex smiled and wrapped his arms around one of JP's, and proceeded to cuddle it happily. All warm and made of light. That was what Jean-Paul Beaubier was all about. Word up, man.
"What happened to just doing it?" Jean-Paul asked. "You told me Pietro would thank me for it, remember? This smacks of hypocrisy."
But Alex had started giggling again. It wasn't loud (uhm, he didn't think it was, anyhow) but it was just bubbling up inside him and his blood was kind of loud in his ears. A funny repetitive sensation of hilarity had control of him, and it was sweet as hell. "Even if he was in the family, I wouldn't even know how to."
"Tell me the truth: are you scared?" Jean-Paul asked.
Alex considered this, carefully exploring the range of emotions that mixed up inside him one by one. And, wow—now that he mentioned it. "I think so, man. I just get this—this thing in my belly, you know. I think of it and I just freeze."
Super embarrassing. Deciding to suck it up and deal with his powers like a grown-up, okay, no problem. Deciding to make a move on some guy, not so much.
"Sapristi!—Your life is becoming a Smiths song." Jean-Paul's eyes were wide, bright in weird-filtered moonlight. It made him look as freaked out as he sounded. Alex had no idea what these Smiths did, but with the way dude was looking, he was forcibly put in mind of the angry Mirkwood elves from the cartoon version of The Hobbit.
Then, slowly, Jean-Paul re-situated himself. He moved like he was underwater (or maybe he just looked like he was moving underwater. Man, he should start writing this shit down.) But eventually he was leaning sideways against the tree, his legs thrown over Alex's lap. Then he said when this was all accomplished, "Thank god you said something before it was too late. Do you want to kiss me?"
Alex blinked. Dude… that…
That was awesome. Why hadn't he thought of it ages ago? "Hell yes, I do." Then he blinked. "You're serious, right?"
Jean-Paul smiled his super-wasted JP smile again. It was all sweet and sincere, but still kind of smug. Alex was glad, or it might've freaked him out a little. "It's a—a mutually beneficial arrangement," JP over-pronounced the words, and his smile went lopsided. "I'm sure I need it more than you."
Alex felt halfway empty, of a sudden. So not right, man. "Dude. You need love."
"It happens sometimes. But only… maybe three other people in the world know." Jean-Paul put his finger to his own lips.
"I'll take it to the grave, bro."
JP leaned slightly forward, then put his head against the tree. Like he couldn't hold it up on his own. "Right, then. Give it a try."
Alex just stared at him for a long minute, trying to figure out how he should approach this crazy mission.
Then he realized he was thinking of kissing a hot dude as crazy, and laughed.
Jean-Paul giggled again. "I can't do it foryou."
"Totally." Alex took a deep breath. Then he leaned over, rested one arm over JP's legs, and planted one right on his lips.
Hm. Softer than he'd expected. Kinda squishy. JP was even warmer to kiss than he was to hug, with the breath on his face like that. He wasn't a little Canuck-cicle after all, like Jubilee called him—
Alex cracked up and had to bury his face in JP's neck.
Jean-Paul was shaking, he was laughing so hard (though Alex had no idea why, unless dude had just developed spontaneous telepathy). "So… close…"
Jean-Paul leaned back and propped himself up with both arms, and Alex leaned back against the tree. They laughed so hard it felt like the whole world was really floating on a giant boat, and maybe in the middle of a storm, and all Alex could do was try not to slide off or laugh himself to death.
After what felt like three hours, but was probably more like half a minute, they finally calmed down enough to speak again. Alex's head was swimming in the best way, and Jean-Paul's cheeks had bright pink strokes across them, even in the dark.
"Oh god, my heart is going to explode," JP said, once he had enough air in him to manage. "You're so sickeningly cute."
"Way un-cute. I didn't do it right," Alex shook his head. "Lemme try again."
"Oh please." JP sat up again, holding one hand up between them. "But wait—here's something important: you should probably use your hands. Only I'm very ticklish right now, so spare me. I don't think I'll be able to stop laughing if I start again. And that would kill me."
Alex was having the same problem—except he'd never stopped, exactly.
JP started poking him; under the ear, then back of the neck, then at his side, down low. Then he twirled a piece of Alex's hair around his finger. "Hair is good too. Something will work, and you'll know when it does. After that, you'll figure it out."
Alex nodded, forcing himself to stop laughing finally. This was maybe the most important information he'd ever get in his life. Come to think of it, he could remember a girl or two kind of doing that to him before. Which had been a little confusing, actually, but made way more sense now. Context clues, man.
Jean-Paul let go of his hair. "Right, ready now."
"So I just—" Alex leaned forward and kissed him again. But this time it was way easy, which was awesome. It was just lips, anyhow, no big deal!
Jean-Paul kissed him back for a second, smiley against his lips. Then he kind of tilted his head and opened his mouth a little, which naturally opened Alex's. That made things even warmer, a little bit wet, and made them taste like spit and green stuff and—whoa, wait, that was JP Taste! That—that was fucking awesome—
JP pulled back. "Yes?"
"Dude. Amazing."
"Of course."
Alex put his fingers over his lips, feeling how warm they still were, and promptly had a Revelation. "You're like Hitch."
Jean-Paul laughed—or giggled, actually. Maybe at the idea of being a French-Canadian, gay lovelife consultant.
Alex giggled too, then kissed him again without bothering to give warning. (He didn't think that whoever he was kissing in real life would appreciate a heads up beforehand, in most situations, right? Kinda nerdy, man.) This time, he pushed in a little bit, sunk into Jean-Paul's lips, tilted his head just like JP had last time… then did that lip-parting thing himself.
And it worked! They made a movie-worthy lip-smacking sound at the parting, foreheads still together, and Alex grinned so hard his face muscles started to hurt a little. They were working extra hard tonight.
Jean-Paul said, "Beautiful. That did it. The rest will be ob—"
"Oh shit!"
JP blinked, and his eyelashes kind of tickled Alex.
Wait. Who the hell said that? If it wasn't him, and Jean-Paul had been saying something else…?
"Whoa," another voice this time.
Totally Ray.
Alex pulled his forehead off JP's (whoa, dude had gravity or something), and they both looked to the source of the voice. And there, standing in front of a rogue soccer ball in the dark woods, were Bobby and Ray. Staring down at Alex and JP, who were—sort of making out, but not.
Alex's broke into unstoppable giggles.
Jean-Paul just grinned, this time with added smug. "Oh, hello."
Bobby leaned against a nearby tree, looking like someone had just walked over his grave. "Duuuuuuude…"
Alex tried to wave one hand in the air to tell them it wasn't really what it looked like (except that it kinda was, ha!), but it set him off balance and he nearly fell over. Oh god, his stomach was going to explode, it hurt!
"Drake, you're staring," Jean-Paul was clearly trying not to laugh. He had that stoned-pretending-to-be-sober laugh thing going on, and he didn't seem to realize that he was still halfway into Alex's lap.
Ray cracked up, crossing his arms over his belly and roaring.
"Remind me…," Jean-Paul choked out, looking back to Alex. "Not to show you," more struggling, his face turning pink, "how to give a decent," a laugh, choked out then suppressed, "blow job."
Alex fell over on his side in a combination of massive pain and ecstatic laughter.
Bobby was saying something, but he never did hear what. All he saw was Iceman's rapidly retreating figure, and Ray laughing his ass off.
Alex had woken up at a very strange hour between morning and night in the woods, with his head on Jean-Paul's shoulder, his ass well and truly asleep, and an empty plastic bag clutched in one hand. They'd staggered back to their rooms eventually, but Alex was feeling the pain of sleeping on the forest floor this morning. His back was all messed up, and he had a weird random injury on his left arm, probably from that rock that had been all jammed up in it when he'd finally opened his eyes.
But hell if he wasn't in the best mood ever, just the same, as he headed down to scrounge some late breakfast.
Jubilee met him at the bottom of the stairs, toting two napkin-wrapped Pop Tarts. "Hey hot stuff, want my extra Tart?"
"Dude, is that blueberry?"
She nodded and grinned even more brightly than usual.
"Jubes, you rule my world."
She smirked and released the Pop Tart into his care. Then said, "Oh yeah? 'Cause I heard it was a certain hot shit speedster with pointy ears."
Alex, high on the taste of blueberry-with-frosting (mmm, frosting…) Pop Tart, didn't realize what she'd actually said for a few seconds. When he did, he almost choked.
Jubilee cackled and smacked him on the back, like she was trying to help him not die of Breakfast Inhalation. "Oh come on—you didn't think Iceboy could catch you at it and the whole place could not find out."
As Alex struggled to swallow, torn between cracking up and a sudden stab of self-consciousness, the Iceboy in question came down the stairs. Jubilee must've seen him coming.
"Sorry, man," Bobby said, looking mega un-sorry, but at least a little sheepish. "I was just surprised. I mean, you two were, ah, having a really good time, looked like."
Alex managed to swallow in spite of his rising flush—mainly present because Bobby was dead on. They'd definitely been having a good time, anyhow. "It's totally not like that. We were dicking around."
"I figured," Jubilee said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "He's not your type."
Bobby gave her a look that clearly said he thought she was full of it.
Alex had to keep from choking again, and wished for a glass of water pretty hard. They were going to kill him. But hey, at least he could die… happier.
"Good thing," Bobby said with a chuckle. "Hate to see you looking like Sam after St. Pat's. Black eye took forever to fade."
Alex winced. Pietro.
Ouch.
Better go check on JP and make sure he was okay, actually. The whole diversion-tactic thing had worked last night, but this morning probably left dude open to all kinds of nasty—
But Jubilee grabbed him by the front of the shirt, nearly making him drop his Tart, and pulled him close like she was going to plant one on him herself. "That's good news for the rest of us. Your dance card's gonna be full, Alex. You're the new hotness."
"Yeah. It's a little like hooking up with Jean," Bobby said, stuffing his hands into his pockets and pretending to look put out. "But, like, with equipment redundancy."
Alex laughed. "Right, 'cause JP's Hot Sauce totally rubs off on your lips."
Her dark eyes flashed, and Alex knew he'd said the wrong thing.
She laid one on him right then—kinda fake, no mouth-opening (phew!), but a good show just the same. Alex closed his eyes and held his breath. And couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey!" Bobby mock-yelped. "What's a guy gotta do?"
Jubilee let go of Alex (good thing, because he was getting a little dizzy, holding his breath like that), and smirked at Bobby. "Plenty of Little Summers to go around."
Alex, in spite of a weird crushed-lips sensation he was pretty sure kissing JP hadn't given him, grinned. He could totally get used to being thrown around, if it meant he got random love. "Yeah, Bobby. I'll totally pencil you in for next weekend."
Bobby sputtered and turned bright red.
Jubilee high-fived Alex.
Ray came around the corner into the foyer right about then, yogurt cup in hand. "Anyone know why Mr. Logan put training in the middle of the day? Christ forbid he gives us a free day—"
Bobby looked extremely relieved to have someone else on the scene, and made a show of stretching himself out all catlike (and recovering, though he was still totally pink). "Yeah, you know, the X-Men are off today…"
Ray and Jubilee flipped him off at the same time.
Alex gave up trying to finish his Tart for the moment, since it was such a choking hazard. "Pretty sure he has something in the City this morning."
"So because he's big, hairy, and old, we have to sacrifice our whole day to his social life?" Jubilee complained, but pretty good-naturedly. "Good thing I love him."
"Or you'd what?" Bobby asked, eyes wide and unconvincing-innocent.
Before she could give a smart reply, Rock the Casbah started playing—in Ray's pants.
Ray pulled out his phone, flicked it open (that was his text message ring-tone, Alex knew)—then flicked it closed and charged up the stairs.
Bobby and Alex shared a Look.
Dude. Not a good sign.
Jubilee made a face. "The hell? Better go check on him."
Bobby reached out and snagged her wrist before she got too far. "Bad idea. It's Ray."
Another Look passed between the boys.
Alex nodded. Hell, he was feeling good enough this morning to justify a little extra confidence, right? "I'll see what's up."
Dude wasn't going to tell him anything else, he already knew. But he could at least make sure it wasn't something serious.
Even though he had a feeling it was.
oo
Alex found Ray hunched over his backpack. He cleared his throat, then said, "Hey, man."
Ray finally looked up. One of his orange spikes was kind of crushed and crooked, and normally it would've made Alex laugh. Now it just seemed like a really bad omen. "Hey." He waved him in.
A sinking feeling in his stomach, but standing straight and looking Ray in the eye, Alex came inside and closed the door behind him.
Ray hefted his pack onto his back. "I gotta take care of some shit. If I'm late for practice, do me a favor and tell Mr. Logan I'm sick in bed. Don't tell him I left, whatever you do."
Dude.
No, seriously. Dude.
"But practice isn't for like six hours," Alex reminded him.
"This could take a while."
"But—"
"Please."
Alex couldn't remember hearing Ray use that word before. It silenced him at first, but once it looked like Ray was waiting for a reply, he managed, "Yeah. Yeah, okay."
Ray cracked a smile, but it looked a little forced. "And nice, scoring with Jean-Paul. I'd hit it."
Alex laughed, but considered his roommate uncertainly. In the back of his mind, he tried to figure out what JP would do right now. (He needed one of those bracelets. WWJPD?) He came up empty-handed, though, so he didn't do anything at all. Just stood there, watching.
"Thanks, seriously." Ray came forward, clapped him on the shoulder, and started toward the door. "I owe you big time."
"Forget it, man."
But the second Ray slipped through the door and into the hall, Alex had a brainwave. He'd figured it out.
Not what JP would do. But what Alex Summers would do.
He grabbed his own pack, ejected the algebra book, snagged his phone off the desk, and followed Ray into Bayville,trying all the while to forget that it was exactly the kind of thing Scott Summers would kick his ass for. Probably deservedly. But hey, what good was a guy if he couldn't even back up his friends?
Forge, huge man-purse bouncing against his hip, jogged up beside him. "Hey, man! We playing gumshoe, or what?"
Alex's resolve to follow Ray had never wavered. He had to do this, even if it was nothing big, and just ended up being for his own peace of as Ray had led him through Bayville, through the market district and into the older, more rundown part, Alex hearing a voice in the back of his head that sounded a lot like Scott's, telling him to be more careful. For all he knew, dude was just going to visit some friend, or maybe needed to buy someone a birthday present…
But Alex couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't kosher, and he wanted backup. When they'd passed the block where Forge's parents lived, Alex had called him on impulse. Having him here now restored all his confidence in an instant. "Yeah, but it might be nothing. Thanks for coming, though."
"You know I'm solid," Forge assured him, tossing his shiny hair out of his eyes.
Alex felt he should apologize, just the same. "I know you're busy—"
"Ah, come on, I wouldn't miss an Alex Adventure. Anyhow, I was just cleaning Tesla's favorite nest. That's definitely not what I call busy."
Forge's hamsters, Tesla and Edison, were the shit. Alex almost forgot his worries for a sec. "Aww, how are the little dudes?"
"Fluffy, man. Totally fluffy. Brought a new toy to show you, actually—but first, what's the 411?"
"Don't know anything but what I told you on the phone. I'm freaked."
"Sounds unsavory," Forge nodded sagely. "But no point wigging out the X-Men, right? Maybe he's taking his granny lunch. Maybe he's about to get ganked by the Big Bad Wolf. Either way, can't hurt to check it out."
That was one of the awesome things about Forge—he never asked stupid questions. He was totally just there. He got it. "Yeah, man."
Ray—at the other end of the block—disappeared around the corner. Alex nodded in his direction and Forge picked up the pace beside him.
"So what, you made out with Jean-Paul?"
"Holy shit, how'd you know that?"
"Saw Kitty on IM this morning. Right on, man."
Alex laughed, but went back to scanning for Ray in front of them. "I think it made me cool, suddenly.
"Aw, Alex, you've always been cool."
Alex thought that if he were cool, he'd be able to pull of bell-bottoms like Forge did—or maybe just long pants now and then. But before he could articulate that, they rounded the corner—
And came to a dead end. A wind picked up from nowhere and blew around some trash, not to mention their hair. The effect was way too Hollywood for comfort.
"In the words of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia," Forge intoned, "I have a bad feeling about this."
"Dude," said Alex, by way of agreement. He scanned the brick buildings around them, the dumpster in the far corner, the ground—
Manhole.
"Shit," he said. "Sewers."
Forge raised his heavy eyebrows. "Morlocks?"
"Dude." This time, it meant something more like "Oh, fuck me."
"Dude," Forge agreed.
oo
The smell wasn't that bad, once you got used to it. Or so Alex told himself. He wasn't a huge fan of the dark, or eerie glows, for that matter, and that was about all these tunnels had kicking in terms of lighting. The air was warmer than it was aboveground, and wet, but not in that refreshing ocean way. In a gross—er—underground way that curdled up in his nostrils. And it was too quiet, way too goddamn quiet. Bayville wasn't exactly The Big City, but the drip, drip, dripping of water and the sludgy flow just below the walkway was like a horror movie soundtrack in his head.
He tried not to think about it, though.
Forge had a little thermal camera in one hand, and a clamshell viewer in the other. As usual, dude had come equipped—and not just with the Bionic Arm of Awesome. "He definitely went this way," he said, and turned the screen so Alex could see it. Sure enough, the blue and green of the cool, wet tunnel showed yellow, then red footprints leading off in front of them. "We're not too far behind; these are still hot."
Alex nodded, and they followed the trail side by side. In a similarly quiet voice, in case Ray was even nearer than they thought, he asked, "You always carry that thing around?"
"Nah, if Clarence got screwed up, I'd never forgive myself."
Alex grinned. "Totally looks like a Clarence."
"I know, right?" Forge beamed, a bright white smile in the dark beside him. There were naked light bulbs here and there, but most of them were burnt out—the best light they had was from the viewscreen, and that was pretty pathetic.
And made Forge's face look blue. Suited him, somehow. He had a Magical Hot Visitor From Outer Space vibe anyhow.
"I just thought, since we were following someone, it might be appropriate."
"Boy Scout motto," Alex agreed.
"Be Prepared. I almost made it to Eagle, before I got sucked into that whole Middleverse thing."
Alex made an attempt not to imagine Forge in uniform, and failed miserably. Now was so not the time. "Whoa. No shit?"
Forge nodded solemnly—then furrowed his brow at the screen. "Hm. Looks like the tracks stop up here. I wonder if he—"
Alex leaned over Forge's arm to see the screen, so he was there just in time to see it turn completely red.
He and Forge looked up in tandem.
And Berserker looked back at them, making a very, very angry face.
"Uh. Hey," Alex said, over the sudden rushing of blood in his ears.
Forge's eyes went wide. "Wow, that was a good move. How'd you manage it? Did you back track on your own footprints—or is there some kind of side tunnel—?"
Ray cut him off. "The hell are you doing?"
Forge looked confused. "Following you," he said, like it would be the most obvious thing in the world.
Which, Alex had to admit, it really should've been. "I didn't tell anyone else," he said. "But dude, I had to—"
"You better get out of here," Ray snapped.
Alex blinked.
Forge kept making the confused face.
Ray's expression softened, and he seemed to take a deep breath. "Okay, look, I really appreciate that you care and all that. Seriously. But if they see you down here, they'll be even more pissed than—well, they're not gonna like me being here in the first place. My credit with them is fucking thin, if you know what I mean."
"Well, can you at least tell us what you're doing?" Alex tried. He didn't want to argue with him—but how could he not freak out when dude was talking about not letting people leave? The Morlocks were known allies, but in a very "keep your shit away from our shit" way; as in, so long as the X-Men stayed topside. Scott told him they were secretive and scared. And off-limits.
That was all Alex needed to know.
"No," Ray said.
"Uh, guys—," Forge said.
"No," Ray repeated, this time angrily.
"Look, we'll go," Alex tried again. "But in case something goes wrong, couldn't you just tell us—"
"Guys," Forge said. "I think—"
"Everyone will guess I'm here eventually, that's why I told you to tell Mr. Logan I'm sick." Ray shifted from one foot to the other, obviously getting impatient. "If they come looking for me, it'll start a whole shit storm—"
"Guys!" Forge yelped. "Major heat signature. Someone's here!"
A hand appeared on Ray's shoulder—a woman's, but large.
Alex looked up, heart thudding a million miles a freaking minute, and blinked into the dark. He barely made out a face. And an eye-patch.
"I don't blame you all for not knowing that Caliban can tell when someone comes into our tunnels," a low, female voice said. "But Ray, every time I see you, you get stupider."
Ray sighed and looked at the ground.
Forge sighed and snapped the clamshell shut.
The woman stepped around Ray so they could see her—a big, strong-looking chica (think Xena with a mullet) in a tank top.
Alex forgot what her name would be, but he knew who she was, just the same.
And dude. She did not look happy to see them.
"Let them go," Ray said through his teeth. "They haven't seen anything. We're not even close to your hideout."
"This is more complicated than that though, isn't it?" she asked.
Ray didn't answer. He just looked at the ground hard.
Alex had the sinking feeling he'd just fucked up way bigger than he'd ever fucked up before. Which was saying a lot.
Then something touched Alex's back, and his body went stiff.
The tunnel went black.
oo
Alex returned to consciousness slowly, and without the ability to open his eyes. Or move at all, actually.
Ray was in mid-sentence somewhere nearby, "—said he'd have Mr. Logan looking for you, but when he came back after just a week, I got so pissed off."
Alex managed to peel his eyelids open, and wished he hadn't. The world was a wash of too-bright whiteness, and his head throbbed like a mother.
A girl said, "I was already halfway across the country by then."
Ray, again: "Why didn't you call me?"
Only sort of aware of this conversation, Alex batted his eyelashes slowly, until the waaah-waaah sound in his head got less obvious, and the whitewash faded into a brick cavern, and a huge gate made out of some of the thickest chain-link he'd ever seen.
He managed to move his head, and saw Forge, looking super uncomfortable, and super still, right in front of him.
Right. Morlocks.
Oh shit.
Ray's voice again, "Sally—"
Forge's arm twitched, and then, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, his legs suddenly bent. He hit the ground hard with an "Ugh."
Alex did exactly the same thing roughly three seconds later, his ass impacting with cement painfully.
"Whoa," Forge sighed, blinking rapidly and rubbing at the side of his head. "I could live without ever going through that again… but wow, that was cool."
Alex nodded, but it hurt, so he stopped. Whatever it had been… it was kind of cool.
Ray knelt down beside him. "Shit, you guys okay?"
Alex tested his limbs one by one, and was only kind of surprised to find they all worked perfectly. "Oh, yeah, awesome."
"Groovy," Forge agreed.
"For real." Alex looked around, then—they were definitely still underground, but the smell had either gotten better, or Alex's nose had just given up. It looked like they were in a brick alcove under an arch, a kind of storage area, judging from the piles of boxes behind them, and cut off from the rest of—of wherever the hell they were, by that gate.
They were totally captive.
Dude.
"Jesus," Ray snorted, leaning back on his heels. "You're like one mind in two bodies."
Another person—a tiny girl in a ratty camo tank top with a ratty blonde ponytail, appeared behind Ray.
Whoa. Where had she come from?
Ray looked at her over his shoulder. "Uh, so this is Sally Blevins. This is Alex and Forge. Alex is my roommate." Then he looked at Alex and made a face—it was half aggravated and half just… Ray. "My idiot roommate."
Alex, still flat on his ass, held out his hand to the girl. So… this must be why Ray had come down here, huh? "Heh, hi."
"Good to meet you," Forge said, getting up to his knees and rummaging through his bag—probably making sure nothing was broken.
The girl just stared at Alex's hand, sharp little green eyes shifting from his elbow to his fingers, like she expected it to bite him. Finally, she said, "I'm Skids, down here."
"Right." Alex could take a hint—at least one that obvious; he retracted his hand. "Well, then, I guess I'm Havok. But he's still Forge." They all took a few seconds to get to their feet, then, and Alex was happy to note that his head stopped thudding pretty fast. But that only left him more headspace to think about the fact that they were apparently locked up… and in a few hours, everyone at the Institute was going to notice, and freak out. (Funny how that was more upsetting than whatever it was the Morlocks planned to do with them, but hey, there it was.)
Okay, so first things first. He turned to Ray, "So guess she's why you're here?"
Ray's face went through a couple of interesting expression changes before he finally slumped a little. Then he said, "She's my—I guess she's my step-sister."
Waif-girl rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms over her boyishly flat chest. "That's the relationship, genius."
"She ran away a few months ago and," Ray shifted there, shoved his hands into his pockets. This was totally the shit he hadn't wanted to tell Alex last night, and it made Alex shift a little bit too, just out of sheer sympathy. "My step-father got in touch with the Institute to see if I knew where she was. And I didn't."
Alex, in spite of himself, said, "Dude, you could've told me that."
Ray shrugged. "I told… other people. Xavier knew, and—"
Waif-girl (Sally, right. Or Skids, or whatever) cut him off. "And Callisto. He told the Morlocks, because he knew I'd come here, if I came back to Bayville."
Alex exchanged a look of surprise with Forge.
That brought up, like… so many questions. Alex had no idea where to even begin. He looked back to Sally, took in her half-destroyed pseudo-military look, and decided she couldn't have even been in high school. She was tall, but in a gawky kind of way he remembered all too well—from when all the girls at school had suddenly been taller than him, the summer before 7th grade. "You're a mutant, too."
She raised super-pale eyebrows at him. "Another genius. Jesus, Ray-ray, the Institute is just full of 'em. Yeah, shiny new mutant, just manifested. Right in fucking time, too."
Alex just kind of stared for a sec, trying to remember if he'd talked like that when he was in 7th grade.
Forge was already examining the weird cage/gate door thing just a few feet away. "How do we get out?" he asked.
"We don't," Ray grumbled. "Callisto's pissed, and Spyke… well, Evan's not around. He's cool, but we're probably lucky he's out right now."
Alex looked up. "Ms. Munroe's nephew?"
"He's… way beyond protective. Makes sure everyone's accounted for, and the camp stays hidden. It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you, man."
Alex had heard as much, and more. He followed Forge over to the weird chain-link—the metal braid was about an inch thick, and a freaky dark silver color—and looked through at the other side.
His jaw dropped.
It wasn't exactly magnificent, or anything… but it was… something.
A wide open space, broken only by round brick columns and low, but vaulted ceilings, lay on the other side. In the center was a low table and some cushions, mildewy-looking, but definitely usable, a big metal something-or-other machine, some lanterns, and miscellaneous other Crazy Shit. Built into each of the alcoves, like the one into which they were stuffed, were little tent-like things he could only think of as shelters. Some of them had curtains hanging down in front of them like doors, some of them were made mostly of wood, one of looked like it was made almost completely out of water-damaged movie posters and plexi-glass.
It was all colorful and well-lit and…
Actually, it looked pretty comfy. Alex caught himself smiling, and said, "Damn, dude. That's…"
But he felt Ray come up behind him, and growl a weirdly menacing, "What?"
Alex looked over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows at Angry Roommate. "It's fucking sweet, man."
"Seriously," Forge said, in his "I might be thinking about twenty other things at once right now, but I'm still totally agreeing with you on this one" voice.
Ray kind of relaxed.
What the hell? That was kind of, ah, protective of him.
"Told you," Sally's little voice piped up.
Ray shot her a look. "Can we talk about this later?"
"What, they might as well know about it. They're here." She pushed into their little circle of bodies and put her hands on her hips—and even Forge turned around to listen to what she had to say. "So Ray-ray tell you about my dad, and how he's the reason you've had the pleasure of his company at Xavier's?"
Ray reached out for the girl's arm—
But something flashed, and his hand slipped right off before it touched her.
Sally's face fell. "Jesus."
Alex blinked.
Ray winced, "Sorry."
Forge totally perked up, though. "Is that a force field?"
She shrugged, super unimpressed, apparently. "Yeah. Guess that's what you'd call it."
"Full body?" Forge asked.
Alex started to smile, watching dude get all excited. Reason #429 why Forge Is Awesome: He reminds you of just how cool the shit you take for granted really is.
"Yeah. I can kinda make it turn off for a few seconds to take a bite here and there, but that's about it."
Ray leaned back against the brick wall and gave her a once-over. "Not much, I'm guessing. You look like Kate fucking Moss. After Pete Doherty."
Alex bit his lip to keep from laughing (wow, so inappropriate), but chick just glared. "Prick." Then she said, a little viciously, "All things considered, I could look a lot worse right now."
Ray's face turned pink.
But Forge rescued the Awkward Moment by poking at Sally's force field in the area of her elbow with one hand, and rummaging through his bag with another. "Wow. Far out, man. Wonder how it works."
Sally shot him a suspicious glance, but Alex could've sworn he saw the corner of her mouth try and tug upward, too. "Uhm, okay, weirdo."
Forge was deaf to the world though. He got that Intense/Hot Inventor look on his face, totally in the zone, and produced some cell-phone sized device that beeped a few times, then lit up in mysterious ways when he pointed it at her.
Everyone watched, halfway between confused and appalled, until Alex finally explained. "Dude's kind of a genius."
She made a face. "Yeah r—"
Ray took a step back, though, like he'd just remembered where they were and just how fucked up things were, and said, "Look, if you guys don't mind?"
Alex started to the other side of the smallish enclosure without needing a written invitation. "No. Forge. Dude."
Forge looked up from his beeping scanner thing, through his bangs.
"C'mere," Alex elaborated.
"But—" He looked at Ray and Sally, then back to Alex. And his eyes lit up with sudden understanding. "Oh. Yeah. Right. Groovy." He came to Alex's side then, still watching the scanner thing.
"Groovy? Really?" Sally snorted, in a fair impression of the Weekend Update. But she followed Ray to the back of their little pen, and Alex watched her go.
She really didn't look good, Ray was right. At first, Alex had thought maybe she was just tired, or angry, but he could see how sunken in she was, now. She acted a lot older than she looked, too—but so did a lot of kids who'd been through the whole mutant presto-change-o thing… and Alex got the feeling this girl's had been way shitty, seeing as she'd ended up, well, here.
Not that there was anything wrong with living down here, apparently—place looked really cozy. Just that she was locked up with them, not living out there. Said a lot, really.
"Amazing," Forge said, still looking at his tiny scanner—which Alex now noticed was sort of like a mini tricorder. He had no doubt dude had designed it based on exactly that. "It's giving off some heavy EMF, and all kinds of static."
"You brought an EMF meter?"
"It picks up a couple of things, but I always have one around. It's so portable, no reason not to, man. Not delicate like Clarence."
Alex, in spite of everything, caught himself grinning. "Forge, you are the coolest guy I know, like, after Scott."
Who was totally going to kill him, by the way. This was exactly the kind of shit he was supposed to be avoiding. He was supposed to be responsible, now.
But Alex felt a little better when Forge looked up and grinned right back.
Hey, if he had to be locked up with someone, he'd definitely picked the right dude. They could do this.
Hopefully before Scott figured out he was gone and had a litter of kittens.
oo
None of Forge's crazy bionic stuff could get them anywhere with the gate-metal, or the high-tech lock. Alex wrapped his hands around the metal, felt the cold of it seep into his hands, and considered. Too bad he wasn't so good with the fine-tuning on his own powers, yet. "I could blast us out of here… but I don't know if I could do it without the whole place coming down on our heads. And that might cramp their style." No point ruining their town, man. At least, not unless things looked actually dangerous.
So far, Alex wasn't getting that vibe. Maybe because Ray didn't seem to be in a big hurry, maybe not.
Forge agreed with him, anyhow, and started digging through his bag again.
They had to let them out soon, right? They'd been in here for like twenty minutes, with Ray and Sally over in the corner arguing quietly the whole time, and there hadn't been a sign of life in the camp outside the whole time. Where had they gone, and what the hell was going—?
"—the hell?!" Sally's voice suddenly sliced through his thoughts. "What happened to damn the man?"
Alex tried to tune them out, but even Ray's voice was raised by now, and it wasn't like there was much space between them. "Look, I'm just saying—"
"I belong here!"
La, la, la, totally not listening to Ray's crazy family issues…
"Yeah, that's why they have you locked up."
"They took you in!"
He couldn't help it—Alex could feel Ray looking at him, saw it out of the corner of his eye. So he looked back.
Ray sighed.
Alex made a face that he hoped would say he was sorry for, like, existing at the moment.
But if dude was angry, it definitely wasn't with him. He looked back at the girl, who'd slumped against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest and her bottom lip stuck out like a little kid. "Only until they could dump me on Xavier. They didn't want me, and they don't want you."
Dude. What the hell?
No, wait, not his business. Totally not his business.
Except that it kind of was, right now.
"Because I'm pretty?"
"No, you look like shit, kid, I wasn't kidding. But you'll probably end up being pretty once you get a hold on this thing. You can live up there."
"Oh, wait, this is great coming from you. What if they live this way because they want to? You of all fucking people—"
Then, just beyond the grate, Alex could've sworn—
The wall seemed to move. It rippled, and looked like a face, and then it was just gone.
"Ah, guys," he cut into their conversation. "I think you're grabbing some attention."
They came closer to look out. And, just like that, a man sort of… melted upward, out of the floor. He changed right in front of them—first the same color, and even texture, as the ground, and then into something way more human, clothes and all. He was extremely brown, and had one of those wild-west pencil moustache things kicking, and slumped like whoa.
Alex kind of froze, in awe, and then had an exchange with Forge about how sweet it was before trying to get the guy to talk to them. But he just watched them in creepy silence, before walking away.
"Facade, wait! Wait, man!" But when it became obvious it was no use, Ray just started swearing to himself.
Forge shook his head. "I don't get why we're locked up. I mean, I get that they don't want us here, but… shouldn't that mean they put us topside?" He pointed upward.
Sally elbowed in between him and Alex and rattled the gate a little. It gave, but only just. "They're afraid you'll give them away and bring the X-Men down here; maybe because they'll be pissed, maybe in a misguided fit of charity. Every time someone from up there ends up down here, the shit hits the fan. They just want to live."
Ray, on his other side, didn't look convinced. "Whatever. Either way, if they don't let us go back soon, that's exactly what'll happen. The minute I come up missing, Wolverine will start scouring the sewers."
"So why won't they let us go?" Forge asked.
"They will, don't listen to her. They're just being dicks. Probably want me to talk Sally into coming with us before they send us on our way. I doubt they want any X-Men involvement."
Sally shook her head, and looked out at the encampment on the other side, all wistful-like. "I heard Callisto talking the other day—she said X already tried to offer them supplies and shit. She turned him down cold."
Ray snorted. "Treating them like a charity case. Typical—"
"Right, Ray, you're so different from them," the little girl barked. Like, viciously.
Alex, stunned by the force of it, actually took a step backward so they could glare at each other without burning holes in him.
Jesus. Clearly, that intense temper thing was definitely a family trait.
Ray glared at her, but stayed silent.
She sneered right back at him. "You turned into everything you hated. Sell out."
Alex winced.
Ray narrowed his eyes, "That's so not fair—"
Sally's hands balled up into fists, and Alex's need to balance the vibe of the universe suddenly kicked into high gear. He didn't step between them, but he held up his hand and interrupted. "Okay, so, wait." He looked at Ray. About time they just… got everything straight. "Are you here to convince her to come back with you?"
Ray nodded tightly.
Alex turned to Sally. "And you don't want to?"
"Hell, no. I've seen that poster-girl shit on the news. Forget it."
Okay, totally valid. He probably wouldn't want to be Jean Grey if he were a girl, either. (Granted, he sometimes wanted to be like Cyclops, but that was different.) "But, ah, not to be rude, they don't want you here?"
Sally's eyes dropped to his feet, and her bony shoulders slumped. "Well. Sort of."
Alex looked to Ray, who just rolled his eyes. So Alex decided he'd give it a try himself. No point in getting out if they didn't even know what the hell they were gonna do once they did, right? "You don't have to be an X-Man to talk to Xavier—we're not, not technically," he pointed to himself, then Forge. "Forge doesn't even live at the Institute. X can probably help you. He's good, man. The best."
A little creepy sometimes. But still, dude knew his shit.
Sally snorted. "No thanks. Like I need another fucking father figure."
Ray said, "Sally—"
"Skids, Ray-ray. That's my name now. You can't make me go." She stuck her chin out in the direction of the Morlock camp. "They can't either. Remember, no one can touch me. They slip right off."
Alex could feel something starting to come into focus in his brain. She'd just accidentally proved Ray's theory right. They hadn't just dropped them topside, because they obviously wanted Sally to go with them.
He shot Forge a look.
Dude was already looking at him, eyebrows high.
They were so on the same page, as usual.
"So I'm not exactly human, am I?" Chick ranted.
Ray made some annoyed gesture. Dude just didn't have the patience for this kind of thing; Alex was kind of surprised he'd done this well.
"Right," Alex cut in again. "Well, I'm glad they don't actually plan on keeping us here, but we should get out sooner rather than later. He's not kidding. Wolverine will come, not to mention Cyclops. So we can't exactly just sit around and wait."
Ray groaned. "Cyke's going to go Ape-shit. He'll probably think Sinister's back and has you strapped to a table somewhere."
"Bingo."
Forge sighed. "I just didn't bring the right equipment to hack this lock. Sally—"
"Skids."
Ray snorted. "That's a stupid name."
"Okay, Berzerker."
Forge manfully kept himself from laughing, but it was obvious he had a hell of a time. "Have you seen where they keep the pedkey?"
She looked Forge up and down. "Why should I tell you?"
Ray growled somewhere low in his chest. "You want me to go home, or to stay here bugging you all fucking day? Callisto probably locked me in here with you just to torture you."
Alex, totally inappropriately, laughed out loud. He felt a little better when he noticed Forge's shoulders shaking, while he buried his head in his bag again.
Sally passed around the dirty looks, but said, through her teeth, "In the red tent."
Forge said, "I have a plan."
Alex gave a, "Dude," of immense relief.
Ray echoed with a similar-sounding, "Dude." Except that it was even more relieved.
oo
Alex held out the bag of Gummi Bears he'd scavenged from his own pack—about the only useful thing he'd had in there, as it turned out, and watched intently as Forge snapped the casing back on the crazy high-tech remote control car.
Sally winced beside him, then quickly stuffed her hand into the bag, grabbed a handful, and shoved them into her mouth. This time, she got them in before her force field owned her. There were plenty of Gummi Casualties scattered on the concrete, a memorial to those less fortunate.
"Okay," Forge set the car down, and adjusted the clamshell monitor on his lap. "We have the link up to the monitor."
Alex leaned forward to rest his chin on dude's shoulder, to better witness the full glory of Forge's Awesome. Forge hit a little button on the clamshell and the view switched from regular to thermal, from the RC car's point of view. It currently showed the little gap under the gate—just big enough for a tiny convertible—and the camp beyond, a little fuzzier.
Ray stole some Gummis, reaching over his sister's lap. "You brought a remote controlled car, but not a laptop?"
"Well, I thought I'd show it to Alex. We've been working on it. For Tesla and Edison."
Fluffy Guys were going to look so badass cruising around Forge's basement in that thing, too.
"Please, don't explain that sentence," Sally said, through a mouthful of half-chewed Bears.
Alex took out two Bears and put them in the front seat of the hamster-car. They were a little small for the job, but they'd do.
"Nice touch, man." Forge grinned.
"Thanks."
"This is beyond stupid," Sally sighed. "And I'm not talking about the nerd lovefest."
"You'd think that, if you didn't know these two," Ray said. "Don't judge, man."
"Oh shut up, Ray."
Alex scooted back into position behind Forge and grinned at Ray—who, for the first time, actually smiled back.
Things were kinda screwed up right now… but honestly, they could've been worse. No one was in any danger, for one. And if this didn't work for key retrieval (which it would, because the weirder Forge's plans were, the better they worked… well, when they didn't involve alternate dimensions, anyhow), hey, at least it kept them busy for a half hour, right?
Callisto would be by like, any day now, and let them go. Really.
"I'm not going with you," Sally muttered.
Forge, using his rewired clamshell and digital remote, sped the Gummi Bear Rescue Car into action, sending it out into the encampment at top speed.
Alex suddenly had a thought. "How do we know if chameleon guy is gone or not?"
"We don't," Forge admitted, "not unless we get a look at him on the thermal feed. Just have to keep switching back and forth."
Which he did. "Right," Alex agreed, looking back and forth from the actual car to the car-view on the clamshell. "Totally."
In the meantime, Ray and Sally had started behind them, again. "Look, I understand not wanting to come with us," Ray was saying, sounding way tired of the whole thing. "I didn't exactly, either. I wanted to hide down here too, after what went down. But now I know Callisto was right, and I was just scared."
Sally, to Alex's relief, didn't reply.
Alex looked up at the lock, trying to imagine what the key for it would look like—and suddenly wanted to smack himself in the head. He looked over his shoulder at Ray. "Dude, couldn't you just short that thing out?"
"I tried, it has some covering on it. Insulates it."
"Damn."
"Plus it electrified the fence for about five minutes." Ray made a rare pseudo-embarrassed face. "Almost fried myself."
Sally snorted. "Can't believe you haven't yet."
"You wish."
Alex grinned and went back to watching the car's progress. It was still motoring along toward the tent Sally'd pointed out, Forge keeping it close to the piles of stuff around the edges of the clearing, just in case someone was watching. Alex was impressed—that was some slick maneuverability for a hamster-car, man.
And of course, the Wonder Siblings kept it up. "Right now, yeah," Sally said.
"God, you're such a bitchfest. Why did you have to grow up?"
A slight pause then. "I was more of a bitchfest before and you know it."
Ray dropped his voice. "Forget it. That was a long time ago."
"Yeah, two whole years."
"It's a long way between eleven and thirteen."
Forge steered the car around a treacherous spill of something that looked like shattered plastic on the car-cam. Alex patted him on the shoulder, and Forge grinned.
"I shouldn't have listened to him." Sally actually sounded her age when she said it. And… a little sad. Wow. "I didn't understand."
"Forget it, I said. Jesus, Sally, it's over."
"I didn't know he gave you that—"
"Sally."
Again, she stopped.
Forge chewed on his lower lip, and Alex watched that for a second instead of the car. Which was probably why he was so startled when dude suddenly stopped the car and said, "What's that?"
A short, rectangular object, sort of like a pen drive, was on the screen.
Alex waved. "Sally, c'mere. This look like the key?"
Her face appeared over Forge's other shoulder. "Yeah, that's the one." Then she sat back and looked at Alex. "Look, I mean, even if you do get it, how can you get out of here? Your powers give you mad tracking skills?"
"I blow things up," he admitted.
"I got us covered," Forge promised.
Wow. Dude was packing some kind of crazy secret GPS, totally. 'Course, they couldn't even get a signal for a cell phone in here, but Alex wasn't worried. Forge said he had it covered, they were money.
"Okay, here goes."
Everyone, even Sally, went completely silent. The camera barely showed the mechanical arm—originally installed to help Tesla and Edison get out of tight spots (though, obviously, Forge would have to operate it. The Fluffy Dudes were smart, but not that smart), like the camera had been installed to make sure they didn't get lost in the crazy basement maze—extended and reached upward. The pincers came into view just next to the key soon enough, and there were a few gasp-inducing minutes where the things knocked the key off its little hook and onto the floor, then the car rolled over it, then they thought it had accidentally gotten flung across the shelter into god knew where—
But the car emerged triumphant, eventually.
Alex hugged Forge one-armed. "Fuck yeah, Gummi Bear Patrol!"
Forge laughed, and Alex squeezed him even harder.
Sally even laughed, and said, like she was joking this time, "Wonder why I'm not head over heels in love with this plan, Ray-ray?"
"Seriously. Bitchfest."
"Fuck you." But it was weirdly good-natured of them both.
Alex chuckled and leaned on Forge, who was diligently turning the car around now. "Man, she has a mouth for a thirteen-year-old."
Forge was back to biting his lip, all intense, but smiling. "Kids these days, man. Okay, return trip initiated!"
"Let's do it, boy genius." Then Alex let him go, and looked over his shoulder at Ray. "Dude, couldn't Forge and I just go back, and you could stay here with her? I was thinking if we explained about her—"
"Forget it, that's the last thing they need down here. I'm coming with you. But…," Ray turned to his sister again. "You have to promise to meet me sometimes. I know you wanted to, or you wouldn't have sent me that message this morning."
Alex turned to face forward, and watch the progress of the Gummi Patrol again.
He could hear the pout in her voice anyhow. "I just didn't want you to worry about me. I figured Dad would've called you. We fought… kind of about you."
"Jesus."
"Don't tell him. And don't fucking tell Xavier, either, because he'll definitely tell on me. Or come to get me or something stupid. That goes for all of you."
"None of our business, dude," Alex answered.
Ray said, "That's kinda what I meant when I said it was the last thing they needed down here."
The screen balanced on Forge's thigh flicked into thermal-vision—and suddenly flashed red.
Forge gave a little yelp. "Uh-oh. Come on little dudes! Drive!"
The car raced past the weird re-constituting figure of moustache-man and zipped across the center of the clearing, under the short table, and right under the gate—
Alex jumped to his feet, fists in the air, followed closely by Forge. They did a short victory dance, which was really just a lot of jumping up and down and a chest bump here and there.
Ray, way more sensibly, swooped down and picked up the key. He shook it at the grate, and the dude on the other side. "Okay. Look. Just let us get out of here. You're going to eventually anyhow, and if you don't do it now, you're going to have a mess of X-Men on your ass."
Dude, Facade, whatever, just made a face.
Then a weird hissing voice (literally, it elongated the "s" sound like it was speaking freaking Parselmouth), said, "And whose fault is that?"
Two more figures stepped into view on the other side of their stupid little cage. The woman from before, Callisto, and a bald, really pale guy—Alex figured he was the owner of Hella Creepy Voice.
Ray snorted, tapping the key against the gate in irritation. "What, you were there the whole time?"
"We have better things to be doing." Callisto shrugged. "But what if we were?" Then she glanced down at the car, and up at Forge and Alex—
Who were actually linked arm-in-arm for post Victory Dance support.
Heh. Oh, like they were the weird ones.
She almost smiled, though. "I see you've been busy."
Ray was obviously a little bit scared of the woman, but he puffed out his chest pretty good anyhow. "Dude, this is Cyclops's kid brother. We're not back in time for our work-out—"
Sally clutched at the gate. "I didn't ask him to come."
Callisto reached out for the key.
Ray hesitated… then dropped it into her hand.
Alex almost groaned out loud, but Callisto popped it into the lock, and started opening the gate before she said another word. The thing creaked open, slowly. Alex took a deep breath, and gave Forge's arm a squeeze.
"No," Callisto said finally. "But you told him you were with us, didn't you?"
The gate was totally open by then, but they all stayed right where they were.
Not like they knew which way to go, anyhow.
Ray shoved his hands into his pockets. "But she's not, really. Why won't you let her stay?"
"Said it before and I'll say it again: funny how fast you forget, Ray." Callisto turned her weirdly effective gaze—effective like headlights were effective on deer—on the little girl again. "Because she's not one of us. And she'll turn eventually."
Wispy dude spoke up again, "Once she knows our secrets."
So creepy. Wow. That was not a cool thought to have, but it wasn't the way dude looked. It was just… no way he had to talk like that. Seriously.
Ray rolled his eyes, "Oh, right, because the X-Men really give a flying—"
Before he finished, though, Alex's mind had already gone through some mental gymnastics, since he knew exactly what dude was going to say.
Thing was, Alex wasn't sure he was right. He'd been an outsider too not so long ago, and he definitely remembered how there'd been constant pressure from Xavier's… and Scott had tried to protect him from it, but it was hard when he'd definitely wanted his little bro around, himself. X was like that, when he got a bug up his nose about something or someone.
And Skids—man, Alex didn't know. Maybe she would get up his nose, maybe she wouldn't. But X was inscrutable like that.
What if he did bug the hell out of the Morlocks, trying to get her? What if he saw her as a challenge? As someone who needed his protection? As someone who might even be useful?
Alex wasn't stupid, man. He knew he was all that stuff.
But Sally cut Ray off before he could decide if any of that was worth saying. "That's not the point. Look, how many times do I have to tell you? I'll prove myself."
Callisto sighed. "Ray, you really are useless. Can't even do one little thing for us."
Definite confirmation for their reason for being here, anyhow. Alex and Forge had just kind of walked into it…
Nothing new there. Heh.
Ray actually smiled.
Hissy dude slunk back into the encampment, and Callisto turned her back. "We'll wait for Spyke to come home. And then we'll decide. You three, come with me."
Ray looked at Sally. "I'll be in touch."
Callisto looked over her shoulder. "I don't think so."
Ray's temper flashed across his face for a split second. "You made me go to them. So deal with it." Then he took a deep breath. "Look, you can depend on her not to tell me where you are."
Forge, who'd collected all his stuff, put it back in his pack, and was at Alex's side by this time, forgot himself and said, "Anyhow, I can—"
Alex elbowed him—unfortunately with the left elbow. Which was where he had that injury. He mumbled, "Ouch," and rubbed at it.
Ray, after he said a quick goodbye to Sally, trotted ahead, to talk quietly to Morlock Leader-Lady. Sally waved goodbye to all of them, suddenly looking like she wanted to come with them after all.
But she didn't. And as they followed Callisto out of the weirdly cozy, but naked light of the camp and into a darker side-tunnel, Forge shot Alex a concerned look, then glanced down at his elbow. "You okay?"
"From last night," he explained.
Forge got this weird, crooked grin on his face. "Kinda figured Jean-Paul for the type."
Alex was suddenly extremely grateful for the darkness, because he was sure the heat in his cheeks was really, really obvious. "Oh, yeah," he sputtered, totally stupidly, trying to keep his head above water and play along. "But you know me, I'll try anything once."
Dude. So not the right time for this.
But… way awesome, all the same.
oo
The first thing they did when they made it aboveground again (and Alex could swear it had taken more than the hour his watch showed him, because Callisto had definitely gone through every fucking tunnel under Bayville to throw them off—like it was even necessary; Forge hadn't even turned on his GPS thing) was take a huge lungful of sweet, sweet fresh air. Alex felt like his hair and clothes were infused with weird mildew-and-grossness scent.
The second thing they did, while booking it back toward the Institute double-time, since they were definitely going to be a little late anyhow, was try and figure out why the hell Callisto was a Morlock in the first place. Forge declared the eye-patch totally hot, and Alex and Ray had been forced to agree.
But they didn't come up with any good answer before they passed Forge's neighborhood, and dude peeled off (after making Alex promise to come try out the car with the Fluffy Guys tonight).
Alex watched him go—maybe a little too closely, because Ray elbowed him and grinned.
Alex flushed, still a little—ah, surprised to realize that dude maybe, possibly, kinda, in a his weird indirect Forge way, might've been flirting with him sometimes.
Because… dude.
Dude.
He changed the subject before Ray could start in on him. Because honestly, they had way more important shit they should be talking about than Alex's friend-crush apparently changing gears—and ripping out the clutch in the process.
"So man, you cool?"
The grin faded into a more thoughtful expression, but Ray nodded. "Yeah, Sally's okay down there. For now."
Alex couldn't see why not. Sure, it wasn't a conventional upbringing for a girl… but it was hard enough to find a place to want to stay, when in Sally's weird ass position. If she was safe, she had a leg up on a lot of the young mutants out there.
"I haven't known where the hell she was for months," Ray sighed. "Must've gone through some real shit, getting here from Denver on her own."
"Guess you both went through some real shit," Alex ventured, figuring the time for pretending was pretty well fucking past by now. "I didn't know you were with the Morlocks."
"Yeah. Xavier and Mr. Logan know. After my mom died, Sally's dad—" A slight pause there, and that angry flush hit Ray's cheeks. "Well, he never laid a hand on her, or my mom."
Alex could figure out the missing bits of the story easily enough.
"Not surprised he started though—that's what made her force field turn up, I think. Always felt bad about leaving her with him, but he moved her as far away as he could pretty soon after. As happy to get rid of me as I was to get rid of him. Convinced her I was dangerously unhinged, shit like that. Not surprised she believed him. I kinda shorted out… everything in the house, the day I ran out."
"I feel that," Alex said, around the knot of sympathy in his throat. Dude, no wonder Ray had such an issue with authority. But the guilt was totally unfounded. "Not much a kid can do, man."
"That's a shit excuse. Look at her now."
Alex shrugged. "She looked okay to me. Just a little skinny and, um, bitter. Heh, maybe she should talk to Rogue about that no-touching thing."
"Oh, fuck no. That's a real bitchfest, Sally and Rogue…"
Alex laughed, if a little sedately. "Good point." And then, he had a Brilliant Thought. "Hell, Forge got some readings off her force field, maybe he can figure out a way to help her out, if she won't come see X."
Ray looked at him sideways. "Seriously? Because if she could get some control, maybe she'd stop feeling like she belongs underground."
"Shame anyone feels it." Even if they spoke Parselmouth.
"Preach it, brother."
"I mean, no promises or anything—"
"I get it," Ray said. "But it'd be cool if he even tried. He's all right." And then, another sideways glance. "So you get around, man. I had no idea. You and him have a—like, a thing?
Unable to think of any defense, and totally hoping he wouldn't start blushing again, Alex just stuttered out a, "What?"
"You know. A thing. You and Forge?"
"Uhm, no. I think he likes girls."
"Yeah, but I figured he was sitting on the fence. I mean, that was the nerdiest techno-flirting I've ever seen. I thought Kitty was talking shit but…"
Dude. Kitty noticed? Holy crap, where had he been?
Ray grinned. "And JP—?"
"No. That was just… goofing off." Alex smiled to himself. "Mutually beneficial goofing off."
"Wish my friends goofed off like yours."
Alex turned his grin on his roommate. "Guess you don't swing the right way."
"Not that far, anyhow."
They walked a little way in weirdly cheerful silence, out of the town and past the Brotherhood house—and by the time they got to the gates at Xavier's, they were 20 minutes late for sure. And then, Ray said, "Sorry I was a dick about you turning up. It was good after all. Takes a weight off, with you knowing. And having Forge on the job… well, as long as he doesn't accidentally zap her into some weird ass dino dimension, it can't be bad. You won't think you know better than me and Sally, like the adult-types."
"Even though you do know better than Sally, let's face it, man."
Ray chewed on the inside of his cheek for a second. "You don't think she was right, do you? Like, that I'm becoming the Man?"
"Not in a million years, Ray."
Alex transferred Edison back into the Habitrail with Tesla (in spite of their names, they were definitely BFF) and put on the lid.
Forge's parents' basement, his combination inventor space and bedroom, was about the most comfortable space in the world. His futon, always a wreck of blankets and pretty old sheets, sat kind of in the middle, next to his complicated huge flatscreen and stereo setup (Alex still hadn't figured out which remote just turned the damn TV on). The rest of the place was a maze of Habitrail—which climbed over and around pretty the whole room—spare electronics parts, tables covered in crazy machines and discarded experiments, and piles of old copies of Popular Electronics, Rolling Stone, and mislaid records from his freakish vinyl collection. All of it was wrapped up in a warm cocoon of olive green shag carpet, wood paneling, and the occasional bright orange piece of furniture, usually covered by discarded jeans or motherboards.
And, of course, the giant closet that held the hydroponics and grow lights. But that was another story.
"I was thinking about that myself, man," Forge said, displacing a pile to make room for his ass, then hopping up on the table. He put the remote for the car down on the nearest stack of magazines, and Alex made sure to note its location. Forge would want it in like five minutes, but have forgotten what he'd done with it. "Maybe we could rig something up that'd interfere with the frequency, give her a little break. I mean, I doubt we could get down there again— they obviously just wanted us there, this time."
"Totally," Alex agreed, brushing off his hands. He was a little sore from the extra paces Wolverine had put them through for being late, but hell, he couldn't help feeling that today had been… weirdly awesome.
He hoped they'd done the right thing about Sally Blevins, of course. But he couldn't help feeling that they had. For some reason.
Forge seemed to feel the same. "But if Ray's going to see her once a week, maybe he'd take us with him sometimes, to try stuff out."
"Oh yeah. He's all about hooking her up."
Forge swung his bare feet, a foot off the ground, and shrugged happily. "That'll be our next project, now that the car is perfected."
Alex returned to the table, leaning against it with one hip and crossing his arms over his chest. "Necessity, invention, all that good stuff." He was about to suggest something-or-other when his phone beeped, warning him that he'd just received a text message.
He made a face. "Dude. I really hope this isn't Scott giving me shit about being late today. I so don't want to have to lie to him."
Forge made a sympathetic face.
Alex hesitantly flipped his phone open, saw the name Jean-Paul, and breathed a deep sigh of uber-relief.
You spent all day with Ray, don't lie. I expect a full report tonight.
Alex laughed out loud, but then felt a little bad. Poor JP. Unless he'd magically made up with Pietro today—which Alex seriously doubted, from how bad the situation had been last night—dude was probably still all fucked up. Well, he'd check on him before bed, anyhow.
"Just Jean-Paul," he said, by way of explanation. But when he looked up, Forge had his eyebrows raised so high, they'd long since disappeared under his bangs.
Alex got a little bit fluttery, but took a deep breath, and calmed himself. He wasn't gonna give the excuse he'd been giving to everyone at the Institute all day long. He was way tired of it, but also… why bother. It was Forge. "Okay, the truth?"
"Always."
"I would so never admit this to anyone but you… but he was trying to teach me some, ah, technique. Because I'm all clueless."
One eyebrow came down. "Like Hitch?"
How had he not kissed this guy, yet? "But a little more hands-on. So it's way dorkier than everyone thinks."
Forge didn't look convinced. But, unless Alex missed his guess, and he hardly ever did, with Forge, he definitely looked interested.
Like, in the method.
So Alex took another deep breath, and looked for that awful, scared feeling in his stomach.
It didn't come.
Dude.
Alex uncrossed his arms, put one hand on the table, next to Forge's leg, and leaned forward. He waited just long enough to be sure that he was getting the right amount of lean back, his heart thumping a million miles a minute in his chest, his cheeks on fire—
And closed his eyes just before their lips connected.
For just a second, he froze. Forge had way softer lips than JP, and now there was this fucked up kind of feeling in his belly, still not the fear, but like something jumping up and down, that definitely hadn't been there last night, and Alex wasn't sure what it meant, and it made him forget what he was supposed to do next—
But then he felt Forge smile against his lips, and a warm hand cover his on the table.
His blood sped up all at once, went crashing in weird directions—but suddenly, he remembered everything.
Dude.
Score.
A/N: Just a quick note to say that I know it's been forever, I'm all slow as hell nowadays. But it's definitely not over 'til it's over, for sure.