"Rebecca pleeeease!" Jack moaned as if he was asking her to save his life.
"Jack, I have two sessions tomorrow with the Professor. I can't go. Y'all go, and have a good time." Jack looked her deep in the eyes and she stared back with a relenting you know I can't.
Jack gave up begging her and left the room like a dog with his tail between his legs. Pip, Dinah, Liz, and himself decided they were going to celebrate a long week of danger room exercises being over. Professor Xavier and Scott had them working as if some big battle was coming. Jack was making his way down the hall to Liz' room to confirm their departure time.
"Touch, there is no point in you staying by yourself…." Liz was cut off.
"…I'm not by myself, Ziska, AJ, Darius and Rebecca are all going to be here." Touch said firmly but warmly.
"Touch, Rebecca is only staying because she has to get some rest for her sessions tomorrow. She won't be much fun And Darius is 10, he'll be asleep by the time we leave."
"What about Ziska and AJ?" Touch said unknowingly.
"Even if I had the slightest clue what they would be doing, I can assure you that most likely, they wouldn't include any of us in their plans. That goes for you too." Touch let out a brief sigh that Liz realized she was responsible for. "Don't let it bother you though, they don't associate with any of us, too prestigious to mix business with pleasure." They both let out a laugh.
"Well, ok, there's no reason not to I suppose." Touch said.
"Excellent! We're leaving in 10 mins so you have to jet" Liz began to walk away.
"You didn't tell me we were going so soon!"
Liz poked her head back in the door, "aren't you a telepath?" She smiled and continued walking, unbeknownst to her, walking into Jack.
"There you are Lizzie. I was looking all over for you! I got so tired I started teleporting around the mansion, I didn't think I'd find you….Wait a second. What are you doing outside of Touch's…..you didn't. Tell me you didn't invite him with us." Jack sternly looked at her knowing exactly what was to follow.
"Jack I know how you feel about Touch, but what are we supposed to do, leave him here?"
"Yes." Jack replied sharply.
"O…K…" Liz said mischievously, "he can hang out with Rebecca while we're gone then." Liz brushed by Jack.
"Lizzie! Wait!"
*********************
Pip sat on the hood of the car waiting for the others. He took a deep haul of his cigarette and exhaled it slowly watching the cherry grow and fade like a vapour trail as foot steps made a rhythmic pattern behind him.
"Honestly Pip that is so gross. One of these days I'm going to put a stick of dynamite in with your cigarettes and laugh when it explodes right…in….your….face" Dinah annunciated every symbol emphasizing how much she meant it.
Pip let out a quick chuckle, "that'd kill me Di."
The both made eye contact and said at the same time, "you're killing yourself."
Pip laughed even louder, "I know ye all too well Di." He gave her a quick smile and dropped his cigarette from his fingers watching it fall to the ground where he stepped on it with the heel of his black shoe. "I'm tryin' to quit. I'm doin good, ye know that."
"So what's the final head count?" Dinah asked, now sitting Indian style on the car.
"Elizabeth, Touch, Jack, you, and meself."
"I'm surprised Jack and Touch would agree to be in the same viscinity."
"Well," Pip laughed "It was either stay in with Hermie…"
"Pip!" Dinah laughed and exclaimed at the same time, "you're awful!"
"Or come out with us. And Jack didn't take too kindly to the idea of Touch and Rebecca being together, sooo, it's one big happy family tonight."
They both laughed and a popping noise was heard behind them. They turned to see Jack in the drivers seat putting the keys in the ignition, and Liz and Touch following closely behind. Liz threw her hands in the air and exclaimed, "I love going clubbing!"
*********************
Music filled the room and made it harder for Elizabeth to rummage through the crowd to find her companions. She kept blinking her eyes as sweat fell from her forehead onto the sticky floor that made almost lewd sounds as stepped. For a second it felt like a danger room scenario, but at least if that was the case, she'd be able to take out some of her aggression by morphing.
Liz kept making her way through the tumultuousness and caught a sign of Jack when…SMACK. A girl, probably in her late teens, 5'6 with fake angel wings and blonde hair ran directly into her.
"My B!" The girl helped Liz up and brushed her backside of all the dirt she picked up from the ground.
"It's ok. Wow, for a such a small person, you're pretty strong." Liz quickly put her hands on her head, and various parts of her body just to make sure everything was safely intact.
The girl put her fingers up to her mouth, and spoke, "yeah, I get that a lot. Well listen, I work here. My name is Ingle. If you need anything just ask one of the bouncers and I'll be over with a quickness." Ingle gave a quick wink and a half-smile and lost herself within the crowd.
Liz stood there confused as Jack came up from behind.
"Lizzie, if you are gonna leave us to venture the rest of the club, the least you could do is get on top of the bar and start dancing and make your ditching attempt worth it…." Liz looked on, not paying attention to Jack. "Liz? Earth to Liz? We need you back in your body."
Liz glanced over and made eye contact with Jack. "Jack, who suggested that we come here tonight?"
"We all wanted to come."
"No, I mean specifically. We've never been to this club before, who suggested this particular one?" Liz seemed to be unraveling something.
"Hmmmm, actually now that you mention it. I think Professor Xavier mentioned it to us."
"That's weird" Liz said now looking on at the crowd, "really weird."
*********************
Pip stood next to the bar slowly moving with the music after Jack and Liz were nowhere to be found and Dinah decided to mingle with some local boys. Debating whether or not to light a smoke Pip turned his head as he faintly heard someone calling his name.
Touch was mouthing words to him from the other side of the bar and through his hands in the air in frustration when a girl, who seemed to be flirting with the bartender, got in his way. He mouthed 'Screw this' as the room suddenly became silent to Pip and a voice was heard in the back of his head.
Sorry to, um, intrude…so to speak…. but as you can see, even if we were next to each other I doubt we could make each other out. Anyways, do you want a drink?
Pip looked surprised and replied with Uhhhhh….
I know you and Jack are really tight but I figure, I mean, we don't have to not get along because Jack is a….Sorry.
Oh its not that Pip said, I'm just not 21 mate.
Touch had a menacing grin across his face, And?
*********************
Touch and Pip sat across from each other at a table perpendicular to the stage and crowd. After a drink or two, their conversation went from something short of an acquaintance, to a conversation that could almost pass for a long over due catch-up between two old chums.
"….So I came to Xavier's and that's mostly what I've been doing till now."
"I see." Touch spoke taking the last sip of his drink. He took in a breath and looked behind his shoulder quickly, "so, you basically freeze things right? Not like, burrr its cold freeze, but like, time?"
Pip casually tipped his glass as the ice cubes fell out one after the other. Before the last one could, he held out his hand and a soft blue light emitted, engulfing the ice cub and the water dripping from it…in mid air. "Quite simple, savvy?"
*********************
"Ladies and Gents…" Dinah, Jack, Liz, Pip, and Touch turned to hear the booming voice on stage. "…it is my pleasure to introduce the next act, and our regular 'tender, Ingle Mariano!"
Liz was paying more attention now and could vaguely hear Ingle tell the a man across the room to turn the lights down a little from her face. The room broke out into applause and Ingle took center stage. She gripped the microphone tightly covering her mouth in the process.
"Alright guys, I'm gonna start out with….hmmm….what should I start with?" Ingle asked the attentive crowd.
Almost as if practiced the crowd erupted with echoes of, "THE CURE!"
Dinah widened her eyes to the boy she was dancing with, "a regular I suppose?" Pointing to Ingle.
Ingle closed her eyes and music began playing behind her as she waved to the DJ. She took a deep breath and started "Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick, the one that make me scream he's sick….show me how you do it, and I'll promise you I'll promise you, that I'll run away with you."
A pool of arms were being thrown in the air, and feet were moving off the ground as if it were on fire. Not one person wasn't enchanted by the music…save for Dinah. She was looking around the room and settled her stare for the stage where someone just seemed out of place.
"What's up?" the boy she was dancing with mouthed.
To be heard Dinah yelled at the top of her lungs, "YOU COME HERE A LOT, RIGHT?"
"YEAH!" He answered back.
"OK, WHO IS THAT GUY IN THE BLACK BEHIND THAT INGLE GIRL?"
"…NO IDEA!" He said confused.
Dinah ran off in a huff.
"DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG?"
*********************
"….You, Lost and Lonely, You Soft and Lonely, You…Just like Heaven." Ingle looked up and the crowd went crazy at the end of her song. She stepped back to bow and show off her wings, as the man behind her grabbed her arms and held them behind her back with a knife to her throat. The crowd unanimously gasped and rushed the stage as the man held his hand forward and signaled for them to hault.
"One more step" he said, "One more step and I can promise you that little Ms. Ingle won't be jingling any longer." He held the knife even closer to her throat. "As for you guys…" he paused and looked around the room, "I'd leave now and avoid the fire." His eyes grew grey and flames began to envelop the tables, the curtains, the alcohol, the speakers…everything. The crowd of people ran out of the place with not one looking back.
Dinah, Jack, Pip, and Liz ran to the center of the room and looked at each other for ways to quell the fire.
"Where's Touch?" Liz asked hysterically
"The bathroom!" Pip called back just as frantic
Dinah had grabbed an extinguisher and was attempting to use it on the fire but it just seemed to grow rather than stop. Jack had a similar idea and was teleporting glasses of water all of the place and throwing them on the fire. The embers multiplied at each of his attempts.
They all looked at each other not knowing what to do as the fire slowly began stop. Not get put out, but rather slowly just fade away. Touch made his way back into the room
"It's an illusion!" Touch said as he ran to meet them all in the center of the room.
"Quite funny" the man, who was still in possession of Ingle called. "Only one person in three hundred had enough sense to figure it out…teenagers."
Liz made eye contact with Ingle and she nodded her head in pure shock.
"Stop…stop that!" the man cried "What did you say to…."
Ingle threw her head back as the man quickly grabbed his nose to hold back the blood.
"COVER YOUR EARS!" Ingle didn't even resemble the angelic girl she did while performing.
"What? Why?" Jack asked cautiously.
"NOW!" She called back. If at any moment in his life, Jack knew not to talk back it was now.
Ingle extended her arms toward the man with her fists facing him, as a yell louder than anyone of them had ever heard came out and threw the man backwards. She kept at it and you could see that her sonic wave was so loud, it actually rippled through the air and tinted the color as well.
"GO!" Dinah and Liz screamed, and with that, Ingle did. Jack, Touch, Pip, Dinah, and Liz jumped the stage and made a half circle around the man. He looked up with pure craziness in his eyes.
"You are going to regret that…" He spread his fingers so wide that they were pointing at all of them. "No one crosses Chaos and stays sane!" His hands turned grey and smoke filled the room. He got up and began running. Liz started to chase after him until an explosion sent her directly into the railing to her left. She weakly opened her eyes and saw Dinah standing above her with a stick of dynamite in her hand.
"Always trying to show me up. Not today girl."