So. Apparently, I'm not allowed to respond to individual reviews in an author's note. I will therefore say that in general if someone were to be concerned about Gambit's part in this, they shouldn't worry too much. I like Rogue the way I'm writing her. Also, that if someone were to be living in San Antonio and reviewing this, please forgive me for screwing with your city.
Disclaimer: If I owned X-Men Evolution, I'd be living off more than dinner rolls and Odwalla juice right now.
(Do the Page Break!)
Approximately twelve hours and five car changes later, Rogue and crew caught the first exit off Highway 10 to San Antonio. She'd driven mostly aimlessly, wanting only the protection of movement.
Jamie was the only one to have slept at all, a fitful hour and a half as they cruised through a Dallas suburb looking for a likely replacement to their current ride.
Hot-wiring cars became much easier after the second time.
Now, with the rising sun casting a rosy glow over the city, Rogue followed a series of vastly misleading street signs until she found Rosedale Park. As the Dodge truck settled, she turned to survey her unsettled passengers. Rahne was a wolf again, the better to confuse those looking for five kids with no pets. Sam and Jubilee's eyes were both marked by dark circles. Jamie jittered nervously in his seat, unable to stay still for long.
Rogue cleared her throat, "I think we all need to get out and move around a bit. There's this nice big open field, it's too early for anyone to see. C'mon."
She exited the car first. Hoping to provide some kind of positive example, Rogue did a few jumping jacks, than attempted a string of cartwheels. Attempted being the operative word. After the second wheel, her T-shirt flew up, covering her face.
Temporarily blinded, Rogue blushed angrily at Jubilee's tired chuckle. Remembering how laughing had relaxed everyone earlier, though, she let herself start giggling.
"Hey, Rogue…you going for beads, or what?"
Oh, right. Hastily pulling her shirt down, Rogue watched as Jamie smacked Rahne's arm and ran. Jubilee pretended dignified disinterest at first, but ran shrieking as soon as Rahne approached her. The impromptu game of tag ranged over the large soccer field, Rahne eventually tagging Jamie back so hard three copies of him appeared. All four boys then began to chase the two girls, and their laughter rang back through the morning.
Sam carefully helped Rogue up, and the two leaned against the truck watching their teammates. He was the first to break the silence.
"So, are you still thinking Seattle?"
Rogue sighed, though the sight of a Jamie-clone (or was it the real one?) sliding through the grass on his stomach made her smile. Sam was a smart kid, smart enough to see through any crap reassurances. He wanted to know their real situation.
Even a smart kid was still a kid. They needed protection and room to grow up, not running, fear, fighting, and possible imprisonment. Rogue couldn't share the decision making with Sam, with any of them.
He waited for her response, the epitome of patience. Sam had always been so evenly tempered; he'd never seemed to fit in with the gaggle of other teen boys inhabiting the Institute. Where were the rest of them now? Dead or alive, dissected or imprisoned?
When being a fugitive was the high life, Rogue thought it might be time to stop and reconsider your life.
Rahne careened up to them, panting, red-faced, and laughing whenever she wasn't gasping. Grabbing Sam's arm, she made a valiant attempt to drag the boy out onto the field. He mock-reluctantly resisted, digging in his heels and making her work for the victory.
Rogue, watching them, marveled (sorry…puns are evil.) anew at the adaptive ability of children. Not that she had much room (or many years) to talk. It only felt as if she were ancient.
She gestured to them all to come back to the truck. Time to be on the move.
(Holy page breaks, Batman!)
"Hey, what does El Pollo Loco mean?"
"The Crazy Chicken. Wait, where did you see that?"
"The restaurant we passed. Can we eat there?"
"Ooh, they have those in California. They're good!"
"For breakfast?"
"Sure, why not?"
And so it came to pass that Rogue found herself eating chicken enchiladas at nine in the morning. The kids had all been excited about it, and she didn't want to completely destroy their morale if she didn't have to.
Besides, the food wasn't half bad.
(El Page Break Loco…)
They'd left the Dodge of Dallas (as Jamie had taken to calling it) in a Burger King parking lot, and walked the couple miles to the Desert Rose Mall. It had the nearest ATM, and they were down to nubbins in the cash department.
Jubilee wilted as soon as the mall came into view.
"That's not a mall. That's…a glorified shed row."
Circumspection was the name of the game now. Rogue placed the kids within easy sight, but close enough to exits that they could make individual escapes if they had to. She approached the ATM confidently. That was all part of it, looking as if you belonged.
Jamie and Sam were perusing game consoles at Radio Shack to her right, Jubilee and Rahne flipping through the sales rack at Bon Marche to her left. Everything was fine, right?
Two hundred in twenties slid nicely out of the slot and the ATM screen wished her "Bienvenidos!" Apparently she'd punched the Spanish button…good thing somewhere along the line someone she'd absorbed had spoken Spanish.
Rogue forced herself to take calming breaths when she saw the two security guards gesturing towards Sam and Jamie. She resisted the urge to swoop down on all her charges and hustle them away. Catching Sam's eye in the glass plate reflection, she bent to tie her shoe in the pre-arranged signal for them to meet outside.
Rahne, as nonchalant as one could be while panicking, sauntered up to Rogue. Hissing under her breath as she faked bumping into the older girl, "Jubilee's gone! I turned around and she wasn't there…"
"Oh, I'm sorry." Good girl, using her best American accent.
"No, it's fine, don't worry." Then, quietly as she could, "Meet at the designated place. I'll find her."
They went their separate ways, as innocently as two passersby colliding.
Jamie was doing his full best to be undercover…and the new Gamecubes were pretty cool. Sam saw the girls' exchange, watched Rogue head for the Bon and Rahne exit out a side door. He tugged Jamie's sleeve, and for the benefit of the watching security guards, "C'mon Bobby, if we don't get back to the food court, Mom's going to kill us. Let's go."
Putting up a token fight, Jamie trailed after his 'brother', glancing longingly back at the shop window. As soon as they rounded the corner, he punched the air enthusiastically.
"I think they bought it!"
"That's good, but let's try to keep it quiet, OK? Something went wrong."
Jamie sobered instantly, "What?"
"Jubilee didn't leave with Rahne."
"Crap."
(Egap Kaerb)
Rogue strode past the racks of clothes, trying to ignore her heart hammering in her throat. Where the hell was that girl? She had a lot of nerve walking off like that, when so much was on the line.
A flash of blue jeans and white T-shirt near the women's dressing rooms caught Rogue's eye and she veered in that direction. She caught the edge of the cubicle door as Jubilee was opening it, causing the younger girl to run unceremoniously into the door handle.
"Ouch, Rogue, what the fuck…"
Her voice trailed away.
"Put that stuff down and come with me, right now."
Jubilee immediately dropped the armload of blouses on the cubicle bench and followed Rogue to the outer exit of the store. The older girl was furious and made no attempt at hiding it. They emerged into the dazzling sunlight of a San Antonio afternoon, still walking faster than was really comfortable in this heat.
Someone grabbed Jubilee's arm, and she tensed for a fight. It was one of the mall's rent-a-cops, and he looked a little too happy at having caught her. Hiding her other hand behind her back, she formed a little…surprise for him.
"Amy." It was Jubilee's cover name, her mother's name. She looked back at Rogue, currently standing within arm's length of another mall cop. The anger was gone from her eyes, replaced by guarded fear. Jubilee let the sparks in her palm disintegrate.
"C'mon you two." They were marched into a little room in the back of the Bon store, all gray cement floor and whitewashed walls.
The guards made them sit at the folding table, in two rickety plastic chairs. Jubilee wished fervently that she could reach over and grab Rogue's hand, but she knew they had to keep their cover intact if they were going to get out of this.
"What's your name?"
Rogue wanted to ask if this guy was supposed to be the good cop, but refrained. Polite and respectful would be better.
"Marie Wagner." Pronounced the American way, of course. No use tying too many parallels to her brother. Is he alive? Hurt? She ruthlessly pushed the thoughts aside.
"How old are you, Miss Wagner?" Well, no need to lie there.
"Eighteen."
The guy turned on Jubilee next.
"Amy, was it? You have a last name, Amy?" Jubilee jumped nervously, and Rogue saw the urge to give a smart-ass comeback flit through her eyes. Thankfully, she restrained herself, and replied almost meekly.
"Lam. My name's Amy Lam."
"And how old are you?"
"Fourteen."
This was all duly written down on a piece of paper, and the rent-a-cop stood.
"Well, it's policy, we had to call a trooper down here. You two just sit tight."
He left, and Jubilee turned to Rogue in panic.
"What're we going to do?"
"We'll be fine. I have a plan. Just be ready to go when I say, OK?"
"OK."
Not a minute later, a uniformed cop walked in and addressed Rogue.
"Miss Wagner, could you please stand up and come over here?"
Rogue dutifully did so, dreading the next few minutes. This was not going to be fun.
"Miss Wagner, I'm going to need you to remove your gloves, please." The trooper held up a pair of handcuffs.
She did, and turned around as instructed. He got her first wrist encircled all right, but brushed her hand on the second one. He dropped like a stone, and Rogue cringed, her mind flooded with thoughts and feelings that weren't her own.
If she'd only had a few minutes to get her bearings together, she would've been fine.
Trooper Martinez's partner walked in just in time to see his partner collapse, however. He slammed the girl that Luis had been cuffing against the wall, and turned his head to shout for back up.
Jubilee released a handful of flash-bang firecrackers into the air, blinding the trooper holding Rogue long enough for the older girl to wrestle herself free. They raced down the narrow corridor and slammed into the nearest unlocked door, leaning against it and panting as the sound of running feet pattered past.
The two girls started wildly at the exclamation of surprise from the other occupant of the room.
A teen girl, no older than Rogue, gaped at them. She was holding a steaming cup of soup, and obviously didn't notice that the boiling water had spilt on her hand.
The tableau stayed frozen for a second, before Jubilee broke into the biggest smile she could manage.
"Hi, I'm Amy, and this is Marie. Can you help us get out of here?"
Rogue gave a little wave, then noticed she was waving with her still shackled hand. She hurriedly tucked it behind her back and gave the girl a nervous smile.
"Um…aren't you the people they just pulled in for shoplifting?"
"No! I mean, well, yes, but we didn't do it. Steal anything, that is." Jubilee's cheerful front had just degraded into babbling.
"Wait," the girl squinted at Rogue, "I've seen you before. You were on the news…you're a mutant!"
Jubilee fell silent, looking nervously over at Rogue. The girl was silent, watching them. Rogue cleared her throat, and nodded sharply.
"Oh. Well, come on. You can go out the service entrance."
Rogue and Jubilee followed the girl out of the break room where she'd been eating lunch, down a parallel corridor to the one they'd just left, out into a truck loading bay, and thence to the shady side parking lot of the Bon.
They stopped on the curb, and Rogue turned to look back at her.
"Thanks."
Jubilee was a second behind in echoing her.
"Yeah, thanks. Are you going to get into trouble?"
The girl shrugged. "Probably not. There aren't any cameras in the back; they won't know it was me. You guys better take off, though."
Rogue and Jubilee headed out across the pavement, keeping a surreptitious eye out for cop cars. They turned as the girl ran up to them.
"By the way," she said with a smile, and held up a set of keys-one of which was a handcuff key.
Rogue hastily unclipped the metal bracelet from around her wrist.
"Thanks again."
"No problem."
(Break. Page Break.)
"They were muties for sure, sir. One of them threw some kind of colorful fire, and the other one knocked Lui-, I mean, Trooper Martinez out. There isn't a mark on him, but he's out cold. Sir."
The anxious trooper was being treated for minor burns around the eyes. His partner had already been transported to hospital, unconscious with seemingly no cause. Trooper Calkin sat on the tailgate, facing his LT and the Bossier City Captain Carroll. The two officers thanked the trooper, and sent him off in the ambulance.
"Seen enough?" Lieutenant Mitchell asked speculatively.
"Yeah…looks like it might be the same group. My people reported seeing rainbow fire during the explosion." Carroll thumbed his moustache, a nervous habit.
The two walked off the scene, ducking under the crime scene tape to go to their respective cars. As they did, a tall man in a duster approached Captain Carroll.
"So, Captain, is this related to the explosion in Bossier City?"
Carroll rolled his eyes, "You came all the way out here from New Orleans? Isn't there enough shit going on in your city?" Reporters didn't usually wear dark shades, although it was bright out.
"Hey, mutant menace. Big story, gotta keep the people informed."
"Yeah, yeah," Lieutenant Mitchell waved a hand at the reporter. "Preliminary evidence suggests there might be a link in the two incidents, but I swear if a headline goes out saying 'Mutants Marauding' or some such, I will have your head on a platter."
"Sure thing, Lieutenant." The man sauntered off to an expensive-looking SUV. Mitchell wondered if he'd just threatened a Times-Picayune reporter with death, and exactly how well that was going to go over with his boss. The incident soon slipped from his memory, however, as such incidents do.
(Page Break Mafia.)
Um. Yeah.
I'm sorry, but the inspiration ran out right there. I'm sorry it kind of…sucks.
I do have most of the story mapped out; I know where it's going to end up and part of how they're going to get there. The only problem is getting it out between classes, homework, and everything else that goes into college life.
Review, and tell me what you think!