It had been a long time since Claudia had been able to admit that she was actually having fun with somebody. Sure, the protests were great and she met a lot of people that she had a whole bunch in common with, but it was impossible to have fun with while dodging tear gas from the riot police. Bobby was fun. After their little rendezvous in the hallway she'd dragged him down to the corner McDonald's that had become Mutie Central. Bobby had gallantly offered to pay for her quarter pounder and in return she managed to finagle them a booth in a corner so they could talk. She laughed at his antics, and especially got a kick out of how he would put his fries in his Big Mac. "It all goes to the same place," he shrugged. Bobby was definitely interesting, a character.
She finished eating before him and waited patiently while he finished off his Coke. "So," she asked when he swallowed the last big gulp. "You're new here?"
He gagged a little bit then smiled. "Yah, I'm from New York, I transferred when they kicked all us mutants out of NYU." She frowned a little bit at that, Bobby wasn't the first mutant she'd run into who'd been kicked out of NYU after the President of the University instituted the new non-mutant policy. If they want us to become useful members of society I don't know why they make it so difficult for us to get an education. Her expression seemed to put him off a little bit. "Yah, I don't know if you heard but they kicked us all out." If she didn't know any better Claud would have sworn he was nervous.
"Yah," She sighed. "You're not the first one ta come to Boston from NYU. Fuckin' bastids!"
Bobby laughed. "You know it. Just dumped us out on the street, didn't even refund my tuition. My father was about to vent his spleen when they kept the money." He started laughing even harder, "Turned purple, screaming at the registrar. Classic." He started gulping in air, then calmed. "Hey, you know any mutant looking for a new roommate?"
The question came out of nowhere, and it took a couple seconds for Claudia to answer it. "Why, who'd you get stuck with?"
Bobby threw his arms up dramatically, "This psycho kid, John. He's got these big pointdexter glasses." Bobby demonstrated by making two circles with his fingers and putting them up to his face. "His nose is huge, and he dresses like he's going out to play golf with the guys from the office!" Claudia started laughing hysterically, only goading Bobby on. It wasn't that his description was all that funny, but she knew exactly who he was talking about and Bobby was completely clueless. "Get this, I walk into the room," he continued, "and the first thing he says to me isn't 'hey buddy, what's up?' he says 'you didn't wipe your feet.' Can you fuckin' believe that shit?" Tears were now starting to make their way down Claudia's face. "But seriously," Bobby said, stopping Claudia's peals of laughter as he, himself took on a serious air. "He was watching Evangelize, the kid's a mutie hater."
To Claudia's credit she only laughed at Bobby for five minutes straight, interrupted by the occasional "WHAT?" before she calmed back down. "So you're the kid that was gonna be moving in with John! I'll have to let him know so he can calm down." Bobby just sat there confused. "Bobby, John's weird, but he's no mutie hater. He was convinced they were sticking him with a flatscan, he was watching that shit so that you wouldn't pummel the crap out of him!" She started laughing again, "did he take out the carpet cleaner?"
"Yah, and he made me sit there till he vacuumed it up!" Bobby whined, still looking very clueless.
"That kid is...hic… priceless." She hiccuped, taking a slow sip of her soda to calm her lungs down. "John is a mutant too, Bobby." Claudia finally explained.
"So his power really is to keep things spotless!" Bobby moaned, banging his head against the table. "I'm doomed!"
"No!" Claudia laughed. "John is a dirt magnet, literally. If there is dirt or dust anywhere around it sticks to him." Then she started laughing harder. "We…ha-ha…call him…HA…mud-man." She squeaked, then calmed herself down again. "That's why everything is so clean." Claud then added seriously, "He dusts about twice a day, vacuums twice a day, and washes the curtains and sheets three times a week. But he really is a nice kid once you get to know him. Just keep in mind that tracking in dirt is forbidden."
"I'll remember that." Bobby said looking thoughtfully at the ceiling for a few seconds before looking back at her. "Well Claud, it's been fun, but I've got books to buy and a registrar to engage in battle with so if you'll excuse me."
"Certainly." Claud smiled, and with that Bobby stood and went out the door. Yeah, Bobby is one smooth character. I'll have to bump into him more often.
* * * * *
Dr. McCoy sat marveling at how fate seemed to have a problem with him. Just as he was getting ready to pour a mixture of hydrochloric acid and water into a new beaker the lab phone rang, making the good doctor jump and pour some of it on himself instead. Now he sat on a stool by his desk, nursing a burn the size of a quarter where no hair would ever grow again, and attempting to understand what Bobby was talking about.
"You see Hank!" Bobby shouted at him from the pay phone he was using, "all the mutants here seem to know one another. Finding this Anna whatchamacallit should be easy now that Claudia knows I'm a mutant."
"Metford." Hank stated casually, making the first comment he'd been able to get in since the first "hello."
"Wha?" Bobby asked, so caught up in his story that he hadn't been able to register what Hank was talking about.
"Bobby, the woman's last name is Metford, Anna Metford." Hank let out an audible sigh. He'd known sending Bobby was a mistake, he loved his friend dearly of course, but Bobby was too rambunctious when let out on his own. Without somebody to keep him on track it was entirely possible that Bobby would forget about Anna completely, and without Bobby calling in to give them updates there was no way to know what was going on. They couldn't exactly call his room, what if he wasn't there and his roommate answered? It wasn't very secretive to leave a message, "yes could have Bobby call the Xavier Institute as soon as he gets in." Why not just say, "yes, could you tell Bobby that there is an emergency and his X-Men friends need his help." The simple fact that it was Bobby that this was depending on made Hank nervous; not to mention that Scott had very nearly had two nervous breakdowns over this since Bobby left. "Really Bobby, if you are not even able to recall the last name of the particular female you have been sent to retrieve how do you adjudge completing said mission."
"Come on Hank!" Bobby whined back. "I'm payin' for this stinkin' call, and your big words take up too much air time. Spit it out."
"Bobby, if you can't remember her name how are you going to find her?" Hank said exasperated. "Is that satisfactory?"
"Yup." Bobby said. "Don't worry Hank, Metford, Anna Metford. I got it. I'll call ya back sometime tomorrow. Bye Hank."
"Good luck Bobby." Hank replied to a dial tone, then returned his attention to his burn. "I wonder if perhaps once this heals, blue magic-marker might remedy my unfortunate situation."
* * * * *
Anna sat on the floor, trying desperately to catch her breath. She couldn't get that phone call out of her head:
"Hello?"
"Is Anna there?" an insidious voice asked.
"No," she said, the tone in that voice making her shiver. "I'm sorry, you have the wrong number."
"I know it's you Anna." The voice whispered. "I know where you are, we're coming for you."
It was something out a teen horror movie, but this was real. She was so scared that she had slammed the phone on the hook and just sat there, unmoving, eyes just staring at the phone as if it might ring again.
The door opened, Anna didn't bother turning around, she just screamed, and screamed. Her body started to feel tingly then it burned, making the scream louder. The room shivered, convulsed. Light bulbs burst in unison, one loud pop. "Jesus fuckin' Christ Annie!" Somebody shouted from the door. "Chill dude, chill!"
Finally the scream faded and Annie turned to see Claudia standing in the doorway. "Claud?" She whispered, her throat hoarse from the raw screams it had let loose moments earlier.
"Yah," Claud answered, her voice nervously quaking. "Annie, what the fuck happened?"
Anna looked back at the phone. "I got a phone call." She said. "It was them. They said they were coming to get me."
"Oh Christ Annie." Claudia shook her head, and went over to the window shade, closing it so nobody on Babcock Street below could see what was going on in the room. "Annie, we gotta get you out of here, this is starting to get too weird, too freaky."
Just as Claudia finished her sentence someone started pounding on the door. "I'll get it." Claud whispered, Anna whimpered in response and hid herself behind one of the desks. Grabbing a baseball bat from the corner, Claudia opened the door and swung. "BOBBY!" She shrieked when it registered who was now lying sprawled out on their floor.
"Ow." Came the muffled response from the floor. "Claud we've got to stop meeting like this."
Within an instant Claudia dragged the rest of Bobby through the door and slammed it, locking it. "What are you doing here Bobby?" Claud asked menacingly, pointing the baseball bat at him.
"I heard someone scream." Bobby muttered, rubbing his sore head. "I was on my way back to my room. I figured fighting off a mass murderer would be more pleasant than making conversation with John, so I came to find out who was screaming." It was then that Bobby started to notice the broken glass all over the floor from the light bulbs. "What happened in here anyway?"
Claudia shifted her weight, conveniently blocking Bobby's view of Anna. "Must've been some kind of surge." Claudia shrugged. "I screamed when the lights burst, scared the ever-living shit out of me."
"Oh." Bobby answered. "Need any help cleaning this all up?" He offered, noticing now that Claudia was definitely trying to hide something.
"No thanks." She smiled, turning him towards the door. "I got it."
"But," Bobby protested, "I can help you clean it all up before your roommate gets back."
"I said I got it." Claudia said, getting frustrated now. She had him just at the door when Bobby twisted away from her and got over to the desk where Anna was still hiding.
"Well, what have we here?" He said in shock, as Anna slowly crawled out from her hiding place, Claudia fuming behind him. "Hi, I'm Bobby." He said putting out his hand. "I don't believe we've met, are you Claud's little sister visiting?"
To his disappointment she didn't take his hand, but she did answer him. "I'm Claud's roommate." The girl, who couldn't have been more than 4'8" answered sharply. "Anna Metford, and no we haven't met Mr…?"
"Drake." Bobby answered smiling. "Ms. Metford, don't take this the wrong way, but I've been looking everywhere for you. Now you're coming with me…"
Bobby never had a chance to finish his sentence, if he had it would have ended with "to the Xavier Institute." But instead it was finished with an "ugh" as Claudia's baseball bat connected solidly with the back of his skull.