The Y Factor
Sequel to The Mirror. FOH on the rise, two new mutants come to Xaviers to stir things up.
I only own Kit, Mia and family and now Mike. Anything else is property of Marvel Entertainment, Inc., and Fox Entertainment.
Four of Hearts
Remy was settling in, making himself quite at home. Mike laughed every time she heard one of the guys at the mansion complaining about Remy charming the ladies. She was the only person he didn't try to charm. He was in his element, having a ball. There had been three fights, just yesterday, over him flirting with someone's girlfriend. She really should try to rein him in a bit, or they might get thrown out, but that wasn't her job.
She was sitting in one of the window seats, looking out over the grounds. It had been a quiet morning. She was finding it hard to relax in this place. The sheets on her bed were worth more than what it would cost to feed the entire gang back in New Orleans. The money in this place almost scared her. These people threw it around like water. That plane they had come here in, all the techno gadgets these kids carried with them, laptop computers, PDA's, one of the student tech kits would have fed them for a month. These people didn't realize that for her, it was wasteful; all those fun gadgets meant food to her, not school.
She sat up - Hank – No, Dr. McCoy; she couldn't allow herself to think of him as Hank - walked into her line of sight. He looked disheveled, raw, his hair unkempt, wearing sweatpants and one of the school's zip up jackets. The jacket was open and she could see the sculpted fur and muscle that defined his chest. She felt a burning ache, a desperate longing to tangle her fingers in that soft fur. He was walking with an older woman, also dressed in sweats. They seemed to be talking, his hands were gesturing softly, and the woman put a gentle hand on his arm. Mike felt a stab in her chest. Who was that woman? How dare she touch him? Mike shook her head. She had no right to think that way. A few minutest later an older man came walking up, and the woman turned and kissed him, while Hank walked further away. Mike sat back into the window seat, watching his carefully controlled movements as he walked through the garden.
She hadn't seen Hank - Dr. McCoy all day yesterday. She was going to have to stop thinking of him as Hank. He was Dr. McCoy, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, not someone she could ever call by his first name, not her, a New Orleans swamp rat. He was so calm on the plane, and after they first arrived, but then he had disappeared. The man she saw below wasn't anything like the one she had met. He seemed nervous, jumpy, and then suddenly he looked straight at the window she was sitting in. He bared his teeth, and started walking – no stalking - toward the building. She pulled back, in shock. His eyes met hers, and her entire body screamed, but not in fear. She wanted to jump from the window, straight into his arms. But why would he react that way?
The couple with him placed restraining hands on his arms, he shook off the man, almost violently, but after a brief struggle, allowed the woman to guide him along one of the garden paths. He kept looking over his shoulder at the window she was sitting in, teeth bared, and even through the closed glass she could feel the vibration of his growl. Mike didn't know why, but she was disturbed by his reactions. He was reacting like he wanted to attack her, to hurt her; she was afraid that they had found out something yesterday that made him dislike her.
She backed up from the window and turned. From the corner of her eye she thought she saw him reach out as if to stop her, but when she glanced back, he was walking down the path, his shoulders slumped. She slipped out of the seat, and ran down the hallway. She had been put in with another girl, named Jubilee. The girl didn't know the meaning of the word quiet, and went on and on about anything and everything. Mike enjoyed her antics most of the time, but today wasn't one of those days; she wasn't in the mood to answer any questions, and Jubilee always had a ton of those.. She slipped into the rec room, and quietly turned on the TV.
"…And in other news: There were three attacks yesterday on mutant communities. The anti-mutant group, Friends of Humanity, has claimed responsibility for all of the attacks." Behind the anchorman's head a video ran showing fires in a downtown area, what looked like a large robot in the foreground. The video quickly cut away to a man, who looked to Mike to be in his mid to late thirties, he was standing at a podium in some sort of auditorium. The print under his face said "Graydon Creed, Chairman of Friends of Humanity.
"…these mutants are dangerous. They shouldn't be allowed to live on the same streets, attend the same schools as normal children. We will continue to defend ourselves against this threat. These mutants took over areas that were once safe for people to live. The people in these communities wanted these monsters removed. Our Sentinel Robots were sent in to protect these communities. We only responded to the many requests we have had to help them clean up their communities. The Sentinels were there as a preventative measure, in case there were problems with the mutant population. The mutants attacked us, we came to peacefully ask them to move on, to find someplace else, someplace where they weren't endangering the lives of human beings, and this one" a shot of a young man with bleached hair, and a lighter in his hand, spears of fire shooting out from his extended fingers "attacked us and started the fire. We apologize to any humans who were hurt or injured in the attack. It was not our intention to harm normal law abiding people; we simply wanted to assist in the reclamation of this neighborhood for human beings. Any and every time mutants attack, we and our Sentinels will be there to defend the good decent people who ask for our help."
"De're you are, chere." She heard Remy come up behind her. "What you watchin?
"News."
"Ain't de're not'in good on?" He grabbed the remote out of her hand.
He flipped the channel and found a poker tournament.
"Hey, I am watchin dat." She grabbed it back, and changed it back to the news. The story had past, and they were talking about the weather. The two of them wrestled for the remote for a few seconds before she gave up. "Fine you watch what you wan' I didn'wa'na watch not'in no way." She stormed out of the room
"Ouiiiiii. Touchy." She heard Remy throw at her as she left the room. She slipped out into the entry hall and sat at the bottom of the stairs. Remy hated her obsession with knowing what was going on. But someday, this was going to affect them, and she was afraid it already had. He kept brushing off the whole attack in New Orleans, but it had really shaken her up. She realized she had missed breakfast and decided to go see if she could find a snack.
The kitchen was deserted. She climbed up on a step stool and started looking through the cabinets for something to eat. All the bags of chips had been opened. She hated eating anything that anyone else had touched. There was a box of Whoppers, but again they had been opened so she passed them up. She saw a bowl of fruit over on one of the counters and grabbed an apple. She took it to the sink and began washing it. First she found a brush and scrubbed, then she used hot water to make sure all of the wax was off, and then she scrubbed again, then another rinse in hot water, and then in cold, to try to chill the apple back down. She found a re-sealable plastic bag and put the apple in it and put it in the freezer for a few minutes to finish chilling down. She heard a chuckle from the entrance to the kitchen. She turned suddenly and saw a large man standing there.
His blonde hair flowed down his back, his black eyes sparkled at her, and she could see the fangs as he laughed. She cringed back against the counter, her eyes darting left and right looking for a way to escape.
"Damn, kid, you are more persnickety about your food than a raccoon;" He reached over to the fruit bowl and grabbed an apple. He polished it on his sleeve, looked at it, held it to his mouth and breathed on it before he polished it again and put it in his pocket. She watched him move through the room, her body poised to run. "And 'bout as nervous as one too." He reached into the freezer and handed her the bag. "Glad my mate ain't picky 'bout her apples."
She snatched it quickly from his hand and ran. She ran straight into Jubilee in the open door of the kitchen.
"Damn, Vic, did ya have to scare my new room mate?" She said to the giant in the kitchen. "It's ok, chika, he's half way tame anyway."
"Ain't no fun if I don't scare someone at least once a day." He laughed. "And what do you mean half way…I ain't tame by no means.'
Jubilee grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the kitchen.
"Mike, this is Victor Creed, the most obnoxious, annoying pain in the ass I have ever met. Don't ever let him and Logan get in the same room with you, they'll prank you to death." The giant just growled at the Asian girl, but Mike could see he was trying not to smile.
"How's the baby?" Jubilee asked.
"How the hell should I know? He's breathin', poopin', eatin' cryin' and sleepin' sounds normal ta me." He sounded cross, but Mike could tell he was bursting with pride. "I'm just grateful he looks like his Momma. That would be one ugly kid if he looked like me." Jubilee laughed, as he opened the back door and walked out, leaving it open behind him.
"SHUT THE DOOR! Were you born in a barn?" He just kept walking down the path, so Mike pulled the door shut. Jubilee continued in a conspiratorial tone of voice "You wouldn't believe a year ago I was scared to death of him." She said to Mike as she pulled her to the table in the middle of the room.
"Victor Creed, you said." Mike sat down. "He got one dose funny nicknames like you and da oders."
"Yea, Sabertooth."
"Oh."
"Hey - did you see that Graydon Creed guy on TV?"
"Dat I did. Hey dey bot named Creed, any relation?"
"Prob'ly not chica, if they were, Vic would rip him a new asshole." Jubilee laughed. "Sides, Vic is about a hundred years old at least, so if they were related it would be distantly at best." Mike quietly ate her apple, digging around the core to get every bit of edible flesh. Jubilee just looked at her. "You know, there are more apples to go around, you don't have to scarf it down like that."
Mike just looked at Jubilee like she had grown another head. "I ain't used ta havin food when I wan it. An when we do have it you et what you got afor it get took. We try ta keep it even, but dem kids, dey need all dey can get for grow'n." She looked over at the bowl of fruit, trying to decide if she was hungry enough to wash another apple.
"Wow, I remember what it was like when I lived on the streets after my parents died. I hid in a mall, ate out of the trash cans mostly. I was so glad the Professor found me and brought me here. You eat what you want, chica. There's plenty here to go around." Mike didn't realize that she and Remy weren't the only ones who had lived on the streets. It gave her a moment's pause.
"Dis place, I jus can't get it. Der's so much money thrown round here, and don' dey know people starvin, could use dat money fo food." She cringed at the amount of food that went to waste at a single meal here.
"I guess, but so many kids come in like you, with nothing but the clothes on their back, and sometimes only in pajamas, we feel like we do what we can to help the ones we can."
"I guess I never t'ought of dat. You have stuff here for anyone who comes in, no matter what shape. Dat takes money, an lots of it. I di'nt ever know places like dis exist, now, e'n if Remy go back, I tink I stay. Dis a good place." She would stay anyway. Hank was here.
Mike walked to the sink, and washed her hands. First hot water, then soap, then hot water again, then cold then warm to rinse. Remy teased her because she was a little compulsive about how she did things, but she didn't care. She did things the way she liked them. Jubilee just shook her head.
"I am glad I talked the Professor into installing that full sized water heater for my room. You are as bad about hot water as I am." The two girls laughed.
The back door opened and Mike froze, the smile on her face turned into a grimace of pain. Dr. McCoy and the couple who had accompanied him in the garden walked in the door. He stopped in the door, his eyes locked on her, traveling from her feet to her head and back again. He took a step forward, one hand reaching out, but the woman behind him gave him a gentle shove into the room. Once they were all three inside, the older woman took his arm, and guided him quickly to the hallway. His eyes never left Mike, and the room was filled with a scent that she had never encountered before, musky and spicy and full of need, and she felt like it was suffocating her.
Whenever she had seen him, on television, or in the newspapers, he was always so neat, so well dressed, but now he looked down right scruffy, he hadn't shaved, his hair was tangled, his eyes were red rimmed and seemed to bore into hers. She felt warmth in her stomach, and a tightening of her chest. Her hands were sweaty and she had a lump in her throat she couldn't bring herself to speak around. He was beyond anything she had dreamed of, and his appearance didn't do a thing to lessen the crush she had on him. She heard him talking to the couple with him, but most of what he said was garbled by the blood pounding in her ears.
"Let me at least have a discussion with her, discover if this reaction is isolated to my own system." He said, he sounded calm, reasonable but Mike could hear something underlying in his voice, something that made her tremble, made her knees go weak, and she leaned back on the counter. It reminded her of how she had reacted to his touch on the plane.
"Hank, I don't think that is a good idea. Charles and I agreed that the less you two are in any physical contact, the better." The woman said. "Besides, Hank, I think from the reactions here, we can guarantee it isn't isolated to you." She pushed him further down the hallway as she spoke, punching the button for the elevator, and guiding him inside as the doors opened.
"Nancy, I am able to handle this. I converse with young students every day at this institute…" The sound of the elevator doors closing cut off what he was saying. She could suddenly breathe again, and found she was gripping the counter with both hands, her knuckles white. She looked at Jubilee who was looking at her strangely.
"What's the deal with Hank?" She said. Mike looked at her blankly. She had no idea what her roommate was talking about.
"Never mind, it's Sunday and I am NOT going to waste it worrying about blue boy. Let's go to the mall and get some shopping in."
"I don have no money fo shoppin."
"Psshhh. The Professor said I could take you with me. He gave me a budget to get you some new clothes. Not that you look bad in those sweats, but face it, too many people round here are wearing them, it is starting to look like the uniform around here, and I really prefer the black leather to sweats" Jubilee giggled "especially when Wolvie wears it. He might be taken but, chica, that man has one nice ass."
Mike shook her head and laughed. She had seen Logan in passing yesterday evening. He could definitely fill out a pair of jeans nicely. There was a scent of sadness around him though. Perhaps a trip to the mall might not be a bad idea, she could get away from here, away from Hank – Dr. McCoy.
"So how we getting to da mall, chere?" She asked.
"I think Ro is driving us. So we better get a move on." Jubilee headed out to the entry hall. Ms. Monroe was standing there waiting.
"It's about time you two showed up. I have to pick up some things for the Jamison family as well, so let's get moving." She was tapping her foot impatiently but smiling at the same time.
The three of them piled into the black sedan sitting out front; Jubilee slid into the middle of the backseat, popping her gum. Ms. Monroe kept looking over at Mike, a sad look on her face. Mike wanted to sink into the seat of the car. She hated anyone feeling sorry for her.
"I'll fin a way to pay ya'll back." Mike said softly.
"There is no need, child. I was just wondering how you are feeling?"
"Fine - les get dis shoppin trip out o da way." She didn't say much more all the way to the mall. Her mind kept going over Hank – she slammed her hand into the door handle, startling Ms. Monroe and Jubilee. She grinned at them sheepishly as she berated herself again for thinking of him by his first name.
She had to control her fingers at the mall. The only time she went into a mall back home was if the kids needed something they couldn't make or steal elsewhere. She knew the guards were watching her, and she didn't want to get in any trouble. She really liked the mansion and didn't want to be sent away for doing something stupid.
"Chica…you'd look great in this." Jubilee showed her a bright floral spring dress with a scarf hemline. She just shook her head. She needed sensible things, jeans, shirts, shoes, not something frilly like that. "Come on. A girl has to have something pretty."
"Non…I stick ta jeans. De las' longer."
"You don't have to worry about that now, chica."
"Jes cuz I here now don' mean I'll always be, an' I don' wan no'tin dat ain't gonna hold up, non." She said.
"Suit yourself, I'm buying it." Jubilee took off to the register.
She looked over the racks of clothing, while Jubilee paid for the dress. On one of the sale racks she found a simple skirt and blouse that was made from a more durable fabric, and decided to try it on. It just didn't fit right, so she put it back.
The two girls shopped for hours; before Jubilee finally convinced her she needed one nice outfit. Well, it was more the outfit convinced her. It was a simple black dress with blue embroidery, almost the same blue as Hank's hair. She had to have the dress. She had an image of wearing it, and standing next to him, looking like she belonged to him…she quickly shook her head, but bought the dress anyway.
"So is Remy a good kisser. I heard he was, but I thought you would know. Doesn't it drive you nuts, him flirting with everybody, he is your boyfriend?' Jubilee asked. They were sitting in the food court, waiting on Ms. Monroe.
"Remy jes de frère" She said.
"Sure…" Jubilee grinned as she sucked on the straw of her drink.
When they got back to the mansion, it was late afternoon. Mike and Jubilee took their bags up to their room and unpacked. Remy stuck his head in, as he passed by.
"Have you seen da Rogue, chere?" His eyes were practically glowing. Jubilee gave her an elbow nudge, and an I told you so grin.
"Non, an you don need ta be lookin for dat one. She has de petit ami." Remy just laughed at her.
"Dat is why de call me de Gambit, non? Remy knows when to play de cards."
"What you mean by dat?"
"De petit ami he go back to de campus, leaving de chere alone, dat de time for Remy to make his move."
Mike just shook her head. Remy and his drama, he could always be counted on to keep things interesting.
He flopped down across the empty bed in the room. "Chere, you ok? You are lookin a little on de down side, non."
Jubilee tried to pretend to be invisible on her side of the room.
"I'm fine Remy LeBeau. You take care o you, leave me out of your drama."
"Ohhhhhh, Michelle, it dat Ambassador got your heart boilin. Remy goin ta have ta have a talk with that homme, if he be breakin you heart."
"Don you dare, Remy LeBeau." She threw one of her new shoes at him; he just caught it and threw it back.
"Remy don' like da way he been lookin at you. Like you are a glass o cold water and he dyin o thirst."
"You are fou, crazy. He don know I even breathin. You just tink dat if you don have de drama you gets ta make it up. You quit dis now Remy. It ain't drole."
"You jes watch dat blue boy, Remy not likin dis at all." Mike was surprised at how serious he seemed, but was more surprised at the shocked look on Jubilee's face.
"I be ok, you worry bout your femmes, non. Let me deal wid my own problems."
He just shrugged his shoulders and stood up. She knew he was really worried, and didn't understand this side of him at all.
He pulled the door shut behind him and she curled up in the middle of her bed, plucking at the bedspread, trying to forget Dr. McCoy, Jubilee, attacks on mutants and all the other things going on, and just relax. Just before she dozed off she heard Jubilee slip out of the room.
She started awake when the door to her room opened and Dr. McCoy was standing there, in nothing but the sweatpants. He didn't say a word, just looked at her like he had in the kitchen. He closed the door behind him and crossed to the bed. She sat up in bed, swallowing hard to try to clear the lump in her throat. He brushed his large fingers through her hair, placed one finger on his lips asking for her silence, and leaned down, claiming her lips in a hard passionate kiss. She couldn't stop herself; she stroked his chest, her fingers tangling in the soft fur sculpted over his muscles, his arm slipped around her waist as he lay down on the bed with her, guiding her body back into a prone position, one hand tracing her jaw with his thumb, while the other pressed her hard against his chest. She slipped one hand into his hair, tangling, gripping trying to pull him inside her, trying to absorb him completely, the stubble on his cheek harsh on her palm as her fingers tangled in his silky blue hair. She moaned his name against his lips, and a hand crashed down on her shoulder, causing her to jump.
She sat up in the bed, she was alone. Her body felt cold - bereft. It had been another dream. Jubilee stood next to the bed.
"You missed lunch." She said. She had a sandwich and chips on a plate, she sat it down on the night stand. "Are you ok? I could swear you were moaning 'Hank.'" She blushed.
"I'm fine. Tanks fo de lunch but I go fix myself somting later. I not dat hungry." She looked at the comforter, her cheeks blazing with her embarrassment.
"Suit yourself. I'm hungry enough for both of us." Jubilee laughed. "Wow, first time anyone has had a crush on Hank…don't worry, I won't tell him, but his ego could use the boost."
Mike just glared at her. This was turning into a disaster.
"What you mean by dat?" She asked.
"Well first Kit and Mia's mom dumps him for their dad, then Kit and Mia fall for Logan and Victor, and poor Hank is left standing in the cold again. He almost married Nancy, before she met Frank, and I think he had hoped that one of the girls would have his Y factor, so he could finally have a mate." She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, chip crumbs flying everywhere.
"Y factor, what dat?" Mike asked.
"I am not really sure…it has to do with ferals and mating and stuff. Kit was like this before she and Logan got together. HEY…maybe YOU are Hank's Y factor, his mate. That would be so kool."
"Non…Dr. McCoy…he don' need a swamp rat like me."
"It's not like you have a whole lot of choice in it, from what I understand. It's genetics." Jubilee held a pickle out to her. Mike grabbed it and started nibbling, her compulsion forgotten in light of the new information she was processing. Mate? It wasn't possible…was it?
