Chapter 4: brand new world
By Orkoad
Based on characters and situations created and/or owned by Marvel Comics, Sunbow Entertainment, Kids WB and John Proft.
Special thanks to Red Witch for the use of her character, Spyder.
Three weeks had passed, and the summer days had started to grow colder as September was slowly coming from around the corner. Jack wasn't back to full health, but was slowly getting there, most of the bruise's and scrapes had healed, but the pain he often got in his ribs told him he still had some broken bones.
He wouldn't let that keep him from pulling his weight thought, if he was going to be a part of this new family with x and Ollie, he was damn sure gonna prove he was worth having around. But with no money and the living quarters of an abandoned warehouse, he had to do some things he didn't like to do.
He started by walking into the local target store, grabbed a shopping basket, and started wandering the shelves for things they would need, mostly grocery's and hygiene items, but as he walked, that little part of him couldn't help but look over the toy section.
Before his life had gone upside down, he was a huge toy collector, mostly transformers and masters of the universe. But looking over the shelves of toys, made him realize that toys were now just a hobby, something he couldn't afford to enjoy now.
He was ready to move on right there, but then he past the girl's toys, and saw an innocent looking doll, and thought of Ollie, the little girl who didn't seem to have anything for herself, and couldn't stop from grabbing the doll and added it to the items in his basket.
Another hour of shopping and jack was ready for the tricky part. He took a deep breath as he walked over to the dollar section near the store's exit, trying to not look obvious as he pretended to look over the items.
"Excuse me," A voice said from behind him. Jack turned to face the owners voice, and gulped, looking up at the tallest target employee looking down at him, "Can I help you find anything?" He asked in a stern voice.
"Um... Yeah... Actually," Jack replied, struggling to come up with something on the spot, "You um.. You know where the... Infants section is? My um.. My sister had a baby." He said nervously.
"It's that way." The man said, looking down towards the far end of the store and pointing. Jack waited for as long as possible, then when the man looked back as far as jack thought he would, Jack ran for it, fast as he could go, threw the store door, and down the street, basket in hand.
"Hey, COME BACK HERE!" THe man's voice called out, chasing behind jack, followed by two security guards. He could hear their feet as their shoes clattered down the sidewalk, almost gaining behind him. He couldn't go back to the warehouse now, he would lead them right to it. He had to loose them first, but how? He thought hard, a difficult task when he felt his legs weakening on him. Just then he found his answer, as he ran he spotted an open sewer lid in an alley as he passed it, all he had to do was run once more around the block, and dive in on his second time around. So he did as his thought demanded.
Racing around one corner he could still hear his pursuers on him. He had to put some distance between them if he was going to make this work. Around the second corner he felt the wind as it pushed against him, a slight chill in breeze. Three more turns he told himself. He had to get around the the next corner before the could catch up enough to see him turn again. He took a deep breath and poured on the speed, pumping his empty arm to push out as much speed as he could. He gasped as he rounded the third turn, hoping to god that this would work.
He rounded the fourth turn in much faster time, the alley was in sight now, his finnish line within a few yards. His pursuers still a corner behind as he dove into the alley, kicking the sewer lid farther open, not completely, but enough for him to slip threw. It was to heavy for him to close behind him, but he hoped it would be enough as he gripped the sides of the ladder underneath and slid down it till he was just inches from the foul water beneath him, and waited. He gasped as he listened above him.
"Where'd he go?" The employee asked the two other pursuers.
"Maybe in the sewers?" One guard asked.
"No, this kid wouldn't be stupid enough to leave the lid open." The third guard added. Jack let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding in, and wish he hadn't let it out. the smell of the sewer was so rank he almost lost his lunch. He waited another ten minutes, then, when he was sure the three were gone, he climbed up, careful to not loose anything as he climbed up. He sighed as he slowly climbed up onto the street, careful to try to stay hidden until he could slide all his stolen items into the stolen backpack he had also grabbed at the target.
Now that he wasn't holding a target shopping basket, he looked a little less guilty as he walked down the streets of new York. He walked for a few miles until he reached the outskirts of the city, and looked around, before he crawled threw a large hole in the building, concealed by a dumpster. Almost instantly he was pinned against the inside wall of the warehouse, a pair of shimmering blades digging into the bottom of his jaw, X's ferociously angry face glaring at him.
"Where were you?!" She asked threw gritted teeth.
"Grocery shopping..." He said weakly, glancing at the backpack he held in one hand. She still looked enraged, but the blades disappeared from view with a loud "sknit", and she walked back to the small makeshift kitchen in the corner of the warehouse. JAck gave a gasp as he slumped onto the floor against the wall. Then he saw Ollie, sleeping on the mattress in the corner between himself and x, and dug the doll out of the backpack, and tip toed over to her, and set the doll down next to her. He couldn't help but smile as he saw her instinctively pull the doll to her in her sleep.
X glanced over to see what he was doing, and couldn't help but let a small smile slip out of her own, but then she sniffed the air, and couldn't believe she didn't smell it before.
"What the hell, did you go swimming in the sewers?" She asked angrily. Jack groaned as he set the bag on the table.
"I'll go wash up in the bathroom." He grumbled, but glad he grabbed a bar of soap. As he disappeared into the far end of the building, X looked threw the bag, and notices that plenty of the items in the bag were women's items, shaving razors and shampoo's, things like that. It made her blush a little to know he had been thinking about her and Ollie as well. Twenty minutes later, jack re emerged, slightly smelling better, but not by much, seeing as he only had the cloths on his back.
He yawned as he took a seat at the table, and glanced over at Ollie again.
"How can she sleep all day like that?" Jack asked.
"Cause she's gotten into the habit of being up at night, it makes her feel safer." X replied as she set a plate of grilled cheese on the table in front of him, before sitting down with one of her own and a beer. JAck dug into his bag and pulled out a soda to aid him in his meal.
"So what's your story?" Jack asked. She said nothing at first, then took a long swallow of her beer.
"not much to tell, people did this to me," She said, as she lifted her fist, as if to pose, and two shimmering steel blades popped out of her fist, the light reflecting off them, "I didn't like what they did, let them know, and now I'm here." She said as she took a bite of her sandwich.
"Don't you have a family?" Jack asked.
"I have an... Uncle... Kind of, we're not that close." She said, taking another drink, letting the blades retract back into her fist, silently ending the topic. Jack swallowed his sandwich hard and nervously. He had this constant fear of pissing her off, not sure what else to say, he decided to finish his sandwich in silence.
XxXxX
Rogue looked up at the beaten old warehouse and then back to the professor in disbelief.
"Are y'all sure this is the place?" She asked in skepticism.
"Indeed I am rogue, but... There seems to be two mutants there, and a human, I've chosen to not invade their minds, but I can sense that one of them is very hostile, proceed with caution." He said calmly. Rogue walked up slowly, the professor close behind. They reached the back door and knocked.
"Hello?" She called out. No answer. She looked to the professor, who's eye's were closed for a moment.
"They're there, and atleast one is aware of our presence." Rogue knocked again.
"We don't mean ya no harm, we just wana talk." SHe called out. She looked back at the professor, looking for some guidance, when suddenly, two pairs of claws cut threw the wall behind her like a hot knife threw butter, the wall then fell towards her. She looked back at the odd cutting sound, saw the wall falling, and dove, and pushed herself and the professor out of the reach of the wall. She rolled around to find a girl, pointing a pair of razor sharp blades right at her forehead.
the two girl's eyes locked and they recognized each other in an instant.
"YOU?!" They both said at once. They still froze in place. Both breathing deeply, neither one giving the other an opening, despite the fact that X seemed to have the advantage, she knew better than to underestimate her.
"Um... Could we maybe sit down and talk about this?" Jack asked as he timidly stepped out of the huge hole in the wall, Ollie clinging to him, trying to look angry at rogue despite the tears rolling down her cheek.
"Um, yes, could we call a truce for the moment, X-23?" X Growled at the name.
"Just X, now." She said evenly, giving rogue a cold look as her blades retracted and she stood up. Ollie leapt off of jack and raced up to hug X tight.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" Jack asked evenly, trying hard to look angry and cool, not wanting his nervousness and confusion show.
"I suppose so, but seeing as how we have unintentionally exposed your home, perhaps we should move to a more secure location?" The professor asked. Jack nodded and slipped back into the warehouse to pick up a few essentials. X didn't grab much herself, just some food incase they had to make a run for it. Ollie only grabbed one thing, the doll that had magical appeared next to her in bed when she woke up. Then they all collected again at the opening of the warehouse, and followed rogue and the professor down the road, Ollie hidden in a hooded sweatshirt to hide her.... Condition.
"So, you know X huh?" Jack asked as he walked along side The professor.
"Not well I'm afraid, But I am a friend of a friend of hers," He said as he extended his hand to shake jack's. "Professor Charles Xavier." Jack smiled and took his hand.
"Jack Carson."
XxXxX
the small group finally reached the motel room Xavier and Rogue had been staying in, and Jack had to rest. He set his back pack down and slumped on the side of the bed, gasping for breath.
"How do you guys walk so much?" He asked between gasps. He fought a chuckle however when Ollie joined him on the bed, gasping as well. He rested his arm over her shoulder, causing her to look up and smile.
"Alright, we're here, what do you want?" X asked evenly, her arms crossed. Xavier sighed as he waited for rogue to take a seat in the chair next to the bed, silent for the moment.
"Well, I'm here to officially invite yourself and your little friend here to join us at the institute." Xavier replied with a warm smile. X was about to tell the professor where to stick it, when Ollie perked up.
"Institute? What's that?" He asked. Xavier smiled and looked over to Ollie.
"Yes my dear, It's a school, for mutants like yourself, its a place where you can live without fear of being hunted, you'll be well fed, and able to play with other children like yourself." Ollie's eyes perked up.
"You mean... People wont... Be scared of me, or think I'm ugly." Xavier chuckled.
"My dear, one of my first students came to my school happens to be a dark shade of blue, and a tail." This made Ollie smile brightly. X wanted to argue about this, but knew it was the best thing for Ollie.
"It really is the best thing for y'all. I was the biggest pain in the backside y'all ever did see, but... I learned to not only control my powers, but I made friends and learned how to be a better person." Rogue added. Ollie was almost ready to jump out of her skin in joy, until she thought of something.
"What about jack?" She asked. Xavier looked up at jack, deciding how to answer properly.
"Olivia my dear... I am afraid that it is a school for mutants... It could cause problems to let a human stay there as a student." But this caused Ollie to cling to Jack tightly, causing him to gasp a bit. Xavier sighed, really unsure how to handle this.
"Sorry Prof., If Jack doesn't go, neither do we." X said evenly.
"Now wait a minute, if it's the best thing for you two, I would be alright, and it's not like I couldn't visit." Jack said with a bright smile, trying to hide the sadness of possibly leaving the only family he had left.
"NO!" Ollie yelled, squeezing jack tighter, "I WONT GO WITHOUT MY BROTHER!" Jack gave a worried look to Xavier. He wanted the to go to the institute because he knew it was the best thing for them, but this wasn't working out as well as he hopped.
"WEll... Perhaps we can work something out, Jack do you think you would be willing to do some gardening work, perhaps make some meals and clean at times?" Xavier asked. Jack immediately understood what Xavier was getting at and smiled with a nod.
"Yeah, I'm getting tired of having to steal my meals, it would be nice to have a decent job." This made Xavier smile.
"Then if we can agree to some conditions, Jack can join you at the Institute." Ollie cheered and even X couldn't hold back a smile. "But there will be conditions." He said evenly. THe three fell silent and listened.
"First, the three of you will have to share room's with other students, Second, the three of you will have to attend school," This made Ollie a little scared, but decided to worry about that later, "third, Jack here will be an employee, not a student at the institute, so there will be times where he will be to busy to spend time with you, but we are not heartless, there will be plenty of opportunity's where you can spend time with each other. And finally, in addition to all this, X and Ollie will have to attend training exercises. This is not to train you for any coming battle, this is simply to help you to better control your powers."
The three of them nodded, X really disliked all these rules, but she would do her best to keep an eye on Ollie, and as much as she hated to admit it, she was starting to think of Jack as a brother too.
"Are there any questions?" Xavier asked. Ollie raised her hand eagerly, like a schoolgirl desperate for attention from an adoring teacher. "Yes Olivia?"
"You wont make me go to school will you?" She asked nervously. Rogue giggled at this. Xavier himself chuckled.
"I'm afraid so Olivia, however the people there won't see you as a mutant." She didn't understand, but some how this made her feel better.
"Well, if that is everything, I think we're ready to check out rogue, would you please collect your things while I check us out." Xavier said cheerfully as he turned and headed out of the room.
As rogue collected her things, jack walked up to her, and held out a hand for her.
"Jack Carson." He said with a nervous smile. Rogue smiled, and shook his hand.
"Rogue." She replied softly, smiling softly. X saw this greeting between them, and fought hard to keep from growling. She wanted to tear rogue apart, but couldn't understand why. She turned away and decided to think of other things, like how she was going to face Logan when they got to the mansion, or even the other students who she had attacked when she first visited the mansion.
XxXxX
Jack, Ollie and X sat in the X-jet, waiting for take off. X looked over to Jack as he and Ollie sat across the walk way from her. She sat alone as rogue and The professor controlled the jet, preparing for take off.
She noticed Jack start to sweat a little, his hands gripping the arms of his chair as Ollie slept in her own seat, clinging to her doll as she slumbered.
"You alright?" X asked in her usual emotionless tone.
"I um... I've never flown before." X wanted to groan, to call him a sissy, but she had to remember he wasn't like her, he was.... Normal. She rested her hand on his. Jack found himself surprised to notice the softness of her hand.
"Don't worry, everything will be alright." She said in the softest tone Jack ever heard her use, almost like she was showing a side of her she never let people see. He couldn't help but blush a little.
But as quickly as the moment began, it had passed. She pulled her hand away and looked out passed the cockpit to watch as the plane took off.
End of chapter
Coming up next: Fitting in