Fingers in the Till

Marie offered her a friendly finger wave, prompting Katherine's eyes to widen in recognition. "Hey, I didn't even see you there." She made a tiny smile and gave her head a bump with the heel of her hand.
"I'm about halfway through a double, and I'm pretty sure I'm just sleep walking at this point."

"Guys, this is Kitty. She's the girl I was talking about."

Logan looked back at Marie with a perked up eyebrow. "The one who can fix the machine?"

"Yeah."

Pyro sighed. "We're screwed."

"Kitty." Remy furrowed his brow, still staring at the worn out, dull-looking version of Katherine Pryde. She put a hand on her hip and flicked her name tag.

"Yeah, that's what they call me." She glanced down at the name tag with a sigh. "I didn't think it was wise to put a name that could be connected to a vulgar use of a word for the female annatomy when
I'm working the night shift."

"That's probably a good idea." Pyro nodded.

Kitty pulled a chair away from the table behind her and spun it around, taking a seat at the head of the table. "So what's this about a machine?"

"A Jumper."

Her eyebrows perked up and she leaned forward slightly. "Seriously?" She looked at the three men, letting her eyes linger on Gambit. "I guess that makes sense."

"You were the only one I could think of with any kind of mechanical experience." Marie shrugged. "Computers are mechanical, right?"

"Kind of. It depends on where the problem is on the Jumper. Is it like, a structural issue, or an internal issue?"

"Most likely both." Logan informed her, clearly getting a kick out of this watered down Kitty, "A house fell on it."

"A friggin' mansion." Pyro elaborated, "Bloody thing almost came down on us too!"

"Wait, a mansion?" Kitty looked over to Marie, "You mean like, the one nobody talks about?"

Marie's eyes flick across the table to Logan and Remy and a frown creases her brow. "You guys never said anything about a mansion."

"Well yeah, that's where we live." Pyro shrugged, idly spinning his fork in circles as he spoke. "Someone burned it all up 'ere though."

"I'd love to help you guys, but there's no way in heck I'd be caught rummaging around that place." Kitty leaned back in her chair and shook her head. "You might as well just put a giant stamp on your
forehead that says MUTANT." She mimed the stamping motion against her forehead and then sighed, yet again. "And I don't think it'd be wise for you three to be seen around there either. Just an idea."

Remy looked at Pyro and folded his hands on the table. "You ruin everything. Dis is why we can't have nice things."

"Please tell me you have another idea, Sheila." Pyro knit his eyebrows, focusing his attention on the fork he was spinning around in circles on the table.

"What about the Compound? Maybe someone around there could help them." Kitty offered with a hopeful attempted smile.

"They'll never find it on their own." Marie worked the muscles in her jaw, frowning at Kitty. "Could you take them?"

She uttered an unattractive snort. "Are you serious? I can't even find time to take my own kid on field trips, I don't have time to schlep these ones around."

"You have a kid?" Pyro pulled his attention away from the spinning fork to gawp at Kitty.

"Why else would I work here? Because the pay is great?" She snorted again with a quick shake of her head. "Hardly. My good-for-nothing ex sits on his lazy ass all day playing video games and I have to
work like a fiend to put some food on the table for our son-"

She stopped short and her eyes lit up, looking over to Marie. "You can take them."

"What?" Marie scoffed, her eyes shifting from the two men across from her, over to Pyro and then to Kitty. "No." She looked down at the spinning fork uncomfortably before looking back up at Kitty. "No. I
can't. I have... things..."

"Y'don't have a job." Remy stated, leaning back in the booth with a grin. "Not anymore."

"Thank you-" Marie narrowed her eyes at Remy. Her hand reached out quickly, snatching the spinning fork away from Pyro. "-for reminding me. I almost forgot." She looked back at Kitty and shook her
head again, setting the fork down on the table next to her own, prong end facing North West. "We don't have a vehicle. There's no way we could walk out there-"

Kitty held up a hand and smiled, the twinkle in her eye suddenly making her look more like the Kitty they were used to. "That's the best part. Since my ex hasn't been giving me any cash, I kind of swiped
his ride." She giggled, pulling a set of keys out from the front pocket of her apron and setting them down on the table. "It's a piece of crap Jeep, but it'll get you guys where you need to go."

"What about money? And... other supplies?" Marie's eyebrows shot up as if to silently get her message across.

Kitty seemed to understand and she nodded, "Don't worry about money. Nobody will notice if I skim a bit off the top..." She jerked her thumb back towards the till and leaned forward, "And as for your
other requirements... I got you covered."

Kitty got up and shuffled her way behind the counter, disappearing into the kitchen. When she returned, she had a brown paper bag in hand and a single key on a keyring.

"There are some sunglasses in the glove compartment." She looked at Remy and shrugged awkwardly. "Just sayin'."

The quartet followed Kitty around back to admire their new ride.

She was right, it was a piece of crap. But it would get the job done in a pinch. And they certainly were in a pinch.

"I gotta get back inside before the cockroaches start running around on the food in the kitchen again." Kitty jerked her thumb back towards the building and gave them a lame attempt at a smile. "Good luck."

Remy grimaced and was inwardly grateful that he hadn't consumed anything from the diner.

"I'll pay you back." Marie called after her and Kitty gave her a single, knowing nod.

"Alright, let's get goin' kid." Logan held out his hand and eyed the jeep cautiously, making sure it wasn't boobie trapped in any way. And also probably trying to assess if it would actually run. Marie placed her hand in Logan's and winked.

"Don't call me kid, baby."

Logan ripped his hand away and glowered at her, "The keys! Gimme the keys!"

"No way! I'm driving! I have to drive." She informed him with a frown as she moved towards the drivers side door.

"Like hell you do! Gimme the keys and tell me where to go."

"Oh, I'll tell you where to go alright..."

Remy let out a ragged sigh and plucked the keys from Marie's hand, before tossing them to Logan. "He's gunna get his own way eventually chere."

"No!" She cried, a little bit too dramatically, prompting the three men to stop and look at her. She looked like someone had just threatened to shoot her puppy. "I have to drive. I have to. I... have to."

Logan exchanged a look with Remy before handing Marie back the keys. "This better not be some feminist bull shit."

She looked relieved, graciously taking the keys with a sigh, "I don't know what that is."

"They don't have feminist here? Shit." Logan moved around to the passenger side. "Maybe it ain't so bad here after all."

XXXX

They'd been driving for a solid hour, in blissful silence. Even John was silent, after his initial comments on the smell of the interior and his thoughts about being in the back seat. Now he was staring out the window at the foreign scenery as it passed by. Remy wasn't going to complain. It took a lot to make Pyro shut up.

Oddly enough, it was Logan who broke the silence.

"So what's the deal with you an' driving?"

"There is no deal. I like driving." She said, keeping her eyes glued to the road. It was apparent to all of them that this was a lie.

"Just like how you don't like elevators?"

Her eyes cut to Logan and she frowned, "What's it to ya?"

"Well, we're gunna be stuck together for a while. It'd be nice to know if we're travelling with a loon."

She looked back at the road and pressed her lips in a thin line. "It's a tick."

Logan apparently took that as a sufficient enough answer. He crossed his arms and turned to look out the window. Then Pyro leaned forward, resting his arms on the backs of their seats and frowned.

"Y'know what I'm confused about, Sheila?"

There was a multitude of ways the Rogue that Remy was used to would answer that question. Marie simply looked up at Pyro in the rear view mirror and waited for him to continue.

"If ya took that C.E. already, why do ya need more of it?" He thought for a moment and then shook his head. "I mean, that's what lil'Kitty gave you in that bag, right? An' that's what Jamie was dealin'... so how'd he get repeat business."

"It's not permanent. It wears off after a day and a half, two if you're lucky." She let out a very unamused laugh and shook her head. "Lucky."

"Geeze, dat sounds like pretty good business for Jamie." Remy chimed in. Marie glanced at him in the mirror before nodding.

"Mostly for Jamie's boss."

"An' who would that be?" Logan shifted in the passenger seat, trying to find a more comfortable position.

Marie's lips formed a tight line and she didn't say a word for a good 20 seconds. "Six years ago, a mutant doctor developed a cure that would neutralize the mutant gene. He was hired by the government to produce the new drug on a mass scale, and prepaire it to be administered -by will- to assist ailing mutants who desired a more normal lifestyle. But no matter how hard the doctor tried, he couldn't stabalize the drug for any longer than a few days. The government...disposed... of the doctor and his formula, denying any involvement with the research. Then they took a firmly anti-mutant stand... I guess they decided if we can't join them, they'd beat us. This is when the mutant revolt started and our world went to hell in a handbasket.

"Little did they know, the good doctor was a little bit... shady. And he'd sold his formula to a compilation of equally shady mutants before his untimely demise. The group began to produce the cure and sell it on the black market so that mutants could live with the so-called regular folk, for a price of course. The group was known as The Body. Three people had the original formula. Only one of them is left. He is known only as "The Hand". That's it. He's never seen in public. Nobody's even sure who he is. Nobody's even sure he's a he. Jamie's boss, is one of The Hand's underlings. The Body is in control every ounce of C.E. in America. Maybe even more. The Hand is the most powerful and wanted person in... anywhere. You do not wanna piss him off."

"Crikey." Pyro sat back in his seat. "Why are you tellin' us all a'this?"

"Well for one," She looked at Pyro in the mirror once again. She smiled and shook her head. "You just burned down his club."

Pyro gulped audibly.

"And I figured it wouldn't be fair to keep you in the dark, especially if there's a hit out on you guys."

"Ah christ." Logan grumbled. "Way t'go firebug."

"An' dis is why we can't take you anywhere."


A/N- Yesh, it's been a while. But I'm too stubborn to leave things unfinished... I've just been busy.

You can blame Kitty for that. She asked me for help writing her blog. *dramatic eye roll*

Please please please review! It gives me the will to carry on! :D