"What's she doing?" Jono leant against the door to the garage and shared a concerned glance with Everett.
"She's staring at a car. I've never seen it before; who owns it?"
"Angelo an' Jubes." Jono murmured as the girl in question began to circle around the car, letting her fingertips squeak against the powder-blue paint. "They bought it when they were in LA. Took a road-trip home."
"Oh..." Everett's face took on a pinched expression and he folded his arms in front of his chest, hunching over.
They watched her worriedly. It had been two days since Angelo's defection. Two days since their attack. Two very, very long days. She hadn't said a word since she'd woken up the morning after. Not even to Logan who was keeping an eye on her from a distance, not wanting to intrude on her grief but needing to stay close to reassure himself she was ok. Even Emma seemed worried about her mental health.
Finally taking the initiative, Jono stepped onto the bare concrete and snaked around two half-disassembled bikes. "Hey Jubes, watcha doing?"
"You might want to get out." Her voice was dark, and neither of them liked the dangerous glint in her eyes.
"Eh, I don't think so, Luv." Everett quickly moved to back him up, unsure of what was happening, but even he could feel the nervous tension that suddenly filled the room. "Why don't we go outside an'-"
He broke off as Jubilee's hands and eyes began to blaze with the same dangerous white plasma that had appeared during the fight.
//I'd get out of here if I were you, Ev. I'm gonna do sumfink stupid.// he directed at Everett and without another word he hoisted her over his shoulder and stomped out of the open garage door ignoring the frantic thrashing and ear-shattering screams of pure, unadulterated rage.
She landed in the ornamental fountain with a gasp and floundered for a minute before regaining her senses and her balance. Surging to her feet, she swept the sodden hair from her eyes and was confronted by Jono who was perched on the edge of the fountain with a strange, unreadable look in his eyes.
"An' what would destroying the car do?" He snapped finally. "Blow up the Garage?…Destroy a good car?" He held his hands up questioningly. "Will it bring him back? No. Will it undo the damage he done? No. You aren't the only one he hurt, Jubilee, don't forget that. You are wallowing in your own guilt and pain an' that was ok. But it's time to stop wallowing and-"
"Don't you dare trivialise what he did to me-!" Her eyes blazed again, but this time her anger was directed at Jono.
"I'm not trivialising anything, luv. But you need to get your head out of your ass and start fighting back. You've had two days to sulk. Shit, you even have Emma worried about you! You will be fine! You'll get over this. You are stronger than this you little muppet!"
The sound of bone hitting bone resounded through the small courtyard and Jono raised a hand to his smarting cheek and ran his tongue against a now loose molar. As her hand snaked out to punch him again, he grabbed her wrist, and then the other as it followed its previous path.
"NO!" She struggled against him, not noticing that he'd stepped into the water as she tried to pull away, fear and panic making her eyes wide. Ignoring her struggles, Jono let go of her wrists and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly.
"I know, luv…" He murmured as her struggles began to still and her screams turned into sobs. "He hurt you. We won't let him do that again. I promise, luv. No one will hurt you again. Not on my watch. And not on Everett's, or Frostie's."
"You can't promise that!" Jubilee pulled back and glared at him, anger rising again.
"No, luv, I can't." Jono admitted sadly. "But I can do my bloody best, and that's all we can do right now. Our bloody best. An' we need our bloody best to fight whatever the hell is going on. And that means you an' all."
Putting his mouth close to her ear, he increased his grip and began to rock her back and forth. "Angelo's gone, luv, but we aren't. I know he was like a bruvver to you. He was me best mate. An' he was one of Emma's…you know…We all miss him. But you need to be on top of your game, 'cos if I lose you, then I'm gonna lose it and god help whoever gets between me and me target. You gotta snap out of it, kid."
"I can't-"
"You can!" Jono practically shook her as he gripped her arms as tightly as he dared considering her injuries. "Damnit, Jubilee, if any of us is walking out of this ok, it's gonna be you. Yer like a cat, y'know. You get pushed off a balcony an' you land on your feet."
"Nice analogy, Starsmore." He could practically feel the tension begin to drain out of her and he sighed as she leant against him again.
"Thanks. Been workin' on it all morning." He murmured and felt her chest heave as she sighed again. "Well, are you going to snap out of it or do I have to keep up with my charming English ways, eh?"
"Snap." Jubilee threaded her fingers into the material of his trademark black trench coat and buried her face against his chest, secretly soothed by the thrumming of his heart. "Th-"
"Ben Grim was taken." Jono cut off her thank you gently, not wanting or needing to hear her thanks. "And Sunfire. And a whole shed-load more. We've started tryin' to identify people from the security cameras. There weren't many we could name. Logan seems to think they were civilians."
"We were all civilians once, Starsmore." The tender moment gone, Jubilee drew away and sloshed her way out of the fountain. Standing on the solid, dry ground, she stood perfectly still for a few moments, and Jono watched her worriedly until he realised what she was doing. Slowly, her posture straightened and her breathing steadied. Several stray tears leaked down her cheeks, but she bit at her lip until they stopped. She was quite literally pulling herself together. Finally she was standing tall and proud and her face held a trace of the familiar 'you hurt me I'll break your balls' expression.
"Better, luv?" He asked carefully, and she gave a sharp, decisive nod.
"Better than I was. Are you stepping into the big-brother role now?" A touch of the strength was back in her voice and he judged it was enough to begin with, especially with the sarcasam that tinged her last sentence.
"Me? Nah. I think I'll stick with the friend thing. I don't think anybody'd believe that a refined British Citizen like meself could be related to a Californian Mall Rat like you." He sniffed affectedly and she managed a weak smile as he threaded his arm around her shoulders. "C'mon…Summers wants a word with you."
XXXxxxXXX
"Hang on; whaddya mean 'by any means possible'…?" Jubilee looked at Scott dubiously and he sighed as the phone on his desk began to ring again. Holding up his hand for her to wait, he answered and made a face, picking up his pen and beginning to scribble information into a notebook.
"Hang on a minute – Just get in contact with Fury, Jubilee. Keep calling him, email him…do whatever it takes." He murmured, and made a shooing gesture.
Jubilee left the room feeling slightly spacey. It had been the strangest conversation she'd had with Scott to date. He'd almost been skating around her feelings; afraid to broach the subject, but wanting to know how she was without saying the words. And she hadn't exactly been willing to say how she was using words. She'd talked to Jono- fair enough. She didn't want to talk to anyone else about it. And the phone had kept ringing, and he'd kept answering. All she was really sure of was that he'd definitely said that she had to try to contact Fury and ask if he knew what was going on, and to use any means possible.
Sighing softly, she made her way down towards the games room, gently grazing her fingers against the tender new skin on her side. God bless Hank and his wonder-skin, she thought to herself. If it hadn't been for that, she'd still be tied to a bed in the med-lab – and they would have had to literally do that to make her stay.
"By any means possible…" She murmured, and as she turned a corner she realised that Logan was skulking behind her. "You know I'm not blind; I can see you." She called out and waited for him to catch up.
"You ok?" He asked cautiously, and she nodded.
"Better. Not best, but better."
Logan grunted, clearly unconvinced, and shrugged. "Xavier's asked me to go on a mission fer him…" he cleared his throat gruffly and waited for her reaction.
"Where are you going?" She asked carefully and he sighed.
"England. I'm takin' Chamber with me. Gotta pick up somebody and bring her back here safe and sound. You…Are you going to be ok…while I'm gone…I'm not sayin' you won't be, just…y'know…"
Jubilee hung her head and sighed. "I wigged out, Logan. I'll admit that…it's not every day that someone that's like a brother to you tries to wipe the planet with your ass. But I'm ok now. I talked…I talked to Jono – well, he talked to me. Managed to knock some sense in to me. I still have you guys…and we'll get him back."
"Jubes-"
"We'll get him back!" Jubilee's eyes flashed angrily as she grated out the words, and Logan took a step back, holding his hands up defensively.
"Ok, kid. We'll get him back. We'll get 'em all back if we can…" He blinked as her eyes continued to blaze and hesitantly reached out to touch her arm. "Jubes…you gotta talk to Hank about what's happening…"
Her eyebrows knitted together and she shook her head. "About what?"
"Yer eyes…an' what happened on the lawn…"
Shaking her head again, Jubilee let him tug her down the hall to the nearest hanging mirror, and her jaw dropped open. "…what the…"
"Exactly. Looks like yer powers 've made a bit of a jump." He waited for her to talk again, but she ignored him and stepped closer to the mirror, watching the plasma burn inside in her eye sockets. "And I know that One-Eye noticed it the other day. He watched the security footage of the attack."
"This is so freaky weird." She grumbled, reaching up to brush against where her eyeballs should have been. What she felt instead was a roiling sea of her powers. Steeling herself, she concentrated, and the plasma went away. After a few seconds she tried to get it back and sucked in a breath as they burst into life once more. Getting more familiar with the feeling, she concentrated it on her hand and started as it burst into a more condensed form of her paffs, the power blazing from her hands. "Uh…I think this happened in the Garage. I wanted to fry the convertible. Jono stopped me…frickin' weird…"
Logan blew out a long breath and nodded. "You can say that again. Listen, I gotta get moving in a couple of minutes…are you sure you are gonna be ok – not just with the Angelo thing…the…the…" he floundered for a minute and finally reached out and gripped her still burning hands. The plasma didn't burn him and though he was surprised, he didn't let it show on his face. "The eye thing…an' the hand thing…an every thing. Just say the word, Jubes, an' I'll tell Xavier he can stuff the mission up his-"
"Go, Logan." Jubilee insisted gently, secretly glad that he was taking the time to make sure she was ok. "I'll be fine. I promise."
She smiled, feeling more like herself than she had in days and watched him walk off towards the elevator. Looking down at her hand, she flexed her fingers and ruefully shook her head as the plasma winked off. "This is so weird." She murmured softly, resolving to spend some time in the Danger Room – without observation – so she could know what she could and could not do now. Hank could wait.
Changing direction, she headed up to her room, mounting the stairs two at a time. It had felt like her mind had shut down after the fight. All she could do was think of what had happened to Angelo and that he'd hurt her. Now she was thinking about why.
When had he changed – she didn't know…nobody knew.
Who had changed him – no one knew.
What the hell had he been talking about at the lake? Had she taken something from the office? Shaking her head as she burst into her room and looked around, her eyes finally sharp and concentrated. Glancing around she saw the normal detritus and objects strewn around, and at the back of her mind she vowed to clean up later. Dismissing the outer room, she went to the bathroom and dragged out the laundry hamper, guessing that someone had dumped her uniform inside. After all that had happened no one had thought of laundry for a while.
The contents landed on the carpet and she quickly began to sort through it, tossing socks and tops over her shoulder as she searched. Finally she located her uniform and sat back, holding up the bloody mess. "I blew his throat out." She reminded herself, a touch of pride entering her voice. "I hurt him." She nodded grudgingly, giving herself a mental pat on the back and shook the material, wondering if anything would fall out.
A small slip of paper fluttered to the carpet.
XXXxxxXXX
"Uh…Professor….?" Jubilee knocked gently on Charles's door and poked her head inside, cocking an eyebrow in a silent request to come in.
He nodded and pointed to a chair, nodding as he continued to listen to the person on the other end of the phone. "Heather, they are on their way. I promise you. Now, get some sleep and call me if you see anything else." He hung up quickly and sighed. "She has the memories of nearly four generations of her family, and yet she still does not know when to stop talking." He smiled tiredly at her. "What can I do for you, Jubilee? I am glad to see you…more yourself."
Jubilee smiled wanly and shrugged. "You saw my memories; you know Angelo was looking for something. He said I brought something home with me from Patras's office."
Charles nodded, suddenly looking more alert as the smile faded. "I thought you hadn't…you found it, didn't you?"
Jubilee nodded. "I don't know how it got there, but this was in my uniform. Some of it's unreadable - I guess it got a bit damaged in the fight." She handed over the paper and sat back, watching him read.
"This is Spillios's handwriting…" He murmured finally, placing the note on the table in front of him. "Did you read it?"
Jubilee nodded, keeping silent.
"He speaks of an old man…" Charles mused softly, clearly not talking to her, "one that asked him to pass on..." He frowned and scraped at the paper with a fingernail.
"Sorry...Sabretooth blood. I'm guessing it says 'a message'."
"Beware the Shadow. Not something we don't know."
"But something we didn't know at the time." Jubilee murmured. "And he talks of Gods and Shadows, light and dark…a string of words that makes no sense."
Charles smiled slightly and shrugged. "It is part of the puzzle, Jubilee. One that is getting more difficult and complex with every turn. Thank you for bringing this to me."
Sensing the unsaid dismissal, she got back to her feet and after a seconds thought, moved around the desk until she was standing beside him. "We'll get there, Professor. Just have faith." She threaded her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, pressing her head against his neck. "I promise."
After a few seconds, he reached up and tightly gripped the arm twined around the front of his neck. "It should be me saying that to you." He sighed, and she drew back giving him a glimpse of a familiar vibrant smile.
"Hey, you looked like you needed it." She kissed his temple and left him to his thoughts.
XXXxxxXXX
Days later, Jubilee thumped her head against the keyboard in frustration. ACCESS DENIED was flashing on the screen. Fumbling for her coffee she groaned when she realised it was cold. She felt like she was running on empty. She was vaguely aware that Logan and Jono had returned with some woman not much older than Monet. She, Scott, Charles and Magneto had practically locked themselves into Charles's study, warning everyone to stay away.
Logan had disappeared off on yet another mission, but before he'd left she'd badgered him for contact numbers for Fury. He'd given her a funny look but rattled off a string of numbers before climbing into the mini-jet next to Storm.
It was either early in the morning, or late at night and she definitely needed more caffeine to differentiate between the two. The phone numbers hadn't worked. Three wouldn't connect, and the fourth just kept ringing out with no answering machine. She tried it periodically, along with the other numbers Scott had given her, but there was no joy, not even leaving messages with the SHIELD land base. After getting annoyed with getting nowhere, she ended up trying to hack into the SHIELD database to get to his own computer terminal, judging that if she left a note somewhere he could see it he'd get back to her. While getting into the database was easy, locating his unit and getting into it was working out to be impossible.
Hiding a yawn behind her hand, she trudged into the kitchen, barely avoiding a collision with Magneto as he made his way to the cupboards next to the door.
"Hey." She murmured and deftly ducked around him, making for the sink. "So, you finally emerged…"
"We did." He murmured tiredly and gripped her by the shoulders, turning her towards the table. "Heather Dorian, this is Jubilation Lee. Jubilation, this is the granddaughter of one of Charles's oldest and dearest friends."
Jubilee hadn't realised there was someone else in the room, but she put down the cup and went to shake her hand, surprised when she saw the woman was wearing a pair of purple leather gloves, which went well with the purple streaks in her jet black hair.
"Jubilee." Heather stood up, barely even Jubilee's height and she cupped Jubilee's cheek gently before sliding off one of the gloves and pressing her skin against Jubilee's. After a moment she blinked and smiled, sitting back down. "Pleased to meet you! Keep on truckin'!"
Jubilee opened her mouth, unsure of how to answer that, and promptly closed it again as Magneto placed a large mug of fresh, and more importantly hot coffee into her hands.
Surprising himself, he steered her towards a chair and gently pressed on her shoulders to make her sit. "You look tired." He murmured defensively at the strange look she threw at him, and she sighed as Heather reached for a cookie, her startlingly violet eyes twinkling.
"Long day…night." Jubilee amended, glancing at the clock. "And no joy. It's like the guy fell off the planet or something. I'm getting so sick of this…"
Heather smiled secretively and lounged back in the chair, her eyes twinkling even more. As she moved, the long beige coat she wore fell open to reveal a tie-dye blouse and a pearl choker necklace.
"Well, JJ, you might just have to find a different way, then won't you. A girl like you doesn't walk the normal paths anyhow." The cryptic statement made Jubilee choke on her coffee, and Magneto stared at her with a strange look in his eye.
"Heather…" He murmured warningly and the secretive smile grew. "What did you see?"
"Moi?" Heather gestured towards herself dismissively. "I saw nothing, old man."
"I take it you two are friends too?" Jubilee asked, trying to get to the bottom of what was happening. "What? What's going on?"
Eric sighed and relaxed back into his chair. "Heather, amongst other things, is a touch clairvoyant. And when her grandmother died, she passed on every single memory she's ever had. Heather was only fourteen when it happened. I believe that when she touched you, she saw something. Heather?"
"I saw something. But it's not for me to tell, boy. She's got it in her head already. Don't you, kiddo." She grinned, suddenly looking older than she was.
"They'd kill me." Jubilee stated flatly, draining half the mug in one go. "As in; little pieces of me, scattered over the lawn like confetti. Burned confetti…"
"What did Scott tell you?"
"By any means…hey! How did you know that?"
Heather sighed, shaking her head. "He was talking to me on the phone, when he was talking to you. What are you thinking?"
Jubilee flicked a glance at Magneto, and the white haired mutant shrugged, blowing on his drink before taking a sip. "Going to the source…" She murmured softly, and was rewarded by Magneto inhaling a mouthful of coffee.
"Going to – you mean infiltrating the most heavily guarded flying Heli-Carrier?!" He exclaimed in a hiss once he had stopped coughing. Closing her eyes, Jubilee nodded slowly and Eric quickly shook his head.
"You are right. They would kill you. After the SHIELD soldiers had finished with you. And just how were you thinking of persuading Cyclops and Xavier of allowing you to do that?" he asked incredulously.
"Who ever said I was going to ask them." Jubilee shot back. "It's easier to ask forgiveness than to beg permission. I think I have it all worked out…or at least, I would if you would promise not to tell Charles."
"You wish me to lie to my host?" Eric asked, his surprise dying away only to be replaced by curiosity.
"Not lie. Just not tell. I'm a teenager, Mags, I know the difference." She smiled smugly. "Well? Would you tell him?"
Eric considered it for a moment before holding out his hand across the table to her. "I propose a wager, child. If you do attempt it, I will neglect to mention it until asked directly. On one condition; If you get caught or shot, you never, ever call me 'Mags' again. It is Magneto, or Mr. Lenscher. Or Eric if you ever manage to save my life."
Heather began to chuckle as Jubilee suddenly looked sly and nodded, reaching out to take his hand. "And if I succeed, and get in touch with Fury without getting shot into itty bitty bits…you stop calling me child or Jubilation."
"Done." They shook firmly and Eric smiled faintly as Jubilee got to her feet.
"Get some sleep before you go, Jubilee. You'll have a busy day ahead of you." Heather murmured, the cryptic tone entering her voice again.
"Doing what?" Jubilee asked, just as cryptic and Heather shrugged.
"You already know. Take the evening train; it won't be as crowded."
XXXxxxXXX
Jubilee smirked as she ducked through the metal detector, giving the guard a wink as she shouldered her back-pack higher on her shoulder. He looked at her strangely, but she paid no attention to him; she knew she looked weird. She was wearing a windcheater and underneath that was an all-in-one grey jumpsuit that just happened to be a uniform stolen from Hank's prototype lab, chosen specifically for its colour. When the guard frowned at the bag, she shrugged and continued on out of his sight; it didn't beep, therefore it wasn't a threat. At least, that's what he thought.
Inside the bag was the smallest glider she could find in Hank's store of items needed for a particular mission and never needed or thought of again. Likewise with the tiny oxygen pack and mask. Humming softly, she slipped into the elevator and rode along with the tourists travelling up as far as the observation deck on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. It was quite late in the evening, and the majority of the crowds had vanished. Resisting the urge to yawn, she leant against the stone and looked out over the city, smiling faintly when she saw the Fantastic Four's jet land on the roof of the Baxter Building. At least they were still operating, even if Ben had gone nuts.
Checking her watch, she consulted the small slip of paper clutched in her hand and decided it was time to start moving. Buoyed by Heather's belief that what she was doing would work, she'd spent half the night tiptoeing through the SHIELD databases, working out schedules and double-checking facts.
Moving to a quiet corner of the viewing platform, she opened the bag and working within its confines, attached the O2 bottles to the back of the glider frame and arranged things so she could move quickly when ready. Finally, when the security guard moved away, she stripped the material away and shrugged out of the windcheater. In one fluid motion, she swung the machine onto her back, pulled the mask over her nose and mouth and ran for the railings. Up and over the deadly spikes in a second, she extended the gliders wings and laughed as she swooped down through the air, hearing the shrieks of terror from the tourists she'd just left behind.
With the heat of the day, the thermals still rising from the city streets sent her upwards and she revelled in the feeling of flight, resisting the urge to scream with excitement.
After twenty minutes aimlessly circling the air above the high-rises, she spotted her target and began to angle towards the waddling bulk of the SHIELD Troop Transport as it lumbered into the air, headed towards the main SHIELD Heli-Carrier that Fury should be commanding.
She knew she was small enough to evade the radar, but the difficult thing would be landing on the roof without making noise or being seen on her approach. It took a few seconds for her to work out what she had to do before the transport picked up speed, and she began to circle, gaining height as a thermal sent her upwards. Angling herself, she moved behind it and swooped down, trying to match its speed and height and after a few heart-stopping minutes, she landed as lightly as she could on the roof, sliding back until she was clinging to the back of it. Reluctantly, she hit the button to release the glider wings and cringed as they fell away, disappearing into the clouds.
It felt like an eternity before she felt the change as the Transport slowed and banked, moving towards the Heli-Carrier's open hanger doors. Jubilee waited until it had gone underneath the viewing platforms and quickly hauled herself back onto the roof, pressing herself flat and hoping to god that the schematics she'd found were right and there was only one level in the hanger. When nobody shouted out or started peppering her with bullets, she relaxed her hold and stayed where she was as the hanger erupted in noise with people and supplies being unloaded from the vessel.
The transport had stopped moving at least twenty minutes before Jubilee risked lifting her head. All sounds in the hanger bay had disappeared, and raising herself up a fraction of an inch she looked around from the top of the large transport vehicle. The large hanger was finally completely deserted.
Slipping down the side, she landed lightly on her feet and ran to the nearest wall, hunkering down behind a large container. The grey suit she had purloined from Hank's prototype lab helped her blend against the stark gunmetal grey colour of the top of the transport ship, but it would only serve to draw attention to her movements in the lighter colour scheme of the SHIELD Heli-Carrier. Ducking into an empty bay, she stripped down to her underwear before quickly clambering back into the uniform, putting on the clothes she'd been wearing underneath over the suit. Now dressed in black leggings and a skin-tight dark green jacket over a t-shirt, she had a slight military edge to her appearance, which she hoped against hope would give her a tactical edge as she made her way through the ship.
She'd felt the unnerving tingle of a dampening field as they had entered the docking bay, signalling the presence of an Inhibitor Generator. A modified version of the Genosian Inhibitor Collar that stopped all mutant powers, it encompassed the entire ship, and without her powers, she began to feel particularly vulnerable.
'Never doing that again' she assured herself quietly, trying to work the cramp out of her fingers. Four hours clinging to the back of the troop transport as it flew through the air had frazzled her nerves and stiffened her muscles. Keeping her eyes and ears peeled, she opened the door nearest to her and walked out into the hallway as if she had every right to be there.
Two hours later, she was hopelessly lost and wondering what to do next. She hadn't been challenged by any of the soldiers that passed, but she realised that if her luck didn't change she'd have to ask someone directions and that would definitely get her noticed.
"Hey!, Chica! What are you doing here?" A familiar voice called out from behind her, and she froze.
"Uh…" Plastering a friendly smile on her face, she turned and found herself face to face with Mitchell Diablo. "Just taking a walk. How have you been?"
Diablo cocked his head to the side and a queer smile flitted across his lips. "I'm fine, Chica. How come you have no escort? It's SOP for a civilian to have an escort when they come aboard…"
Jubilee didn't miss his hand drift down to the sidearm strapped to his thigh, and she put on an award-winning smile. "I'm not a civilian, now am I? Anyhow, Dum Dum said I could."
The red irises contracted, giving her the only warning she needed as his hand darted towards his gun. She lashed out with her foot, kicking it from his grip and followed up with a well aimed spinning kick to his head. As he dropped like a stone, she flipped over his head, landing lightly a foot away from the gun. After a few seconds she threw the gun down the hall, keeping the clip in her hand. Before it even landed she was running and she sped around the corner out of his line of sight. A few steps after that an alarm began to blare and she darted into the nearest room, locking the door behind her.
Looking around calmly, she found an access hatch to the ventilation ducts and quickly levered it out, slipping inside and pulling it shut. Knowing better than to hang around, she quickly and silently made her way down the vent and around a corner a split second before the door exploded inwards and the room was filled with soldiers.
XXXxxxXXX
An hour later, she was still in the ducts, watching through the small vents as soldiers searched each and every inch of the Heli-Carrier. Gritting her teeth, she began move as quietly as she could; freezing in place when she realised that Diablo was standing directly below her.
"I don't know. It was definitely the child we rescued from the Bikers." He snapped into an earpiece/radio combo. "No! I don't know why the bio-scanners didn't pick…she's invisible to them?" His eyes narrowed in annoyance at this little fact and he pressed his finger to his ear as he glanced around, growing angrier. "With all due respect, Colonel, you could have mentioned that an hour ago…Si, we'll continue to search. This deck is nearly done anyhow. Si, room by room!" He snapped angrily, glaring around him as his men waited for further instructions.
Smirking, Jubilee waited for him to move on before sliding onwards. She knew she was now on the command deck, and guessed that Nick's quarters couldn't be too far away. Deciding to risk slipping out of the ventilation ducts, she found an empty corridor and quietly removed the cover to the shaft, clambering out and dropping to the floor. Landing in a crouch, she scanned the area and slipped noiselessly down the grating lined floor.
She didn't have much to go by, but not too far along, she turned a corner and realised that two guards were standing outside an door with a nameplate. Narrowing her eyes, she sighed and went back the way she had come, finding it a great deal harder to get back into the vent than she had getting out.
Finally, with much jumping and wiggling, she managed to get back in and shimmied down along, counting rooms until she came to a junction and took the right turn, holding her breath as she squeezed through an almost impossibly small connection. Gritting her teeth, she stopped in front of the grate inside the room she'd spotted the soldiers outside and settled down to watch. The room was empty of people, but a desk sat in clear view of her hiding place and squinting slightly she realized that a uniform jacket was slung across the back of the chair. It had a Colonel's insignia, and Jubilee could just about make out the name Fury on the small brass badge.
"Bingo." She whispered and after double checking to make sure that the coast was clear, she left the vents hopefully for the last time. She barely had time to settle herself in the chair before the door opened.
XXXxxxXXX
Nicholas Fury was not having a good day. First, his second in command Dum Dum Duggan got himself thrown into jail in New York for bar brawling, and then Diablo had reported an intruder in the base. The fact he said that it was Logan's kid did not bode well. If any of Xavier's people wanted to contact him, they had the ways and means. There was no reason for her to be crawling around his base. Civilians across the planet were going missing and behaving oddly. Attacking friends and enemies alike; targeting whatever they felt like in an effort to do god only knows what. He knew they were searching for something, but what they were looking for he didn't know. And if Lee was one of them…
Wrenching open the door to his office he took two steps inside before he realised that someone was sitting at his desk with their feet up on the polished steel.
Jubilee had to give him credit; his response was pretty much instantaneous, and she had to move quickly to avoid being hit by the bullet that embedded itself in the back of the chair she'd just been sitting in.
"Fury!" She shouted out as he targeted her again, and she took refuge behind a filing cabinet, poking her head out to glare at him. "I'm not here to-"
Another bullet embedded itself where her head had been seconds before and she pulled back with a yelp. "Seriously, man, what's got your panties in a twist? Nobody ever been in your office before?!" Her eyes widened when a bullet punched through the metal of the filing cabinet and she hunkered down, suddenly realising that what she'd done was a really, really bad idea. "I come in peace, man! Shit if you'd check your damned messages like a normal human being-"
Another volley of shots had her moving again, and she reached out and grabbed a large potted plant behind her, throwing it in his face as she darted for the door. Ducking out into the corridor, she began to run, putting as much distance as she could between herself and Fury.
Over the intercom she heard his voice order her to be stopped, and she skidded around a corner barrelling straight into the last person on earth she'd expected to find on the SHIELD Heli-Carrier.
When Fury finally caught up with them, a group of soldiers were gathered in a circle, watching the fight. Breaking through the crowd, he found Vectress slamming Jubilee's head against the deck as Jubilee tried to dig her thumbs into the other woman's eyes. Gritting his teeth, he opened the nearest weapons locker and removed a dart gun, adjusting the dosage and firing it straight into Jubilee's neck. It only took a few moments for the sedative to work, and when she finally collapsed, he pulled Vectress from her and grabbed Jubilee by the collar of her jacket and dragged her limp form onto her knees.
"What the hell was all that about?" He asked the red-headed mutant as she held her head tightly.
"I have no idea. Ask the little brat." She spat, touching her finger against a split in her lip. Fury looked down at the now unconscious Jubilee and shook his head.
"I'll start questioning her in an hour. She should be awake by then."
Vectress nodded and watched as Fury dragged Jubilee down the hallway, her eyes darkening.
XXXxxxXXX
Fury sat on a chair beside the bunk, watching as the kid's body fought against the sedative, making her twitch and fidget in her sleep. He'd only given her a fraction of the normal dose, judging that with her size and the fact he'd need her lucid and capable of answering questions soon, he didn't need her or whatever the hell had taken her over knocked out for long.
He frowned as she whispered, "Shadow Man…" and groaned, turning over on the narrow bunk. Her eyes flickered open, and she groaned again as Fury's face filled her field of vision.
"Jesus, Nick, what the hell was in that dart? My head's pounding worse than Remy's after an all night bender." Her eyes were still slightly glazed and he realised that she was still under the influence of the drug.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He growled angrily, wrapping his fingers around her neck, easily pinning her in place against the bare mattress.
"'Cos you couldn't be bothered to return any of our attempts to contact you."
She winced as he gripped her chin tightly and twisted her head back and forth, staring into her eyes. "If you are looking for black irises and black everything else, you can go look somewhere else." Jubilee snapped, jerking her chin away from his grip. His surprised look gave her all the information she needed, and she slowly began to relax.
"Yeah, we've been experiencing a little problem with people's eyes going black and them then going completely psycho. I take it you've been having that problem too?"
Fury nodded slowly and eased back in his chair, releasing his grip on her throat. "We've been seeing some strange goings on in the civilian population…civilian mutant population." He confirmed warily and Jubilee nodded. "When I saw you in my office I thought you were one of 'em."
"Yeah, I kind of guessed that. We were attacked about six days ago by a group that contained affiliated mutants and civilian mutants. It was a close call, to tell the truth. We've been trying to get in contact with you since before it, but Cyclops asked me to take over and step up the contact attempts. Even Logan's numbers didn't work. Since we're losing friends like they're going out of fashion, I thought this might have been my best bet. Considering it's been weeks now…well, I thought it was worth the risk. If you have any information on this, Nick, we need it; and we need it fast."
Fury watched her silently and she yawned uncontrollably, trying to hide it behind her fist. After a few seconds, a slow, grudging smile crossed his face and he sat back fully, finally confident that she wasn't under someone else's influence.
"Will you please call either Charles or Scott?" Her eyes were suddenly sharp as the drug wore off fully and she sat up properly.
"It's that bad?" Fury sounded surprised and Jubilee nodded.
"When a team mate that's been closer than a brother turns on you and tries to kill you; it's bad. When you've got Eric Lensher living under your roof because Mystique and Sabertooth turned on him and killed their own team mate; that's really bad. When team mates start turning up dead…that's really, really bad. Call them. Please."
"If it's hitting your people, then I'll go to them. I don't know how your messages weren't getting through…if someone's monitoring our phone lines; which they shouldn't be able to do, then I think I'd better order a communications black-out."
Jubilee gave a small smile and swung her legs over the edge of the bunk. "Just one last thing, kid…why'd you attack Vectress?"
Jubilee blinked and her eyes widened as she sucked in a breath. "She's one of 'em, Nick! She killed Polaris! She tried to kill me and Northstar…she's definitely one of them!"
Nick spat a curse and grabbed her by the wrist, dragging her off the bed and through the halls until they reached the command centre. Diablo jumped out of the command chair, giving both Fury and Jubilee a strange look and watched as Fury pressed a button and activated a bio-scanner. "Diablo! Room by room search for Cara Shenke. If she fights, fight back. If you have to shoot the bitch, then shoot her! She's a plant; probably been working for the Shadow Man since she stepped foot on the carrier."
Diablo looked shocked, but began barking orders into his radio, commanding the men that had previously been searching for Jubilee to start to look for Vectress.
"Ain't you gonna verify what I'm saying with Charles?" Jubilee sounded surprised and when Fury shook his head, she frowned. "How come?"
"I trust you about as much as I trust Wolverine…and that's about as far as I can throw him…yer a lot lighter than him, kid." She smiled at his obvious attempt at a joke and rubbed at the back of her neck where she could still feel where the dart had entered.
"Well, you didn't trust me an hour ago." She grumbled, and Nick sighed, taking a data pad from a soldier that approached nervously.
"An hour ago you'd managed to become the first person to successfully infiltrate our main Heli-Carrier." He shot back, flicking her a dirty glance as he read the report.
"And an hour ago I told you that I came in peace." She reminded him. "And you still shot at me and ended up drugging me…does that count as getting shot?"
He paused in the middle of signing off on the report and frowned.
"Why?"
"Because I have a bet on with Magneto…if I managed to get on board without getting shot, then I'd win…" She pursed her lips and shook her head. "Damn…you shot me with a dart…" she folded her arms across her chest and she descended into a sulk and Fury raised his eyes to heaven, sighing heavily.