"An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit."
[xxxx]
Chapter 13: Hot Pursuit
When she and the others returned home, Albino was exhausted. She wanted just to take a warm bath, then curl up in bed and fall asleep. Unfortunately, she knew that Control would expect both the Brotherhood to be at least conscious when she returned home.
"Back so soon?" Pyro greeted as they entered the parlor.
"How about yourself?" Albino asked. "Aren't you and Hawkeye supposed to be in Manhattan?"
"Me, him and Scarlet Witch... yeah. We just got home a few minutes ago. I don't know where they ran off to, but they're around. They probably headed off to bed."
"I think I will do the same." Panther announced, yawning softly. "Goodnight everyone. I will see you in the morning." She left the room, and Albino listened as the loud clang of the elevator signaled her sister's exit before turning back to the others.
"I have things to do." Camouflage said curtly and faded into invisibility. The sound of footsteps signaled her exit.
"Anybody else want to leave the party?" Albino asked dryly.
"Party?" Quicksilver asked, raising an eyebrow. "The party hasn't even started yet, babe."
"Are you suggesting that we're throwing a party?"
He shrugged. "Sure. Why not? I mean, with how hard we worked tonight, I'd say that we deserve a little reward."
Albino scoffed. "As long as Control is alive, I don't think that's gonna happen here."
"I know a club we could go to." Pyro said.
"No. Stop it. We're not going out."
"Alright." Quicksilver said, disregarding Albino. "You got a car we can take?"
[xxxxx]
With a little persuading to Albino, they were soon driving along in Panther's Hummer, dressed for the nightlife.
"I still don't think this is a good idea." She complained, making the first turn that brought them out of Mutant Town. "I mean, what's gonna happen when Control finds out?"
"Oh, what's the harm?" Pyro said from the backseat. "It's not like the woman's got anything against having a little fun."
"According to her, fun is a pointless emotion that should serve no purpose in the life of a Superior."
"Is it just me or are we being followed?" Quicksilver chimed in, pointing to a car that trailed behind them at a respectable distance, making no effort to catch them and yet not dropping back.
Albino had been in the area long enough to know that it was rare to see a vehicle on the roads of Mutant Town after nightfall, even in the more inhabited areas. She strained her eyes through the little rear view mirrors. She couldn't see anything beyond the car's headlights, but she guessed that it was a mid-sized sedan or Jeep.
"Speed up some. See what they do." Quicksilver told her.
Albino increased their speed to fifty or fifty-five. She watched as the car behind maintained its distance almost exactly, as if it were tied to them. This meant nothing. It could have simply been that they were rushing to get where they were going. "Drop back," Quicksilver ordered.
They slowed, and so did the car behind them. Again, this proved nothing.
"This guy's either an innocent bystander or he's definitely up to something." She said.
"Skip the next stop sign." Pyro offered. "We can't risk it either way."
They rode on silently, until coming to an intersection. Instead of stopping, Albino drove straight through, not too fast and not too slow. The car behind them did the same.
"Who do you think they are?" Albino asked. "X-Men?"
"No. The X-Geeks aren't that coy."
"It doesn't matter anymore." Quicksilver said, watching the car in his rear view mirror. "They're the cops' problem now."
[xxxxx]
The car was almost completely silent, aside from the hum of rock music spilling out of Tabitha's earphones. The sound was annoying, and she knew this very well, but continued to listen anyway.
"Tabby, turn that off." Jake said suddenly, waving a hand in front of her face to further grab her attention.
She gently pulled out one earphone and turned to Jake. "D'you say something?" She asked, not having heard a word he said.
"I said, turn that shit off." He repeated before gesturing to the building they were parked across the street from. "Somebody's coming."
The gang of four had been sitting in the car - Dr. Barrington's car, to be exact - for almost an hour, waiting outside the warehouse for something to happen. Not much did happen, aside from the appearance of a stray cat that Amy wanted to bring home. Tabitha managed to talk her out of it with a few harsh words.
Jake didn't have much of a plan. All that he knew was that a bunch of idiots decided to invade the mansion, and that he wasn't going to let them off Scott-free. This was one of those fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of things. He didn't have time for plans right now.
"Hey, that's the chick we saw at the mansion!" Evan said from the backseat, pointing to a white-haired woman leaving the warehouse - the same warehouse they had seen the perps go in to.
"Omigosh... we're so gonna die!" Amy whined from the backseat before burying her face into her knees.
Tabitha looked back at her. "Oh, grow up."
"Wait. Shut up. There's more people." Jake said.
All four teens watched as two more exited the warehouse - a white-haired man and a boy that looked about their age.
"Whoa..." Amy said, leaning over Jake's chair. "That's not John Allerdyce, is it? Nobody's seen him since..."
"Since Alcatraz." Jake finished. "I thought he was with Magneto."
"But Magneto got cured. Remember, dumbass?" Tabitha said playfully.
Jake sneered. "The cure doesn't work. Remember, dumbass?" He replied in a mocking tone.
Tabitha stuck her tongue out at him, and Jake did the same.
"If you guys would please stop frenching the air, could we maybe focus on the real problem here?" Evan suggested.
He pointed to Pyro's group, who were now all climbing into a black SUV. The older, white-haired man's eyes scanned the street before he stepped into the driver's seat.
Jake started the engine and began to follow the SUV down the road.
They had been driving for a while before anyone broke the silence. As usual, it was Amy.
"Jake, you're driving too close." She said. "Keep away a bit. But don't look like you're trying to keep away."
"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" He scoffed.
"I don't know!"
"You are absolutely the most-"
"You missed a stop sign." Evan's voice interrupted them.
"What?" Jake asked.
"That stop sign back there. You missed it."
He shrugged. "Oh, well. It's not like-"
Sirens blared, and flashing blue and red lights poured in from the rear window of the car.
"Shit." Jake cursed, and pulled the car on to the side of the street. The police car pulled up behind them and the siren was silenced. "Shit." He repeated.
"You are so dead." Tabitha teased as they all watched the cop step out of his car and saunter over to their car. Jake rolled down the window.
Seeing their young age, he gave them a skeptical look. "License and registration, please."
Jake stayed silent, just staring up at the intimidating cop.
"License and registration." He repeated more sternly.
"Uh..." He stuttered. "I, uh... I've misplaced it." He said nervously, and a snort could be heard from the backseat.
The officer sighed. "Son, how old are you?"
Jake gulped. "Um... nineteen." He lied.
"Step out of the car, son."
All the while, Evan had been sneering from the backseat. Jake ignored him and stepped out of the car. "I'm really sorry about this, officer."
"I am, too, son."
[xxxxx]
All of his life, this was the phone call that Jake Barrington dreaded making. He looked down at the dull dime in his hand and spun it between his fingers. Five minutes. That's all he got and it was all he would need.
He tried to think of who else to call. He would've called his father if he wasn't dead. Next would be his uncle, his namesake, but that wouldn't work - he was probably down in Florida living the high life with some congressman's wife. Then came his mother.
Without another thought, Jake slid the dime into the slot and dialed his mother's cell phone number.
"Hello?" Samantha's voice broke through- soft, sweet and concerned. For a moment, he didn't respond. "Who's there?"
"Mom?" Jake said, his stomach feeling light.
"Jacob! Thank God you're alive!" She said, relieved. "Where in the world are you? Did they take you? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, mom." He paused. "I'm in jail."
He heard Samantha take a breath. "You're joking, right?"
"No, mom, I'm not. Look, I only get a few minutes, so you're gonna need to listen-"
"No, Jacob Howard Barrington, you listen to me! All of my life, I've fed you, changed your diapers, paid for your education-"
"Mom, shut up." He said angrily. "This isn't the time. I'm at the police station in Alphabet City. Come pick me up." Furiously, he slammed the phone against its receiver and shut his eyes.
No matter what other people thought, Jake always had good intentions. But somehow, he always turned out to be portrayed as the bad kid - the one who constantly sought trouble. This was another one of those cases. He had been trying to do a good thing by tracking these people - whoever they were - and look what he got. Jail time.
"Hey, Jake, you know where the bathroom is in this place?"
Well, maybe it wasn't exactly jail, but it was as close to it as he had ever come. The officer that had picked them up was too much of a nice guy to arrest a couple of fifteen-year-olds, so he just had them sitting in the waiting room, where they were being closely watched by a security camera.
"God, Amy, I told you to go before we left!" Tabitha said, crossing her arms tightly across her chest.
Jake turned away from the phone to face his friends. Evan was slumped in a chair looking bored while Amy was jumping around and holding her legs together, and Tabitha giving her a death glare.
"I didn't have to go then!" Amy whined, still squeezing her legs tightly together. Tabitha rolled her eyes and slumped down into a chair next to Evan.
Jake smirked, and joined his friends.
[xxxxx]
"Where did you say this club is again?" Albino asked Pyro, stopping at an intersection.
"Just make this left. It's on the next corner."
She did as he said, and into their view came a large warehouse with all of its windows blacked out. Multi-colored flashing lights could be seen from behind the painted windows and loud techno music seeped from inside, the sounds muted from behind the cement walls.
They parked the car in a gravel lot beside the club and quickly made their way toward the entrance. As they walked alongside the building, Albino read a large blue neon sign that read Empowered.
"Hey Radar." Pyro greeted the large bouncer that stood near the front doors of the club.
"Pyro! Man, where you been?" The bouncer said, giving his friend a fist pound. "I haven't seen you since Alcatraz!"
He shrugged. "I've been around... doing some stuff for Magneto."
"Yeah... I heard the news about the cure. So, the Brotherhood's really back in business, huh?"
"I'm not really supposed to talk about that stuff, but yeah. We are. But tonight, we're just out for some fun." He gestured to Albino and Quicksilver, who stood behind him.
"Glad to hear it. You can head right on in." The bouncer unhooked the velvet rope that closed off the entrance to the club.
"So, I'm guessing the guy doesn't mind mutants." Quicksilver said as they passed through the club doors and into the room filled with loud dance music and almost seizure-inducing lights.
"Radar? He's a mutant. Everybody in this club is." Pyro said, looking out across the huge building packed with college-aged kids.
"A club for mutants?" Albino guessed, noticing that some of the club's inhabitants had physical mutations. "Why haven't we heard about this yet?"
"The owner tries to keep it on the down low. It's not something you'd want the public to know about." Pyro explained as he led them to a table near the bar and sat down. "There might be some negative feedback, if you know what I mean."
He signaled over a waitress, who smiled at them dazzlingly. "What can I get for you folks tonight?" She asked in a peppy voice, flipping her blond hair behind her shoulder.
"I'll have a beer." Pyro ordered. "You guys?"
"I'll just have some water." Albino said blandly. "No lemon please."
"Vodka martini. Shaken, not stirred." Quicksilver said with a smirk.
The waitress just smiled and jotted down the orders on her notepad. "Alrighty. I'll have those right over to you folks!" She turned and quickly disappeared into the crowd, her blond hair still bouncing behind her merrily.
"So, you come here often, Pyro?" Albino asked, turning back to the two men. It didn't seem like a place for a kid of his age, and she wasn't sure how either Control or Magneto would feel about it, but he seemed like the kind of kid that could handle himself.
Pyro shrugged. "I used to, right after Alcatraz. Not so much now." He leaned toward her a bit. "I'd come here more often if I had a pretty lady to escort."
She pushed him away lightly. "Sorry, I'm not interested in statutory rape."
"Besides," Quicksilver said. "She's already taken." He gently rested his arm around his shoulder.
Albino pushed him away. "I am not interested in a relationship right now, Pietro." She said a bit harshly. "Not with you, or Pyro, or anyone else for that matter."
The group fell silent, letting the loud techno music and buzz of the crowd fill their heads rather than the sound of each other's voices.
I don't like this chapter all too much. It has no meat, if you pick up what I'm putting down. Perhaps I've been watching too many episodes of General Hospital.
Praise to martshi3, my beta!
The quote is by Pliny the Elder, a Roman philosopher.