JEM/CHANE
Jem ran hard, sliding around corners and leaping benches to get to Nellie as fast as he could. He cringed as he stumbled to a stop before her barely contained fury.
Chane scowled at his trepidatious approach. "I'm sorry. Did you get lost? Perhaps if I'd chosen a location closer than a block from the pizzeria, I wouldn't have arrived here, all the way from the warehouse, first and ended up waiting for you."
Jem flashed her a guilty grin. "Sorry, I had some last-minute business to- uh attend to." A terrible liar Jem began to fidget. "There was just a slight detour on the way here. No big. I totes got the job done. Mims is on board. I gave her the bug, she says she knows exactly when and how to plant it and she'll let us know when it's done." Guilt settled in as he began to ramble, only to turn around and confess. "I totally had such a good time at dinner that I forgot to ask her. Then you texted and I- I - panicked. But-" He held his hands up. "I pulled it off." He winked at her. "Ninja style."
Chane let out an exasperated sigh. "Please tell me that you asked her to keep your ninja skills on the down low."
Jem hesitated. "Uh..."
She groaned. "We're supposed to pretend we're martial arts hobbyists. If word gets out about the extent of what we can do, Uncle Leo will freak. It doesn't help that the adults are all already on high alert."
Jem raised his hands defensively. "Hey, Mimi's cool. She won't tell."
Chane arched a brow. "Assuming she knows she's not supposed to."
Jem chuckled nervously. "Yup. I'll get right on that."
Chane just shook her head. Then her phone dinged. A text from Shen.
Linked up with a successful test. Not to be nosy, but Jem and Mimi are actually kind of cute.
Jem rudely read over his cousin's shoulder. "Hey! How long was she listening?"
"Yeah, invasions of privacy are super annoying." Chane muttered dryly as she stared at him.
"Can you believe it. She..." He trailed off, realizing his face was still in her phone and backed up. "Uh, yeah. So, we done? Because I am bushed."
"Get some sleep, Jem." Chane answered, watching him bound off into the night.
Maybe she should take her own advice. Bolstered by the relief of one of them not needing to risk suspension or expulsion to plant the bug, she turned to head home.
PHOENIX
Phoenix stood across the dining room table from Medusa and Sappho, flipping through the files Casey had sent over. She was alarmed to discover that the epidemic of missing youth extended far beyond the niche that had first attracted her attention.
After spinning her wheels longer than she should have without result, she had finally returned home to seek back up from the resources of her family. If lives hadn't hung in the balance, she might not have swallowed her pride so soon in admitting that the task could not be accomplished on her own. But, having done so, she was pleased to discover a new pride in seeing her capable children at work.
She was, however, not pleased to learn of Scout's tribulations. No small amount of guilt gnawed at her heart for being absent in her granddaughter's time of need, but the rational part of her mind firmly reminded her that she could have only healed the minor wounds of Scout's body and not the more serious yearning for a self-destructive substance. She'd learned early on that addiction was an illness beyond the scope of her powers, so, galling as it was to accept, rehab, not her, offered Scout the best chance at recovery.
An ephemeral thread in her soul vibrated with proximity, alerting her to the presence of another granddaughter, just entering the warehouse. For reasons unknown, Chanel appeared to be trying not to draw attention to herself as she snuck up to Aries's apartment. So be it. She'd greet her granddaughter when Chanel was ready. For now, she had her hands full.
Sappho frowned. "It seems that either they didn't have phones or had them taken and destroyed in neutral locations, so tracking via technology will be problematic."
Medusa let out a low hiss. "Then we'll have to track with more traditional methodsss."
"Count me in." Phoenix added, looking both girls in the eye as though daring them to challenge her. Neither did.
She was going to find these lost children.
SHEN/JEM
Shen hummed to herself as she energetically struggled to keep up with Nik's longer stride. She had to wonder what her good mood must look like to him because he kept looking over at her with the same wonder and puzzlement usually reserved for interpretive dance, experimental theatre or building-sized murals celebrating cheese. Whatever. She was in too good a mood to care.
Walking through the parking lot she thought she spied Uncle Casey's bike, but what would he be doing here? Eh, there were probably a ton of motorcycles with death metal x hockey custom paint jobs. Everything was fine.
Spying Jem up ahead, not that he was especially difficult to pick out in a crowd, she ran up and whacked him on the shell.
"Waah!" He jumped about two feet in the air and spun around. "What the shell, Shen?"
She couldn't stop grinning. "We're going to have to add you to our YouTube and accounts because guess who the net's hottest new intertainers are?" Holding up her phone, she proudly displayed their latest stats.
"Intertainers?" Mimi asked, stepping out from behind Jem.
Jem's eyes went wide. "Yeah, kind of. It's nothing." His cheeks flamed. Come on Jem pull this out. He began to fidget with one of Mimi's curls. "I'm totes embarrassed to say Shen, Nik and me are fans of a Youtuber who's doing pretty good." He forced a tight smile at Mimi whose eyebrow knit together as his finger got stuck in her hair.
She laughed, reaching up to free him. "Stop pulling. I'll get it. What has gotten into you?"
Jem glared at Shen. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Yep. Just a Youtuber. Isn't that right, Shen?"
Mimi worked his hand free. Then tucking the abused curl behind her ear, she scoffed. "You're a terrible liar, Jem Hamato."
Shen stifled her initial fear at being discovered, a reaction that was habit at this point. Mimi was actively participating in their mission to bring her brother down. She was inside the circle of trust.
Jem knew that too. So, his current freak out was...performance nerves. Maybe a little positive feedback would help.
"Hey Mimi, what do you think of this?"
She pulled up their latest video, an original song, and handed her phone to Mimi.
Jem's mouth opened and closed, his fingers mimicking the action. Then he began to cough, as if gasping for air. "Gotta- g- bhmpf-" he gasped and fanned himself. "Gotta-" he pointed toward the school. Couldn't breathe. Could not breathe.
Mimi paused the video, peering at him over the phone. "Are you Okay, Jem?"
He shook his head both yes and no. His stomach lurched, he turned on his heel then bolted.
Mimi gave Shen a puzzled look. "I've been watching your cousin for years. He's hiding something. But if I know anything about Jem at all, he'll end up telling on himself." She sighed, then pressed play as Shen chuckled.
The video was beautiful, complimented both the clear flowing notes of piano paired with an incredible voice.
The song ended too soon.
"Play it again!" A passerby called.
Mimi looked up to see a crowd gathering.
"Here, Bluetooth your phone to my Beats speaker."
Mimi glanced at Shen who was positively beaming. Perhaps the happiest Mimi had ever seen her. She nodded and Mimi synced the devices. The music filled the campus, several people in the crowd singing along.
There was something familiar... her eyes widened. "This is J- "
Shen held a hand up to her lips shushing her.
"If you like it, you should subscribe to the channel." Shen winked. "And I know someone who'd be interested to know what you think of it."
Mimi wordlessly opened and closed her mouth in several failed attempts to frame a response.
"I'm sure that the creators have a good reason for maintaining anonymity, and in no way suffer from crippling stage fright." Shen added meaningfully.
Expression turning determined, Mimi handed Shen's phone back to her and turned to follow Jem.
Shen took a moment to appreciate racking up likes and subscriptions from all the students who'd just heard and searched for the song, before disconnecting her Bluetooth and heading for her locker.
JEM
Jem ducked into a stairwell, sliding his shell down the wall as he hid under the flight. His heart was pounding as he swallowed repeatedly. Nope. Nope. So much nope. He lowered his head, trying to focus on his breath. Ugh. He needed an hour of meditation with Uncle Leo to get this under control.
His stomach threatened to release his breakfast and he groaned in misery.
"Jem?"
Her voice found him before she did. Her blonde curls bouncing as she slipped under the staircase. "Aren't you a ninja?" She knelt before him, her head tipping adorably to the side.
He let his head rest against the cool painted cinderblock wall. "Some ninja, huh?"
"Well I think so." She replied cheerfully.
He opened one eye to watch her. "Yeah?"
"I get the impression the extent of it is a secret. And I've been tasked with an important duty, which has been fulfilled by-the-way. But I've seen a display of your unique talent, and I'm quite confident that you are a fine ninja." She grinned, her upturned nose wrinkling as she did. "Apparently, you're a gifted vocalist as well. With a terrible case of stage fright. How is it that someone fearless enough," She inched closer dropping her voice to a whisper, "to climb a ten-story building and somehow jump onto my balcony, be afraid to sing in front of people?"
Jem let out a feeble laugh as his cheeks burned. "Ninjas work in shadow, Mimi. I'm not afraid of what I'm doing when no one can see it's me. And I'm fine with that. So, uh, can you please not try to fix me?"
She flinched and he internally kicked himself, but she quickly recovered. "Jem Hamato, I adore you just the way you are." Leaning so close her blouse brushed against his t-shirt, Jem's distress faded, giving way to the mad beating of his heart.
He slipped a hand into her curls, closed his eyes and pressed his lips to hers. "I think I adore you too, Mims."
CASEY
Casey clutched his thermos of coffee tightly in hand as he entered the office. Considering that they'd called yesterday, it had taken some serious schedule-juggling to fit this in. But, given how freaked girls in this situation were, it was worth the effort to move fast. Having their options explained helped mitigate the 'oh shit, my life is over' factor some.
Someone else probably could've taken the case, most of the mutant/hybrids got kicked to him. And he took them because he could trust himself to do it right. Not something he could say of his colleagues. Priority one was to ensure the girl didn't miss out on her education. Mutants and hybrids already had enough shit stacked against them fighting the poverty line without losing out in school.
The secretary glanced up from his computer. "Welcome back Mr. Jones. Going to adhere to the appropriate language policy this time?"
He rolled his eyes. Whatever. Never mind all the real shit his kids were dealing with. Can't mar their brains with harmless words that there was no way they'd heard a million times before.
The secretary shook his head and handed Casey a manila file folder. "That's what I thought. The counselor's office is all yours. We'll send her down in a minute."
Casey gave a mock salute with the folder and headed off to the tiny cinder block cell, set aside for academic advisement, spreading out across the desk as though it belonged to him. He would have liked to be more prepared, but the short notice had shot that. Time to wing it.
Taking a swig from his thermos, he flipped the file open and almost sprayed coffee all over the desk.
"Fuck."