Author's note: See end for prompt. TW for Explosive Devices.
Logan's plan was simple:
Have Jubilee place the sonic pulse device in the middle of the empty, decimated street. It would scramble and bring down the last computerized, mutant-nabbing robot Sentinel left in the skirmish. The two would then huddle behind a pile-up of burnt out cars for cover.
If she could manage to not mess it up like the last mission, when she had improvised a diversion involving wild geese and her plasma bursts, they should be golden. Really, the amount of debrief paperwork required by that particular series of miscalculations had been unbelievable.
Now the rest of the team positioned themselves further behind, ready to provide backup.
No waterfowl this time, no scrubbing a mess of droppings out of unforgiving spandex.
It should have been easy.
Returning from her task of activating the timed ear-splitting machine, Jubilee practically skipped to Logan's location, waiting for the Sentinel to appear around the street corner.
Wolverine eyed Jubilation Lee's cheery face suspiciously as she arrived. "Everything had better be in place like I planned," he rumbled low in his throat. "Not like last mission." He was still finding feathers in unlikely places.
"Yup, yup, nailed it, dude. It's set and ready to roll." She flipped down her oversized sunglasses and ducked down behind their makeshift barricade. Her head stuck up slightly as she slipped what looked like a lighter into her trench coat.
With her eyes never leaving the target ahead, Jubilee blindly reached into another pocket and pulled out a wad of Twizzlers which she unfurled and ate from end to end without blinking or acknowledging the inappropriateness of the timing.
Logan chose to ignore his young teammate's loud chewing in favor of focusing on the mission at hand. "Good. Without visual evidence captured on their cameras, they'll never know we were involved in the fight or that we set the pulse. If we're lucky, they'll assume it was a malfunction on their end."
There was an audible sound of swallowing, followed by "Ummm…. so about that, Logan…"
Logan's expression froze and his breath caught for a moment before he turned to warily regard Jubilee.
He said cautiously, "what did you do, kid?"
Jubilee grinned—and it was a frighteningly wide smile given that it was on the face of someone who rarely thought anything through except for her daily accessory selections.
Before Logan's protégée could ramble off her usual stream of hyperactive syllables, she was cut off by a sonic pulse rippling through the air of the empty street in the distance, followed by a heavy crash.
That was their cue to leave: it was the sign that the last of the Sentinals prowling the streets had been brought down. Most importantly, their cue that the robots had been brought down in a manner that wouldn't implicate the X-Men.
And yet, no one on the X-team moved.
No one moved because they were too busy gawking at the sparkling, shining, cheerful bursts of light high above the sentinel— things which don't usually accompany a simple noise frequency device. Fountains of blazing color, fizzing sparklers, and waterfalls of shimmering light graced the skies.
Grinding his teeth, Logan glared at the gaudy display. He turned his head ever so slightly towards Jubilee without looking directly at her. "Kid?"
If he had fully glanced to his right, he'd see not the appropriately chastised face of a young apprentice, but instead, the crazy grin of a gleefully delighted pyromaniac. Jubilee drank in the sight of the fruits of her labors like they were a summer blockbuster.
Logan didn't even need to ask in order to guess what had happened, as Jubilee then clapped her gloved hands together and issued a high pitched "eeeee!" of excitement before reaching for more snacks.
Logan was fuming. It had been the perfect setup to get away quietly—an easy assignment for Jubilee to ace. This task had ended up the same as their last mission: a mess.
Reaching out to smack the box of Junior Mints out of Jubilee's hand, Logan snarled, "Last chance, Jubilee—this was the last time that you mess up. You'll be running drills with Cyclops for the rest of your life if you EVER do something like that again!"
Jubilee pouted at her lost candy littering the pavement but soon cheered herself up with a piece of gum pulled from yet another hidden pocket. "Whatever, Logan—that wasn't a screw up. It was all part of the plan."
"I MADE THE PLAN! And that wasn't part of it! Why did you add fireworks?!"
"I wanted it to be pretty!"
"It was SUPPOSED to be SUBTLE!"
Jubilee blew a large bubble of gum and popped it, slurping its contents back in. "Uhhhh, hello? I left out the strobe lights and rockets on purpose, just so you couldn't say that this was 'just like last mission,' she growled in mocking impersonation of her mentor. Jubilee scoffed and popped another bubble. "There weren't even any birds. Seriously, lose the 'tude, dude."
Logan closed his eyes, calling on all of his (admittedly limited) inner patience. Surely he had never been that age. Eighteen, and with a loud mouth.
Actually, he'd been both louder and more irresponsible at that age than the carefree explosion extravaganza that was Jubilation Lee, but she didn't need to know that.
Taking a deep breath, Logan counted to ten. Jubilee rattled a box of gummy bears at him as a peace offering. (How many pockets does that coat have?)
Logan sighed, gave in, and selected a green one. He had to admit, the fireworks display did make for an impressive show. "Well, at least you didn't hit the gas station," he said grudgingly. "No more improvising, though."
He chewed grumpily for a minute, and then grabbed the rest of the goodies to keep for himself. "And bring Raisinets next time," he grumbled.
Jubilee smirked. "You got it, boss."
Author's Note:
Based on TFR's Prompt Fourth of July #1:
"Why did you put fireworks next to the bomb?"
"Because I wanted it to be pretty."
"It was supposed to be subtle!"