Hey guys, it's AJ92, in case you haven't figured that out. I changed my username because... I don't know, I felt like I needed some sort of a change, and the name is a good start, I guess. Anyway, here is the next chapter. Enjoy.
Chapter 19
The next day Michael and Jacklyn entered the lair. Austin and Malcolm were the first ones to see them. With big grins on their faces, they greeted them. "Hi, Mr. Michael. Hi, Ms. Jackie."
"Hey there, you two. How are you?" Jacklyn asked, she gently pat the young mutants on their heads.
"I'm good." Austin held up a drawing. "Look what I made."
"Oh wow, are those superheroes?"
Austin's blue eyes sparkled happily. "Yeah!"
"I drew some too." Malcolm added in.
"Wow! Tell me about them. What are their names? Do they have powers?" Jackie nodded toward her husband. Silently telling him that she would wait out here.
As the young children went into a spiel about their superheroes, Michael went poking around in the kitchen. Sierra, Leo, Melanie and Raph were sitting around the table. "Mike, what's up?" Leo greeted.
"How's Amber?" Melanie asked. "Kylie told us what happened."
"She's okay."
"So, is it true that this guy claimed to be the killer?"
Mike rubbed his eyes. "Yes, but it's not him. Just some stupid kid that was trying to be him for some reason. He wanted Amber's attention, wanted her to like him. And when that didn't work, he flipped out and tried to scare her into being with him. Even going out of his way to kill his own mother." he shook his head. "And now he's probably going to spend the rest of his life, incarcerated in some facility. It's sad. I would feel bad for him if he didn't go after Amber like that." he handed over a plastic bag that he had been holding to Raph. "Here."
"What's this?
"It's for the twins as a thank you. Amber told me that they like the cinnamon buns from the bakery nearby."
"Thanks Mike, I'm sure they'll love it." Melanie said.
Mike sat down at the table with them. "Can I ask you guys something?"
"Sure, what's on your mind?" Sierra asked.
"Well, after that attack, Amber doesn't feel safe at home. So, I was wondering if she could maybe stay here after school." Mike suggested. "I figure, what place is safer than an underground secret lair filled with ninjas."
That got a chuckle out of everyone. "Of course she can stay here." Leo answered.
"Thanks guys. I don't know how I'm gonna repay you for everything you're doing for me."
"You, Jackie and Amber are family. We take care of our own." Melanie said.
"I know. I should know that."
Leo placed a hand on Mike's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Have her come here after school and you can come to get her after work."
"Thank you."
"So, have you found anything new?" Raph asked, referring to the case.
"Yeah," Mike looked through his bag and pulled out a folder. Inside were clear photos of a person walking on the sidewalk. "These are still photos from the surveillance camera, From the photos, I noticed that the accomplice has a tattoo on the back of the neck."
Leo picked up one of the photos. "Looks like the wing of a dragon." he passed it off to his wife who agreed.
"So that's something, just look for someone with a wing on the back of the neck. That narrows it down." Sierra said hopefully.
"Except how do you go about looking for someone with a neck tat?" Melanie asked. "We can't go around harassing people."
Mike shrugged and stood up. "We'll find some way. We've gotten this far. Can't quit now."
"Hey, Mr. Evans." the twins greeted as they walked into the kitchen.
"What are you doing here?" RJ asked.
"Just dropping off a treat for you two as thanks for what you did for Amber."
"Oh, well, thanks. How is Amber?" RJ asked.
"She's shaken up, but she should be fine."
"That's good." Kylie said.
"Amber is going to be coming here after school." Melanie told the twins.
"Oh cool! When?" Kylie asked, excitedly.
"Starting tomorrow." Michael said. "Either me or Jackie will come by after work to pick her up."
"Sounds good to me."
The next day, Logan met up with Amber after school. Logan gave his friend a worried glance as he approached. She stared blankly at nothing, her body was stiff and she clutched her notebook to her chest.
"Hey Amber!" Logan greeted as cheerfully as possible, which he immediately regretted when he saw her flinch. "Sorry."
"It's okay. I wasn't really paying any attention." Amber responded.
"Are you okay? I heard about what happened yesterday on the news."
"Yeah, you and everyone else." Amber looked toward the other students as they walked by. They were giving her pitiful looks and she couldn't stand it. "I hate the way they look at me."
"They're just worried about you." Logan said. "Like I am."
Amber looked up at him and sighed. "I know."
"Don't think about it too much. Let's get you home." Logan stepped outside and began down the familiar path to Amber's.
"I'm actually not going home today." she said. Logan arched a dark eyebrow in response. "I've decided to stay with Kylie and her family after school so I'm not home alone."
Logan nodded, agreeing. "Okay cool. I'll take you there then."
"You don't have to do that. It's a farther walk."
"I don't mind." Logan shrugged. "Lead the way."
As they made their way to Kylie's, Amber sent a quick text to her best friend letting her know she was on the way. Kylie quickly responded by telling her that she was heading to Mason's and to meet them at a different spot. That was still on the way, so they didn't have to change direction. "Hey, did you ever think about taking a day off from school?" Logan asked.
"Yeah, but I can't keep taking days off every time something happens. I have to tough it out."
"I feel like that's not good for you either. When something traumatic happens it's best to take some time off."
"Yeah, but in case you haven't noticed, lots of traumatic stuff has been happening these last couple of months. If I took time off each time, I'd miss everything going on at school. All this stuff that's happening, my string of bad luck..." she paused. "It might get worse before it gets better."
Logan nodded. "That may be true, but with all this on your mind, how can you focus?"
"I don't know, but I have to." Amber had to find a way to change the subject. "Can we talk about something else?"
"Yeah, sure. Do you know what's going on with Kylie?"
"What do you mean?"
"I feel like she's avoiding me. She won't talk to me and when I text her, she gives one word answers. I thought that maybe she was opening up to me more when she showed me what she really looked like, but it's like she climbed back into her shell, so to speak." he said with a chuckle. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No, no, you didn't. It's just that...she's kinda having difficulty deciding on a few things right now." Amber explained.
"Is it about me?" he asked.
"...Yeah, it is."
"Does she not want to be around me or...?"
"If I'm being honest, I think she does. There's just something that's bothering her." she looked up at him and he looked back, hoping that she would clue him in on what that something was. "You'll have to let her tell you when she sees you."
Logan thought for a bit. "I think I know what I can do."
"Oh yeah, and what's that?" Amber asked, amused.
"It's a secret." he said with a wink."I just have to set up a few things."
Amber stopped at the entrance to an alleyway and walked in. Logan followed, getting weird feelings about being there. He watched as Amber lifted a manhole cover. "Thanks for walking with me."
Logan was focused on the sewer below him. He couldn't really see much down there, but he could smell it. "No problem. So, Kylie lives down there?"
"Yeah, more or less." she began climbing down the ladder.
"So should I come down there with you?"
"Nah, she's going to meet me."
"You sure?" he asked.
"Yeah, you can head home."
Logan shrugged. "Okay, I'll see you later."
He began making his way out of the alley as Amber slowly descended down into the sewer, being extra careful on the slippery rungs. When he couldn't see her anymore, he turned back, peered into the dark hole and listened for any voices.
Once Amber made it about halfway down the ladder, she hopped off, landing on her feet. "Nice landing, girl." Kylie greeted when she saw her friend.
Amber turned to the sound of the voice. Just as Kylie, Danielle and Xavier appeared from the shadows of the sewer. "Thanks Ky. So, why are you heading to Mason's?"
Danielle shrugged. "Just to hang out."
"It was getting pretty boring at home." Kylie said. "Needed something to do. At least until nightfall."
"I just wanted to tag along, no particular reason." Xavier added.
"Alright then, should we get going." Amber said.
The four teens only managed to take a few steps before they heard a thud from behind them, followed by a loud "Ow!"
"What the-" Amber asked.
The teens turned back and saw Logan sitting there right underneath the open manhole cover. "What the hell are you doing, Logan? I thought you were leaving." Amber asked as Xavier, Danielle and Kylie all stayed further back, in the shadows.
Logan quickly stood up and looked sheepishly at his friend. He rubbed the back of his head, nervously. "I just wanted to see Kylie again."
"So what were you going to do, follow us?" Amber asked, annoyed. "That wouldn't have looked good."
"I know it looks bad, but I wasn't going to follow you. I just wanted to catch you guys before you got too far away. So I could talk to her and maybe make sure that who I saw was really her."
Kylie had heard enough and stepped out to where Logan could see her. "Kylie!" he exclaimed, surprised. "Hey!"
"Hey, Logan." she crossed her arms over her plastron. "What do you want to talk to me about?"
"I... was there someone else down here? I thought I heard other voices."
Kylie sighed and rolled her eyes at the random change of subject. "Yes, but don't worry about that. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Well, I was hoping that you and me could get together and just talk for a while."
"Yeah... sure." Kylie shrugged.
He reached out and took her hand in his causing her to blush a bit. "Okay, when?"
"...Soon." Kylie answered.
"When soon?"
"I'll call you." Kylie didn't want to admit it, but what RJ said to her really made sense. What if Logan really didn't care about her? What if he only cared about what she did for him? "You should get out of here." she said as she pulled her hand away.
Logan nodded, sadly. "Right, I'll see you later."
Kylie nodded and watched him go. Once the manhole cover was replaced, she looked to her best friend and cousins. "What was that about?" Danielle asked. "You totally snubbed him."
"Nothing. Let's go." Kylie began walking to their destination.
"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that it has something to do with what RJ said?" she assumed that she was right when Kylie didn't respond and instead just sped up, keeping away from the rest of the group. "I'll take that as a yes."
"What did RJ say?" Xavier asked curiously.
Amber looked to where Kylie was sulking up ahead of them. She knew that she was listening. "I'll tell you later."
They finally made it to Mason, Dirk and Erica's lair. As soon as the door opened, they were greeted by the sound of crying. "Uh-oh, sounds like Izzy's throwing a fit." Kylie said.
"She's just cranky." Jessica walked in with the crying ten month old in her arms. "I'm about to put her down for a nap."
"I'll do it." Kylie volunteered. She carefully picked up the young child and headed toward the nursery.
"Thank you." Jessica called after her. "So, how have things been for you?" Jessica asked the remaining teens.
"Pretty good. Nothing crazy has been happening... with us." Danielle answered, while glancing at Amber.
Amber looked down at the floor. Jessica stepped forward. "And you, Amber. How have you been holding up?"
Amber shrugged, still showing signs of mental exhaustion. "Fine."
"Really?" Mason said, as he walked into the room. "Because you don't sound fine."
Amber immediately ran up to hug the guy that she once called her brother. "Whoa, I've missed you too." Mason hugged her back with a chuckle. "Seriously, how have you been?"
Amber pulled away and looked up at him. "I'm fine, really."
"Oh, come on now. You think I don't know you better than that." Mason said. "You've been through a lot of trauma lately so it's okay to be, not okay."
"I know... I just don't want to think about it." Amber said. "At least not right now."
Mason hated seeing her so down. He wanted to be able to help her out. "Well, stay as long as you need to."
Amber sat down on the couch with a sigh. Danielle and Xavier sat around her. "So... what exactly did RJ say to Kylie about Logan?" Danielle asked curiously.
"Oh... um... well... he said that Logan probably didn't care about her, he only cared about what she did for him and he was only trying to get to know her because he wanted to fill a void left by his old girlfriend."
That peaked Mason's interest. "Who's Logan? And why is he trying to mess around with my cousin?"
Amber rolled her eyes at how overprotective Mason was. "He's not messing around with your cousin. He's just trying to get to know her better."
"Right and that usually ends with messing around." Mason said.
Jessica stopped him by elbowing his arm.
"Ow!" he yelped. "What?"
Jessica ignored him.
Kylie finally came out of the nursery. "What's going on? Why is Mason yelling?"
"Because I elbowed him." Jessica shrugged. "Nothing to worry about."
"Um... okay."
"Who's Logan though?" Mason suddenly blurted out.
Kylie froze and looked to her two cousins and best friend sitting on the couch. Amber gave an apologetic look while the others shrugged nonchalantly. "He's just a guy."
"Just a guy? A guy that you like?" Jessica inquired.
"...Maybe..."
"Aww, that's so cute! What's he like?" Jessica asked, thrilled.
"He's... he's nice."
Jessica rolled her eyes. "That's it. Just nice."
"Yeah," Kylie quickly thought of something to get the attention off of her and her possible love life. "So, where's Dirk?"
"We sent him on his way. Thought he could use some time to himself. Clear his head, you know." Mason shook his head as he thought of his brother "He's still not over May leaving."
"Do you think he'll ever be able to move on?"
"I'm sure, just give it time."
FIIIIIILLLLLLLLLEERRRRRRR!
Sorry, the next chapter will be less filler. Promise.
