Logan glared at the assembled members of the X-men where they were, crowded into the MedLab. "What. Do. You. Mean. Jubilee. Is. Gone?"
Rogue bit her tongue at the slow, flat sound of his voice. She knew better than anyone what that meant. The Wolverine was pissed.
Gambit gulped. "I got a friend looking for her. I should be hearing from her soon."
Evil Cordy
**********
"Shouldn't have bothered your friend," Logan said, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the medical bed. "I know where he went."
"Logan, you're still too weak to..." Jean was cut off by Logan's hard glare. It didn't matter to him that he'd been at death's door not four hours ago. A friend was in trouble, and he was going after her.
"Mon ami, you said 'he.' Is someone with Jubilee?"
"In a manner of speaking, and he's taking her to Madripoor," he said. 'Makes the most sense,' he thought. 'Ogun'll have to re-establish his contacts, and Madripoor is the place to do it.'
"If you're going to Madripoor, I'm coming with ya," Rogue said.
"No, Marie. I'm going solo. Ogun caught me off guard this time. I don't wanna be watching anyone's back, not even yours, and have him sneak up on me again."
'Ogun,' the name was familiar to Gambit. "You killed Ogun in Madripoor, non?"
"Apparently he's harder to kill than I thought."
'Dis be the man that tried to kill Jubilee before. Don't matter than Logan wants ta be solo. Gambit's gonna save da chere.'
Khaki
**********
Early in the morning:
Nick Fury wandered into the kitchen. It had been another late night, and at 6 a.m., all he wanted was a cup of coffee. He poured a cup and sat down at the table with the morning paper trying to remove the cobwebs from his brain. He reflected on his talk to Tony Stark. There had been some microchip prototypes taken during the blast. Frost Enterprises and Landau, Luckman, & Lake had both been less than forthcoming with information but said that nothing had been taken.
Nick opened the Daily Bugle, took a sip of his coffee and then promptly spayed it all over the paper.
"#$*)))@*!" He yelled as he jumped up and grabbed a towel trying to clean off the paper so he could read the article attached to the front page photo. It was of the masked vigilante known as Spiderman fighting. Nothing new there. No it was who he was fighting. The camera had caught her face perfectly. It was Valentina. According to the story, Osborn Enterprises had been broken into last night. No details as to what had been taken but the thieves had escaped.
"Dum Dum," Nick said into his wrist communicated.
"Seen the morning paper, I take it," replied Dum Dum. "I've already got a team heading over to interview Osborn."
Nick looked at the photo again. The caption said that the photographer was named Peter Parker.
Lurker
**********
"Get me this Peter Parker, Dum Dum. I wanna talk to him."
-----
The young Asian woman departed from her flight and approached the Silver Samurai.
"I am here."
"Leave me, little girl. I am waiting for someone."
Ogun dropped his bag and attacked, catching the Silver Samurai off-guard. Through a few swift movements, she had him on the ground, stunned. After all, Ogun was a master with centuries of experience in the martial arts.
"I am Ogun. I will forgive your impudence this once because of my altered appearance, but be warned. I will not forgive again."
-----
It had taken him longer than usual to pack, but he was finally ready to go. Everything was taking him longer than usual today. His injuries had been severe enough that his healing factor was still working on them, and he'd needed to borrow a cane from the med lab just to stay on his feet.
As he finished loading the jeep, he turned to see Marie jump in the front seat and toss her duffel in the back.
"You're not coming."
"Oh yes I am. Jubes is my friend, too, and you need the help."
"I already told you, I can't watch your back..."
"Yeah, but you need someone to watch your back. I still have your memories, ya know. I know what I'm getting into, and I'm coming."
Khaki
**********
"What she doin'?" Gambit demanded as he jumped into the back of the jeep.
Logan growled. "Same thing as you, Gumbo. Being stubborn, pig-headed, and down right stupid!"
"Learned from the best, sugar," Rogue drawled. She snatched the jeep's keys out of his hand and started the engine. "Hold on, boys."
"Merde," Gambit muttered.
"What are you whining about?" Logan twisted around to demand.
Gambit blinked at him. "You ever been in de car when Rogue dere be driving?"
Logan didn't have time to answer as Rogue peeled out of the driveway.
Evil Cordy
**********
Nick Fury looked at the picture in the dossier a young man. He was about 17 years old, brown hair and eyes, average looking all around. His file had said that he was an honor student. It also had said that he was an orphan living with his Aunt and that his uncle had been murdered just months before. Overall, he was a prime canadate for getting into trouble.
He couldn't believe that his people couldn't find the kid. He got out of his car in front of an average looking house and was about to head to the front door.
"You're one of the men looking for Parker?"
Fury looked up to where the voice came from, the shadow on the side of the house. Fury walked over and looked at the red and blue masked man clinging to the side of the house.
"Look the kid is clean. He did me a favor, so I let him take pictures to help his aunt pay the mortage. I'm the one you really want to talk to."
"Yeah, you are." Fury rolled his cigar to the other side of his mouth. "What were you doing at Osborn Enterprises last night?"
"I was following someone else. The attack was unexpected."
"You remember seeing this woman?" Fury pulled out a photo of Val.
"It was pretty dark, but yes. I followed her to the docks. She and the others got on a boat, the Asian Princess. It left before I could retrieve the chips that had been taken. I recognise you. You are Nick Fury."
Fury nodded his head.
"Take this. You get within a half a mile of her, and this will register. The homing device I planted on her will show her location, providing she's still wearing it. Now, leave the Parkers out of this." Spiderman handed over a small electronic box and webbed himself away.
Fury climbed back into his car. He had what he needed, now to find Val and figure out what HYDRA was up to.
-----
Spiderman watched from the neighbor's roof as Fury pulled away. He breathed a sigh of relief. He'd have to be more careful, or Aunt May would find out about his new idenity. It was a wake up call to be more careful. You never knew who might pay a visit.
Lurker
**********
"I can't believe Logan would just take Marie and Remy and go off like that."
"Scott, you have to understand how much Logan cares about Jubilee."
"I do but they'll have to take a plane and then they can be seen. They'll have no chance of getting in secretly."
"But we can, Mr. Summers. I was listening and they're going back to Madripoor. Mr. Logan said it was where Ogun would need to go, and a friend of Remy's confirmed it."
"Unfortunately, Clarice, we don't know Madripoor like they do."
"But Mr. Creed and all his friends do. He called me and they got some information that said Silver Fox was there."
"We can sneak in, while the others grab the majority of the attention. We'll have to be ready to back them up, but we can't turn down any potential advantage."
After conferring with Professor Xavier, Blink opened a portal. Cyclops, Dr. Grey, Storm, Iceman, Shadowcat, Pyro, and she stepped through to Tyger Tiger's home in Madripoor.
Jason Barnett
**********
As soon as the portal was closed Sabertooth scooped Blink up into a hug that looked like it was crushing her ribs, but she only smiled and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck in return.
"How sweet," Tyger Tiger drawled. "I didn't think you really had it in you."
Blink stuck out her tongue at the older woman.
"Nice to see you again, Tyger," Cyclops said politely. "Will you be working with us?"
"Not exactly," Tyger said with a smile. "I'm just supplying hardware."
Mac
**********
The trip to the airport was a white-knuckled roller coaster ride.
"Darlin', shouldn't you wear your seatbelt?" Logan asked, gripping his seat and wondering the same thing about himself. After all, his healing factor still wasn't completely up to snuff.
"Safe driving tips from the Wolverine? I never thought I'd see the day."
"Chere, perhaps we could go a little slower, non? Remy'll be no help to Jubilee dead in a ditch on the side of the road."
"Oh, you big babies. You're no fun."
-----
Ogun realized that his fight with the Silver Samurai had attracted quite the crowd in the busy airport. Sighing, he reached down and helped the man to his feet.
'I hope I don't have to prove my identity to everyone, here. I don't have the time and I'm not in the mood,' Ogun thought.
Deep down, trapped within her own head, Jubilee worked on the mental bands holding her captive. Ogun had killed Wolvie. He'd told her about the poison and allowed her to watch while he used her body to run him through. She had to get back control. She couldn't let him kill again.
Khaki
**********
Miraculously, Rogue, Logan, and Gambit made it safely to the airport.
Things we're going exceptionally well. They got tickets for their flight, their luggage was being loaded, and the plane had a wonderful takeoff. So in other words, something bad was going to happen as soon as they got off.
"Logan, perh'ps you tell this Cajun what's truly going on. Rogue may have her own deductions, but Remy don't believe that Ogun is alive, fully." Gambit said while Rogue slept.
"Mmmm.. I don't know if I should tell ya kid. You might not like the answer, seeing how 'fond' you are of the kid." Logan said as he pulled his hat down a little further.
"You might as well tell Gambit now, before Gambit finds out in Madripoor." Gambit said with a warning tone.
"Didn't anyone tell you that the third person talk is a little strange," Logan said as he got a murderous glare from Remy. "I'll tell you what's going on in a couple of minutes, just gotta think of something."
That seemed to settle Remy down for now.
'Jubilee, darlin'... keep fighting!' Logan thought as he began to tell Gambit what was truly going on.
Sparrow
**********
Gambit really, really wished that Logan was wrong. He really, truly wished there was a chance in h@ll that his Jubilation had just gone slightly nuts. But there wasn't.
His petite ange was possessed by Diablo his-self going by the name Ogun.
Gambit really, really wished he could think of a way to get his Jubes back. Because from the looks of things, they might have to kill her to destroy Ogun once and for all.
Mac
**********
Nick Fury had sat in the pilot's seat trying to make the pieces fit. He was on his way to Madripoor because HYDRA was there. Because Val was heading there. Because HYDRA wanted him there. He knew it was a trap, but with the chips and the others things that were taken in seemingly unrelated crimes, the brain boys down stairs had come up with a potential hypothiesis that couldn't be ignored. The potential of a machine to control the weather in the hands of HYDRA was too much.
He looked at the tracking device Spiderman had given him. He hadn't told anyone about it or his talk with the vigilante. It worked like a map of sorts. The person holding it was in the center and when close enough to the tracking device a light appeared showing where it was in relation to the person holding the box. So far the light wasn't lit. He had to keep his distance from the aircraft that had picked Val up from the ship she had boarded in New York.
-----
Jubilee was alone in the dark. She struggled with the bindings on her wrists. This shouldn't be happening. This was her mind, her body. Why couldn't she control it? She growled in frustration. Here she was stuck to the wall in her own mind while some souless bastard was out there killing people with her hands! She had to stop him! The man had no conscience. He'd kill anyone. He had already killed Wolvie and made her watch unable to help her friend. A tear slid down her cheek. Wolvie always said she was annoying, but it was always with that affectionate growl. He was family. She turned her head to wipe the tear away on her shoulder. Ogun was tring to break her. She knew that but there had to be something she could do. She wouldn't give up. Logan would never give up.
'Wait. Think, Lee, think. You're on to something here.' She tried to rewind her previous thoughts. 'OK, Conscience, Wolvie, annoying.' She could do annoying. Oh yeah, she could do annoying. Everyone said she was an expert at it. A smile crept acoss her face, the one that made even Remy run away in terror.
Jubilee stopped struggling and opened her mouth.
"This is the song that never ends.
It just goes on and on my friends,
Someone started singing it not knowing what it was.
Now they just keep singing it forever, just because
This is the song that never ends...."
She didn't bother trying to stay in key, and when she was done with this one she knew some good Barnie songs. 'Eat this, Ogun!'
Lurker
*********
This girl was driving him crazy. Her obnoxious songs, most of which he didn't even recognize, were making it impossible to concentrate. She had just completed a mind-numbing rendition of "Henry the Eighth, I Am," complete with an astoundingly bad English accent, and was now singing a saccharinely sweet song about love. It was more than an ancient samurai master could bear.
"Stop the car," Ogun commanded Silver Samurai.
"We are almost there, Master Ogun," the man protested, but at the look on the young woman's (no, he reminded himself, Ogun's) face, he pulled over.
Ogun leapt from the vehicle and manhandled the young girl he had seen into his grasp. She had been playing on the sidewalk with a friend, who was running away screaming. The girl couldn't be older than 6, and she cried and struggled in the young woman's grasp.
Ogun shouted into the air, "If you do not stop this immediately, I will kill her. I will slash her throat and allow her blood to run through your hands. I will kill another and another and until you are covered in blood."
Jubilee stopped singing. She was stunned by how quickly the man controlling her body had become infuriated. She didn't want anymore killing, but this was not the way to stop him.
'Hmm, but it is a way to distract him,' Jubilee thought.
Khaki
**********
Jubilee stopped singing. Ogun got back in the car. Jubilee waited five minutes and started singing again. Ogun was out of the vehicle threatening another bystander in seconds.
Jubilee repeated the process. 'That's it asshole. Leave a nice big trail for them to follow. The X-men'll come, or Sabretooth when he finds out Wolvie's dead. And one thing I'm good at is sticking out.'
Ogun hadn't bothered changing Jubilee's clothes, and right now, she was dressed in her usual array of blindingly bright neon colors.
Jason Barnett
**********
After the third time the girl had provoked him, Ogun decided to follow through on his threat. He had Silver Samurai stop the car, despite his protests.
"We're just a few blocks away from our destination, and you're attracting too much attention. The police..."
"This is Madripoor. No one sees anything. I have an errand to run. We shouldn't keep Viper waiting more than a few minutes."
Ogun entered the back yard of the apartment building they had stopped at. There were children playing some sort of hide-and-seek game. He watched as the children split up and disappeared. Following one of them into a side alley, he found the child hiding behind the dumpster.
"I will not allow you to bait me, Jubilee, and I always follow through on my promises."
Pulling his blade from Jubilee's jacket and grabbing the boy in one swift movement, he cut the child open from navel to nose and slashed his throat.
-----
Jubilee had tried to stop him. She put all her energy into stopping her body, kicking and pulling at her mental restraints. She threatened him, saying she would keep singing forever if he did this. She pleaded with him that the boy was just a child and didn't deserve to die, but in the end, nothing worked.
She watched the child's terrified face as he was gutted. She watched the pain and horror give way as his strength left him and his blood stained her clothing and shoes.
'You @#*$*#! I don't care how long it takes me, I'll kill you for him and for Wolvie. One of these days, I'll get control, and you'll die. I'll make you suffer.'
'Hollow words, Jubilee. You'll never defeat me. You're strength is fading every day. I trust this demonstration shows you I do not make idle threats. Do not provoke me again.'
Khaki
**********
Wolverine, Gambit and Rogue had finally made it it Madripoor, Logan had once again donned his 'Patch' appearance, and the three were making their way to 'The Princess Bar'.
Sparrow
**********
'MY STRENGTH IS NOT FADING!!! If it was then I wouldn't even be an annoyance to you!!!'
As Jubilee's anger grew pyrotechnics flared around her in the mental landscape she was in. Suddenly the wall she was chained to seemed to explode, and she was lose.
She tackled Ogun and began kicking and punching the ancient ninja. Soon enough, though, Ogun managed to strike her and knock her back to rechain her.
'I got loose once! I'll make you pay!!!'
-----
"Lord Ogun, are you well?"
"I am fine." 'She should not have been able to do that, she could not break free when I killed Logan. Though she never actually saw a lifeless corpse. So either seeing a person definitely killed by her hand strengthened her, or somehow, I am weakening.'
Anonymous Poster
**********
Jubilee settled back into doing what came almost as naturally to her as being obnoxious and annoying seemed to, only she didn't have to work as hard at it.
Jubilation Lee seethed quietly.
It wasn't exactly something that she allowed others to know she could do, after all, she had a reputation to uphold. But then she had finally let the mask she held up to everyone but three or four people fall away.
She was't being Jubilee, prank ring-leader, rollerblade goddess, or Queen of the Mallrats. She wasn't being the little girl she let everyone think she was.
She had dropped the act. Jubilation had dropped the act, and her mental appearence echoed that.
Not that Ogun was paying attention to the mentally adult woman trapped deep inside her own body.
Not that he would think to actually look at her until the next time she drew his attention.
So it was time for her to plan, to feed seeds of the demon's destruction from within.
And if Ogun thought she was too simple or too young to do it, he had another thing coming.
Jag
**********
"What've we got, Dum Dum?"
"Appears to be a Hydra safehouse. It can't be a central headquarters. There's not enough room and the neighborhood is too busy."
"Val's in there, according to this readout," Nick said, holding up the small tracker he'd been given. "Do the spotters have any clue who else we have to deal with?"
"We've had sightings of Silver Samurai and Viper, both Madripoor locals. Silver Fox, that Hydra agent that attacked Xavier's a few months ago, is there too."
"Anyone else?"
"Here, have a look for yourself."
Fury took the offered binoculars and focused on the closest window. The shades had been drawn, but S.H.I.E.L.D. technology allowed him to see the body heat, outlines, and extrapolated pictures of the people in the room. There were spotters located at different spots, surrounding the building and keeping a watch on the occupants. Others were listening in to the conversation through hyper-sensitive listening devices.
"Has anyone seen Val?"
"Nope. She must be in one of the interior rooms."
Fury's attention jumped back to the window when he saw the shade being drawn. A young Asian woman pulled the blinds away for just a moment to see outside. It had just been a glimpse, but Fury knew 19-year-old girl. What was she doing there?
"That's Jubilee," Fury said.
"Who?"
"One of Xavier's kids. He mentioned to me that she was acting funny."
"And now she's with the same people that have Val."
"We've gotta call Xavier. Logan'll want to know about this."
"Logan's here."
"In Madripoor?"
"Yeah, just arrived a few hours ago at the Princess Bar."
"Why wasn't I notified?"
"I thought you had been."
"Ok, well get Logan up here. Call Xavier, too. He'll want to know what happened to his student."
-----
"Ok, Patch, I've got some info for you on your friend," O'Donnell said, sliding into the booth occupied by Patch and his two young companions. "Some people are talking about an Asian gal in bright neon clothes stopping and threatening by-standers. She's even suspected in the murder of a kid in Lowtown. Some kids saw her go into an alley and come out covered in blood."
"Sounds like her," Logan said, sorrowfully.
"No, Jubilee would never..." Rogue started, but Gambit interrupted.
"Chere, dis not be Jubilee. Dere's someone controlling her body right now, a samurai master called Ogun."
"How did that happen?"
"Not important now. What's important is getting Jubes back," Logan responded.
"But if someone's controlling her mind, how do we know there is a Jubilee to save?"
"Ogun died two years ago. He must've done something to Jubes back then before we could get to her. If he'd gotten rid of Jubilee completely, he woulda done something sooner than this."
"So Jubes has another person stuck in her head? Good thing you brought me along, sugah. I'm the expert on this sort of thing."
As Rogue finished speaking, a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer walked in the door. After looking at the faces in the bar, he strode confidently to their table.
"You Logan?"
"Who wants to know?"
"Colonel Fury sends his regards and says he's found a friend of yours: a Jubilation L..."
Before the sergeant could finish the sentence, the group was up and headed for the door.
-----
"Scott."
"Yes, Professor?" Cyclops asked into the phone at Tyger Tiger's.
"I've just received a call from S.H.I.E.L.D. Jubilee's been sighted in Lowtown."
"Give me the address, and we're on our way."
-----
Logan crept up beside his friend, Nick Fury. The situation reminded him of another time, during World War II, when they'd attacked a German outpost.
'Concentrate,' he berated himself. 'That's Jubes in there, not Germans, and you've gotta get her back safe.'
"What's the plan?"
"A simple snatch, grab, and destroy mission. We're going in for Val and Jubilee. Since both of them have shown, shall we say 'aggressive tendencies,' we'll take them by force. Also, we need to destroy the plans and equipment for a weather-controlling machine. Val's been seen at the sights of several robberies where the components were stolen. We don't know if the machine is complete and operational or not, but we're not taking any chances."
"Your team'll have ta handle the machine and Val. The three of us will focus on Jubes."
"Agreed."
-----
Ogun was annoyed, to say the least. The girl had struggled within his mind against the bonds for days, and even succeeded once in escaping. The bonds were weakening faster and faster, and he had to keep going into his mind to reinforce them. He would be happy when he could finally find a place of solitude and meditate so he could flush her from the body once and for all.
It didn't look like he would get his chance for quite a while. First, there had been the long flight to Madripoor. Then, there was the long drive to the safehouse, with that annoying girl singing and carrying on. Now, he was trapped in a meeting with Viper, Silver Samurai, and some woman named Silver Fox, discussing plans for a large machine.
He just wasn't up to discussing technical details now. He was rubbing the bridge of his nose and pushing the long hair out of his face for the millionth time (how could she stand this haircut?), when the alarm sounded.
"The perimeter has been breached," Silver Fox shouted.
Ogun was immediately alert. He could hear the sounds of the battle below them, slowly approaching their room on the top floor. He retrieved the katana Silver Samurai had provided and prepared himself.
When the figures came into the room, he could hear Jubilee's voice rejoice. "Logan's alive!!! You didn't kill him! There's Remy! He's come for me. Now you're gonna pay, Ogun."
Ogun ignored the threat, seeing that the soldiers plus the three mutants would be too much of challenge in open combat. He needed a ruse.
Dropping the katana, Ogun reached out with a plaintive hand to the Cajun. "Remy, you've come for me. You've got to help me."
"No, don't!" Logan warned and Rogue tried to stop him, but Remy had run as soon as he heard Jubilee's call for help.
Remy pulled Jubilee into an embrace, telling her how worried he was, asking how she'd defeated Ogun, when Ogun pulled the small blade from its harness on his back and plunged it into the vulnerable Cajun's side.
Remy dropped, scooting away and looking in horror at Jubilee's sneering face.
Jubilee broke the mental bonds once again while Ogun was distracted by his attack on Remy.
'You *#$%@!' she yelled as she leapt on Ogun's mental essence. Gaining control of her body, she yelled, "Wolvie, Rogue, I've got control. You've gotta stop me now!"
Her two friends looked at each other. Jubilee had dropped the knife and they could see the awkward way she moved, as if she was fighting for every action, every word. They knew this was the real Jubilee and that she was begging them to help her. Logan unsheathed his claws, but he stopped a few steps away from her. He just couldn't do it.
He watched as Jubilee's expression changed again, falling back into the sneer. "You should have attacked while I was disabled, Logan-san. I thought I taught you better than that. Now, you will all die."
Ogun felt the brush of flesh on flesh as two feminine hands gripped his head. He heard the words, "That ain't gonna happen, sugah," and then he was forcibly ripped from the body he'd taken refuge in for two years.
-----
'This is the only way,' Marie thought as she grabbed Jubilee with her bare hands, holding on as both their veins popped out and Jubes struggled for breath. 'I can handle someone in my head better than her.'
She absorbed the surface personality of Ogun first. When she started feeling Jubilee, too, she released her hold and dropped her friend to the ground.
"He's so strong," she muttered as she clutched her head and fell beside her friend. Releasing the personalities of all the people that she'd absorbed, she focused on the battlefield of her mind.
Cody and Jubilee were the faintest, insubstantial spirits in her mind. Magneto was stronger, but it'd been two years since she'd absorbed him, and his strength had waned. Logan was the strongest, since she'd absorbed him three times in her life. Still, it was over six months from the last time she'd touched him. He wasn't strong enough. She wasn't strong enough. Ogun would win. Even as she entered the battle, she knew she would lose.
"He's too strong."
-----
Logan hadn't looked around the room. Ever since they'd entered, he'd only had eyes for Jubilee. She'd begged him to help her, and he couldn't do anything. He couldn't use his claws, couldn't kill her. There had to be another way.
He watched as Marie latched on to her friend and seen her absorb Ogun, taking him into herself.
He'd grabbed her as she fell, and heard her mumbled "He's so strong... He's too strong."
She wasn't physically hurt. She needed help in her mind, not with her body. Still, he felt she needed another fighter alongside her. If Ogun was strong, he'd make the Logan in her head stronger. Reaching down, he brushed away the hair from her face and kissed her.
-----
Silver Fox saw the soldiers and Logan enter. She'd seen Logan run to Ogun, and seen him kiss the young woman that had defeated the Asian woman. She watched as he struggled for breath, saw him weaken from the woman's touch and fall away unconscious. She doubted that he'd even noticed her presence, he was so distracted.
Of his companions, the two women were unconscious and the young man was wounded. Now was the perfect time for her revenge.
Khaki