Growing
Part 2
By Ruby
Sean paced restlessly in the office while Emma was seated not quite so calmly at her desk. Ever since she had met Jubilee the child had been self confident and quick to respond with a glib word or joke, but her losing control of her normally and carefully contained powers disturbed Emma more than she would have cared to admit. Jubilee was her student after all.
"Ach, Em, we should have seen that this would happen! Everett would have been killed if you hadn't stepped in at th' last moment!" Sean said.
The White Queen's response was calm but showed her worry, "I know, Sean, and will you stop walking back and forth in that manner? It's distracting." She motioned to one of the two chairs at the foot of the desk. He frowned but sat down anyway.
"Poor lass, being captured by Bastion must have affected her more than we thought. How will we tell this to th' X-Men?"
"Try not to be so pessimistic," she said as a small thought blossomed in her mind, "this experience might actually have helped her."
"Helped Jubilee? You saw th' way she reacted when she thought Everett was Bastion. How could that help her?!"
"I've always known that Jubilee's powers were greater than she dared to use. Maybe now she might learn how to control them better. If this didn't happen now it would have happened someplace else where a lot of people could have been hurt and even killed. Right now we need to stay calm for her sake."
"Emma-" he started, but she interrupted him.
"She's here." The door opened a crack and they saw a blue eye peek at them. Strange how one eye could hold such vulnerability and stubbornness at the same time.
"Come in, lass," Sean said gently, wondering if Jubilee heard them talking about her. It wouldn't be the first time she listened in on a conversation not meant for her to hear.
She stepped into the office sporting her usual yellow rain coat, a T-shirt, and jeans. She sat down on a chair and with a nervous cough she said, "So… am I in trouble?"
"No, Jubilee, we just wanted to ask you about what happened in the Biosphere," Emma explained.
"You know what happened, you were there."
"Yes, but may we hear it from your perspective?"
A small sigh came from Jubilee, "I fought, I thought I saw Bastion, I freaked, and I blew stuff up while narrowly missing killing a few people. Now I'm wondering what yer gonna do. Enough?"
It was Emma's turn to sigh; this girl just wouldn't open up to anyone.
"What do ye think we should do?" Sean asked.
That threw Jubilee a bit off, she was expecting something along the lines of "We're going to do what we think is best for you without asking what you think first" kind of stuff. "Well, um, nothing?" she hoped.
Under the White Queen's surprisingly black look she thought of a better response. "Ooookay, wrong answer…how about if I train an extra hour every two days?"
Emma and Sean both raised an eyebrow at her in the same instant, the effect was very funny but Jubilee guessed that they would probably think she lost her mind if she started laughing.
"I know what yer thinking-"Jubilee" and the words "extra training" don't go in the same sentence. Yeah, I don't *like* walking up at 5:30 every morning, but I know I have to do it so someday I can help others and mutants like me. That's the whole point in this great big Dream, right? Becoming a better person and getting people to understand that mutants are like normal people, just with a genetic twist. To prove we aren't all evil." Jubilee paused and looked pointedly at the two surprised adults, "I'm super sorry for what I did in the Biosphere, I lost it and I coulda really hurt someone. Ev might be dead if Queenie hadn't saved his butt. Thanks.
"So, is that enough of an answer?"
***
It had been two weeks since the incident in the biosphere, two weeks in which Jubilee had tried to get out of the extra hour of training by claiming she did it in a fit of "non-sanely-ness and guilt." And after that statement Frost had assigned her four more hours of homework, reading the dictionary and explaining why that wasn't a word. The mall-rat had kept her promise for about ten days and had actually liked some of the hard work. It was, in Emma's opinion, better than expected.
That day Generation X was taking a small trip, a trip to a certain Xavier's School for Higher Learning. Emma thought that the team might benefit from some training with the X-Men.
"Are we there yet?" Jubilee asked for the fifty-third time.
"Again, no." Sean said through clenched teeth.
"What's takin' so long? When I was with the X-Men we wouldn't bother with red lights most of the time--probably because we were either chasing or being chased by some psychopathic maniac with a wrench. Hey, is that another billboard fer McDonalds? Have you ever noticed when you drive towards LA that there's a billboard every mile that advertises this same restaurant over and over and over and over again until you're, like, so hypnotized that you gotta stop at it when you get there to try to get something to eat only then you find out you spent most of the money you had on the casino next door…?"
After that, Sean wasn't the only one giving Jubilee a near-death glare. For the last few miles she had been talking non-stop about the X-Men and other sugar induced topics. Gen-X tried everything to make her shut up so they could think quiet thoughts to themselves, but her will and the six cans of Surge that she drank won out. Now they just tried to think quiet, violent thoughts without acting on them.
*Remind me again, Sunshine… WHY are we crammed in a bleedin' minivan wit' only enough space to breathe?* Jono grumbled.
"You _can't_ breathe, remember?" answered Paige as she ribbed him with her elbow.
*Yeah, well… if I could me life would be over 'cause Jubilee used the air up.*
"…I heard that!" Jubilee said after pausing for a breath, then continuing on, "…and the food wasn't really good, actually it was pretty bad and the fries were either that or charcoal…"
*How? I was only talking to Paige.*
"Dunno, just can. Look! It's road-kill, how eww. Did you know there was this book on recognizing road-kill and it was called 'Flattened Fauna and Pan-Caked Poodles' or something like that… Are we there yet?"
"Jubilee…!" Sean bit his tongue to stop himself from yelling, since that would have been bad coming from a man with the cod-e-name "Banshee."
At the next turn a welcoming sight greeted them. A large brick building stood surrounded by miles of forest and a sign in front that revealed the obvious. It was the home of the X-Men.
"We're almost there! We're almost there! I see the mansion! Hoo-ya!" Jubilee cheered.
As they drove up the lane leading into the driveway, Gambit, Storm, Wolverine and Marrow came out to greet them. Before the van finally stopped Jubilee leaped out and ran to the bulky figure standing apart from the greeters.
"Wolvie!" she shouted as she hugged him, "How're ya doing, ya big lug?"
"Been doin' fine, darlin'." Wolverine responded before she started off on how busy she'd been.
Paige looked on wistfully as the team approached the X-Men. "Too bad mah brother Sam isn't here. It would have been fun to try to top him with the battles Generation X has been in to the New Mutants," she told Jono.
"Did I hear someone say dey were Sam's sister?" said a familiarly accented voice.
"Oh, hi Mr. LeBeau."
"So what fights have you been in, petite? Gambit hope you haven't been hurting your hands, neh?" he grinned.
"We've been in tons of battles, right Gen-Xers?" Jubilee said as everyone entered the mansion. Emma and Sean went off to talk to Storm after telling the teens to make themselves comfortable.
Wolverine left, saying, "Gotta fade right now, talk to ya later."
"In fact, we're probably better than you guys," Monet told the remaining two X-Men.
"A vote of confidence from M, not bad," commented Jubilee.
Marrow coughed in doubt. "I don't think so. You people are even softer than the rest of the X-Men," she sneered. "At least they can fight."
"You must be Marrow, heard a bunch o' ya."
"And you're Jubilee, heard you're a brat."
"What?! Why ya-!"
"'Why ya' what? I bet you and the rest of Gen-X couldn't win *half* the battles we've been in."
"Marrow, I t'ink dis is not such a good idea," Gambit said.
"Shut up," she answered.
"Well, Ms. High-and-mighty-and-so-stuck-up-you-can-see-how-much-snot-is-up-my-nose," Jubilee shouted, "I think you and the rest of the X-Men should hang up your uniforms and build a 'Nursing Home for Tired Old Guys That Use to be X-Men But Can't Fight' because I bet we CAN!"
"Mon Dieu… Gambit ain't old."
"Big talk for a little girl. Think you and Gen-X can win? Let's see about that. Your team at the Danger Room in one hour."
"Why in an hour?" Jubilee asked.
"So you can say your prayers, little girl. You're going to need 'em." And with those words Marrow left while Gambit followed, trying to talk her out of it.
"Stormy's not going to like dis."
"Well *I'm* not going to tell 'er…" Was all Generation X could hear before the pair were too far away.
"Okay," started Ev, "What happened and what have you gotten us into?"
"And when did we become 'your team?' Not like we ever decided who was the leader, chica," said Skin.
Jubilee looked at him and said, "Hey, you don't think I can take it? "
"Well-" he stopped, wondering if she would fry him if he said anything.
Seeing his expression she smirked. "Relax, I was kidding. Although, I *do* think we could win half their battles! In fact, we gotta show boney blades who's boss!"
"It's great that you have a lot of faith in us, but do you actually think we stand a chance?" asked a skeptical Paige.
"Sure, and we have an hour. So let's get ready!"
*Oh, boy,* was all Jono had to say.
End of Part 2
Part 2
By Ruby
Sean paced restlessly in the office while Emma was seated not quite so calmly at her desk. Ever since she had met Jubilee the child had been self confident and quick to respond with a glib word or joke, but her losing control of her normally and carefully contained powers disturbed Emma more than she would have cared to admit. Jubilee was her student after all.
"Ach, Em, we should have seen that this would happen! Everett would have been killed if you hadn't stepped in at th' last moment!" Sean said.
The White Queen's response was calm but showed her worry, "I know, Sean, and will you stop walking back and forth in that manner? It's distracting." She motioned to one of the two chairs at the foot of the desk. He frowned but sat down anyway.
"Poor lass, being captured by Bastion must have affected her more than we thought. How will we tell this to th' X-Men?"
"Try not to be so pessimistic," she said as a small thought blossomed in her mind, "this experience might actually have helped her."
"Helped Jubilee? You saw th' way she reacted when she thought Everett was Bastion. How could that help her?!"
"I've always known that Jubilee's powers were greater than she dared to use. Maybe now she might learn how to control them better. If this didn't happen now it would have happened someplace else where a lot of people could have been hurt and even killed. Right now we need to stay calm for her sake."
"Emma-" he started, but she interrupted him.
"She's here." The door opened a crack and they saw a blue eye peek at them. Strange how one eye could hold such vulnerability and stubbornness at the same time.
"Come in, lass," Sean said gently, wondering if Jubilee heard them talking about her. It wouldn't be the first time she listened in on a conversation not meant for her to hear.
She stepped into the office sporting her usual yellow rain coat, a T-shirt, and jeans. She sat down on a chair and with a nervous cough she said, "So… am I in trouble?"
"No, Jubilee, we just wanted to ask you about what happened in the Biosphere," Emma explained.
"You know what happened, you were there."
"Yes, but may we hear it from your perspective?"
A small sigh came from Jubilee, "I fought, I thought I saw Bastion, I freaked, and I blew stuff up while narrowly missing killing a few people. Now I'm wondering what yer gonna do. Enough?"
It was Emma's turn to sigh; this girl just wouldn't open up to anyone.
"What do ye think we should do?" Sean asked.
That threw Jubilee a bit off, she was expecting something along the lines of "We're going to do what we think is best for you without asking what you think first" kind of stuff. "Well, um, nothing?" she hoped.
Under the White Queen's surprisingly black look she thought of a better response. "Ooookay, wrong answer…how about if I train an extra hour every two days?"
Emma and Sean both raised an eyebrow at her in the same instant, the effect was very funny but Jubilee guessed that they would probably think she lost her mind if she started laughing.
"I know what yer thinking-"Jubilee" and the words "extra training" don't go in the same sentence. Yeah, I don't *like* walking up at 5:30 every morning, but I know I have to do it so someday I can help others and mutants like me. That's the whole point in this great big Dream, right? Becoming a better person and getting people to understand that mutants are like normal people, just with a genetic twist. To prove we aren't all evil." Jubilee paused and looked pointedly at the two surprised adults, "I'm super sorry for what I did in the Biosphere, I lost it and I coulda really hurt someone. Ev might be dead if Queenie hadn't saved his butt. Thanks.
"So, is that enough of an answer?"
***
It had been two weeks since the incident in the biosphere, two weeks in which Jubilee had tried to get out of the extra hour of training by claiming she did it in a fit of "non-sanely-ness and guilt." And after that statement Frost had assigned her four more hours of homework, reading the dictionary and explaining why that wasn't a word. The mall-rat had kept her promise for about ten days and had actually liked some of the hard work. It was, in Emma's opinion, better than expected.
That day Generation X was taking a small trip, a trip to a certain Xavier's School for Higher Learning. Emma thought that the team might benefit from some training with the X-Men.
"Are we there yet?" Jubilee asked for the fifty-third time.
"Again, no." Sean said through clenched teeth.
"What's takin' so long? When I was with the X-Men we wouldn't bother with red lights most of the time--probably because we were either chasing or being chased by some psychopathic maniac with a wrench. Hey, is that another billboard fer McDonalds? Have you ever noticed when you drive towards LA that there's a billboard every mile that advertises this same restaurant over and over and over and over again until you're, like, so hypnotized that you gotta stop at it when you get there to try to get something to eat only then you find out you spent most of the money you had on the casino next door…?"
After that, Sean wasn't the only one giving Jubilee a near-death glare. For the last few miles she had been talking non-stop about the X-Men and other sugar induced topics. Gen-X tried everything to make her shut up so they could think quiet thoughts to themselves, but her will and the six cans of Surge that she drank won out. Now they just tried to think quiet, violent thoughts without acting on them.
*Remind me again, Sunshine… WHY are we crammed in a bleedin' minivan wit' only enough space to breathe?* Jono grumbled.
"You _can't_ breathe, remember?" answered Paige as she ribbed him with her elbow.
*Yeah, well… if I could me life would be over 'cause Jubilee used the air up.*
"…I heard that!" Jubilee said after pausing for a breath, then continuing on, "…and the food wasn't really good, actually it was pretty bad and the fries were either that or charcoal…"
*How? I was only talking to Paige.*
"Dunno, just can. Look! It's road-kill, how eww. Did you know there was this book on recognizing road-kill and it was called 'Flattened Fauna and Pan-Caked Poodles' or something like that… Are we there yet?"
"Jubilee…!" Sean bit his tongue to stop himself from yelling, since that would have been bad coming from a man with the cod-e-name "Banshee."
At the next turn a welcoming sight greeted them. A large brick building stood surrounded by miles of forest and a sign in front that revealed the obvious. It was the home of the X-Men.
"We're almost there! We're almost there! I see the mansion! Hoo-ya!" Jubilee cheered.
As they drove up the lane leading into the driveway, Gambit, Storm, Wolverine and Marrow came out to greet them. Before the van finally stopped Jubilee leaped out and ran to the bulky figure standing apart from the greeters.
"Wolvie!" she shouted as she hugged him, "How're ya doing, ya big lug?"
"Been doin' fine, darlin'." Wolverine responded before she started off on how busy she'd been.
Paige looked on wistfully as the team approached the X-Men. "Too bad mah brother Sam isn't here. It would have been fun to try to top him with the battles Generation X has been in to the New Mutants," she told Jono.
"Did I hear someone say dey were Sam's sister?" said a familiarly accented voice.
"Oh, hi Mr. LeBeau."
"So what fights have you been in, petite? Gambit hope you haven't been hurting your hands, neh?" he grinned.
"We've been in tons of battles, right Gen-Xers?" Jubilee said as everyone entered the mansion. Emma and Sean went off to talk to Storm after telling the teens to make themselves comfortable.
Wolverine left, saying, "Gotta fade right now, talk to ya later."
"In fact, we're probably better than you guys," Monet told the remaining two X-Men.
"A vote of confidence from M, not bad," commented Jubilee.
Marrow coughed in doubt. "I don't think so. You people are even softer than the rest of the X-Men," she sneered. "At least they can fight."
"You must be Marrow, heard a bunch o' ya."
"And you're Jubilee, heard you're a brat."
"What?! Why ya-!"
"'Why ya' what? I bet you and the rest of Gen-X couldn't win *half* the battles we've been in."
"Marrow, I t'ink dis is not such a good idea," Gambit said.
"Shut up," she answered.
"Well, Ms. High-and-mighty-and-so-stuck-up-you-can-see-how-much-snot-is-up-my-nose," Jubilee shouted, "I think you and the rest of the X-Men should hang up your uniforms and build a 'Nursing Home for Tired Old Guys That Use to be X-Men But Can't Fight' because I bet we CAN!"
"Mon Dieu… Gambit ain't old."
"Big talk for a little girl. Think you and Gen-X can win? Let's see about that. Your team at the Danger Room in one hour."
"Why in an hour?" Jubilee asked.
"So you can say your prayers, little girl. You're going to need 'em." And with those words Marrow left while Gambit followed, trying to talk her out of it.
"Stormy's not going to like dis."
"Well *I'm* not going to tell 'er…" Was all Generation X could hear before the pair were too far away.
"Okay," started Ev, "What happened and what have you gotten us into?"
"And when did we become 'your team?' Not like we ever decided who was the leader, chica," said Skin.
Jubilee looked at him and said, "Hey, you don't think I can take it? "
"Well-" he stopped, wondering if she would fry him if he said anything.
Seeing his expression she smirked. "Relax, I was kidding. Although, I *do* think we could win half their battles! In fact, we gotta show boney blades who's boss!"
"It's great that you have a lot of faith in us, but do you actually think we stand a chance?" asked a skeptical Paige.
"Sure, and we have an hour. So let's get ready!"
*Oh, boy,* was all Jono had to say.
End of Part 2