Growing
Part 4
By Ruby
"Don't move." Jubilee whispered to the team. She strained her eyes to gather her surroundings, looking for something--anything--before it could see her.
An earlier debate between Marrow and Jubilee on how well Generation X could fight ended up in a bet. And that led them to the Danger Room. The team had won four out of the nine battles against enemies Marrow had chosen, and they would win the bet if they defeated the tenth one. But, Jubilee silently promised herself, eighty bucks wouldn't be all that Marrow would lose if the next bad guy was going to be whom she thought it was. An arm there, maybe her second heart here…she wouldn't miss any of that.
'Please let it be Marauders, please let it be something easy and not that friggin' monster,' she prayed. She saw Everett frown; Generation X had waited several moments in the shadowed desert but nothing had happened. Jubilee hoped nothing would.
"J, I don't think anything's out there," he said.
"If there isn't, be happy," she responded. The silence of the place bothered her. There were no creatures, no signs of life, and no place to hide.
"What's wrong?" Everett was worried. His young friend was trying to find something but he didn't know what. Someone would attack their small group at any moment, however so far all he could see was the peaceful looking desert that Marrow had placed them in.
She opened her mouth, about to speak, but then thought better of it.
"Jubilation," M said. "You are not helping the situation. If you know something, tell us."
"That's a surprise, you telling me to tell you what I know?"
"Lee, spit it out."
"Wait! Everybody quiet! I think I heard something." She looked swiftly around, trying to see what made the sound.
"It's too dark to see if someone's here," Paige said. "Jono?"
In a sudden burst of orange bio-kinetic energy a circle of light illuminated their location. It showed that the area wasn't so empty as they first thought; little beady eyes, gold from the glow, blinked at them and disappeared. Other than that nothing seemed out of place.
"NO!" Jubilee shouted and ran towards Chamber. She tackled him to the ground and tried to muffle the glare from his powers by burying most of his head into the sand.
*Get off me 'ead!*
"Jubilee, what are you doing?!" Paige called angrily.
"Just doing what Smokey says and putting out forest fires."
"How's he going to breathe?"
"Don't worry, he _can't_ breathe, remember?"
Paige was about respond but was cut off as the whistling sound of several something's descended from above. Jubilee released her grip from Chamber and stood, ready to fight. Her eyes glowed with fear and anticipation.
"WHY did you have to do that?" Jubilee muttered.
The shine from Chamber's chest and the thing's rockets showed what had landed around them. They felt a chill up their spines of yet-unconquered fears as the group realized that the opponents were Sentinels. *Bastion's* Sentinels.
[Bio-designate: M. Mutant. Eliminate.] The one closest to M said in a monotone voice.
[Bio-designate: Synch. Mutant. Eliminate]
[Bio-designate: Husk. Mutant. Eliminate]
[Bio-designate: Skin. Mutant. Eliminate]
[Bio-designate: Chamber. Mutant. Eliminate]
[Bio-designate: Jubilee. Mutant. Eliminate.]
***
Marrow could feel Emma's cold glare and Wolverine's dark one on the base of her neck, probably thinking about several ways on how to kill and/or maim her, but she ignored it.
"Marrow, lass, what are ye thinkin'?" Sean demanded as he watched his students being to battle against over a dozen Sentinels. "Th' last time Generation X fought these Sentinels they barely got out wit' their lives."
"Don't think they can take it? I'm not going to let those sappy brats think I'm soft." Marrow responded with quiet loathing.
***
'I am going to kill her,' Jubilee thought, also with quiet loathing, as she sent a wave of her pyrotechnics at a Sentinel. One came up behind her and grabbed her arms. "Skin! A little help here?!"
The harsh smell of burning metal and smoke hung low like a choking blanket, and the roar of rockets and the blaze from the flares were deafening and blinding. The battle had quickly ensued after the Sentinel's landing, and the team had split up into three groups to avoid being an easy target. Everyone other than Jubilee had gotten over the initial alarm and shock of the surprise attack and amazingly they were happy to have another chance at defeating their old adversaries.
Folds of skin circled around the Sentinel's neck and it released Jubilee as its head was suddenly yanked backwards. Jubilee quickly spun and blasted it through the center of its chest.
Another Sentinel aimed its missiles. [Target locked: Skin. Fire!]
"AHH! I'm out!" he yelled.
*Ev and I are out, too.* Chamber announced.
"Looks like it's up to the girls to save the day, right M?" Husk asked. Her iron fists rammed their way through the Sentinel in front of her.
"What did you expect?" M responded as she knocked two out from the sky. "Jubilee, Paige, we will work more efficiently if we all work together to watch one another's back."
"Jubilee? Where are you?"
A muffled yell came from nearby, "Eat paffs!" She had been nearly buried in Sentinels, and she was getting really ticked at having to face another one every time she turned around. Swiftly Jubilee avoided the Sentinel's attempt to injure her and fought back not only with dazzling bursts of light, but also used her previous training with the X-men to defend herself as well. With her gymnastic abilities she flipped herself over the shoulders of several of the machines to land away from the mass.
***
She knew she shouldn't do it too much in one day. It could cause wrinkles, but she couldn't help it: Emma frowned.
Most of her students were out, and Paige had just been beaten, leaving only two to fight. M was doing a fine job of destroying indifferently, but Jubilee didn't seem to notice her friends' growing alarm as they saw her intensely trying to demolish anything near her with an amazing show of skill and power they did not know she possessed.
***
'I'm ready to drop.' Thought an exhausted Jubilee, 'Just lie down and wave the stupid white flag over my head and…' A roar from above made her look up but she couldn't tell what was causing it because the glare of the rockets were too bright. But when she finally did see what it was she stood frozen in place.
"Jubilee!" Everett cried, "Look out!"
His shout jolted Jubilee out of her reverie and she leaped away in time to see the face she had never forgotten had hoped to never see again.
***
"That's Bastion, right?" Paige asked Everett.
"Yeah," he said, appalled.
"Jubilee thought you were him that day in the bio-sphere, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"This is going to be bad."
"Right."
***
'Very bad,' Jubilee thought. Three Sentinels, not including the object of her aversion, surrounded her. M was currently occupied with the ones coming in for a landing so she would have no help if they chose to charge.
"We meet again, young Jubilation. Or did you say to call you 'Jubilee? '" Bastion said. His eyes were engulfed with malice.
Jubilee glowered back at him, but didn't say anything. A thousand emotions and thoughts zipped by in her mind. Should she give up? Would she reach him in time before the other Sentinels attacked? It was only ten feet; she could probably reach him. 'What should I do?' was her silent cry. She felt scared, angry, helpless, and she had a strong need to be violent.
"No witty remarks this time, mutant? You said enough to me that last time we met that I almost believed it was another one of your hidden talents."
"My talent," Jubilee spoke with a growl so fierce Wolverine smiled with pride in the control room, "Is beating jerks like you until yer scrambled enough to make a dozen egg McMuffins." She gritted her teeth and positioned herself to attack.
"Would this be where I respond with 'bite me?'"
"How 'bout I do just that?" She launched paffs and herself at him, about to pound his big, shiny head in, but a Sentinel intercepted her and knocked her into the sand. Jubilee rolled a few feet, and then got up with a calm, cold rage. Narrowing her eyes she centered her focus on one point, and moved a finger.
All that was left of the Sentinel was a puddle of molten metal and debris.
***
'How did that pathetic little brat do that?!' Marrow wondered as she watched the "pathetic little brat" cause the other two Sentinels to disappear in a shower of partial-limbs that fired off in all direction.
She saw Jubilee shoot her a triumphant glance as she stalked towards Bastion; she was going to win. 'Oh yeah?' Marrow angrily thought. Without a moment's hesitation she pressed in the command to turn off the Danger Room scenario.
***
The room again plunged into darkness but a moment later was returned to its normal, lit, and gray room.
"What the HECK just happened?!" Jubilee shouted after getting over the shock of the sudden change of scenery. She glared angrily at the control room. "Marrow! If you think I was pissed before-"
"Jubilee?" Everett's gentle but worried voice said from behind her.
"Repeat after me Ev: 'Buzz.' As in 'off.' I don't care if censors are watching--I'm going up there and I *will* bash her brains, lungs, hearts…"
"J…"
"Excuuuse me!" she said sarcastically, waving a fist. "Heart. Singular, not plural… In."
"No, I mean… J, can you control your hands?"
She rolled her eyes and turned to face the team. They stared at her with a mix of emotions.
"Lee! Seriously, look at your hands." He emphasized the last four words.
She looked and saw. "What the-?"
Her pyrotechnics were wildly swirling around her fingertips, but she wasn't aware that she was still using them. Her powers burst sporadically for seemingly no particular reason and a loud paff exploded in front of her eyes.
"Ok, I did not do that." Jubilee said while blinking the spots out of her vision. What was happening?
"Well, considering your eccentric personality I'm not surprised that your powers are erratic too," M sniffed.
"Yer not helping." After a moment of concentrating Jubilee got her hands to stop sparking.
*Maybe I shouldn't be the one to be kissed in a fight.* Jono teased in a surprisingly mellow tone. *Ev, just peck 'er on the cheek the next time we get into a fight with someone… then we'd win 'fer sure.'*
Paige nearly choked in laughter, and the others joined in with some snickers. After all the fighting they just did the exhausted team was in need of some mirth.
Jubilee wanted to choke Jono, though it most likely was impossible. "You are enjoying this way too much." She pretended to sulk angrily and stamped towards the exit door. She was embarrassed that this was the second time she could not seem to keep her paffs under control in front of her teammates. Things just didn't seem to go her way this month.
Looking up she felt some satisfaction as she saw just most of the peanut gallery in the control room glaring at or arguing with Marrow. Emma and Wolverine, though, were watching Jubilee with worried eyes as she walked out.
***
"Hey Wolvie." the small figure said as he came up silently behind her.
"Darlin'." Wolverine said softly. The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the small lake behind the mansion. He had found her skipping stones on it, every contact with the water's surface breaking through the air's stillness with a wet splash. "How yer doin'?"
"Fine," Jubilee lied. "So, who won the bet?"
"Marrow didn't."
"Good." She picked up a shiny black stone and threw it.
"Ya fought good."
"Thanks." The stone sank on the fifth skip.
"How yer doin'?"
"You already asked that."
"You were lying." Silence proceeded as he patiently waited for her to answer. But being an impatient person, Jubilee soon caved.
"Maybe if I just flicked my wrist a little more…" she started lamely, then sighed. "It's embarrassing, ya know? I freakin' work hard and I've really tried ta do the right things, whatever that is. I joined Gen X so I would learn more about my powers, but it's like not doing anything 'cept make me look stupid most of the time…
"Sometimes I wish I never left." She picked up another rock and tossed. It sank without skipping.
"The mansion?"
"No, So Cal." There was a sad smile on her face. Seeing his worried expression, she forced a grinned that was not too convincingly executed and gave him a hug. She headed back in, leaving him to think. "Not too many deep thoughts, 'k?"
After a while Emma Frost came and stood next to him. Her pristinely composed and perfect posture was a distinct foil to the semi-feral mutant's somber and hunched expression. They were nothing alike on the outside, but they had one thing in common, and that was their attachment to Jubilee.
Wolverine looked at her. "You were listening." It wasn't a question.
The White Queen nodded. "Stubborn, that child."
"Yep."
"Just like her pseudo-father," she said, not unkindly.
"What do ya mean?"
"What it sounds like. By the way, it's time for dinner." She gave him one of her trademark smirk of superiority. "Or do you hunt for your food?"
He growled at her, but started towards the mansion.
End of Part 4
Part 4
By Ruby
"Don't move." Jubilee whispered to the team. She strained her eyes to gather her surroundings, looking for something--anything--before it could see her.
An earlier debate between Marrow and Jubilee on how well Generation X could fight ended up in a bet. And that led them to the Danger Room. The team had won four out of the nine battles against enemies Marrow had chosen, and they would win the bet if they defeated the tenth one. But, Jubilee silently promised herself, eighty bucks wouldn't be all that Marrow would lose if the next bad guy was going to be whom she thought it was. An arm there, maybe her second heart here…she wouldn't miss any of that.
'Please let it be Marauders, please let it be something easy and not that friggin' monster,' she prayed. She saw Everett frown; Generation X had waited several moments in the shadowed desert but nothing had happened. Jubilee hoped nothing would.
"J, I don't think anything's out there," he said.
"If there isn't, be happy," she responded. The silence of the place bothered her. There were no creatures, no signs of life, and no place to hide.
"What's wrong?" Everett was worried. His young friend was trying to find something but he didn't know what. Someone would attack their small group at any moment, however so far all he could see was the peaceful looking desert that Marrow had placed them in.
She opened her mouth, about to speak, but then thought better of it.
"Jubilation," M said. "You are not helping the situation. If you know something, tell us."
"That's a surprise, you telling me to tell you what I know?"
"Lee, spit it out."
"Wait! Everybody quiet! I think I heard something." She looked swiftly around, trying to see what made the sound.
"It's too dark to see if someone's here," Paige said. "Jono?"
In a sudden burst of orange bio-kinetic energy a circle of light illuminated their location. It showed that the area wasn't so empty as they first thought; little beady eyes, gold from the glow, blinked at them and disappeared. Other than that nothing seemed out of place.
"NO!" Jubilee shouted and ran towards Chamber. She tackled him to the ground and tried to muffle the glare from his powers by burying most of his head into the sand.
*Get off me 'ead!*
"Jubilee, what are you doing?!" Paige called angrily.
"Just doing what Smokey says and putting out forest fires."
"How's he going to breathe?"
"Don't worry, he _can't_ breathe, remember?"
Paige was about respond but was cut off as the whistling sound of several something's descended from above. Jubilee released her grip from Chamber and stood, ready to fight. Her eyes glowed with fear and anticipation.
"WHY did you have to do that?" Jubilee muttered.
The shine from Chamber's chest and the thing's rockets showed what had landed around them. They felt a chill up their spines of yet-unconquered fears as the group realized that the opponents were Sentinels. *Bastion's* Sentinels.
[Bio-designate: M. Mutant. Eliminate.] The one closest to M said in a monotone voice.
[Bio-designate: Synch. Mutant. Eliminate]
[Bio-designate: Husk. Mutant. Eliminate]
[Bio-designate: Skin. Mutant. Eliminate]
[Bio-designate: Chamber. Mutant. Eliminate]
[Bio-designate: Jubilee. Mutant. Eliminate.]
***
Marrow could feel Emma's cold glare and Wolverine's dark one on the base of her neck, probably thinking about several ways on how to kill and/or maim her, but she ignored it.
"Marrow, lass, what are ye thinkin'?" Sean demanded as he watched his students being to battle against over a dozen Sentinels. "Th' last time Generation X fought these Sentinels they barely got out wit' their lives."
"Don't think they can take it? I'm not going to let those sappy brats think I'm soft." Marrow responded with quiet loathing.
***
'I am going to kill her,' Jubilee thought, also with quiet loathing, as she sent a wave of her pyrotechnics at a Sentinel. One came up behind her and grabbed her arms. "Skin! A little help here?!"
The harsh smell of burning metal and smoke hung low like a choking blanket, and the roar of rockets and the blaze from the flares were deafening and blinding. The battle had quickly ensued after the Sentinel's landing, and the team had split up into three groups to avoid being an easy target. Everyone other than Jubilee had gotten over the initial alarm and shock of the surprise attack and amazingly they were happy to have another chance at defeating their old adversaries.
Folds of skin circled around the Sentinel's neck and it released Jubilee as its head was suddenly yanked backwards. Jubilee quickly spun and blasted it through the center of its chest.
Another Sentinel aimed its missiles. [Target locked: Skin. Fire!]
"AHH! I'm out!" he yelled.
*Ev and I are out, too.* Chamber announced.
"Looks like it's up to the girls to save the day, right M?" Husk asked. Her iron fists rammed their way through the Sentinel in front of her.
"What did you expect?" M responded as she knocked two out from the sky. "Jubilee, Paige, we will work more efficiently if we all work together to watch one another's back."
"Jubilee? Where are you?"
A muffled yell came from nearby, "Eat paffs!" She had been nearly buried in Sentinels, and she was getting really ticked at having to face another one every time she turned around. Swiftly Jubilee avoided the Sentinel's attempt to injure her and fought back not only with dazzling bursts of light, but also used her previous training with the X-men to defend herself as well. With her gymnastic abilities she flipped herself over the shoulders of several of the machines to land away from the mass.
***
She knew she shouldn't do it too much in one day. It could cause wrinkles, but she couldn't help it: Emma frowned.
Most of her students were out, and Paige had just been beaten, leaving only two to fight. M was doing a fine job of destroying indifferently, but Jubilee didn't seem to notice her friends' growing alarm as they saw her intensely trying to demolish anything near her with an amazing show of skill and power they did not know she possessed.
***
'I'm ready to drop.' Thought an exhausted Jubilee, 'Just lie down and wave the stupid white flag over my head and…' A roar from above made her look up but she couldn't tell what was causing it because the glare of the rockets were too bright. But when she finally did see what it was she stood frozen in place.
"Jubilee!" Everett cried, "Look out!"
His shout jolted Jubilee out of her reverie and she leaped away in time to see the face she had never forgotten had hoped to never see again.
***
"That's Bastion, right?" Paige asked Everett.
"Yeah," he said, appalled.
"Jubilee thought you were him that day in the bio-sphere, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"This is going to be bad."
"Right."
***
'Very bad,' Jubilee thought. Three Sentinels, not including the object of her aversion, surrounded her. M was currently occupied with the ones coming in for a landing so she would have no help if they chose to charge.
"We meet again, young Jubilation. Or did you say to call you 'Jubilee? '" Bastion said. His eyes were engulfed with malice.
Jubilee glowered back at him, but didn't say anything. A thousand emotions and thoughts zipped by in her mind. Should she give up? Would she reach him in time before the other Sentinels attacked? It was only ten feet; she could probably reach him. 'What should I do?' was her silent cry. She felt scared, angry, helpless, and she had a strong need to be violent.
"No witty remarks this time, mutant? You said enough to me that last time we met that I almost believed it was another one of your hidden talents."
"My talent," Jubilee spoke with a growl so fierce Wolverine smiled with pride in the control room, "Is beating jerks like you until yer scrambled enough to make a dozen egg McMuffins." She gritted her teeth and positioned herself to attack.
"Would this be where I respond with 'bite me?'"
"How 'bout I do just that?" She launched paffs and herself at him, about to pound his big, shiny head in, but a Sentinel intercepted her and knocked her into the sand. Jubilee rolled a few feet, and then got up with a calm, cold rage. Narrowing her eyes she centered her focus on one point, and moved a finger.
All that was left of the Sentinel was a puddle of molten metal and debris.
***
'How did that pathetic little brat do that?!' Marrow wondered as she watched the "pathetic little brat" cause the other two Sentinels to disappear in a shower of partial-limbs that fired off in all direction.
She saw Jubilee shoot her a triumphant glance as she stalked towards Bastion; she was going to win. 'Oh yeah?' Marrow angrily thought. Without a moment's hesitation she pressed in the command to turn off the Danger Room scenario.
***
The room again plunged into darkness but a moment later was returned to its normal, lit, and gray room.
"What the HECK just happened?!" Jubilee shouted after getting over the shock of the sudden change of scenery. She glared angrily at the control room. "Marrow! If you think I was pissed before-"
"Jubilee?" Everett's gentle but worried voice said from behind her.
"Repeat after me Ev: 'Buzz.' As in 'off.' I don't care if censors are watching--I'm going up there and I *will* bash her brains, lungs, hearts…"
"J…"
"Excuuuse me!" she said sarcastically, waving a fist. "Heart. Singular, not plural… In."
"No, I mean… J, can you control your hands?"
She rolled her eyes and turned to face the team. They stared at her with a mix of emotions.
"Lee! Seriously, look at your hands." He emphasized the last four words.
She looked and saw. "What the-?"
Her pyrotechnics were wildly swirling around her fingertips, but she wasn't aware that she was still using them. Her powers burst sporadically for seemingly no particular reason and a loud paff exploded in front of her eyes.
"Ok, I did not do that." Jubilee said while blinking the spots out of her vision. What was happening?
"Well, considering your eccentric personality I'm not surprised that your powers are erratic too," M sniffed.
"Yer not helping." After a moment of concentrating Jubilee got her hands to stop sparking.
*Maybe I shouldn't be the one to be kissed in a fight.* Jono teased in a surprisingly mellow tone. *Ev, just peck 'er on the cheek the next time we get into a fight with someone… then we'd win 'fer sure.'*
Paige nearly choked in laughter, and the others joined in with some snickers. After all the fighting they just did the exhausted team was in need of some mirth.
Jubilee wanted to choke Jono, though it most likely was impossible. "You are enjoying this way too much." She pretended to sulk angrily and stamped towards the exit door. She was embarrassed that this was the second time she could not seem to keep her paffs under control in front of her teammates. Things just didn't seem to go her way this month.
Looking up she felt some satisfaction as she saw just most of the peanut gallery in the control room glaring at or arguing with Marrow. Emma and Wolverine, though, were watching Jubilee with worried eyes as she walked out.
***
"Hey Wolvie." the small figure said as he came up silently behind her.
"Darlin'." Wolverine said softly. The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the small lake behind the mansion. He had found her skipping stones on it, every contact with the water's surface breaking through the air's stillness with a wet splash. "How yer doin'?"
"Fine," Jubilee lied. "So, who won the bet?"
"Marrow didn't."
"Good." She picked up a shiny black stone and threw it.
"Ya fought good."
"Thanks." The stone sank on the fifth skip.
"How yer doin'?"
"You already asked that."
"You were lying." Silence proceeded as he patiently waited for her to answer. But being an impatient person, Jubilee soon caved.
"Maybe if I just flicked my wrist a little more…" she started lamely, then sighed. "It's embarrassing, ya know? I freakin' work hard and I've really tried ta do the right things, whatever that is. I joined Gen X so I would learn more about my powers, but it's like not doing anything 'cept make me look stupid most of the time…
"Sometimes I wish I never left." She picked up another rock and tossed. It sank without skipping.
"The mansion?"
"No, So Cal." There was a sad smile on her face. Seeing his worried expression, she forced a grinned that was not too convincingly executed and gave him a hug. She headed back in, leaving him to think. "Not too many deep thoughts, 'k?"
After a while Emma Frost came and stood next to him. Her pristinely composed and perfect posture was a distinct foil to the semi-feral mutant's somber and hunched expression. They were nothing alike on the outside, but they had one thing in common, and that was their attachment to Jubilee.
Wolverine looked at her. "You were listening." It wasn't a question.
The White Queen nodded. "Stubborn, that child."
"Yep."
"Just like her pseudo-father," she said, not unkindly.
"What do ya mean?"
"What it sounds like. By the way, it's time for dinner." She gave him one of her trademark smirk of superiority. "Or do you hunt for your food?"
He growled at her, but started towards the mansion.
End of Part 4