Okay, here's chapter two. Thanks to all those people who reviewed. R+R please!
Disclaimer: same deal as chapter one. Rachael, Dusk, Damien, Lance and aforementioned mutants are mine. If you want to use them as me first.
Chapter Two
Logan drove down the long road and slowed when he approached a bar. ((Man I need a drink. Maybe a fight. Something to get my mind off those nightmares.))
He pulled over and went inside, several other truckies doing the same thing. Then a quicker movement caught his eye.
He turned his head and watched two dark-haired girls jump down from the cabin of a truck. The smaller one grinned and said, "thanks, mister!" before both headed into the bar. The shorter girl was wearing bright yellow and the taller girl was wearing Spandex, not always a good idea in a place with so many guys with no morals.
Logan followed the two girls in. They reminded him of Rogue when he first met her and he didn't want them to get hurt, even though he didn't even know them. ((Hanging with red-eye and his friends has rubbed off on me,)) he thought as he sat down at the bar, a few seats to the left of the girls.
The taller girl gestured for the bartender to come over. "You mix a good martini?" she asked. The bartender replied, "if you're old enough."
She gave him a dirty look and flipped an ID in his face. The man growled and turned to make the drinks. Logan smiled to himself; no way were these girls old enough to drink. This bartender couldn't tell a fake ID if it came up and bit his nose off.
After the taller girl downed her martini, she turned to her friend. "You wanna see if we can't win a little cash in pool?" she asked, gesturing to the pool table. The shorter girl grinned and both stood up and headed for the pool table.
Over the course of a few hours, Logan watched them win well over three hundred dollars from the other men and women. The taller, Spandex-clad girl stuffed the notes in her pocket and thumped the cue onto the table.
"That's enough for now. I want another drink."
She and her friend sat down at the bar again. Logan had noticed that the shorter girl only drank water or soda while the taller girl ordered alcoholic beverages.
After another hour, at about eleven o'clock, they paid for their drinks and left.
Logan drained the last of his beer and paid the bartender. He stood up and went outside, intending to go to his truck and drive away.
Then he saw the two girls, both shouldering bags and walking along the side of the road. They weren't making any indications that they wanted a ride, but he knew weariness when he saw it. Those girls would be glad for the chance to sleep instead of walk.
He got in the truck and drove it up to them, opening the passenger door. "You want a ride?" he asked gruffly. The girls exchanged a glance, then the taller one asked, "only if it's no trouble."
"If it was I wouldn't have offered. Where you headed?"
"We don't exactly know. We figured New York."
"That's where I'm going. Get in."
The girls climbed in and shoved their bags in the back with the rest of Logan's stuff. The shorter girl said, "I'll sit up back for a while," and climbed over the seat while the taller one strapped her seatbelt on and tugged the sleeves of her jacket into place.
"What's your name?" Logan asked. She looked up and replied, "Raptor. My friend's called Jubilee."
"I'm Logan."
"Nice to meet you," Raptor said. She was speaking quietly, so quietly he could barely hear her. Logan shot another glance at her and frowned. She had bruises all over her face, and half-healed cuts. She seemed to feel his gaze and lifted a hand, touching the bruises uncomfortably. Jubilee was falling asleep in the back. Logan said, "there's a blanket back there somewhere if you're cold."
"Thanks. You mind if I go to sleep? I'm wasted."
Raptor sighed and massaged the back of her neck. They drove in silence for a few minutes before Logan asked bluntly, "what are you running from, Raptor?"
She gazed at him candidly before saying, "my foster father. He gets drunk all the time and hits me. I've had enough. Besides, my real parents are out there somewhere. I want to find them."
Logan drove through the night, until they reached a burger place with an empty carpark. Raptor was dozing in the front seat and Jubilee was still sacked out in back, so Logan got out and went inside. ((Those kids gotta eat something. They're way too skinny,)) he thought, wondering when he'd become such a softie. But Raptor was too thin for her height, and Jubilee could do with a few extra kilos. Not that a girl would ever admit that.
He bought three burgers, fries, two sodas and a coffee. Carrying it all out to the truck was somewhat tricky, but he managed to get everything there unharmed and dump it on the dashboard.
Raptor was whimpering in her sleep, thrashing out at some invisible phantom. Logan touched her shoulder and she jerked awake, screaming, "don't touch me!"
Jubilee jerked awake and grabbed Raptor's arm. "Hey, Rap, calm down. It's okay. It's just Logan."
"God. Sorry about that. I had the most heinous nightmare possible. You must think I'm a total airhead," she said, flushing. Logan spread his hands. "I never said that. I know what nightmares can be like. I brought breakfast. You kids need to get some food inside you."
He looked from Raptor to Jubilee. "Either of you know how to drive, or are we gonna have to stay here while I sleep?" he asked. Raptor said, "I can drive."
"You think you can handle it for a few hours?"
"Yes. I'll be fine."
Scott drove the car through the wrought-iron gates of the mansion. The gates clanged closed behind them and Kurt had the impression that they were being locked inside.
((Don't be stupid. These people seem nice enough. You have to trust them,)) he told himself. Rogue seemed to sense his unease and turned back, smiling.
"Don't worry, ya're gonna like it here," she said. "The Prof is really nice, and so are most of the other teachers. The whole school deal's a drag but ya get used to it."
Kurt smiled. Ever since they'd left the monastery Rogue had been trying to reassure him, trying to make him certain that he wouldn't regret his decision.
Not that he'd had much of a choice. If he'd stayed, the mob who were convinced he'd killed that girl would have killed him.
Scott pulled the car to a stop. He and Rogue opened their doors to get out, but Kurt just teleported, glad to be out of the confining vehicle.
Rogue laughed. "C'mon, ya better meet th' others. Th' Prof had us all go out an' search for different mutants, people he'd found using Cerebro. As far as Ah know, Jean an' Storm were lookin' for people pretty close. They should be here."
Sure enough, a red-haired woman and an African-American woman with long white hair were waiting in the room with the big TV, about thirty armchairs, the pool table and a few other tables where students could study.
Scott hugged the redhead and Rogue smiled at the other woman. "How've ya been, Storm?" she asked. Storm smiled back and replied, "well enough. I take it your mission was successful."
Professor Xavier, a bald man in a wheelchair, showed up a few minutes later and gestured for everyone to take a seat. Kurt looked around at the people in the room.
Surprisingly, most of them were teenagers. The ones near Jean looked as if they'd been on the streets most of their lives; rough, tough and wary. There were two guys and a girl, all looking around with suspicious eyes.
The girl sitting near Storm seemed much more at ease. She was wearing a private-school uniform and was sitting with her ankles crossed and her hands folded in her lap. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a plait with a few strands escaping to frame her face.
The Professor smiled. "Welcome to the School for the Gifted. I am Professor Charles Xavier, the founder of this school. These four are Rogue, Scott Summers, Jean Grey and Ororo Munroe."
The red-and-green-haired girl smirked. "If you're expecting us to be all open and trusting you've got another think coming, Charlie. We don't play that game."
The blue-haired guy next to her chuckled at some private joke. "Calm down a l'il, Aura. Ah don' think it's hurt for'm ta know what ta call us."
The girl glowered at him, but one look from his dark gold eyes made her sigh and say, "fine. I'm Aura. These two are Dreamer and Remy."
She looked challengingly at the blonde girl, who glared back with equal intensity and snapped, "my name is Sabrina Hunter," putting an emphasis on her last name, "and I happen to think that these people are doing us a favour."
The Professor said, "Jean, Scott, Ororo, please see me in my office. The rest of you can get to know each other."
The adults moved away and left the teenagers staring at each other with mixed hostility, curiosity and indifference.
Aura was the first to speak. "Why are you wearing that?" she asked Sabrina, gesturing to the uniform. The blonde girl replied, "because Miss Munroe brought me here from my school, mate. You got a problem with me going to a private school I suggest we take it outside, cause I don't wanna make holes in this place."
Aura laughed and turned to Dreamer and Remy. "I like her. She has the attitude to survive on the streets."
Dreamer shrugged, snagged a magazine from the table behind him and bounded over to another armchair, where he curled up like a cat and began to read. Kurt picked up a book that was lying on the floor and started paging through it, letting the stilted conversation wash over him.
He couldn't say how much time had passed before he noticed a girl standing in front of him. He looked up and she smiled. "Hi. I'm Kitty Pryde. You must be new here; I'd have remembered someone so cute."
He smiled back. "Nice to meet you, Kitty Pryde. I'm Kurt Wagner."
She sat down beside him and gestured to the book he was holding. "Good book?"
He glanced at it. "Not really. I was reading it to pass time I guess. None of us new people are really very comfortable here yet."
"I'll bet I can make you comfortable here," Kitty said. Kurt chuckled. "I'll be you could."
"So where are you from? That accent is awesome."
"Thank you. I'm from Germany; I grew up in a remote monastery. They seemed to think I was a demon there," Kurt said, wondering why he'd admitted that. Kitty looked at him, her head to one side. "I don't see a demon. I see a cute guy," she said.
She glanced at her watch. "Geez, I gotta get to class. Will I see you around sometime?"
"I hope so. You seem like a nice girl."
Kitty grinned and ran off to her class. Rogue stood up from where she'd been sitting and talking to Remy. "Ah gotta scoot, Sugah. Ah'll see y'all at suppertime."
The remaining five mutants glanced at each other. Sabrina voiced the question they were all asking themselves.
"Well, what are we supposed to do now?"
"The Prof'll get you settled and give you class schedules, depending on what you want to do," a new voice said. The guy grinned. "Hi. I'm Bobby."
"So is the Prof gonna be here any time soon?" Aura asked. Bobby shrugged. "I don't know. He'll probably want to talk to you all one at a time before he does anything else."
"Fools! Don't you know that my time is precious? How dare you fail me?"
Rachael cringed away from Damien, even though she was at least five years older than him. She kept her eyes on her clawed hands, listening as he stormed around the room and swore.
"I need those three, do you hear me? If I can convince them to affiliate themselves with me then there will be no limits to my resources. The things required for my Augmentator will be much easier to obtain. As well as the fact I wanted their powers on my side. All I ask is that you obtain three children for me. For God's sake, people, are you all incompetents?"
He turned and fixed Rachael, Toad, Sabretooth, Dusk and Lance with a cold glare. "You all know that I need more parts, parts that are hard to obtain, to complete the Augmentator. You better have a damn good excuse for not bringing me those children."
"Sir, the telepathic woman got to them before we did," Lance said, his head bowed, fearing that Damien's fiery temper would escalate further at this news. Damien smiled unexpectedly. "The X-Men are a part of this now? Well, I should have expected that. Those fools meddle in anything and everything they can. Still, it won't be much of an obstacle to my plans. You'll go to the mansion and procure the mutants I want."
"Don't be so hasty, mate," a female voice said. Kylie, the blonde Australian woman with lilac eyes, stood at the doorway.
"Do you have any idea how well guarded that place is?" she asked. "It's like Fort Knox there. Getting in will not be easy."
"You have another plan, Kylie?" Damien asked sarcastically. The blonde woman smiled.
"Matter of fact, I do."
TBC.
In the next chapter, Scott gets a stalker, and Logan and the girls get a visit from the metal creature.