Another chapter, cause my Muse has finally given me some inspiration. Enjoy. And Cat, thanks for reviewing pretty much every chapter. You rock =)
Chapter Seven
A few weeks passed uneventfully. Raptor's wounds healed completely, leaving her with no more than a few scars. She and Jubilee settled into school life with only a few problems, such as one of the teachers having trouble dealing with Raptor's Spandex outfits. Raptor won that argument.
Logan and Rogue were on much better terms than before, when neither of them had been certain about where they stood with the other. Now that Logan and Storm seemed to be… intimate, and Rogue had her eyes on Remy, they got along much better.
Kitty and Kurt were officially together, according to Sabrina. The Aussie girl had turned out to be the biggest gossip on the face of the Earth, and the most airheaded one. She got on with most people, except Aura.
Aura still didn't completely trust anyone except Remy and Dreamer, although she was getting on better with the teachers and other kids than she had originally. She and Sabrina had an uneasy truce, neither one willing to take the first step toward friendship.
Late one night, Raptor woke up when Jubilee tripped over the end of her bed getting dressed in the dark. Raptor switched on the lamp and raised her eyebrows. "Jubes, you sneaking off to make out with Dreamer by the pool again?" she asked. Jubilee squeaked, "how did you find out about that? Nobody is supposed to know!"
"Jubes, you're my best friend. You think I won't notice when you make eyes at a cute guy? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Besides, he's hot. Can't blame you for wanting a piece of that."
Jubilee smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Rap."
"Hey, you don't mention it, I don't mention it. Besides, I can't say I've kept to my bed every single night. I'm just a little more subtle when it comes to leaving."
She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm starved. I didn't eat much at supper. You wanna take a detour through the kitchen before you go eat Dreamer alive?"
"Raptor! You make it sound like we're doing… you know. That," Jubilee protested. "We haven't got that far."
"Yet."
Raptor got up and pulled on a robe over her pajamas. "C'mon. I'm awake now, I may as well go get something to eat."
"You're gonna go out without getting dressed?"
"Jubes, it's the mansion, not the city. Besides, everyone's used to seeing me in Spandex, so pajamas are actually a step down," Raptor said. Jubilee raised her eyebrows. "Tweety Bird pajamas, as opposed to black Spandex? You want people to see you in Tweety Bird pajamas?"
Raptor laughed. "It's one o'clock in the morning, Jubes. I don't think there'll be many people awake."
They crept along the corridor and down the stairs, the wood cold to Raptor's bare feet. She muttered, "bare wood and winter definitely do not mix."
She stopped in the kitchen. "Jubes, keep watch for me for a sec will you?" she asked. Jubilee nodded, rubbing her hands together to keep them warm. Raptor went into the kitchen and grabbed a half-empty package of Oreos. "These'll do. Jubes, you want anything?"
"Nah, I'm not hungry. You go ahead. I'm gonna go meet Dreamer."
"Okay. See ya later, Jubes."
Raptor padded back up to her room, keeping to the shadows out of habit. When she'd lived with Richard he'd had a thing about people walking around at night so she'd had to stick to the shadows and it had stuck.
She was almost back at her room when Bobby appeared out of nowhere. Raptor didn't recognise him at first and dropped into a defensive pose, but she relaxed when she realised who it was. "Bobby, you scared the hell out of me," she said. He grinned. "Sorry. Maybe I could make it up to you."
"How?"
"That I don't know. Any suggestions?"
Raptor considered. "I have no idea. What are you doing walking around at one o'clock in the morning anyway?" she asked. Bobby raised his eyebrows. "I could ask you the same thing," he said. Raptor laughed. "You could," she agreed, "and if I was a girl in a movie I'd probably give you some bullshit answer about how I had a nightmare and need someone to comfort me."
"And then I'd probably take advantage of your distress and comfort you," Bobby said, chuckling, "and one thing would lead to another and we'd wake both wake up in your bed."
"Not my bed, honey, I got a roomie. You don't," Raptor corrected, tapping one finger against his chest. Bobby grinned. "That's why we'd wake up in your bed. Your roomie would walk in on us and then there'd be a huge scandal."
"If we were in a movie."
"Yes, a movie. No way would that happen in real life."
"In real life, I'd probably break your face if you tried to take advantage of me," Raptor said. Bobby smiled. "In real life I'd know better than to do anything you didn't want," he told her. She raised her eyebrows. "Am I that scary?"
"No, just real-life Bobby has more respect for girls than movie-Bobby."
"Then I think real-life Raptor likes real-life Bobby better than movie-Bobby."
They were standing about two centimetres apart, Raptor looking up at Bobby. Even though she was tall for a girl, he was still taller.
She shook her head suddenly and stepped back. "I'm gonna go to bed."
"Yeah, I think I should as well," he agreed, taking a few steps back. Raptor turned and headed back to her room.
She sat down on the bed and rubbed her hands over her face. "What the hell is wrong with me? Have I lost all ability to talk to guys like friends?" she wondered aloud. She pulled off her robe and climbed into bed. "Think about it tomorrow," she advised herself. "Just deal with it in the morning."
@ @ @
Dreamer and Jubilee met at the pool. She grinned up at him and asked, "miss me?"
"Always," he answered. He kissed the tip of her nose. "But th' wait was worth it ta see ya," he added in a low voice. Jubilee smiled and pulled him into a sitting position next to the pool. "Sit down. We still have hours before dawn. And I want to make the most of them."
He sat down beside her and enfolded her in his arms. She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent. "God I love you," she whispered. He nodded. "Ah know how ya feel. Ah don't know what Ah'd do if somethin' ever happened ta ya."
"Sure you do. You'd stay by me until I was better, then go kick ass on whoever hurt me."
He smiled and pulled her closer. "Ya know it," he said softly. She snuggled closer to him, breathing a sigh of contentment. "You know, it's weird. A month, two months ago, I was on the road, with no clue where I was going. And now I have a home, sort of, and the most wonderful guy in the world. But something still feels wrong."
He looked down at her, a frown furrowing his brow. "Ya've felt it too?" he asked. "For th' past two weeks, Ah've had this feelin' that somethin' big was about ta go down. Ah thought Ah was imaginin' things."
"It's like someone's trying to warn me, but I can't hear them," Jubilee said slowly. Dreamer nodded. "It's lahke a dream, only ya're not asleep. Somethin' on th' subconscious level, tryin' ta tell us what's goin' ta happen. But it can't get through."
Jubilee shivered. "This is so creepy," she muttered. "You think we should tell someone?"
"Tell'm what? That we've both been gettin' th' spider sense? They'd never take it seriously, Jubes, ya know that. Ah think this's somethin' we have ta deal with on our own."
Jubilee sighed and kissed him. "As long as you're with me I can deal with anything."
@ @ @
Damien paced across the room where his closest followers were lined up against one wall. He motioned to the metallic creature.
"Discordia. What is your report?"
The metal girl smiled, if the expression could be called a smile when it was so full of evil, and said, "there is a time when they will be most vulnerable. The X-Men are going to be leaving the mansion next week, celebrating some fickle thing. They are the strongest mutants, they have provided the path of most resistance. We must attack while they are gone."
"Good. Where can we enter?"
"However we wish. It will not matter in the long run. The children will not be able to stop us. We are too great in number."
"Are you sure a direct attack is wise, Damien?" Lance asked. "Surely there is a more subtle way of achieving our goals?"
"Subtle is slow, Lance, I require action. The original plan has taken entirely too long to carry out, so now we will turn to the backup. If what Discordia tells me is correct, we can attack and obtain the children I want with minimal damage done to our number."
He turned to the other mutants. "Toad, Sabretooth, Mystique, I hired you three to watch LeBeau, Whitlock and Langley. That is no longer an issue. I will understand if you wish to pull out now."
"Why would we do that?" Toad asked. "We said we'd do whatever you ordered and we're sticking to our guns. We're in on this."
Damien smiled. "Good. I want you three and the seven I choose to go to the mansion on the night of this celebration. Do whatever it takes to get me those children, but do not kill anyone. Bring anyone who seems to have power I can use. And, above all, have a good time doing it. After all, I can't have men — and women — with low morale. If it pleases you to cause pain, by all means do so. Just leave everyone alive."
@ @ @
Jubilee and Dreamer soon forgot about their 'feelings of wrongness'. With the midterms approaching, almost every student was in a frenzy of studying and freaking out. As evident by the crowd in the lounge, each with a book or three or four open on their lap or the table in front of them, writing down notes and formulas.
Sabrina walked into the lounge, her chemistry and history books under her arm. She sat down in one of the armchairs and began to read.
Upstairs, Raptor walked down the corridor to Jean and Scott's room. Jean hadn't been feeling very good for the past two days, but she still insisted that the other X-Men go out to celebrate the anniversary of the school's opening.
Raptor knocked lightly on the door. "Scott, Logan said to tell you that they're ready to head out. He actually said something a whole lot less polite but you really don't need to hear it."
Scott nodded and looked at Jean. "You'll be okay?" he asked. Raptor said, "if you want I can look in every now and then to see if there's anything she needs."
"Thanks, Raptor," Jean said hoarsely. Scott kissed her cheek and left.
"You need anything just now or do you want me to check in half an hour or so?" Raptor asked. Jean smiled. "I'm good for now," she replied. Raptor nodded and returned to her own room where she was studying.
Jubilee was sitting on the end of her bed, pulling on a pair of yellow boots. Raptor raised her eyebrows. "You going to see Dreamer again?"
"Yeah. We figure we're gonna be flat-out during the exams so we're making the most of the time we have now."
"Fair enough. Say hi for me."
Raptor plopped onto her bed and opened her physics book. ((Damn this is boring. Wonder if Kurt and Kitty are up for a study group?))
She sighed and shoved her hair behind her ears. ((Knowing them they're off making out like Jubes and Dreamer. Better not interrupt that.))
She sighed and paged through her book, not really absorbing anything. After about ten minutes, she lost patience completely and threw the book across the room. It hit the wall with a thunk and fell to the ground.
Raptor got up and began to go through her closet, shoving aside different items of clothing until she found what she was looking for: loose cotton pants, a midriff halter top, fingerless leather gloves and calf-high boots, all in pitch black. Her standard Danger Room outfit.
She changed and headed to the Danger Room. There was nobody there, since the X-Men ad gone out and most of the students were studying or hanging out. Raptor punched in commands, creating a new scenario for the computer to simulate.
She waited for the simulation to begin. She was suddenly in the bottom of a rocky gorge, several nasty-looking men with claws like Logan's coming toward her. She smirked and leapt at the cliff-face, her hands finding purchase in even the smoothest surface. She scrambled up the cliff, enjoying the adrenaline rush.
As soon as she crested the top of the cliff, five metallic humanoids came at her. She'd based the program on the metal thing that had almost killed her, and seeing five of them at once sent a chill down her spine. Still, she attacked, taking one of them out right away. The others wouldn't be so easy. She'd programmed them that way.
She went through the list of things she could call and decided to go with wolf. She opened her mouth and howled. An answering howl rang from the mountains, and a pack of wolves appeared.
Raptor smiled and began to fight the metal creatures.
@ @ @
Aura sighed and tried to concentrate on her biology textbook. Her eyes kept wandering over the room, stopping on Dreamer, who was curled up in an armchair in that cat-like way he had, Jubilee sitting on the floor in front of him. Then moving on to Remy and Rogue, who were practically on top of each other. And then over to Kitty and Kurt, who were occupying the same armchair, Kurt's tail wrapped around Kitty's waist.
Dreamer's head snapped up and he frowned, sniffing the air like a dog on the trail of prey. Jubilee looked up and asked softly, "what's wrong?"
"Ah c'n smell somethin' that shouldn't be here," he answered. "An' Ah c'n sense hostility. Somethin's wrong."
"A tracker," a rough voice said. "How… convenient."
Seven people entered the room. Three were recognisable: Toad, Sabretooth and Mystique. The others were unfamiliar to the younger mutants.
The huge guy with dark hair had a girl by the throat, holding her close to him. She was one of the mutants; her skin was light green and her hair was purple. She looked absolutely terrified.
"Look, kids, we don't want anyone to get killed tonight," the guy with three sharp horns said. "We want some of you to come with us and if there's any trouble I'm afraid things might get unpleasant."
The metallic-looking girl looked around the room, smirking. "Lance, we gonna round up the others?" she asked. The horned guy nodded. "Of course. Dusk, you and Magneto's crew stay here and guard these kids. Discordia, you, me and Delta check out the upper levels."
Delta, a girl with pure white skin and silvery hair, said, "there're telepaths here, Lance. If they had any brains they'll have warned whoever's upstairs."
Lance considered this and nodded. "Probably," he agreed. "Okay kids, we're gonna need three volunteers."
He looked around and chuckled. "What, no takers? Well then, I'll just have to pick myself some hostages. The blue elf, and your girlfriend. And that girl with green and red hair."
He grabbed Aura by the collar of her shirt and pulled her to her feet. "C'mon, kids, let's go upstairs and find us some mutants. The rest of you, if you ever want to see these three with all their limbs intact, you won't make trouble for my friends here. Got it?"
He pulled three sets of handcuffs out of his pocket. They looked like normal handcuffs except that they were made out of some sort of glowing white metal. He tossed a pair to Discordia and Delta, then snapped the remaining pair around Aura's wrists. "These'll just make sure you don't use whatever powers you have," he said. He looked back at Mystique, Toad, Sabretooth and Dusk. "You all have the handcuffs. Use them. We don't want these kids to warn anyone."
He pushed Aura upstairs, holding her by one arm the whole time. She shot a glance at Kurt and Kitty, both of whom were wearing the white handcuffs. Lance saw her glance and chuckled. "Don't worry, kid, we won't hurt any of you too bad unless you get on our nerves. Right now we're just looking for more of you. Gotta make sure there's nobody still mobile while we make our getaway."
He raised his voice so that it could be heard all down the corridor. "I know there're some of you still up here. I've got myself three lovely little hostages and unless you want them to feel a lot of pain you'll come out quietly. No funny business."
There was silence for a few minutes. Lance sighed. "I guess your friends don't believe me. Discordia? Activate the cuffs."
Discordia pulled out a small device that looked like a video remote and pressed a red button. Pain shot through Aura's body, emanating from her wrists. She screamed and collapsed onto the floor, writhing in agony. She was vaguely aware of Kurt and Kitty's screams as well as her own.
Several students came from their rooms. Lance directed Delta to take them downstairs. Then he said, "Discordia, enough, I think."
The pain abated. Aura lay on the wooden floor, breathing deeply and trying not to pass out. Lance gently pulled her to her feet and supported her. "I'm sorry that had to happen," he said, "but you must realise we can't allow anything to go wrong. Which is why if whoever is still up here doesn't come out I will have to ask Discordia to activate your cuffs again, this time on a higher voltage."
Raptor stepped out of the Danger Room, her eyes blazing. "Let them go," she said, her voice low and dangerous. Lance laughed. "And why would I do that?"
Discordia hissed, "that is the girl, Lance, the one who can call animals. She would be a valuable asset."
"So she would. Listen, girl, I'll give you ten seconds. Get on your knees, hands where I can see them, or I will make your friends here suffer. One by one."
Raptor glared at him before dropping to her knees and raising her hands. Lance walked over to her and snapped a pair of cuffs onto her wrists, then pulled her up. "Are Dusk and Sabretooth assembling the ones we need?" he asked Discordia. She nodded. "Yes. The ones Damien had his eyes on at first, and a few others who are of interest. We can leave when we are ready."
"Good. Your four, come with us. Don't make any trouble and we won't have to hurt you."
He pushed Aura and Raptor in front of him, holding each of them tightly as they walked down the stairs, through the room where Dusk, Mystique, Toad, Sabretooth and Delta stood guard over the students. A small group stood separated from the others: Dreamer, Remy, Sabrina, Jubilee, Rogue, Bobby and Jean.
"I see you haven't caused any problems for my friends," Lance said. "Good. Now stay right where you are. If even one of you moves before we are gone, the ones we take with us will suffer. And keep this in mind: we won't hesitate to kill them."
TBC. In Chapter Eight, Damien does a little… demonstration… that could have disastrous consequences for Rogue and Kurt. Sabrina discovers something that could change everything…