AUTHORS NOTE: I don't keep up with the comics, or cartoons so this is just based in the general Marvel universe without a specific time frame or anything, thank you.
Primal Instincts
Jubilee walked through the hallways of the mansion, heading towards the rec room to meet up with the others, who were probably all there... Well... reccing as she liked to put it. She'd been with the X-Men a long time and liked to think she was an old pro, especially compared with some of the newer members, but she still wasn't quite seen as a valuable member by the others. Though she liked to think she was proving herself.
She walked through the door and spotted Bobby Drake sitting on the couch, watching the TV with his feet propped up on the table in front of him. She looked around curiously but didn't spot anyone else in the room with him.
"Hey there." Bobby looked back at her and said before turning back to his TV.
"Hey... Where is everybody?" She asked as she walked up behind the couch. Bobby Drake's power was to instantly flash-freeze anything he concentrated on. Because of this, his "Alternate identity" was Iceman. She always kind of regretted not having one of those herself, almost everyone else did, but what would she call someone who threw fireworks? Uncle Sam?
"They're out training, I'm protecting the fort." He replied, popping a popcorn kernel into his mouth with one hand, the other holding the remote.
"Right." Jubilee said as she plopped herself onto the couch beside him, reaching one hand into the popcorn bag to pop a kernel into her own mouth. "You know you're too lazy." She commented as she adjusted the shades perched just above her forehead.
"Sure Miss Sleepsalot." Bobby countered as he just stared straight ahead at the TV, Jubilee doing the same. "Least I was up before noon."
"I was up, I just didn't come out until noon." She retorted. "I did have to fix myself up."
Bobby rolled his eyes wearily. "Girls and they're makeup." He popped another popcorn kernel in his mouth as the door to the rec room opened and the rest of the team entered.
She looked over as they piled in. Storm, Cyclops, Jean, Gambit, Rogue, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler. Jubilee was a little surprised when the door shut with no sign of Wolverine.
"Where's Wolverine?" She asked confusedly as Kitty Pride, also called Shadowcat and her best friend, passed by her.
"Who knows? Wherever he always disappears to." Kitty said as she plopped down on the couch beside Jubilee. "Finally woke up huh?"
"About five minutes ago." Bobby said on Jubilee's other side, still watching the TV after the others had passed.
"Ha, ha." Jubilee said without a hint of humor in her voice. "Come on seriously where did he go?"
"I don't know." Kitty stated. "Geeze why do you care so much anyway?"
"Because he's a part of this team isn't he? Shouldn't we try to find him? Make sure he's okay?"
"Juby, he disappears like this every month, why are you getting so worked up over this?" Kitty asked.
"Oooh just be quiet!" Jubilee fumed, bolting up from the couch and stalking out of the rec room, running almost squarely into Gambit out in the hall.
"Whoa be careful 'dere chere." He said, putting one hand out to steady her as she nearly careened into the wall. "What's da big rush?"
"Where's Wolverine?" Jubilee demanded furiously.
"Who knows? Wherever he is he doesn't want to be found." He said, glaring at her meaningfully.
"Well shouldn't we at least make sure he's okay?" She asked.
"He'll be fine. He knows how to take care of himself. Relax." He said as he slid by her and went into the rec room, pulling out one card and tossing it back to her. "For luck." He said, winking at her before turning and waking away.
She looked down at the card curiously as he left. It was the joker card that came with every deck. What did he mean for luck, as far as she knew she wasn't planning on going anywhere... Was she?
She looked into the rec room at Gambit, but he was already setting up the pool table, Rogue standing on the other side waiting for him. jubilee'd always thought those two looked great together, though Rogue adamantly denied anything like that.
Well... Maybe she SHOULD go look for Wolverine? After all he was a valuable member of the X-Men and if he went missing or injured it would seriously hurt the team, not to mention she considered herself his closest friend of the whole group.
But she didn't even have a place to start looking... Well she'd just have to investigate. Maybe he'd gone with them when they'd gone training, if he did Kitty should have a general idea where he might be.
She walked back over to the couch, looking down at Kitty with the best puppy-dog eyes she could manage. "I need your help."
Kitty rolled her eyes a bit at this, smiling slightly. "You're not gonna let me rest are you? You know not all of us slept 'till noon, some of us actually went out and did something called training."
"I just need to know if Wolverine was with you when you left."
"Sure he was with us, but he just kind of wandered off as always, seriously do you have a crush on him or something?"
"What!? Don't be ridiculous!" Jubilee yelled, perhaps a bit too fervently, as Bobby, Gambit and Rogue all turned to look at her curiously. The teenager couldn't help blushing deeply. "Thanks for your help Kit..." She quickly took her leave and practically ran out of the rec room, leaning against the wall just outside the door.
God that was embarrassing. She couldn't bring her facial color below a light orange as she continued down the hall, jamming a stick of gum in her mouth in the hopes of calming herself down somewhat.
Okay, she knew where he'd been, now how does she get there? She didn't have a car let alone a license to drive it. Too many things in her way... Well she'd just have to walk. It wasn't THAT far... Maybe she should leave a note in her room though, in case anyone worries. Yeah, she could skip out for a few hours, find Wolverine... Do whatever she was intent on doing and be home before dinner. Yep, it wasn't much of a plan, but she wasn't much of a planner so it was acceptable to her.
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He stalked his pray through the forest underbrush, catching its scent immediately as the light wind touched his face. He moved through the bushes silently as his claws unsheathed themselves from his hands with a soft "snikt" sound. The metal pressed against his thigh as he waited for the buck to draw closer in search of fresh grass.
He leapt out from the bushes with a great howl, his hands lashing out in a wide arc, the adamantium claws tearing easily through the bucks tender flesh, killing it instantly.
He could feel the adrenaline pulsing through his body as his claws slid back into his arms, his entire body tingling with different sensations. Hw felt the cool wind rushing against his bare chest, every one of his senses alive and tingling like a bloodhound.
He tried to live a normal life, but for some reason every once in a while his body just became hyper sensitive like a predator, and he had to escape from the confines of the mansion. He had to get out into the wild and hunt like a wild animal, like he was meant to hunt.
A soft rustling sound behind him alerted him that someone was in the bushes, while the scent of gun oil alerted him that there was also someone on the other side. Somebody was trying to sneak up on him and corner him.
He allowed himself a small smirk as he knelt by his kill. Whoever it was, he'd let them make the first move and expose themselves.
It didn't take long for the two men to leap out of the bushes, each pointing a rifle at him. "On your feet mutant!" The one in front demanded, cocking his gun nervously. Logan smirked slightly as he got to his feet, simply watching the fear on their faces.
"You're coming with us." The other one said a bit more confidently, but still not exactly Captain America.
"What's the charge?" Logan asked simply, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Just come with us!" The one behind him yelled again, inching closer to try to get handcuffs on him. Suddenly Logan lashed out, the adamantium claws sliding out as he left a deep gash in the guys stomach, making him double over.
The other one let one bullet fly. It slammed into the back of Logans head, throwing him face first into the ground, his claws sliding back into their sheathes. The guard approached him slowly, the rifle aimed the whole time.
Logan spoke so softly the guard thought he was mistaken. "You picked the wrong day to mess with me bub..." He lunged upward, his claws unsheathing and cutting a vertical gash straight through his stomach and chest, making him double over with the pain.
Wearily Logan turned to stumble away from them, putting one hand to his head. The bullet had been stopped cold by his adamantium skull, but it sounded almost like a bell ringing in his head constantly, driving him to the point of wanting the bullet to have killed him just to get rid of the sound.
He whirled as more gunfire rang through the forest, the men once again on their feet and after him. The bullets plunged into him, sending him to the ground heavily. His head felt light as he saw the two men standing above him, staring down at him.
"Call the base..." One said wearily, one hand on his bleeding chest. "We got him."
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Jubilee walked along the side of the road at a brisk pace, her yellow trench coat flapping a bit behind her in the steady breeze that kept her cool as she got quite a bit of exercise from her long march, but also stung in her eyes painfully.
Irritably she reached up and pulled her shades down to cover her eyes from the wind. She wished there were a better way to find Wolverine, but she had no idea where he'd be, so she thought to just go where she thought he might be, the nearest bar.
She walked up to the building and pushed the door open, heading inside. There wasn't much of a crowd and those that were there looked too drunk to pose much of a threat to her. Besides, she was a mutant and wasn't exactly helpless.
She approached the bar counter as nonchalantly as she could, sitting on one of the stools spread-legged, turning toward the counter in the swiveling stool. The bartender automatically pulled out a brown bottle and passed it her way.
"Uh... no thanks." She said, pushing it away a bit as she reached into her coat, grabbing a picture out of one of her pockets. "Have you seen him?" She showed the bartender a picture of Wolverine she had of him outside of costume.
"I only talk to paying customers." The bartender said, gesturing to the bottle still in front of her.
Jubilee rolled her eyes a bit and pulled out the money for the bottle, handing it to the bartender. "There, NOW have you seen him?"
"Nope. Have a nice drink." The bartender said as he pocketed the money and went off down the bar to serve anther customer. Jubilee couldn't help a small sigh escaping her lips. She guessed all there was to do was move on to the next bar and see if he stopped by there.
She turned to look at a guy as he stumbled up to her, his speech slurred almost beyond all recognition. "Are you gonna drink that?" He said, his hand gesturing sporadically towards the beer in front of her.
"No... Go right ahead." Jubilee said as she got up from the stool and headed for the entrance of the bar, sighing again. If she ever needed a reason never to drink beer she'd just gotten it, that guy looked totally brain dead. In any case it looked to her like this could take a very long time.
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Logan opened his eyes wearily. He was strapped to a metal chair in a barren room with a mirror on one side. Where was he? The ringing in his head seemed to be gone at least, but now he couldn't move a muscle.
He looked over at the door wearily as it opened up and two people walked through, a man and a woman. The man was average height with perfect brown hair and decidedly sleepy looking eyes. The woman had auburn hair with blue eyes with a deadly serious look on her face.
"Where am I?" Logan demanded.
"I'm special agent Jack Valentine this is Diane Marnason. We understand you were found just outside of town prowling around... Killing things."
"Nothin' in the law against that. I didn't use a gun." Logan smirked a bit as the two agents exchanged a glance.
"Well people are getting worried you might do more killing than deer and rabbits." Valentine said, walking over to stand right above him. "I'm personally more curious though about how you killed those animals. Looked like they were mauled by bears."
"I'm betting your men told you, so cut the crap and give me my parking ticket already and let me out of here."
"Not until you tell me how you killed those animals."
"Why don't you free my hands and I'll show you?"
Valentine just looked at him squarely. "Nobody has to know what your secret is. Now why don't you just cooperate and we can go home?"
"Why don't you get out of my face? Your cologne is choking me." Suddenly Logans claws extended, tearing through the arms of the chair and weakening it enough for him to rip the arms off of the chair. Before Valentine could react he lunged forward and grabbed him, whirling to put him between himself and the agents partner, who already had her gun drawn, the claws of one hand extended right near the FBI agents throat.
"Let him go!" Marnason yelled, keeping her gun trained on him.
"Why am I here!?" Logan exclaimed back, keeping his claws pressed against the guys throat.
"We just brought you in for questioning."
"Tell that to your men who put five bullets in me."
"We've already taken care of them... Now calm down and let him go." Marnason said, keeping the gun trained on him expertly.
"How about you put the toy away... and I walk out of here?" Suddenly a squad of men poured into the room, all of them pointing automatic rifles in Logans direction.
"Whoa whoa hold on!" Marnason exclaimed as Logan tensed up, the claws pressing dangerously against her partners throat. "Don't do anything drastic now!"
One of the soldiers spoke, but never took his eyes off the mutant. "We're here to collect the mutant."
"Try it bub." Logan said, throwing Valentine to the side and lunging forward. His claws sliced cleanly through the barrels of two rifles as the others took aim and fired quickly. He felt several bullets plunge into his back, but he continued running down the hall of what he realized was a hospital.
He was forced forward forcefully as more bullets plunged into his back, several slamming into his spine. He rammed through the front door of the hospital, running for the parking lot as fast as he could manage, his back bleeding furiously from the gunshot wounds.
He slammed into a car, leaning against it for a moment before plunging the claws of one hand into the door, using the other to tear it off the hinges to he could hop into the drivers seat. One claw took short work of the ignition before he took off down the street, slumped over the wheel and driving rather precariously. His sight was going fast, he couldn't heal fully with the bullets still inside him and it HURT like all hell...
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Jubilee looked on in surprise as a red firebird streaked by her on the road, one door missing. She was sure she'd seen Wolverine in the drivers seat, but where was he going? What was he running from?
Her question was answered as a black car headed along the road, hot on Wolverine's heels. Why were they after him? For whatever reason, she had to stop them to give her friend time to get away.
"Okay Jubilee, you can do this, just stall their engine or something." She felt the power mass around her hands as she thrust them forward, letting the fireworks fly just as the car was passing by her. The power struck the hood of the car, punching straight through to the engine and taking it out as well.
The resulting explosion sent her flying back seven feet, blowing the shades right off of her head as she looked on in horror at the blaze that had engulfed the car as it slowly rolled to a stop in the middle of the street.
"Oh... My... God..." She said as she ran as close to the car as she could without getting too close to the flames. "Oh please be okay! Don't be dead!" She moved a bit closer before she heard the sound of another car behind her. She whirled just in time to see another black car pulling up behind her.
"Freeze!" The female agent said as her and her partner got out of the car, their weapons trained on her.
"Oh darn..." Jubilee said nervously to herself as she slowly raised her hands into the air. This had to be the worst luck in history. Try to help a friend, accidentally blow up a car and get held at gunpoint. What a day... All she wanted was to help Wolverine!
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Kitty sat in front of the security terminal of the mansion, kicking back and trying to catch a little shuteye. A slight tap on her shoulder caused her top bolt upright instantly.
"Didn't get much sleep last night?" Jean Grey asked as she sat down in the chair beside her.
"Oh it's nothing like that. Just bored out of my mind. If anything happens the alarm'll sound anyway, why does someone need to watch this?" Kitty replied irritably.
"Well it's for... Things like that!" Jean exclaimed as she got to her feet quickly, staring at one of the monitors. Kitty looked just in time to see a red firebird speeding across the mansion courtyard, showing no intention of stopping. "It's gonna bring the whole mansion down!"
"I'm on it!" Kitty said, taking a running leap for the wall in the direction of the courtyard. Her body phased easily through the solid wall and she continued on her way, running through various classrooms and private chambers on her way to the front of the mansion.
She reached the edge of the building and leapt through the wall, sailing through the air towards the firebird as it neared the building. The hood gave a loud clang as she landed on it, gripping the sides in order to keep from getting thrown off. Through the windshield she saw Wolverine slumped over the wheel, unconscious.
"Wolverine!" She exclaimed. "Wake up please... AGH!" She yelled in panic as the car moved up to the buildings outer wall... Then passed right through it as Kitty phased the entire car.
The firebird plunged into the main hallway of the mansion, startling the heck out of several mutants who happened to be there at the time. "Don't worry! I've got it under control!" Kitty yelled out at them before the car plunged through the steps now, coming out into Professor X's office.
"Wolverine please wake up!" She yelled desperately as they plunged through the opposite wall, coming out into the back courtyard of the mansion. The sky overhead was getting darker by the moment as several flashes of lightning lit up the sky.
She unphased the car and threw herself off of it, landing heavily on the grass as a bolt of lightning struck the hood of the car, shorting out the battery and shutting it down. The firebird rolled slowly to a stop as Storm floated down from the roof of the building, touching down gently on the grass.
Kitty gave a small sigh of relief as several others ran up to see what was going on. "It's Wolverine, he's unconscious." Kitty said in explanation, panting heavily more from the fright of the ride than actual exertion.
"Don't worry hun, we'll have him fit as a whistle in no time." Rogue said as she grabbed him out of the car, heading for the mansions infirmary. Kitty rubbed one shoulder, a bit frightened at what had just happened, but also proud of herself for helping to avert disaster.
Bobby walked up to her, watching her a minute before speaking. "You know it would have been easier if you'd just gotten inside the car and hit the brakes."
Kitty glared at him irritably and waved him away. "Oh shut up." Smirking, she turned and headed for the mansion, ignoring the knowing looks he kept giving her.
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Jubilee leaned wearily against the super thick bars of her cell, sighing wearily. How did she get herself into these messes? Arrested for blowing up a car that was chasing Wolverine that turned out to have government agents in it. Why would the government be after Wolverine anyways?
Ah who cared? She had to get out of here somehow or she'd really get it from the professor for running off on her own like this. Not to mention she wanted to see how Wolverine was doing, just because he looked pretty bad on the streets.
"Alright Jubilee, you helped Wolverine... Now help yourself!" She felt the power building inside her hands before throwing it forward against the bars of the cell. The energy cackled furiously as it struck, but the bars held without much sign of assault at all, this was some thick stuff.
"It's useless." The guard said, smirking at her attempts to break the bars. "This cell was specially made to hold mutants."
"Listen buddy, I didn't mean to hurt them, I just wanted to stop them and..." She was cut off by the guard.
"Will you shut up already? You're giving me a headache!" He yelled violently, shutting the door to the detention area roughly.
Jubilee could only sigh to herself. She was stuck here... Well maybe they would let her off with a warning? A mutant who by all accounts tried to kill two government officers... Hyeah right...
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Professor Charles Xavier sat at the head of Wolverine's bed as he just stared up at the ceiling, bandaged all around the back and head. "What happened out there?" He asked.
"I was ambushed by some goons with rifles." Logan replied, smirking. "Bastards got the better of me..."
"Don't worry about it." Storm said at his side, most of the others crowded around as well. "How did you escape?"
"Got away... got a car... But I think I remember..." Silence prevailed for a few moments after that. "It's a blur..."
"Not to me." Professor X said. "You saw Jubilee on the side of the road."
"Jubilee? Where does she think she's going?" Logan asked.
"She was looking for... You..." Kitty said, suddenly fearful.
"If they found her while they were chasing Wolverine..." Cyclops said, suddenly clenching his fist. "I'm going out to look for her."
"I'm going with you..." Logan said, pushing himself up off the bed, already looking much better than he had earlier once the bullets had been removed.
"You should stay here Wolverine. You were badly injured." Jean said.
"I'm the reason that kid's out there." Logan retorted angrily. "Besides, I feel fine!"
"You were passed out cold not thirty minutes ago!" Cyclops retorted.
"You want me to stay behind? Try to keep me here." Logans claws slid from his hands quickly.
"Gladly." Cyclops put one hand up to the side of his visor on the shudder that controls how thick it is.
"Stop it you two!" Professor X exclaimed, getting in between them.
"I'm goin'. And the only way to keep me from goin' is to stop me. So either get out of my way or I'll move you." With that Logan turned and headed for the door, the X-Men moving out of the way one by one except for Kitty, who just let him pass right through her.
Logan stalked angrily through the halls. That stupid little girl, what did she think she was doing trying to follow him? Well he had to find her, he couldn't let anything happen to her.
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Jubilee peeked cautiously through the thick bars of the cell, seeing that nobody else was present and the door was shut. Satisfied she was clear she squeezed one leg between the bars, trying to push herself through them. She got about halfway through when her forward progress was halted completely.
"Come on I'm not THAT big..." She said softly to herself as she struggled to shove herself further to no avail. "Aw well... Back to the drawing board." She whispered to herself, pushing herself back towards the cell now... to no avail. "Uh-oh..."
She shoved as hard as she could, straining against the bars as much as she could, but she was lodged firmly between them. "Um... This sucks..." she said quietly, shoving as hard as she could to free herself one way or the other.
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Wolverine pulled into the hospital parking lot in his jeep, hopping out and walking around to the back. This was where the guys had taken him, so their base had to be somewhere inside the building.
Of course, he couldn't let them recognize him, so he'd have to sneak in. After grabbing a few things from the jeep he headed over to the side of the building, plunging his claws into it and climbing up to the roof.
He walked over to a ventilation shaft and crept inside it, careful not to scrape and clank too much as he made his way inside, sniffing around for Jubilee's scent. Finally he caught it and crept along the narrow passages toward it, still careful not to make too much noise.
Finally he arrived at what looked like a detention cell. After yanking the grating up he dropped down into it, scanning the bars of the cells quickly for signs of jubilee.
"Uh... Hey..." She greeted him, still trapped between the bars of the cell.
Wolverine smirked a bit and walked up to her, putting his hands on his hips. "What're you doin'?"
"Just please get me out of here..." Jubilee begged.
"Alright just hold on." His claws extracted with a soft sound before he sliced cleanly through the bars of the cell over her head, then under. An alarm sounded the moment the second cut was made. "Let's get out of here!" He exclaimed, pulling her out of the cell.
They both whirled in surprise as a slew of guards busted the door open, only to be thrown back as Jubilee's fireworks struck the door, flinging it out into the hall and probably crushing a few guards along with it.
"Hold them off while I look for a back door!" Wolverine said, running towards the other side of the detention block.
"Just hurry up!" Jubilee yelled, flinging another stream of energy as another guard tried to come through. With the small door no guards had a chance to get inside, but once they got exasperated enough to return fire from the hall there'd be nothing she could do.
Wolverine examined the far wall. It was thicker than his claws were long and there wasn't even the tiniest window in it. They'd obviously planned for keeping mutants here.
He whirled when he heard the sound of gunfire resounding from the hallway. They were sitting ducks in the narrow passage outside of the cells. "Jubilee, get in the cell where they can't hit you!" He yelled, whirling to the cell nearest him and slicing one of the bars off, hefting it for balance.
He waited until the guards peeked in cautiously before charging forward and hurling the metal bar as hard as he could. It slammed into the guards chest, sending him backwards.
As the other guards turned to look at him in surprise Wolverine leapt out of the detention cell block with a vicious howl, his claws carving a vicious arc through the air. The guards were caught off guard and scattered in confusion as he sent one after the other to the ground with kicks and punches, careful not to actually kill any of them.
After a while he heard Jubilee joining him in fighting from the cell block, taking care of the last of the guards with relative ease.
"Alright kid, let's get out of here." Wolverine said, taking off down the hall and quickly spotting a window past another hall.
"A way out! Jubilee exclaimed, running towards it. Suddenly from the hall the sound of extremely rapid fire filled the air, filling the wall with bullets in mere seconds. Wolverine only barely grabbed the teenagers arm to keep her from getting drilled by the bullets.
"Whoa... What kind of hospital is this!?" Jubilee exclaimed more than a bit fearfully.
"The mutant hating kind." Wolverine said as he grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder.
"What are you doing!?"
"Getting us out of here." He said before taking a running leap towards the window, putting one foot forward to shatter it before flying through it, falling three stories towards the pavement below.
Jubilee screamed in fear as she saw the ground approaching, but calmed down once she realized that they'd stopped in mid air. Looking over, they both saw Jean and Cyclops standing in the parking lot, looking at them.
"What are you doing here?" Wolverine asked as Jean set them both down on the ground.
"Looking for you two." Jean replied.
"Well let's get back to the mansion... We should tell the professor about that creepy place." Jubilee said, glancing back at the hospital.
"Right." Cyclops said as he just glared at Wolverine, who just smirked back at him and headed towards his jeep.
He climbed in the drivers side and started the ignition, looking over at the passengers seat as Jubilee hopped in after him. For a few minutes he just stared at her.
"What is it?" Jubilee asked self-consciously, but Wolverine just smirked and shook his head as he started the jeep forward.
They drove on as the sun went down behind the clouds, it'd been a long day for both of them with getting imprisoned and all. Logan just couldn't help feeling that it was his fault she'd been caught and everything, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why she'd gone out to look for him.
He looked over a bit surprised when her head lulled to the side, leaning against his shoulder, her steady breathing telling him she'd fallen asleep. She was undoubtedly the dumbest kid he knew... But for some reason... He loved her like a father.
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Jubilee woke up the next morning with a bit of a start, half expecting to wake up next to Wolverine. But of course that had just been a flight of fancy as she found herself in the room she shared with Kitty, who was still asleep in her own bed.
She'd thought yesterday she knew why she'd left, but today after further thinking she wasn't so sure. Could she really have a crush on Wolverine? He was probably like ten times her age, and with him that probably wasn't much of an exaggeration.
Then why did she like him so much? She knew teenage girls had a tendency to like brute tough men but Wolverine was pushing those qualifications to the limit... Aw well. It didn't matter really. She would never tell a soul. After all, why would he take her seriously? She was just the kid of the X-Men...
THE END
Primal Instincts
Jubilee walked through the hallways of the mansion, heading towards the rec room to meet up with the others, who were probably all there... Well... reccing as she liked to put it. She'd been with the X-Men a long time and liked to think she was an old pro, especially compared with some of the newer members, but she still wasn't quite seen as a valuable member by the others. Though she liked to think she was proving herself.
She walked through the door and spotted Bobby Drake sitting on the couch, watching the TV with his feet propped up on the table in front of him. She looked around curiously but didn't spot anyone else in the room with him.
"Hey there." Bobby looked back at her and said before turning back to his TV.
"Hey... Where is everybody?" She asked as she walked up behind the couch. Bobby Drake's power was to instantly flash-freeze anything he concentrated on. Because of this, his "Alternate identity" was Iceman. She always kind of regretted not having one of those herself, almost everyone else did, but what would she call someone who threw fireworks? Uncle Sam?
"They're out training, I'm protecting the fort." He replied, popping a popcorn kernel into his mouth with one hand, the other holding the remote.
"Right." Jubilee said as she plopped herself onto the couch beside him, reaching one hand into the popcorn bag to pop a kernel into her own mouth. "You know you're too lazy." She commented as she adjusted the shades perched just above her forehead.
"Sure Miss Sleepsalot." Bobby countered as he just stared straight ahead at the TV, Jubilee doing the same. "Least I was up before noon."
"I was up, I just didn't come out until noon." She retorted. "I did have to fix myself up."
Bobby rolled his eyes wearily. "Girls and they're makeup." He popped another popcorn kernel in his mouth as the door to the rec room opened and the rest of the team entered.
She looked over as they piled in. Storm, Cyclops, Jean, Gambit, Rogue, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler. Jubilee was a little surprised when the door shut with no sign of Wolverine.
"Where's Wolverine?" She asked confusedly as Kitty Pride, also called Shadowcat and her best friend, passed by her.
"Who knows? Wherever he always disappears to." Kitty said as she plopped down on the couch beside Jubilee. "Finally woke up huh?"
"About five minutes ago." Bobby said on Jubilee's other side, still watching the TV after the others had passed.
"Ha, ha." Jubilee said without a hint of humor in her voice. "Come on seriously where did he go?"
"I don't know." Kitty stated. "Geeze why do you care so much anyway?"
"Because he's a part of this team isn't he? Shouldn't we try to find him? Make sure he's okay?"
"Juby, he disappears like this every month, why are you getting so worked up over this?" Kitty asked.
"Oooh just be quiet!" Jubilee fumed, bolting up from the couch and stalking out of the rec room, running almost squarely into Gambit out in the hall.
"Whoa be careful 'dere chere." He said, putting one hand out to steady her as she nearly careened into the wall. "What's da big rush?"
"Where's Wolverine?" Jubilee demanded furiously.
"Who knows? Wherever he is he doesn't want to be found." He said, glaring at her meaningfully.
"Well shouldn't we at least make sure he's okay?" She asked.
"He'll be fine. He knows how to take care of himself. Relax." He said as he slid by her and went into the rec room, pulling out one card and tossing it back to her. "For luck." He said, winking at her before turning and waking away.
She looked down at the card curiously as he left. It was the joker card that came with every deck. What did he mean for luck, as far as she knew she wasn't planning on going anywhere... Was she?
She looked into the rec room at Gambit, but he was already setting up the pool table, Rogue standing on the other side waiting for him. jubilee'd always thought those two looked great together, though Rogue adamantly denied anything like that.
Well... Maybe she SHOULD go look for Wolverine? After all he was a valuable member of the X-Men and if he went missing or injured it would seriously hurt the team, not to mention she considered herself his closest friend of the whole group.
But she didn't even have a place to start looking... Well she'd just have to investigate. Maybe he'd gone with them when they'd gone training, if he did Kitty should have a general idea where he might be.
She walked back over to the couch, looking down at Kitty with the best puppy-dog eyes she could manage. "I need your help."
Kitty rolled her eyes a bit at this, smiling slightly. "You're not gonna let me rest are you? You know not all of us slept 'till noon, some of us actually went out and did something called training."
"I just need to know if Wolverine was with you when you left."
"Sure he was with us, but he just kind of wandered off as always, seriously do you have a crush on him or something?"
"What!? Don't be ridiculous!" Jubilee yelled, perhaps a bit too fervently, as Bobby, Gambit and Rogue all turned to look at her curiously. The teenager couldn't help blushing deeply. "Thanks for your help Kit..." She quickly took her leave and practically ran out of the rec room, leaning against the wall just outside the door.
God that was embarrassing. She couldn't bring her facial color below a light orange as she continued down the hall, jamming a stick of gum in her mouth in the hopes of calming herself down somewhat.
Okay, she knew where he'd been, now how does she get there? She didn't have a car let alone a license to drive it. Too many things in her way... Well she'd just have to walk. It wasn't THAT far... Maybe she should leave a note in her room though, in case anyone worries. Yeah, she could skip out for a few hours, find Wolverine... Do whatever she was intent on doing and be home before dinner. Yep, it wasn't much of a plan, but she wasn't much of a planner so it was acceptable to her.
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He stalked his pray through the forest underbrush, catching its scent immediately as the light wind touched his face. He moved through the bushes silently as his claws unsheathed themselves from his hands with a soft "snikt" sound. The metal pressed against his thigh as he waited for the buck to draw closer in search of fresh grass.
He leapt out from the bushes with a great howl, his hands lashing out in a wide arc, the adamantium claws tearing easily through the bucks tender flesh, killing it instantly.
He could feel the adrenaline pulsing through his body as his claws slid back into his arms, his entire body tingling with different sensations. Hw felt the cool wind rushing against his bare chest, every one of his senses alive and tingling like a bloodhound.
He tried to live a normal life, but for some reason every once in a while his body just became hyper sensitive like a predator, and he had to escape from the confines of the mansion. He had to get out into the wild and hunt like a wild animal, like he was meant to hunt.
A soft rustling sound behind him alerted him that someone was in the bushes, while the scent of gun oil alerted him that there was also someone on the other side. Somebody was trying to sneak up on him and corner him.
He allowed himself a small smirk as he knelt by his kill. Whoever it was, he'd let them make the first move and expose themselves.
It didn't take long for the two men to leap out of the bushes, each pointing a rifle at him. "On your feet mutant!" The one in front demanded, cocking his gun nervously. Logan smirked slightly as he got to his feet, simply watching the fear on their faces.
"You're coming with us." The other one said a bit more confidently, but still not exactly Captain America.
"What's the charge?" Logan asked simply, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Just come with us!" The one behind him yelled again, inching closer to try to get handcuffs on him. Suddenly Logan lashed out, the adamantium claws sliding out as he left a deep gash in the guys stomach, making him double over.
The other one let one bullet fly. It slammed into the back of Logans head, throwing him face first into the ground, his claws sliding back into their sheathes. The guard approached him slowly, the rifle aimed the whole time.
Logan spoke so softly the guard thought he was mistaken. "You picked the wrong day to mess with me bub..." He lunged upward, his claws unsheathing and cutting a vertical gash straight through his stomach and chest, making him double over with the pain.
Wearily Logan turned to stumble away from them, putting one hand to his head. The bullet had been stopped cold by his adamantium skull, but it sounded almost like a bell ringing in his head constantly, driving him to the point of wanting the bullet to have killed him just to get rid of the sound.
He whirled as more gunfire rang through the forest, the men once again on their feet and after him. The bullets plunged into him, sending him to the ground heavily. His head felt light as he saw the two men standing above him, staring down at him.
"Call the base..." One said wearily, one hand on his bleeding chest. "We got him."
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Jubilee walked along the side of the road at a brisk pace, her yellow trench coat flapping a bit behind her in the steady breeze that kept her cool as she got quite a bit of exercise from her long march, but also stung in her eyes painfully.
Irritably she reached up and pulled her shades down to cover her eyes from the wind. She wished there were a better way to find Wolverine, but she had no idea where he'd be, so she thought to just go where she thought he might be, the nearest bar.
She walked up to the building and pushed the door open, heading inside. There wasn't much of a crowd and those that were there looked too drunk to pose much of a threat to her. Besides, she was a mutant and wasn't exactly helpless.
She approached the bar counter as nonchalantly as she could, sitting on one of the stools spread-legged, turning toward the counter in the swiveling stool. The bartender automatically pulled out a brown bottle and passed it her way.
"Uh... no thanks." She said, pushing it away a bit as she reached into her coat, grabbing a picture out of one of her pockets. "Have you seen him?" She showed the bartender a picture of Wolverine she had of him outside of costume.
"I only talk to paying customers." The bartender said, gesturing to the bottle still in front of her.
Jubilee rolled her eyes a bit and pulled out the money for the bottle, handing it to the bartender. "There, NOW have you seen him?"
"Nope. Have a nice drink." The bartender said as he pocketed the money and went off down the bar to serve anther customer. Jubilee couldn't help a small sigh escaping her lips. She guessed all there was to do was move on to the next bar and see if he stopped by there.
She turned to look at a guy as he stumbled up to her, his speech slurred almost beyond all recognition. "Are you gonna drink that?" He said, his hand gesturing sporadically towards the beer in front of her.
"No... Go right ahead." Jubilee said as she got up from the stool and headed for the entrance of the bar, sighing again. If she ever needed a reason never to drink beer she'd just gotten it, that guy looked totally brain dead. In any case it looked to her like this could take a very long time.
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Logan opened his eyes wearily. He was strapped to a metal chair in a barren room with a mirror on one side. Where was he? The ringing in his head seemed to be gone at least, but now he couldn't move a muscle.
He looked over at the door wearily as it opened up and two people walked through, a man and a woman. The man was average height with perfect brown hair and decidedly sleepy looking eyes. The woman had auburn hair with blue eyes with a deadly serious look on her face.
"Where am I?" Logan demanded.
"I'm special agent Jack Valentine this is Diane Marnason. We understand you were found just outside of town prowling around... Killing things."
"Nothin' in the law against that. I didn't use a gun." Logan smirked a bit as the two agents exchanged a glance.
"Well people are getting worried you might do more killing than deer and rabbits." Valentine said, walking over to stand right above him. "I'm personally more curious though about how you killed those animals. Looked like they were mauled by bears."
"I'm betting your men told you, so cut the crap and give me my parking ticket already and let me out of here."
"Not until you tell me how you killed those animals."
"Why don't you free my hands and I'll show you?"
Valentine just looked at him squarely. "Nobody has to know what your secret is. Now why don't you just cooperate and we can go home?"
"Why don't you get out of my face? Your cologne is choking me." Suddenly Logans claws extended, tearing through the arms of the chair and weakening it enough for him to rip the arms off of the chair. Before Valentine could react he lunged forward and grabbed him, whirling to put him between himself and the agents partner, who already had her gun drawn, the claws of one hand extended right near the FBI agents throat.
"Let him go!" Marnason yelled, keeping her gun trained on him.
"Why am I here!?" Logan exclaimed back, keeping his claws pressed against the guys throat.
"We just brought you in for questioning."
"Tell that to your men who put five bullets in me."
"We've already taken care of them... Now calm down and let him go." Marnason said, keeping the gun trained on him expertly.
"How about you put the toy away... and I walk out of here?" Suddenly a squad of men poured into the room, all of them pointing automatic rifles in Logans direction.
"Whoa whoa hold on!" Marnason exclaimed as Logan tensed up, the claws pressing dangerously against her partners throat. "Don't do anything drastic now!"
One of the soldiers spoke, but never took his eyes off the mutant. "We're here to collect the mutant."
"Try it bub." Logan said, throwing Valentine to the side and lunging forward. His claws sliced cleanly through the barrels of two rifles as the others took aim and fired quickly. He felt several bullets plunge into his back, but he continued running down the hall of what he realized was a hospital.
He was forced forward forcefully as more bullets plunged into his back, several slamming into his spine. He rammed through the front door of the hospital, running for the parking lot as fast as he could manage, his back bleeding furiously from the gunshot wounds.
He slammed into a car, leaning against it for a moment before plunging the claws of one hand into the door, using the other to tear it off the hinges to he could hop into the drivers seat. One claw took short work of the ignition before he took off down the street, slumped over the wheel and driving rather precariously. His sight was going fast, he couldn't heal fully with the bullets still inside him and it HURT like all hell...
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Jubilee looked on in surprise as a red firebird streaked by her on the road, one door missing. She was sure she'd seen Wolverine in the drivers seat, but where was he going? What was he running from?
Her question was answered as a black car headed along the road, hot on Wolverine's heels. Why were they after him? For whatever reason, she had to stop them to give her friend time to get away.
"Okay Jubilee, you can do this, just stall their engine or something." She felt the power mass around her hands as she thrust them forward, letting the fireworks fly just as the car was passing by her. The power struck the hood of the car, punching straight through to the engine and taking it out as well.
The resulting explosion sent her flying back seven feet, blowing the shades right off of her head as she looked on in horror at the blaze that had engulfed the car as it slowly rolled to a stop in the middle of the street.
"Oh... My... God..." She said as she ran as close to the car as she could without getting too close to the flames. "Oh please be okay! Don't be dead!" She moved a bit closer before she heard the sound of another car behind her. She whirled just in time to see another black car pulling up behind her.
"Freeze!" The female agent said as her and her partner got out of the car, their weapons trained on her.
"Oh darn..." Jubilee said nervously to herself as she slowly raised her hands into the air. This had to be the worst luck in history. Try to help a friend, accidentally blow up a car and get held at gunpoint. What a day... All she wanted was to help Wolverine!
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Kitty sat in front of the security terminal of the mansion, kicking back and trying to catch a little shuteye. A slight tap on her shoulder caused her top bolt upright instantly.
"Didn't get much sleep last night?" Jean Grey asked as she sat down in the chair beside her.
"Oh it's nothing like that. Just bored out of my mind. If anything happens the alarm'll sound anyway, why does someone need to watch this?" Kitty replied irritably.
"Well it's for... Things like that!" Jean exclaimed as she got to her feet quickly, staring at one of the monitors. Kitty looked just in time to see a red firebird speeding across the mansion courtyard, showing no intention of stopping. "It's gonna bring the whole mansion down!"
"I'm on it!" Kitty said, taking a running leap for the wall in the direction of the courtyard. Her body phased easily through the solid wall and she continued on her way, running through various classrooms and private chambers on her way to the front of the mansion.
She reached the edge of the building and leapt through the wall, sailing through the air towards the firebird as it neared the building. The hood gave a loud clang as she landed on it, gripping the sides in order to keep from getting thrown off. Through the windshield she saw Wolverine slumped over the wheel, unconscious.
"Wolverine!" She exclaimed. "Wake up please... AGH!" She yelled in panic as the car moved up to the buildings outer wall... Then passed right through it as Kitty phased the entire car.
The firebird plunged into the main hallway of the mansion, startling the heck out of several mutants who happened to be there at the time. "Don't worry! I've got it under control!" Kitty yelled out at them before the car plunged through the steps now, coming out into Professor X's office.
"Wolverine please wake up!" She yelled desperately as they plunged through the opposite wall, coming out into the back courtyard of the mansion. The sky overhead was getting darker by the moment as several flashes of lightning lit up the sky.
She unphased the car and threw herself off of it, landing heavily on the grass as a bolt of lightning struck the hood of the car, shorting out the battery and shutting it down. The firebird rolled slowly to a stop as Storm floated down from the roof of the building, touching down gently on the grass.
Kitty gave a small sigh of relief as several others ran up to see what was going on. "It's Wolverine, he's unconscious." Kitty said in explanation, panting heavily more from the fright of the ride than actual exertion.
"Don't worry hun, we'll have him fit as a whistle in no time." Rogue said as she grabbed him out of the car, heading for the mansions infirmary. Kitty rubbed one shoulder, a bit frightened at what had just happened, but also proud of herself for helping to avert disaster.
Bobby walked up to her, watching her a minute before speaking. "You know it would have been easier if you'd just gotten inside the car and hit the brakes."
Kitty glared at him irritably and waved him away. "Oh shut up." Smirking, she turned and headed for the mansion, ignoring the knowing looks he kept giving her.
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Jubilee leaned wearily against the super thick bars of her cell, sighing wearily. How did she get herself into these messes? Arrested for blowing up a car that was chasing Wolverine that turned out to have government agents in it. Why would the government be after Wolverine anyways?
Ah who cared? She had to get out of here somehow or she'd really get it from the professor for running off on her own like this. Not to mention she wanted to see how Wolverine was doing, just because he looked pretty bad on the streets.
"Alright Jubilee, you helped Wolverine... Now help yourself!" She felt the power building inside her hands before throwing it forward against the bars of the cell. The energy cackled furiously as it struck, but the bars held without much sign of assault at all, this was some thick stuff.
"It's useless." The guard said, smirking at her attempts to break the bars. "This cell was specially made to hold mutants."
"Listen buddy, I didn't mean to hurt them, I just wanted to stop them and..." She was cut off by the guard.
"Will you shut up already? You're giving me a headache!" He yelled violently, shutting the door to the detention area roughly.
Jubilee could only sigh to herself. She was stuck here... Well maybe they would let her off with a warning? A mutant who by all accounts tried to kill two government officers... Hyeah right...
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Professor Charles Xavier sat at the head of Wolverine's bed as he just stared up at the ceiling, bandaged all around the back and head. "What happened out there?" He asked.
"I was ambushed by some goons with rifles." Logan replied, smirking. "Bastards got the better of me..."
"Don't worry about it." Storm said at his side, most of the others crowded around as well. "How did you escape?"
"Got away... got a car... But I think I remember..." Silence prevailed for a few moments after that. "It's a blur..."
"Not to me." Professor X said. "You saw Jubilee on the side of the road."
"Jubilee? Where does she think she's going?" Logan asked.
"She was looking for... You..." Kitty said, suddenly fearful.
"If they found her while they were chasing Wolverine..." Cyclops said, suddenly clenching his fist. "I'm going out to look for her."
"I'm going with you..." Logan said, pushing himself up off the bed, already looking much better than he had earlier once the bullets had been removed.
"You should stay here Wolverine. You were badly injured." Jean said.
"I'm the reason that kid's out there." Logan retorted angrily. "Besides, I feel fine!"
"You were passed out cold not thirty minutes ago!" Cyclops retorted.
"You want me to stay behind? Try to keep me here." Logans claws slid from his hands quickly.
"Gladly." Cyclops put one hand up to the side of his visor on the shudder that controls how thick it is.
"Stop it you two!" Professor X exclaimed, getting in between them.
"I'm goin'. And the only way to keep me from goin' is to stop me. So either get out of my way or I'll move you." With that Logan turned and headed for the door, the X-Men moving out of the way one by one except for Kitty, who just let him pass right through her.
Logan stalked angrily through the halls. That stupid little girl, what did she think she was doing trying to follow him? Well he had to find her, he couldn't let anything happen to her.
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Jubilee peeked cautiously through the thick bars of the cell, seeing that nobody else was present and the door was shut. Satisfied she was clear she squeezed one leg between the bars, trying to push herself through them. She got about halfway through when her forward progress was halted completely.
"Come on I'm not THAT big..." She said softly to herself as she struggled to shove herself further to no avail. "Aw well... Back to the drawing board." She whispered to herself, pushing herself back towards the cell now... to no avail. "Uh-oh..."
She shoved as hard as she could, straining against the bars as much as she could, but she was lodged firmly between them. "Um... This sucks..." she said quietly, shoving as hard as she could to free herself one way or the other.
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Wolverine pulled into the hospital parking lot in his jeep, hopping out and walking around to the back. This was where the guys had taken him, so their base had to be somewhere inside the building.
Of course, he couldn't let them recognize him, so he'd have to sneak in. After grabbing a few things from the jeep he headed over to the side of the building, plunging his claws into it and climbing up to the roof.
He walked over to a ventilation shaft and crept inside it, careful not to scrape and clank too much as he made his way inside, sniffing around for Jubilee's scent. Finally he caught it and crept along the narrow passages toward it, still careful not to make too much noise.
Finally he arrived at what looked like a detention cell. After yanking the grating up he dropped down into it, scanning the bars of the cells quickly for signs of jubilee.
"Uh... Hey..." She greeted him, still trapped between the bars of the cell.
Wolverine smirked a bit and walked up to her, putting his hands on his hips. "What're you doin'?"
"Just please get me out of here..." Jubilee begged.
"Alright just hold on." His claws extracted with a soft sound before he sliced cleanly through the bars of the cell over her head, then under. An alarm sounded the moment the second cut was made. "Let's get out of here!" He exclaimed, pulling her out of the cell.
They both whirled in surprise as a slew of guards busted the door open, only to be thrown back as Jubilee's fireworks struck the door, flinging it out into the hall and probably crushing a few guards along with it.
"Hold them off while I look for a back door!" Wolverine said, running towards the other side of the detention block.
"Just hurry up!" Jubilee yelled, flinging another stream of energy as another guard tried to come through. With the small door no guards had a chance to get inside, but once they got exasperated enough to return fire from the hall there'd be nothing she could do.
Wolverine examined the far wall. It was thicker than his claws were long and there wasn't even the tiniest window in it. They'd obviously planned for keeping mutants here.
He whirled when he heard the sound of gunfire resounding from the hallway. They were sitting ducks in the narrow passage outside of the cells. "Jubilee, get in the cell where they can't hit you!" He yelled, whirling to the cell nearest him and slicing one of the bars off, hefting it for balance.
He waited until the guards peeked in cautiously before charging forward and hurling the metal bar as hard as he could. It slammed into the guards chest, sending him backwards.
As the other guards turned to look at him in surprise Wolverine leapt out of the detention cell block with a vicious howl, his claws carving a vicious arc through the air. The guards were caught off guard and scattered in confusion as he sent one after the other to the ground with kicks and punches, careful not to actually kill any of them.
After a while he heard Jubilee joining him in fighting from the cell block, taking care of the last of the guards with relative ease.
"Alright kid, let's get out of here." Wolverine said, taking off down the hall and quickly spotting a window past another hall.
"A way out! Jubilee exclaimed, running towards it. Suddenly from the hall the sound of extremely rapid fire filled the air, filling the wall with bullets in mere seconds. Wolverine only barely grabbed the teenagers arm to keep her from getting drilled by the bullets.
"Whoa... What kind of hospital is this!?" Jubilee exclaimed more than a bit fearfully.
"The mutant hating kind." Wolverine said as he grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder.
"What are you doing!?"
"Getting us out of here." He said before taking a running leap towards the window, putting one foot forward to shatter it before flying through it, falling three stories towards the pavement below.
Jubilee screamed in fear as she saw the ground approaching, but calmed down once she realized that they'd stopped in mid air. Looking over, they both saw Jean and Cyclops standing in the parking lot, looking at them.
"What are you doing here?" Wolverine asked as Jean set them both down on the ground.
"Looking for you two." Jean replied.
"Well let's get back to the mansion... We should tell the professor about that creepy place." Jubilee said, glancing back at the hospital.
"Right." Cyclops said as he just glared at Wolverine, who just smirked back at him and headed towards his jeep.
He climbed in the drivers side and started the ignition, looking over at the passengers seat as Jubilee hopped in after him. For a few minutes he just stared at her.
"What is it?" Jubilee asked self-consciously, but Wolverine just smirked and shook his head as he started the jeep forward.
They drove on as the sun went down behind the clouds, it'd been a long day for both of them with getting imprisoned and all. Logan just couldn't help feeling that it was his fault she'd been caught and everything, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why she'd gone out to look for him.
He looked over a bit surprised when her head lulled to the side, leaning against his shoulder, her steady breathing telling him she'd fallen asleep. She was undoubtedly the dumbest kid he knew... But for some reason... He loved her like a father.
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Jubilee woke up the next morning with a bit of a start, half expecting to wake up next to Wolverine. But of course that had just been a flight of fancy as she found herself in the room she shared with Kitty, who was still asleep in her own bed.
She'd thought yesterday she knew why she'd left, but today after further thinking she wasn't so sure. Could she really have a crush on Wolverine? He was probably like ten times her age, and with him that probably wasn't much of an exaggeration.
Then why did she like him so much? She knew teenage girls had a tendency to like brute tough men but Wolverine was pushing those qualifications to the limit... Aw well. It didn't matter really. She would never tell a soul. After all, why would he take her seriously? She was just the kid of the X-Men...
THE END
