Saturday
The den of the X-Mansion...
"...I know, but superheroes don't take money. Superheroes work at Burger Fool."
"Superheroes used to work at Burger Fool..."
"Huh?"
"I've been meaning to tell you. After you didn't come back to work the other day--"
As he heard footsteps approaching, Evan quickly changed the station to ESPN. Afterward, Evan slyly hid the remote, and continued eating his cereal, hoping that whomever was approaching hadn't been listening too closely.
Dressed casually, Jean entered the den and surveyed the scene. Popcorn, empty bowls and pop cans littered the floor. Cushions and blankets were strewn out everywhere else. Apparently the Godzilla marathon had gone as well as planned. Jean made a mental note to profusely thank Ashley for the movie. Then she spotted what she was looking for.
"Evan," she called out cordially. "Great, you're up. Can I talk to you for a moment?"
With his mouth full of food, Evan looked at Jean. 'Aw great,' he thought. 'The telepath. Maybe if I can just act really natural...' After swallowing, Evan responded in a casual tone. "Uh, sure Jean. What about?"
Jean bit her lip, almost apprehensibly. "...Well, about Pietro."
At the mention of his long-time rival, all previous concerns left Evan's mind. "What about him?"
"Well..." Jean trailed off, searching for the right way to word things. Abruptly, the TV went to an overly loud commercial. Jean shut off the TV with a telekinetic tap, and then resumed. "Yesterday, a friend and I stopped at PS-76 Middle School. There was a girls basketball game going on in the gym. And while I was there, I spotted Pietro."
Evan hastily shoved his cereal aside. "You serious?! You mean he was scouting someone for Mystique?!"
"That's the thing," replied Jean. "I don't think he was. First off, if there was a mutant around, Cerebro should have given us some kind of warning. Second, he didn't act like he was there following orders..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa... You saying he was there voluntarily?"
"I... Think so." Jean trailed off, thinking. "Evan, does Pietro know anyone at PS-76? Would he have some kind of connection to that place?"
Evan shook his head. "No. None. In fact he always considered them our biggest rival..." A look of realization formed on Evan's face. "Waitaminute. You said there was a basketball game going on?"
"Yeah. But it was a girls game..."
"We'll worry 'bout that later," cut in Evan. "What was the other team?"
Jean rubber her forehead as she searched her memory. "I'm... I don't know. I never caught the name of the other school. ...But I think I saw the name 'Lanterns' on a banner or something..."
"The Lanterns?! The Green Lanterns?"
"Yeah... Yeah, I think the other team had a green color scheme. Why? does that mean anything to you?"
Evan responded with a faraway look in his eyes. "The Lanterns... The PS-82 Lanterns. PS-82 is a feeder school to PS-104. Its where Pietro and I went to middle school..."
"Well, that explains it," chirped Jean. "I guess Pietro was just looking in on some of his old friends."
"No. No, that doesn't explain anything..." Evan looked at Jean with a serious expression on his face. "Pietro hated '82! With a passion. He said he'd never go back there..."
"Well, obviously, he did."
For a moment, Evan sat silent, thinking. Slowly, things began falling into place. "Wait... Pietro hated '82 because he had a falling out with the basketball program. If he's forgiven the program, then... Then that's where he's probably been disappearing to!"
Jean blinked in surprise. "Disappearing to? What do you mean?"
"Well, according to some inside information, the speedster isn't too friendly with his friends in the 'Hood. He doesn't seem to have a direct problem with the team, he just doesn't get too social. Whenever he can, he goes off and hangs out by himself."
Jean chuckled. "With guys like Blob on the team, can you blame him?"
"Not really," conceded Evan. "But still... Man, if he's really back at PS-82, I'd really like to know what he's doing over there..."
"Why not find out?"
Evan regarded Jean with a condescending look on his face. "Jean, if he won't tell Alvers what he's doing, there's no way he'll tell me."
Jean responded with a smirk. "I'm not saying ask him. I'm saying we should find out for ourselves."
"You mean tail him? Dude, I really don't think the Professor would go for that. Not unless we can prove he actually doing anything wrong..."
"Who said anything about telling the Professor?" After a slight pause, Jean continued. "I mean, this isn't 'official' X-Men business here. Especially since we don't know if Pietro's really doing anything wrong. We don't know if he's really doing anything, period."
Another look of realization was coming over Evan's face. "So, you're saying..."
"We just tell the others that we're going out cruising. Its reasonable enough. And part true. Eventually, we end up at your old stomping grounds. And if Pietro just happens to be there..." Jean finished with a smile. "...Then its just a crazy coincidence."
After a pause, Evan began to chuckle, softly. "Jean, I never knew you had it in you..."
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