Disclaimer: I don't own anything in regards to the Marvel characters. The belong to (big surprise) Marvel.
A/N: This is a sequel to Graduation: The Beginning…hope you like it. This should stand on it's own but it probably helps if you read it. And just for the record, Deanna has slight telepathic abilities.
Chapter 2
The rundown motel room was dark, the curtains had been tightly drawn against the dusky haze of the evening. Windows rattled every time a truck roared by making the floor tremble under the person's feet. A lone figure watched the flickering screen of the television where the president was just announced as having won the election for yet another term, their thin form sunken into the battered arm chair with faded blue roses peeling on the side.
"Paah!" The a gob of spit landed on the brown carpeting in disgust. A black boot ground the saliva into the tread, as the figure paced around the room. Despite all of the ads against Pearson, the damn woman had managed to win again. The lithe figure angrily kicked a stray towel out of the way, sending the filthy cloth across the room to land on the heater.
"Together we can make our future!" Pearson excited announced from the screen. Without turning to look at the woman's jubilant face, a foot lashed out and television exploded in a shower of glass, smoke and sparks. Crouching down in the floor, a hand picked up a hot shard of glass and squeezed it, letting the blood drip from the clenched hand. The sting quickly blossomed to a dull throb, pain would only serve to fuel the mission.
A smile slowly crossed Alias' face, if one way didn't work then come hell or high water, the next plan would. With sure fingers, she pulled out some worn photographs from her coat pocket. It had been over four years ago, on a routine robbery when she had come across The Book. Alias had spent over fifteen minutes cracking open the safe to find a tattered old leather bound book, and was going to throw it out when curiosity had overtaken. Three pages into it had revealed Alias and the role that would come in the future. The role that would fufill the dream of a mutant free world, save for one child.
So, Alias had waited, scrounged in the cover of darkness like a rat, constantly switching names, identities, waiting for the day when the child would be seen, the key to everything. And then just a week ago, Alias had been in a small town of Salem, eating lunch at a local café, when the child had walked by. Time had stood still as the laughing child whispered something to her mother. In that instant Alias knew that for the plan to succeed, the child must die.
-in-
The strains of Lord of the Dance filtered through the sound of the shower as Sean enthusiastically sang along. Emma smiled at a particularly off key note, and got up from her position on the bed to pull a leather bound book from a hidden spot underneath their window seat. Two years ago, she and Sean had finally married into a blissfully happy life. They had moved into a mansion about an hour away from Xavier, both wanting to be far enough for space and still near enough to stay in touch with their former students.
Shutting the seat with a click, Emma settled down into the soft seat and opened the book. She had discovered it's presence about five years ago and since had spent time trying to decode the mass of images and writings. One thing had been blatantly clear though…
"Em? Can ye get me a towel?" Sean called from the foggy depths of the bathroom.
Emma smiled. "Sure thing, be right there." Tracing the first picture with a manicured finger, she deftly shut the book and tucked it back in it's hiding place. Picking up a towel from the closet she went to the bathroom when a hand whipped out and grabbed her. Laughing, the book was quickly forgotten for the moment and the detailed drawing of a blue-eyed, black haired toddler on the first page.
-in-
"Now?"
"Almost."
A second managed to tick by before- "Now?"
"Soon now."
A minute dragged by- "Now??"
Jubilee looked down at the toddler who was hanging from her hand, skipping ahead, tugging at her mother's annoyingly slow pace. "Deanna." A simple warning and a raised eyebrow was enough to calm Dena to the point where she slowed down enough to walk beside her. Jubilee rubbed her forehead, she had the makings of a killer migraine and pain was already beginning to spike behind her eyes. Closing her eyes for a moment, she switched off the pain receptors so that she only felt the occasional twinge, grateful that she had a quick fix. While she dearly loved her daughter, she was something if not persistent.
Dena's fourth birthday had been two days ago, an important date according to Jubilee and Logan who told her that she was old enough to start training. Two very long days later Jubilee had finally made time to head down the Danger Room and set up a beginner program that involved gymnastic equipment. Logan had been unexpectedly called away to provide back-up for the team as they investigated some riots that had broken out in South America, leaving Jubilee alone with Dena for this little adventure. Which was why Penance was with them now. After four years of raising Deanna, Jubilee had no illusions about what kind of trouble she could manage to get into. Just last week the little girl had managed to climb out on to the roof to try and fly when Storm had spotted her as she jumped off. Instead of scolding the child, Ororo had flown Dena around the yard before setting her down on the lawn. Jubilee sighed, as they entered the Danger Room. That little adventure had firmly addicted Dena to flying and she was waiting for the next attempt with resignation.
*What you have planned?* Penny asked as they walked out onto the floor. The past year with Dena had done the mutant wonders, the formerly mute woman was now almost fully articulate and she had enough control over her powers to the point where others could touch her without being hurt. She and Jubilee had become extremely close, since both had a flair for shopping, something that had emerged in Penance when she stopped having to wear steel reinforced outfits.
"I thought that we'd try her out on the balance beam, a little meditation and some basic moves..." Jubilee trailed off at the skepticism that was dripping off Penny. "What?"
*Baby good but not that good."
"The key is repetition, not learning cold the first time. Besides wait till you see who I programmed as the baddie." Jubilee grinned and let Dena run off to explore the empty room. "Computer run training program Deanna 1."
The room shimmered as the landscape was created around them. The converted into a dojo that had a gymnastics set-up with a balancing beam and floor mat (Jubilee had initially programmed a full set until she took one glance at the uneven bars and remembered who she was dealing with. She was not ready to deal with a broken bone or worse just yet).
"Dena, come here."
"Yep yep yep yep yep yep yep yep yep yep yep yep!!!" Dena giggled hysterically in her excitement and launched herself into Jubilee's arms.
"Well I guess you're ready. Let's start. First before anything we stretch out so that we don't hurt any of our muscles." Jubilee led Dena to the floor mat, where Penny was standing. "Computer play warm up music." The soft strains of Vivaldi washed over the trio, as they slowly worked their bodies, Dena's chubby arms and legs clumsily mimicking her mother's movements.
After a few minutes, Jubilee switched off the music and helped Dena up. "Good girl."
An expression of suffering crossed the little girl's face. "Do we haveta do this? It's bo-ring."
"Yeah, anything worth doing is worth doing right." She automatically replied, the words out of her mouth before she realized what she said. Jubilee groaned, burying her head in her hands. "Dear God, I've become Cyke. 22 years old and I've already lost it. Joy."
Dena tugged at her mother's sleeve in concern. "Momma?"
Sighing, Jubilee forced a smile. "Just realizing that my childhood may have been more traumatic than I first thought."
Penny chuckled. *Ready to start self-defense?*
"Sure. Computer, set up opponent Bad Blue difficultly level of 0.5 safeties on." The room shimmered again as the opponent materialized in front of them. Penny and Jubilee exchanged a grin, as Barney clapped his hands together. This was going to be fun.
Half an hour later Barney lay motionless on the floor, Jubilee was exhausted, Penance was ready to collapse and Deanna was bouncing up and down in her excitement. "What now? More please?" Fragments of sentences were escaping from her lips in excited bursts, as she tugged on both of their hands.
Laughing tiredly Jubilee shook her head. "Sorry babe, Momma is worn out. Kaput. Finished. But I do have a surprise for you. Computer run TR1." The room shifted once again to reveal a padded room, with a harness hanged from the ceiling. "This is so you can have all the fun of flying, without shooting off into space." Jubilee carefully tied Dena into the harness, and once she was sure that everything was secure, let go.
Dena's scream of delight bounced off the walls as the little girl twirled and flipped in the air, suspended by the two cords. Penny looked at Jubilee curiously. *Where did you get idea?*
Jubilee grinned as she watched Dena swing around the room. "Remember when we went to see Tomb Raider last week? I actually built this for me and modified it for Dena after the whole flying fiasco. This has got the be the best idea I ever had."
-in-
Hunched over a laptop, Alias quickly went online with the ease of years of practice. Over the past few years and the resulting peace that had blossomed from Pearson's presidency, security at the mansion, while not forgone completely had been getting lax. It was this breach that made it easy for Alias to circumvent the passwords and security that protected the mansion's system. Within minutes the entire computer data base was accessed.
Alias grinned as the files were quickly downloaded into a zip disk. Tonight was good, and now it was going to get better.
-in-
Penny and Jubilee watched the happily swinging girl from two lounge chairs that Jubilee had called up. One of the new features Forge had installed was a fantastic sound system that was able to log onto any radio station in the world as well retain memories of people's play lists. Which was why Aerosmith was blasting from the walls, making the walls shake slightly with each beat. It was also why both Jubilee and Penny didn't see the harness snap.
Jubilee looked up in alarm as Dena's scream had changed from glee to terror, as she sailed through the air heading towards the far wall. Without pausing to think she sprinted towards her child, knowing that no matter how fast she ran it would be too late. Desperation fueling her movements Jubilee made a mad dive for the child before she hit the wall, and was only able to catch her after the small child had hit the wall with a sickening thud and fell into her mother's arms.
Fear threatened to choke Jubilee as she caught Dena, her legs almost collapsing from the strain of the impact. The bundle in her arms was motionless and with Penny keeping her up, the two ran to the Medical Lab where Hank was already waiting having been informed by Penny of the situation.
The large man tenderly took the small child from Jubilee's arms and laid her on the examining table, the child's body limp. Frowning, Hank check her vitals and softly probed her arms and legs for any broken bones. He had x-rays taken and just to be sure, blood stats run to make sure that there wasn't any internal damage. Half an hour later Hank turned to Jubilee puzzled relief. "Deanna is fine. There aren't any broken appendages, internal damage to any of her vital organs or even so much as a bruise on her body."
"Thank God." Jubilee practically sobbed as she cradled Dena in her arms, her hands double checking Hank's prognosis. "You're right. Do you think she's invulnerable?"
"No, when she was born she showed no signs of it, but there is a simple test." Hank produced a pin and quickly pricked Dena's finger.
"Ow!" Dena's eyes popped open as she glared at Hank and sucked her finger where a bead of blood was oozing out.
Hank bowed deeply and produced a pink neon band-aid and a lollipop. "My sincerest apologies mademoiselle. We were trying to figure out if you had become in…hey!" Hank glared at Jubilee who had quickly stomped on his bare foot.
*The last thing my daughter needs to get in head is the idea of invulnerability or even the possibility of it. Thanks to 'Ro I have a daughter now obsessed with flying, do you really want to be responsible for something else?*
Jubilee smiled widely at her daughter who was looking back and forth between them suspiciously. "He was doing doctor stuff. How about we go into town for some ice-cream?"
"Daddy too?"
"We can bring some back for Daddy if you want. You remember what his favorite flavor is?"
Dena scrunched up her face in an imitation of her father. "Choc'late and only choc'late."
"Brilliantly said sweetie."
*Bribery?* Jubilee got a mental image of Penance shaking her head. *Tsk, tsk tsk.*
"So do you want to come or not?"
Penance pretended to toss her hair over her shoulder. *Penance is above bribery.*
"Fine then."
Jubilee started to walk out the door when she felt a small prod. *Bring me back the green nut kind.*
Laughing Jubilee and Dena walked outside to the convertible, Rogue's convertible to be precise, that was sitting in the driveway. Just sitting there. Both Jubilee and Logan had their own motorcycle, and had purchased a SUV for Dena's carseat. Glancing furtively around Jubilee quickly (as quickly as unloading and resetting up a carseat can be…so let's say half an hour) set Dena's carseat in the backseat of the convertible and drove off down the road with a quick mental call to Rogue who was conveniently in the shower.
-in-
Alias cursed as Jubilee and Dena drive off via the mansion's security cameras that had been hacked into.
"Fine, you want play it rough we'll play it rough." Taking one last look at the convertible and it's license plate number, fresh clothes were quickly pulled on and put a hat on the face was obscured. Running out the room, Alias squealed out of the lot and into the road towards the only ice-cream parlor in town. Each time the little girl escaped death, the next time would only bring more people down with her.
-in-
Sighing contentedly Dena sucked on her thumb that was conveniently still covered with strawberry mess. She was full, happy and in her lap was a container of chocolate ice-cream for her Daddy. Dena squirmed a little as the coldness began to come through her lightweight pants, and she lifted the container up to shift it when it slipped out of her hands and onto the road as the car hit a slight bump. The next events happened so rapidly that it was blur. As Jubilee glanced back to see what Dena's cry of dismay was about, the ice-cream splattered on the road hitting the rear left tire causing the car to spin out of control as the tire lost its grip. At the same time a car raced past a red light and headed straight for Dena's side of the car, but since it was spinning it hit Jubilee's side of the car, slamming both cars to a dead stop. From Dena's position strapped securely in the back, she could make out a tall, black haired woman climbing out of the car and running away. Anything else was lost in the confusion in the pain of realizing that her mother's constant psi-connection had been brutally severed, and that her mother was screaming in pain.
-in-
A/N: the Muses are back but I should have the next part up by this weekend. Have a great week!