Disclaimer:
Peter Lee is mine...everyone else belongs to Marvel.
A/N: Um..sorry
about this taking so long. My muses refused to show up and then I heard that
they had taken a vacation (and in the summer too!). My beta reader hasn't had a
chance to read this so please excuse all of the inevitable spelling and grammer
mistakes you're sure to find. PG-13 for language.
Return of the Dragon
3
Time: Three
weeks after Peter Lee's departure
"MAIL
CALL!" Sean's voice boomed through the school, sending the team running
into a sliding, colliding halt in the front room foyer. Monet had flown in,
calmly making her way to Sean when Angelo had hit her from the back and sent
the both of them flying on the newly waxed floors. Covered in flour, stirring a
bowl of dough and looking slightly distracted, Paige had walked in, tripped
over Angelo's arm and sent a wad of cake batter towards Sean who had ducked,
managing to hit the wall in spectacular explosion. Not to be outdone Jono had
strolled up from the basement, carefully stepped over the limbs and various
appendages, when he tripped over his shoelaces.
From the top
of the stairs Emma watched in utter amazement as her team disintegrated
into...her mind fumbled for an appropriate word coming up only with some
demented mutant cosmic joke.
"Ahem...uh...we
got a couple of letter for ye M, some catalogues fer Paige, sample, sample,
sample, bill, bill, bill, and the box is fer all of us. It's from
Jubilee." Sean held up the large box and shook it, interesting rattles
coming from the inside. "Let's take it to the living room and open
it."
The team
managed to right itself and mutely follow Sean into the room, a trail of batter
marking their progress. Emma sighed, and sat down next to Sean. The box was
quickly opened, brown paper scattering across the room, and the individually
wrapped parcels were tossed to their perspective owners. Everyone around the
room began tearing open their gifts, Paige was busy modeling a colorful sarong
that Jubilee had included with a bright, African print, purple bikini , the
others were exclaiming over their gifts while Angelo snuck out of the room. His
gift was fairly thin, and once he was alone on the porch, he opened it to
reveal a deadly looking dagger and sheath. "Dios!" Angelo whistled
softly as he thumbed the blade. Resheathing the blade, he tore open the letter
that had been tucked in.
Dear Ange,
You guys
should come and visit. I miss you.
=)
Jubilee
Frowning,
Angelo reread the letter several times. Jubilee's letter sounded...strange.
Slipping the knife in his belt, he walked back into the living room where
everyone was comparing gifts. Monet looked up from her beaded necklaces as he
came in.
"What
did you get?"
Angelo
absently held up the dagger, as he walked over to Emma and handed her the
letter. "I need you read this."
Emma took
the paper and quickly scanned it. She glanced at him curiously. "I don't
see anything wrong with this, it seems like she's just a little homesick. How
about we go and visit her for a few weeks?" Pulling out her cell-phone,
Emma quickly dialed up Jubilee's home. After talking quietly for a few seconds,
she hung up angrily. Standing up, Emma held up her hand for silence.
"Alright everyone, settle down. I just talked to a Jessica, her tutor or
so she says and she claimed that Jubilee was in the shower and that I could get
a hold of her later. I couldn't tell much at this distance but I do know that
she was lying. How does everyone feel like a quick trip to Africa?"
-in-
-A week
earlier-
Jubilee
breathed hard, her nostrils flaring as she sat in the cold, dark corner between
tall stacks of boxes. In her hands she clutched a khaki pack-back that was
filled with everything she could get her hands on in the precious few minutes
that Jessica had been distracted by shooting on the grounds. With a calm born
of panic, Jubilee had quickly packed and ran for the docks she saw from her
window day after day. Getting onto the ship had been easy after all her years
with Wolverine, and she crouched in a damp wedge in the hold, praying to any
god that Angelo had gotten her message.
Her back was
against the cold metal of the hull, and she could hear the waves lapping at the
ship. Since her uncle's disappearance three weeks ago, she had received letters
from him on a regular basis. On the second week, the letters had dried up. By
the end of the second week, Jubilee was ready to go look for him, but had been
stopped again and again by Jessica, who had turned from cool adult, to
obsessive jail keeper monitoring everything that Jubilee did to listening in on
conversations she had on the phone with Paige. Finally, a week and a half after
Peter's last letter, Jubilee had managed to escape and board a ship that was
headed for Central America.
Tying back
her hair, Jubilee dumped the contents of her bag out onto floor in front of
her. Sighing, she assessed the items unhappily; three bottles of water, granola
bars, beef jerky, three hundred dollars, her cell phone (which wasn't working
of course), the communications device that Emma had given her (also
inoperable), a blanket and a Swiss army knife that she had found in her uncle's
old stuff while she had been exploring the attic on a rainy afternoon. Stuffing
everything back in the bag, she climbed to the top of one of the stacks of
boxes and curled up under the blanket, lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of
the boat.
-in-
-the
present-
"Dammit!"
Emma flung off the helmet angrily. "Jessica may or may not be a mutant but
she has her shields up so tight that I can't get any information out of her. Jubilee has always been under the radar.
Sean do you have any ideas?"
The team had
come to the mansion in hopes of finding help, but had found it empty. Instead
Emma had donned on Cerebro in hopes of finding out more about what was going on
with Jubilee and getting nowhere. The rest of the team were killing time while
sitting around the control room hopefully waiting for word on where Jubilee
could be found.
Monet sucked
on her lollipop thoughtfully. "Does anyone else think that we're making
way too big a deal out of this?"
Paige shook
her head. "Think back on every single time Jubilee has been in trouble. If
something's weird then it most likely means that there's trouble."
"She
doesn't get into trouble all the time."
"Do you
remember the last time we went shopping in town and left her and Emma alone? Do
you remember what we came back to?"
Monet's eyes
clouded as she recalled the 'Pancake Incident' as it was now being called, and
then shook her head. "That was just because they were cooking it had
nothing to do with...."
*Okay,
remember when we were on the road trip to the Grand Canyon for the history
thing and Jubilee made us stop at that roadside rest area for some candy? I
ruined a perfectly good pair of leather pants that day."
"It
wasn't her fault that it was a home for that alien creature."
"M,"
Angelo looked at her. "But it was Jubes that had us stop there."
It takes a
wise person to know when they're beaten and M realized that she had a million
of Jubilee related incidents against her. "Fine, lets go save her."
Exactly four
minutes later Emma and Sean heard the Blackbird fly out of the hangar.
-in-
"Emma
is going to be so pissed." Paige expertly worked the controls for the
flyer, as she glanced back at Angelo who was looking through the lockers for
stuff they would need.
"Just
be glad that you don't telepathy, she's screaming in my ear right now for us to
turn around and come home this instant." The plane veered to the right as
Monet set the coordinates for Durban.
Jono winced.
*Ow...damn, the gel is not happy people. Ange you better have a damn good
reason for us bailing on Frost.*
Angelo
looked up incredulously from the trunk he was pawing through. "Who's
bright idea was it to just hand Jubes over to that man?"
*Emma.*
"Who
said that we owed Jubilee the chance to have a real family?"
*Emma.*
"Emma
and Sean practically threw her to the sharks without a thought. If they come
they're not going to be any help."
"Yeah,
I guess but what about Jubes how are we going to find her?"
Angelo
shrugged, not deterred by mere facts. "We find Jubes first, save her from
the evil clutches of her diabolical uncle who is keeping her locked up in the
basement, starving her and making her watch old Julie Andrews movies..."
he trailed off as everyone turned to stare at him. "What? We have no idea
what that man is capable of!"
*Yeah mate.
That's why a little old man comes after forty years in the jungle to find his
long lost grandniece- to torture her* Jono rolled his eyes at his best friend. *Give me the letter she sent
you.*
Reluctantly
handing over the letter Angelo went to stand behind Monet as winds began to
buffet the plane. Jono regarded the legal sized page for a moment before
pulling out his lighter and flicking it open. He turned to his friends as he
started a flame. "We all claim Jubilee isn't the brightest of our bunch
but why would she use a perfectly good piece of paper for a total of two
lines?*
"Three."
A sullen mutter came from the front of the plane.
*Whatever. I
think that she might have left us a message besides the one in ink.* With
steady hands, Jono ran the flame lightly under the paper and within seconds
words began to darken on the page. *Voila! You can all thank me later in
records and cash.* Jono smirked as they rushed to see the paper.
"Wow,
how did you know?"
Jono ducked
his head and mumbled something. *wnmwahsweesee*
Paige
frowned and leaned closer. "Huh?"
*I saw it on
a episode of Sesame Street okay?"
"Yeah
but how did you know that Jubes..."
Throwing up
his hands in disgust Jono buried his head in his arms. *Because Jubes was there
too okay. We watched Sesame Street and saw how to write secret messages!*
Everyone
paused in their inspection of the letter to take a good look at the man they
once thought they knew. Angelo gingerly patted him on the shoulder.
"Uh...it's okay man."
Paige waved
the letter in their faces. "Guys, the letter? Here's what it says; Dear
Ange, I really do miss you but I can't write very much. Hopefully Jono
remembers that day when we watched TV so you're reading this now. Here's the
skinny, about a month after I left Uncle Pete got a call from an old friend
that needed his help and he left. He said that he would be back within the week
and I haven't heard from him in two weeks. Jessica, the woman he left in charge
has turned jail keeper on me and I can't trust her hence the secrecy. I'm
heading out to help Uncle Petey and I need some back-up. Come soon, please. The
last letter was postmarked from a town in the middle of the Yucatan called K'alakmul
that supposed to be some major Mayan site. I'm going there. Meet me as soon as
you can. Since I have to keep my shields up I'll try and call you as soon as I
can get to a phone. Miss you. Love, Jubes." Paige grinned. "And she
put a little heart next to her name. Well it looks like we're headed towards
Mexico folks."
Monet began
to turn to the plane to the west and shrugged. "This is going to be
good."
"Wait!
What if she couldn't get out and is stuck, trapped in the clutches of that evil
woman."
Paige rolled
her eyes. "I thought we were going to rescue her from that evil uncle of
hers."
"Evil
smeviel! Jubes could be in trouble and we're heading in the wrong
direction." Angelo had managed to degenerate into a person, while still
loved by all, that was a worrywart and it was only his obvious fear for a
certain cute firecracker that his teammates were choosing at that time to
ignore him (and probably saving his life while they were at it).
Monet sighed
witheringly. "From the person that claims Mama Espinoza didn't raise any
stupid children you sure are acting like it. He's spent the last major part of
his life in Mexico. Logical conclusion is obvious."
Paige shook
her head. "I agree with M, if Jubes can get out of Bastion's prison then I
think she's already on her way. We'd just be wasting time and fall into Emma's
hands if we headed towards South Africa. Let's vote."
"Mexico."
"I'm
for Mexico."
*I say Jubes
is strong, and we'd be underestimating her if we thought she wasn't halfway
there yet. Mexico.*
Angelo
looked at his teammates, tugging at his nose thoughtfully. Finally he threw up
his hands in the air. "Let's visit my motherland amigos."
-in-
After a week
of surviving in the dregs of the ship, Jubilee awoke on the sixth morning to
the sounds of men yelling out direction to crane workers who were starting to
unload the cargo. Quickly grabbing her belongings Jubilee heft the backpack on
her back and started climbing up some boxes to the opening where things were being
lifted out. The ship creaked and shuddered under the strain and within a half
an hour Jubilee was walking on the docks heading towards the small village
clustered around the bay.
The dirt
road sent up tiny puffs of dust each time her booted feet hit the ground, as
she slowly walked in the sweltering heat towards a small café about a mile
ahead. Jubilee squinted under the harsh sunlight and sighed as she made her way
across the village. It was fairly quiet, almost silent after the sounds from
the docks faded into the distance. Glancing around, Jubilee failed to see
anyone sitting around doing...anything for that matter. Clearing her throat,
Jubilee shook her hair free from it's ponytail and let it hide her face.
The café was
small and dark and the owner looked at Jubilee noncommittally as she walked in.
Clearing her throat, Jubilee pulled on three years of Spanish lessons and
hearing Angelo talk. "Hola."
"Mmph."
"Como
estas?"
"Mmph."
Jubilee
smiled winningly, only to have it fall flat at the man's expressionless face.
"Um…Perdone…um…puede ayudarme por favor?"
"Que?"
"Estoy…"
Jubilee racked her brains for some words other than taco and enchilada to
appear. "publico telephono? Por favor?"
The older
man nodded and pulled out an ancient looking telephone. "Si."
Unsure
whether to accept the offer of the phone, Jubilee gave in and quickly dialed
Paige's cell phone. It rang two times before it was opened. "Oh thank god, Paige
this is.."
"Hello you
have reached Paige Guthrie's voice mail. Leave a message after the beep."
"Crap. Paige
this is Jubes, I'm in um…." Jubilee turned to the old man. "Donde estamos
ahora?"
Smiling, the
man patted her hand. "Isla de la Juventud."
Jubilee
frowned. "Um I'm in Isla de la Juventud. In Mexico right?"
The older
man shook his head. "Non, Cuba."
Her hands
clenched on the phone as she forced herself to remain calm. "Paige, I'm in a
tiny village in an island off the coast of Cuba. I have to go now. Come and get
me." Hanging up the phone, Jubilee forced herself to look at the man who was
beginning to frown.
"Que es
esto? Americano?"
Jubilee
began to back away. "No, no. Ne Americano. Fuck." Turning on her heel, Jubilee
sprinted out of the café and into the countryside with the older man screaming
at her back.
-in-
A/N I have
nothing against Cuba, but I am well aware that in the smaller villages there is
a lot of fear of outsiders. More is to come…have fun and please review!
