Disclaimer:
We all know I don't own them right? Right.
A/N: Thanks
for everyone who helped with the Spanish so the standard disclaimer applies; if
you are fluent are familiar with the language and I've horribly butchered it in
some way then just let me know and it'll be changed. Have fun and please
review...it makes all the difference in the world. : )
Return of the Dragon
5
Jubilee sat
up with a start, as the pounding on the door continued. She started to get up
when a hand grabbed her and clapped onto her mouth, sparks began to crackle as
Jubilee struggled when she heard Carlos's soft voice whisper in her ear.
"It's only me, be quiet and let me answer the door. Go hide under the
bed." Jubilee squirmed in the thin opening, shoving a few boxes in front of
her as Carlos pulled a sheet that divided the room to shield the women. Once
satisfied that the girl was out of view, Carlos pulled the door open angrily.
"Who is
this and why have you disturbed this house?"
Jubilee
could see several boots from her position under the bed, and her breath hitched
as she counted five men. Her mind raced as she felt around under the bed for
some kind of weapon to be used for protection when her hand closed around a
metal ring.
"We
have orders to search every house in the area. There is dangerous fugitive on
the loose and we're here to protect you."
The teenage
boy stood tall, seemingly uncaring of the machine guns only inches from his
face. "Do you know who lives here? You're trespassing on the property of
Rose Gonzalez."
At this, the
men stepped back uneasily. "We are only following orders."
From behind
the curtain Tante Rose stepped out, holding her head regally as she secured her
robe. Her hair was wild and had curled into ringlets sometime throughout the
night. "Who bothers me at my own house?"
The leader
stepped forward and bowed slightly, lowering his gun in the presence of the
woman. "My apologies Senorita Gonzalez but we have been ordered to search
the houses for a dangerous fugitive that has gotten loose in the area. My only
concern is for your family's safely."
Rose stepped
back and waved to her house. "Then search, but remember if you do not find
what you seek in this house, I will take your presumptuousness as dishonoring
my casa and my name by thinking we would harbor such a fiend in my house. Your
choice senor."
The leader's
eyes quickly glanced around the small shack from the doorway, unwilling to step
past the boundary of the door. "My mistake Senorita. Please go back to
sleep and we will disturb you no further." The men quickly backed out and
started to jog down the muddy road to the next house in the far distance.
Once Carlos
was sure that the men were far from the house, he knelt down to look under the
bed pushing aside some boxes. "Jubilee it's alright you can come...."
He trailed off at the empty space. "She's gone."
Tante Rose
only smiled. "As I figured she would, we were to help her rest and then
she would continue on her journey."
"She's
all alone." He protested, throwing the window above the bed open and
peered into the night.
"She
wouldn't have accepted our help anyway. Go back to sleep Carlos, morning will
be here soon." Smiling she brushed back her son's hair and nudged him
towards the mat. After a few minutes, she heard the slow and steady breath of
sleep and soon fell into the darkness herself. Below her a slight draft blew in
from the almost unnoticeable crack in the wall that had enough leeway to allow,
if someone wanted, to squeeze through and then fit back into place without
anyone noticing.
About a mile
away from the shack, Jubilee looked back at the small house with a sad smile.
The last thing she wanted to do was get some more people into trouble,
especially those that had been so kind to her. Catching her breath Jubilee once
again started jogging westward in hopes that she would eventually end up in
Mexico somehow. As the shack faded from sight, Jubilee would have no way of
knowing that the house she had slept in was one of the most powerful mutants on
the southern continent in precognition, whose sleep was already troubled by
dreams of things yet to come involving a young teenage girl with the weight of
her family on her shoulders.
-in-
Once the men
were out of view from the house the tallest man looked at his comrades.
"Carajo." He swore softly to himself as he scanned the horizon where
the moon was just beginning to rise above, and saw a figure briefly outlined
against the bright orb. "Let's go get the girl."
One of the
younger ones looked at him in horror. "She's a known witch, do you really
want to cross her?"
"I
answer to Vanya and not that puta. Come on!"
And so as
Jubilee breathlessly ran into the night, she was totally unaware of the men
closing in on her and her imminent capture. The first clue she had was a
blinding pain in the back of her head and before tumbling into unconsciousness.
-in-
The next
thing Jubilee was aware of was a bright light that was making her head ache
even more than it was already. She was being half carried and half dragged down
a cool corridor, her left foot scraping painfully on the ground, raw from the
rough terrain since she had lost her shoe in the desperate fight to get away.
Keeping her body limp, Jubilee could make out two men on either side of her
dressed in black uniforms, machine guns slapping softly against their sides as
they walked stiffly down the hall. Jubilee heard a door open and was roughly
shoved on a chair, her arms and legs bound with wire that cut into her flesh.
There was no way that Jubilee could blow the wire off her without severely
damaging herself in the process.
A man kicked
her, causing her to sit up with alarm. The room was huge, looking like an empty
warehouse with huge windows on either side of room, and the ceiling going up
dozens of feet. In front of her was a simple wooden desk, with a leather chair.
The occupant of the chair was currently turned away from her so she couldn't
make out his face, but she could smell the reek of cigars as wafts of smoke
floated around the man.
Jubilee
glared at her captor. "So is that stench just you or the cigars as well?"
"Child, you
have caused much damage to my business. I've lost face with some of my
associates and that doesn't make me happy. I don't like being unhappy." The
man's voice was soft with a thick Russian accent.
"What are
you some B movie? I'm sorry but the whole Godfather thing is out." Jubilee
flipped her hair over her shoulder and grinned. "Have you ever considered
therapy, I hear it does wonders for orally fixated mobsters like yourself."
"Brat!" The
chair swiveled around to reveal a large, blond man in his fifties. To put it
mildly, he was massive; large broad shoulders that made up his heavily muscled
body. He glared at her for a second, cocking his head to the side as he studied
her. Jubilee could only stare at him in silence, her blue eyes wide. "But you
are like a fly to me and just as easy to take care of." The man pulled out a
large silver gun, cocked it and put it against her head.
The younger
guard fidgeted nervously and the blond man looked at him furiously. "What is it
Garcia? Unwilling to see a child die?"
He clenched
his hand, avoiding the man's eyes. "She's just a child and alone. What is the
point, sir?"
"The point
is that no-one crosses me." Seemingly disgusted by his men's reaction he violently
motioned towards the door. "Get the hell out of here you pathetic excuses for
men. I'll deal with you later."
The guards
quickly filed out and soon there was total silence in the room as Jubilee and
the man looked at each other. And then he pulled the trigger.
-in-
Several
miles away Tita woke up sobbing, her scream shattering the night as images
flooded her mind. She curled into a ball, forcing her mind on other ideas,
topics, items, issues; anything to keep the painful realization that she had
just seen a gun go off at her new friend's head.
"What is it
sweetheart?"
The small
girl clutch at her mother, her tears wetting the soft fabric of her nightgown.
"Jubilee is dead, mama. Dead! I saw it!"
Tante Rose
sighed sadly, and stroked the wet cheek. "Be brave, be brave…."
-in-
The blond
man grinned and put the gun back in his holster. "Well, that was easy."
"A little
over dramatic if you ask me."
"Please, I
should get an Oscar for that performance."
Jubilee
rolled her eyes. "Please. Now cut me loose."
"No one is
grateful anymore you know." He commented as he undid the wires around her
ankles and wrists. "People rush here and there and what is left? I tell you, we
need to smell the roses." Helping Jubilee to her feet, he stepped back to look
at her critically. "You're awfully skinny."
Sticking her
tongue out at him, Jubilee laughed and jumped into his arms to give him a bear
hug. He chuckled, swinging her around easily as a doll before setting her down.
Jubilee stood on her tiptoes and gave him sound kiss on the lips. "Nice to see
you again Uncle Vanya."
"And now,"
Vanya sat back down and patted his knee. "come, sit on my lap and tell me what
my little Leelee is doing out in the middle of nowhere, stowing away on my
ship."
Giggling,
Jubilee sat on his lap and leaned her head against his shoulder. "You just want
me on your lap you dirty old man."
Patting her
waist suggestively he pretended to leer at her. "And how often do I get the
chance to have a beautiful young woman on my knee?"
"Perv."
Laughing
uproariously, Vanya leaned back in the chair. "Not for a quite a few years
now." He touched her face softly, his face saddening for a moment. "Ah, little
one you look so much like your mother. I'm so sorry that they died."
"They were
murdered by a man called Bastion."
"I heard you
took care of it personally. Everyone said you took him down and put him away
for life." Vanya beamed at her. "All you had to do was ask and he would have
been taken care of."
Jubilee
shrugged. "I wanted to do it on my own, besides I want him to be punished, not
pushing up daisies. It was a family thing."
"We are
family. Who was it that used to bounce my knee and call me Nana?"
"Yeah, I
know. I just needed to do it on my own."
"I
understand. I kept all the clippings though."
"Are you
serious?" Jubilee laughed.
"I've always
proud of you, like a daughter."
Her eyes
darkened and she pulled away slightly. "A daughter that you never see, never
call?"
Sighing,
Vanya looked Jubilee in the eye, his face serious. "My little Leelee, your
father and mother welcomed me in like family and treated me as such. They made
me your god-parent when they had you and I was thrilled. After they were
killed, the bank refused any and all business with me and I was forced to more
illegitimate means of making money. This lifestyle is the last thing you
needed, and I didn't want you to get hurt."
"Seems like
everyone wants to protect me these days. I am capable of taking care of myself
you know." Jubilee's lower lip jutted out as she sucked on a lollipop stolen
from one of his pockets.
"Jubilee, it
isn't that we think you're weak, it's that we care. So, tell me now, what are
you doing here?"
In between
yawns, Jubilee recounted the whole tale to his sympathetic ears and almost as
soon as the last sentence was said, she had fallen asleep on his lap. Shaking
his head softly, he pulled out the lollipop and set her down in his chair.
Looking at her with an indiscernible expression for a moment, he pulled out a
cellphone and punched in some numbers.
-in-
Jubilee
smiled as she slowly woke up, only aware that she was warm, lying on something
soft, and gently rocking back and forth, back and forth….a blue eye cracked
open to see a small porthole with the sun streaming through. Tiredly getting
out of the bunk, Jubilee noticed that her clothes had been replaced with an
oversized silk shirt that hung around her knees. Rubbing the fabric absently,
she padded over to the window and peered out. Not particularly worried, Jubilee
poked around the room, finding some clothes her size in the tiny wardrobe and
put them on. After Jubilee had put on the T-shirt (pink), the shorts (with
little butterflies embroidered on them) and shoes (thankfully white with purple
laces) Jubilee walked up onto the deck.
Cheerfully
manning the helm was Vanya, and he waved to her as she stepped out onto the
deck. "Hello! Did you sleep well?"
Jubilee
gestured to her clothing. "Why am I in pink? And who undressed me last night?"
"Little
Leelee, I was wiping your baby bottom when you were less than a year old. It is
not a big thing for me to put you to bed. As for the clothing, pink has always
looked good on you…plus you were asleep and couldn't say no." The older man
looked slightly shocked when Jubilee blushed a beet red, and scrambled up the
stairs to where he was. "What?"
Jubilee
paused a moment to breathe. "I appreciate the sentiment and all but I'm 16 now,
it's a little…" she glanced up at his totally sincere face and faltered. "Never
mind. So where are we going?"
The yacht
bobbed as it sped along the water, it's sleek body smoothly cutting though the
waves. It was fairly large and stationed at key points around the railing were
guards. Jubilee had no illusions about what the older man was capable of and
what he did for a living, a week in his cargo hold made sure of that. However,
she did know that he would never hurt her, which was why she felt no worry in
his presence.
"You said
you had to go to Mexico, I thought that'd I drop you off in Cancun myself. I'll
have to leave you there but I think you'll be okay, no?"
Jubilee
flung her arms around him and kissed his cheek. "Nana you're the best."
"That's what
I keep telling everyone but no one believes me I think." He put an arm around
her, giving her a squeeze. "Good thing you do."
-in-
A day later…
The streets
were crowded as people from all walks of life had their vacation on the sunny
beaches. Jubilee had (after being given a credit card from Vanya) found a hotel
and checked into a suite. She spent the first few hours walking around and
shopping for the clothes she would need. Once she had gathered everything (and
burned the pink outfit), Jubilee decided to go for a walk along the streets.
The back
alleyways were fairly quiet, and Jubilee strolled down these little pieces of
history throughout the city. As soon as her feet had touched Mexican soil, she
had felt a tugging sensation as if she was being drawn somewhere. She had
ignored it during the day, but as the evening approached she let the impulse
take her where it wanted. Soon it became clear that it was drawing her out of
the city and it was dark by the time she made her way back to the hotel.
Sitting out
on the balcony, Jubilee stared at the phone for a minute before biting her lip
and punching in a number.
"Hola?"
"Hey Ange."
Jubilee
grinned as she heard him whoop in delight. "Where ya been Chiquita? We've been
looking all over for ya."
"I sent you
that note in the presents. Didn't you guys get it?"
"Yeah, Jono
figured it out for us but after that we were looking for you here and nothing.
We even went down to that Calakazam city and nada."
"Did you
guys ever check Paige's voicemail?" In the background Jubilee could hear Paige
defending herself as she was pelted with various items in the room after she
had repeated the message Jubilee had left. "Guys? Guys!"
"Yeah, I'm
here." Angelo answered after a few seconds. "So you're in Cuba now?"
"No,
actually I'm in Cancun. Where are you guys?"
"Hey we're
here too! We're at…Some Hotel Meridian…hey is that right….yeah, it's a hotel
Meridian. We figured since Emma was paying, we might as well wait for you in
the best right?"
Jubilee
suppressed a sigh. "What room are you at?"
"Uh..forth
floor at room 451."
"I'll come
on over okay?"
"Cool, see
ya then."
Suppressing
the urge to roll her eyes, Jubilee walked down the hall and took the elevator
down. Two minutes later she stopped outside a brown oak door and knocked. The
door was almost immediately clung open by Angelo who stared at her in shock and
then gave her a wry grin. "Let me guess, either you've suddenly become very
fast or we're in the same hotel."
"And they
said that you weren't the smart one."
Jubilee
suddenly found herself hugged very, very tightly and blinked hard to stop the
tears from falling. Squeezing Angelo back, Jubilee heard him whisper in her
ear. "It's been the longest three days of my life, Jubes. I'm glad you're
safe."
"Now I am."
Jubilee murmured in his neck and chuckled softly.
"What is
it?"
"You guys
are never going to believe what happened to me."
-fin-
A/N: Hope
you liked it, and please review! Oh and Rachel…the pancakes were delicious!
