Girl 2.
In an ideal world, I'd be able to leave telling Logan to Emma, but then, in an ideal world, a lot of things would be different. I'd be flipping a coin between J August Richards and Hugh Jackman, for starters. There would be no point in wasting time, as Angelo points out. Emma stays to keep an eye on him and JJ; Beast drives me back to the mansion. It takes a couple of hours, but that's not nearly long enough.
The place is different, of course. I'm not so naïve as to think I can just slide back in, but even so it's disturbing. For one thing, there never used to be a dozen hack photographers camped outside the main gate, which is the reason Hank gives for going in the back way. As we drive through the grounds, I catch glimpses of a whole bunch of mutants I don't know. I guess it should make me unhappy or nostalgic or something; instead, it just irritates the crap out of me. I can't say anything, of course, though if I see the guy who coma-ised Blue he won't know what hit him. That doesn't matter right now, though; I've got someone far more difficult to deal with.
He's outside the front when we pull round there, doing katas on the lawn. Like Hank he's wearing one of the new black leather numbers; because he's the Wolverine, he's left off his shirt.
There's no way to tell whether he smells me or sees me first, but he breaks off his latest sequence of movements and lopes over towards us. He stops about ten feet away. We're both still sitting in the car.
'Heya, Wolvie.' I say. He grins, but in a slightly puzzled way. Hey, I'm sixteen. I don't have to hug him on sight.
The new uniform makes him look a lot taller. At least, I think it's the uniform. Stranger things have happened around here.
'Jubes.' He growls in acknowledgement, and my mood breaks and I can't stop myself from grinning right back at him. He starts to prowl forward, and I vault the car door and hit him in the chest. It's been way too long.
After a few moments Hank gives one of his patented 'Dr McCoy will see you now' coughs behind me, and Wolvie puts me down and goes back to grinning at me. I grin back, and if the big blue guy hadn't coughed again, louder, that might have gone on all night. But he does, and I remember why I'm here, and also what Emma said about overdependence. I take a step back to lean on the car, and almost manage to make it look casual.
'What's wrong, darlin'?' He asks.
'I've got a double.' I say quickly, before I can lose my nerve. He doesn't seem to get it.
'What kind?' Asks a new voice, and it's Scott, Cyclops, standing on the doorstep looking stern and strong and anal retentive and more like home than anything I've ever seen. I don't hug him. You need a psychic link with Scott before you get to do more than pat him on the shoulder, but I give him a little smile. He doesn't smile back, of course, but he's pleased to see me. I can tell.
'A nonmutant doppelganger from an alternate reality.' Hank supplies from behind me. 'Essentially harmless, or as much so as an individual with the name of Jubilation Lee can be, but adrift, alone and alarmed. Jubilation and Angelo encountered her in Los Angeles, and conspired to convey her across the continent.'
'What aren't you telling us, McCoy?' Logan asks. His growl isn't so friendly any more. Kitty told me once that this guy called Ogun managed to put one over on him, once. I don't think anyone else ever managed it. I like Blue. I seriously don't want him dead, and not just because Bobby would never forgive me, and that's why I answer for him.
'Wolvie, she . . . How can I put this? She had the life I'd have had if I hadn't followed Storm and Betsy and Dazzler to Australia.' He looks back to me at that, and frowns in puzzlement. Scott and Hank are getting as close to non-verbal communication as a guy with his face stuck in a visor and the Hairball that Walks like a Man can do. The ol' Fearless Leader obviously gets what I'm saying. He's probably spent a lot of time thinking about who he'd be without Xavier. Logan, on the other hand, doesn't get it at all.
'We put her on cold turkey as soon as we found her. Beast and the White Queen have worked out a rehab program.'
It takes him a long time to answer. Finally:
'Where is she?'
We all get back in the car.
Girl 1.
The afternoon's been pretty shitty by most peoples standards, which means not so bad by mine. Frost Lady helped me clean up, muttering something about getting me a haircut (yeah, 'cause then I'll look just a little bit more like Blue Eyes), and she and Angelo have just got me settled down with cold water and salt crackers when the buzzer goes. She looks seriously pissed off.
'Why don't you all come in?' She says, very pointedly – except I don't see her lips move. Then she opens the door. Blue Eyes comes in first, with Hank at the back. In between them . . .
'Don't mention prostitution.' Frost's voice says in my head. I'm tough – I know I'm tough – but I seriously don't like her doing that.
The two guys coming towards me would almost look like a comedy act, if they weren't both so grim. There's about a foot between them in height, and they're both dressed in black leather. Frost's still talking in my head.
'Wolverine and Cyclops. Despite my best efforts, our version of you continues to regard them as her primary role models.'
At the last moment Cyclops hangs back, and Wolverine – the short one – walks up and just glares at me for a moment. I feel like a deer in the headlights. Luckily, Angelo chooses to step between us.
'Look, just back up a little, man.' He says. 'Give the girl a little space.'
Wolverine growls at him – actually growls – and I remember what Angelo told me about him. He's seriously scary. But then Cyclops puts a hand on his shoulder, and he seems to relax just a little. He takes a step back and sits down. Cyclops just looks at Angelo – and let me tell you now that no-one can stare like a guy whose eyes are hidden by a weird-ass red and gold visor – and he gets out of the way and goes to stand behind the couch I'm on. Finally, Cyclops sits in a chair off to the side of all of us.
He speaks first.
'Jubilation Lee? I'm Scott Summers. It's good to meet you.'
Girl 2.
Wolvie has his faults – he's not the world's greatest conversationalist, his personal hygiene is occasionally substandard, and he does tend to brutally murder anyone who annoys him, especially if they're from Weapon X or the Hand, to list but a few of them – but he takes his responsibilities fairly seriously. When we were together, he looked after me; when I had to go away, he put me in the care of one of his most trusted friends. I never really thought about what my disappearance might mean to him. He was glad to see me.
Junkie Jubes, on the other hand, makes him angry. He's not angry with her; he's angry at the world – but then, isn't he always? He's too much aware of how little control most people have over their lives to blame her, but there's nobody else. So he's got her scared.
That's why I brought Scott along. He's annoyingly uptight all the time, and paranoid, and about as different from Logan as two men can be, but he's about the only other person I'd trust to keep him under control. He's doing that right now, with Hank and Ange and Emma hovering nervously and JJ cowering on the couch.
Scott's not saying anything, he's just sitting there, watching.
After a few moments Wolvie gets himself under control enough to speak.
'Jubilee?'
'Yeah?' She sounds sullen. I guess I sound the same when I'm frightened. He knows that. Everyone here does. But Wolvie seems to be at a loss for words all over again. He looks up at Emma.
'Look after her, Frost.' He says, and then gets up and walks out of there. Scott and Hank go with him.