Gambrel lay huddled in the back of a small cave. Her arms served as pillows, her legs drawn up to capture warmth. The rain smell refreshing and its coldness washed away thoughts, sending her into a long and blissful sleep.
Her mind was wake and alert to the new presence before her eyes ever opened. Someone was crouching beside her starting a small fire and cooking what looked like a can of stewed tomatoes.
"Who are you?" Gambrel asked.
The figure turned and looked over her shoulder. Gambrel starred at the person, definitely female, but the black hair was short and spiky like man's haircut, the person's skin was a deep indigo blue with weird markings over the surface and her eyes were yellow with red irises and the black pupils were slits that swallowed the weak light and reflected it like a natural night vision.
The stranger said nothing but did move to the other side of the fire.
"Sorry," Gambrel said. "Hello."
"Hello yourself and see how you like It." the person said. "I'm Oz, you're Wolverine's child aren't you?"
"What?" she hissed in disbelief. "No! He's my Godfather."
"Funny, you two-"
Just then there was the sound of gunfire and a helicopter. Oz did a sweep kick, knocking the fire into the heavy rain, putting it out immediately. She threw herself into the back wall next to Gambrel and looked ready to fight.
"Who's that?" Gambrel whispered.
"I don't know," she said. "But they've been following me for a month now, I am fucking sick of it, I didn't do anything." She said back in a hoarse whisper.
"What are you doing here anyways?"
"I was looking for a place to cook my food, this was the only place I found, so I set fire, I didn't mean to wake you." Oz said still looking toward the mouth of the cave and the heavy rain.
The rain reduce visibility, they wouldn't have seen anything unless it was a foot away from the mouth of the cave, and even then, the cave wasn't big enough to maneuver in. Oz knew this, she also knew that the type of rock she was hiding under was thick enough to not give off a heat reading to anything airplane or satellite overhead. If they really wanted her they would have to come down and get her.
"Um, Oz, who are you?" Gambrel asked.
"Shhhht." Oz said pricking her pointed ears and inclining her head a bit to hear, but she only heard the rain. "Oh God, how stupid was that?" she said mostly to herself. "To build a fire so close to the mouth of the cave." She shook her head. "Maybe they thought it was just an animal, maybe they left-"
More gunfire, this time bullets entered the cave and ricocheted off the walls. Oz spun around and wrapped her tail around Gambrel's wrist just as the Blackbird flew close by and Storm attacked the opposing helicopter making the storm to harsh and the helicopter had to return to a landing field.
Gambrel had only blinked and she was in a totally new location. A hotel hallway, Oz had transformed into her human form yet the marking bore out in an indigo color looking like tattoos.
"Where are we?" Gambrel asked.
"We're at a friend's place, we'll stay here tonight, then we can leave, you can go if you want, or you can tag along with me."
"Why would I want to do that?"
"I'm not saying you have to, it's just, back in that cave, you looked like you had nowhere to go, nothing to live for… I've traveled the world, and I have only one place I can really think about to go back to."
"And where's that?"
Oz smiled and knocked on a door. "Well, it's certainly not here."
The door opened and a petite woman answered the door. She wore a leather mini-skirt and a tube top. Her sandy hair was pulled into pigtails; she wore purple lipstick and purple eye shadow.
"Oz," she smiled gingerly. "I thought I said I never wanted to see you again."
"I love you too Violet." Oz smiled. "This is…" she turned to Gambrel.
"Gambrel," Gambrel nodded. "Nice to meet you."
"I'm sorry Oz, I don't do women anymore."
Gambrel starred at her. "Excuse me?"
Oz shook her head. "We're not here for that,"
"Oh, but I wouldn't mind doing you-"
"No Violet, I told you, I am not into that… stuff." She gulped. "Besides I thought your deal was men."
"Well, you know, I'm flexible." Violet smiled stepping aside and letting them both in. "So what brings you back to my humble leBeau?"
Oz shrugged. "The same thing that brought me here in the first place."
"Someone's after you?"
"Dead on," she smiled heading into the living room and sat on a couch.
"And her?" Violet smiled at Gambrel.
"Accidentally dragged in."
"Accidentally or…" Violet trailed off when she saw the look Oz was shooting at her. "Okay, okay, what do you need?"
"Do you still have that motorcycle I left here?"
"No I sold it to get implants."
Gambrel snorted. "Excuse me?"
Violet looked over at her. "Uh, Oz didn't tell you?"
"I told you Violet, she was brought into this accidentally."
Gambrel nodded.
"Look," Oz continued. "Is it here or did you really sell it to buy… those." Oz pointed at Violet's tits.
"Well, I had to buy them with something." Violet shot.
"VIOLET!" Oz jumped up. "That was my prize motorcycle!"
"Chill out, I was just kidding! It's on the balcony."
"Oh," Oz stepped back. "How'd you get it there?"
"I asked one of my boyfriends to move it up there to shield it against the rain."
"Wow,"
"Don't say that."
"Thanks Violet."
Violet smiled and turned to Gambrel. "I'm a man."
"What?" Gambrel starred at her.
"I'm a guy."
"But," Gambrel's eyes looked at a rather convincing rack.
"Implants," Violet dismissed and lifted her mini-skirt revealing much more then Gambrel wanted to see.
Oz burst out laughing and went to get her cycle. When she came back walking the cycle to the front door she looked over and saw Gambrel covering her eyes and shaking her head.
"Hey, Hon, sorry," Violet smiled. "Didn't mean to offend you or anything."
Gambrel muttered.
"Can we crash here tonight Violet?" Oz asked. "I'll be gone by sun rise."
"Sure, what about your little friend here?"
"I don't know." Oz said setting her cycle on its stand right against the door. "What are you going to do Gambrel?"
"I'll tag with you for a bit." She said with a sigh. "And, uh, Violet, please don't ever lift your front side to me again."
Violet laughed. "I just need to prove I am a man."
Gambrel shook her head. "That's just not right."
Violet shrugged and left. "The shower is open tonight, I'm not going anywhere, and this is my night off."
"Thanks." Oz shouted to her.
"You know where the blankets are Oz, good night."
Oz yawned. "Night Violet."
Gambrel looked over at Oz. "So where are you going anyways?"
"I'm heading out East, to a nice little place in the country that I'm sure you'll like, the people are okay if they get around to accepting you, you really do have to be open to them though. I know that now." Oz said with a hint of regret. "I probably should have never left that place, I don't know what was wrong with me back then."
"When's back then?"
"Oh, sometime ago." Oz smiled. "A lot can happen in just a mater of months."
"Yes, a lot indeed."
"I left that place, everyone thought I had been killed, but I had just teleported out of the coffin."
"Oh," Gambrel nodded. Xavier had told her about this woman, left with Logan and Kurt to Hawaii but then sent them back to the mansion and she left, trying to find her place in the world.
"Things don't always turn out the way you plan them too you know?"
"I do," she nodded.
*** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Logan shook his head. "I smell Oz." He said confused as they stood in the small cave.
"Oz?" Scott asked. "OZ is dead."
"Oz?" Jak asked shocked. "Dead? Wait, what does Oz have to do with this?"
"You knew her? You knew Oz?" Logan asked.
"Yeah, we lived in Albuquerque together."
"Well, she's here, and she's alive."
Kurt perked up. "Really?" he looked at Logan. "She was here?"
"Wait!" Scott shook his head. "Oz is dead, I saw it myself."
"Dead? You can't kill Oz," Jak nearly laughed.
"You saw a body in a coffin," Logan sneered. "She teleported out of there and left on her own… quest."
Kurt was dancing. "She's back!"
"She's immortal," Jak muttered, thinking no one heard it.
"But where has she gotten to now?" Logan asked looking at Jak about his last remark.
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
"There's something different about you Gambrel, it puts you separate from every other mutant I've ever seen. What is it?"
They were speeding down a desert highway at ninety; they wore no helmets, because Oz owned none.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, its that way you move, they way you are, you're whole being is screaming… different, even with the mutant gene which I know you have, you are still different."
"Well what do you think it is?" Gambrel asked not really wanting to talk about her DNA.
"Well, I don't know." She looked down at her watch, it was half past eleven and her stomach was demanding food. She looked down at her fuel gage, she was running on a quarter tank, might as well fill up. She thought and smiled when she spotted a diner in the desert stretch of nothingness.
They stopped and filled the gas tank then moved into the diner. Oz ordered tomato soup while Gambrel ordered just a glass of water and a slice of toast.
Oz shrugged. "So,"
"So,"
Oz sighed. "Okay, earlier, when we met, you said Logan was your god father."
"He is," Gambrel nodded.
"No, he's not." Oz shook her head. "I can smell it in you, he's your father."
"Godfather!"
"No!" Oz nearly slammed the table, claws extended out quickly, but they retraced quicker still.
Gambrel starred down at her.
"Gambrel, I can smell it in you, the same blood that runs through his vein runs through yours, he probably doesn't even know it, you are his child, you are his daughter."
"But my twin-"
"Then they are too. Logan is you father."
Gambrel merely blinked in shock.
