Kurt Wagner cursed under his breath and drew his hood up higher; lights and laughter bristled inside the usually empty church, and he knew he had been closed off again. He had begun to doubt the God that his foster mother had taught him about some while ago, but when he found the church, more than a little musty but empty and as homey as it could be, he thought that maybe he might have faulted. After all, if God could provide a place for a seventeen year old demon to sleep without fear, there must be love somewhere in his heart, right? Now, with the church full of happy human families, he knew he was done with the church. He had nowhere else to go, but he could not try to see God's light anymore.

"What hope did I ever have on my own?" He wondered aloud, pushing his hands into his pockets.

There was a shrill scream, and he glanced upwards a bit. The dark sky was beginning to fog up, and rain was trying to spit onto his head. The scream echoed in his head, and he was ashamed to say that he felt angry with it. He started off towards the sound.

Jubilee backed against the wall, letting out a scream as links hit the wall next to her head.

"Come on, fellas. Who says we couldn't work this out over a cold soda?"

The bigger boy flicked the chain at her and almost caught her. She moved away in time, wondering what they would do to her if they knew that she a mutant as well as a 15 year old walking the street. She knew she couldn't give them the chance to find out.

She dodged another flick of the boy's wrist and heard her voice spilling from her mouth.

"What right do you have to do this?" She asked angrily. "Don't you have sisters? Don't you think this could someday happen to them? Do you really want to have to imagine them backed against a wall by a couple of bullies?"

All the while, she tried to hold sway over her tongue. She metally kicked herself for being so loud, so damn bossy. She was busy yelling at herself when the chain caught her on the side of her head, opening a gash in front of her ear and knocking the sense out of her. The pain that flashed in her skull knocked the wind out of her, and she fell to her knees, staring dumbly at her palms. She could still work out sense in her mind, and sense said to blast them for all she was worth, but the rest of her ignored her. She swayed on the concrete and stared up at the boys as they advanced on her. There was a puff of dark smoke down the alleyway and she knew her mind was trying to crash on her. She wondered if she would be able to reboot once the boys were done with her.