Disclaimer: I own neither the X-Men nor Spider-Man. I also do not own the
villans. I own Kassy and the other characters I will introduce. If I did
own anything other than my new characters, I'd be filthy stinkin' rich.
(Sighs wistfully) And I'm not making any money out of this, so there's
really no point in suing me.
___________________________________________________________________________
It had been so long since she'd been anywhere near here. This was probably a bad idea, but she'd had the strongest urge to come home. To New York. Besides, she wanted to see if it was true.
The breeze gently tossed her dark hair a bit. During the nearly three years she had been travelling around the country, her hair had been about every color that hair could naturally be. And even a few colors that it couldn't naturally be. Not to mention the different lengths it had been. Now it was finally back to it's original color and length. She preferred it this way.
Her face had changed a little, but not much. The thing that had changed the most were her eyes. They no longer resembled those of a deer. They had hardened where they had once been soft. The sparkle of childhood and innocence had left them the night she left this place the first time. She no longer looked frightened of the world, as well as curious. There was something about her that told people she was not someone you wanted to mess with. Even with dark shades covering those eyes, like now, she gave off an aura that made people stay away.
Of course, some people didn't get that message. Like that guy she'd hitched a ride with last week. He had wanted 'payment' for his kindness. She'd told him to go to hell. So, he'd tried to force himself on her. A decision she had made him regret. He'd nearly wet his pants when she pulled out the switchblade she always carried and threatened to make sure he could never have sex, consenting or otherwise, again. The sniveling little weasle had begged for mercy. But she wasn't letting him off the hook that easily. Especially since she knew he had probably done it before and would try to do it again to some other girl who wasn't carrying a weapon. She wondered how many stitches he had needed to close up the slice on his cheek. It would leave a nasty scar, she knew. This way, he'd always have a reminder that there are women who would fight back.
She wandered down the streets of the city. Three years. Had it really been that long? She'd moved around so much, it was hard to keep track of time. A few weeks here, a few weeks there. She never stayed in one place too long. She couldn't afford to. More than once, she'd almost been found out. The last thing she wanted was to be returned to her father. She did miss her mother, but, as far as she was concerned, it wasn't worth the risk of being trapped in her father's world again to contact her.
People stared at the girl as she went by. She wore a pair of form-fitting black jeans, a dark top and a black jacket. There was an air of mystery about her. But also an air of danger. People stepped slightly to the side as they passed her, not wanting to touch her for some reason. Touches on the sidewalk, of course, were as inevitable in New York as traffic jams. Those who did touch her felt a strange chill, feeling the cold she exuded. Still, this was New York, and a moment later, they forgot all about her, going back to their usual worries and concerns. Back to their own lives.
No one seemed to recognize her. She had expected as much. It had been three years, after all. People had moved on with their lives and forgotten all about the spoiled little rich girl who had dissapeared one night. The $50,000 reward her father had offered for her safe return, and had made the first year of her life on the run the hardest one, had long been forgotten. For that, she was grateful. But she still had a couple of cans of spray in hair color, in case of an emergency.
There was a small crowd gathered in front of an electronics store watching a news broadcast. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she slowed to see what was up. Brown eyes narrowed and glared at the screen as she recognized the man being interviewed as one of her father's right-hand men. He was ranting about mutants. How they were dangerous and were contaminating the human race. She shook her head in disgust. "Idiot," she mumbled.
"Hey what are you?" asked a voice. She turned her attention to the two guys about her age standing in front of her. "Some kind of mutie lover?"
She must have said it louder than she thought. Oh, well. She'd dealt with morons like this before. "No," she answered, shaking her head. "Not a mutant lover. Just someone who knows what kind of misery a racist asshole like that," she nodded towards the screen, "can bring to a person's life. Now get out of my way." She roughly shoved one of them aside and, bumping the other's shoulder, walked past them, leaving them to stare dumbly after her.
She wasn't really sure which way she was going. It didn't matter. Just as long as she never saw her father again, she didn't care where she was. Now, all she had to do was find out exactly how to get to her destination.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
At last! She seated herself in front of the open computer. She had been waiting for one to open up for half an hour now. Not surprising really. This was one of today's growing trends. Cyber Cafes. Places that served coffee and food while allowing you to surf the net. There weren't that many around. Yet. But with the cash the few around were pulling in, there was no doubt in her mind that they would become as easy to find as Starbucks.
Why hadn't she just gone to the library, she wondered. It was less noisey. And there weren't muffin crumbs on the keyboards. But she'd been kind of hungry and the smell of coffee had led her to enter the moment she found the place. It was so crowded that she should've obeyed her first impulse and walked right back out. But *noo.* She figured that she might as well grab a latte and, since she was already here, might as well use one of the computers.
She set aside her latte and her banana nut muffin and accessed the net. Okay, what was the name of the place she was looking for again? Excalibur? No. Xanthus? No. What was it? Xavier? She thought that was it. She typed it in and searched the name.
To her surprise, the first thing to come up was not a school, but a man. Xavier, Charles. There was a picture of a bald man next to the name. Hey, I remember him, she thought to herself. He'd been on television a couple of times to speak about mutants. He believed they could co-exist peacfully with humans. She skimmed the information on him, comfirming who she thought him to be. She snorted. Yeah, sure. Humans and mutants could co-exist. If they could somehow get rid of all the people like her father first.
She sighed heavily. Personally, she would love to see humans and mutants getting along. She also knew it would be a very looooong time before it happened. It didn't matter what all those bigots thought. Not all mutants were bad. Just like not all humans were bad. Unfortunately, the mutant terrorists who were making headlines and anti-mutant organizations were making it very difficult for people to realize that.
She continued skimming until something caught her eye. Apparently, Charles Xavier ran a school. The Xavier School For The Gifted. "Bingo," she muttered with a smile. She typed it in and searched. She hit paydirt. An address and phone number. She quickly riffled through her bag until she found a pad of paper and a pencil. Glancing back and forth from the screen to the notepad, she copied the address and number. Then she ripped out the piece of paper and shoved it in her pocket.
She happened to glance up as a few people walked in. Her eyes widened a bit. They were wearing F.O.H. shirts. Friends of humanity my ass, she thought. Not wanting to be anywhere near them, she calmly shoved the pad and pen back in the bag and closed the window on the screen. Trying to look as natural as possible, she stood and walked towards the door. After two steps, she stopped, turned back, and grabbed her coffee and muffin. Then, she was out the door.
One of the guys in the F.O.H. shirts spotted her just as she was pushing the door open. "I'll be right back," he told his friends. He went to the door and pushed it open. He looked both ways, but the girl had dissapeared. He frowned and shrugged. She had looked vaugely familiar. Oh, well. He went back to join his friends.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
She found a park and sat down on a bench. There, she finished off her small meal and allowed herself to relax, somewhat at least, for a few minutes. After a while, she fished the paper out of her pocket.
The Xavier School for the Gifted. She'd heard rumors about that place. Rumors that it was really a safe haven for mutants. What surprised her was that an organization like the F.O.H. hadn't attacked it. Then again, Charles Xavier was a very prominent citizen. Besides, what if the rumors weren't true? No one in the country would support the F.O.H. if they attacked a school that turned out to be full of normal people.
1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, NY. That was over in Westchester. She rolled her eyes skyward. "It couldn't have been closer," she muttered. It wasn't really all that far. Less than an hour drive. But on foot... She supposed she could take a cab, but the money she had wouldn't last forever. A bus?
After going to two different convenience stores, she found a bus schedual. She also bought a couple of sandwiches and a bottle of Dr. Pepper. She sipped from the bottle as she studied the schedual. She'd already missed the bus that would take her all the way to Salem Center. The next one wasn't for a few hours. She didn't want to stay in the city that long. She might be tempted to do something stupid, like look up some old friends. Well, *a* old friend. When she thought about it, most of the few people she had been friends with weren't really friends. Just contacts to the outside world. In fact, she'd never gotten the chance to know most of them very well because of the way her father had kept her cut off from the rest of the world. Some of those so-called friends had only wanted to be around her because she had money. When it came right down to it, there was only one that she really missed. And she didn't want to drag him into her screwed up life.
Calmly, she waited for the bus that would at least take her into Westchester. Sure, she could've just walked there. God knows she'd walked farther distances, but it would be pretty late by the time she got there. Besides, she deserved a break from walking and hitchhiking every now and then, right? Impatiently, she looked at the cheap, but functional, watch she wore. Ten more minutes. She could handle ten more minutes. Growing anxious now, she shifted from one foot to the other. It was true that her chances of being recognized were slim, but they were still there. And, quite frankly, she didn't want to run into any more F.O.H. members. They sickened her.
Finally, the bus got there. She climbed on, paid for the ride, and sat down near the back. Purposely, she sat in a seat that was right over the wheels, knowing most people avoided those seats at all costs, and settled in for the drive to Westchester.
_________________________________________________________________________
Okay, still no X-men. In the next chapter. I promise, there will be actual X-Men in the next chapter, not just a mention of one.
___________________________________________________________________________
It had been so long since she'd been anywhere near here. This was probably a bad idea, but she'd had the strongest urge to come home. To New York. Besides, she wanted to see if it was true.
The breeze gently tossed her dark hair a bit. During the nearly three years she had been travelling around the country, her hair had been about every color that hair could naturally be. And even a few colors that it couldn't naturally be. Not to mention the different lengths it had been. Now it was finally back to it's original color and length. She preferred it this way.
Her face had changed a little, but not much. The thing that had changed the most were her eyes. They no longer resembled those of a deer. They had hardened where they had once been soft. The sparkle of childhood and innocence had left them the night she left this place the first time. She no longer looked frightened of the world, as well as curious. There was something about her that told people she was not someone you wanted to mess with. Even with dark shades covering those eyes, like now, she gave off an aura that made people stay away.
Of course, some people didn't get that message. Like that guy she'd hitched a ride with last week. He had wanted 'payment' for his kindness. She'd told him to go to hell. So, he'd tried to force himself on her. A decision she had made him regret. He'd nearly wet his pants when she pulled out the switchblade she always carried and threatened to make sure he could never have sex, consenting or otherwise, again. The sniveling little weasle had begged for mercy. But she wasn't letting him off the hook that easily. Especially since she knew he had probably done it before and would try to do it again to some other girl who wasn't carrying a weapon. She wondered how many stitches he had needed to close up the slice on his cheek. It would leave a nasty scar, she knew. This way, he'd always have a reminder that there are women who would fight back.
She wandered down the streets of the city. Three years. Had it really been that long? She'd moved around so much, it was hard to keep track of time. A few weeks here, a few weeks there. She never stayed in one place too long. She couldn't afford to. More than once, she'd almost been found out. The last thing she wanted was to be returned to her father. She did miss her mother, but, as far as she was concerned, it wasn't worth the risk of being trapped in her father's world again to contact her.
People stared at the girl as she went by. She wore a pair of form-fitting black jeans, a dark top and a black jacket. There was an air of mystery about her. But also an air of danger. People stepped slightly to the side as they passed her, not wanting to touch her for some reason. Touches on the sidewalk, of course, were as inevitable in New York as traffic jams. Those who did touch her felt a strange chill, feeling the cold she exuded. Still, this was New York, and a moment later, they forgot all about her, going back to their usual worries and concerns. Back to their own lives.
No one seemed to recognize her. She had expected as much. It had been three years, after all. People had moved on with their lives and forgotten all about the spoiled little rich girl who had dissapeared one night. The $50,000 reward her father had offered for her safe return, and had made the first year of her life on the run the hardest one, had long been forgotten. For that, she was grateful. But she still had a couple of cans of spray in hair color, in case of an emergency.
There was a small crowd gathered in front of an electronics store watching a news broadcast. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she slowed to see what was up. Brown eyes narrowed and glared at the screen as she recognized the man being interviewed as one of her father's right-hand men. He was ranting about mutants. How they were dangerous and were contaminating the human race. She shook her head in disgust. "Idiot," she mumbled.
"Hey what are you?" asked a voice. She turned her attention to the two guys about her age standing in front of her. "Some kind of mutie lover?"
She must have said it louder than she thought. Oh, well. She'd dealt with morons like this before. "No," she answered, shaking her head. "Not a mutant lover. Just someone who knows what kind of misery a racist asshole like that," she nodded towards the screen, "can bring to a person's life. Now get out of my way." She roughly shoved one of them aside and, bumping the other's shoulder, walked past them, leaving them to stare dumbly after her.
She wasn't really sure which way she was going. It didn't matter. Just as long as she never saw her father again, she didn't care where she was. Now, all she had to do was find out exactly how to get to her destination.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
At last! She seated herself in front of the open computer. She had been waiting for one to open up for half an hour now. Not surprising really. This was one of today's growing trends. Cyber Cafes. Places that served coffee and food while allowing you to surf the net. There weren't that many around. Yet. But with the cash the few around were pulling in, there was no doubt in her mind that they would become as easy to find as Starbucks.
Why hadn't she just gone to the library, she wondered. It was less noisey. And there weren't muffin crumbs on the keyboards. But she'd been kind of hungry and the smell of coffee had led her to enter the moment she found the place. It was so crowded that she should've obeyed her first impulse and walked right back out. But *noo.* She figured that she might as well grab a latte and, since she was already here, might as well use one of the computers.
She set aside her latte and her banana nut muffin and accessed the net. Okay, what was the name of the place she was looking for again? Excalibur? No. Xanthus? No. What was it? Xavier? She thought that was it. She typed it in and searched the name.
To her surprise, the first thing to come up was not a school, but a man. Xavier, Charles. There was a picture of a bald man next to the name. Hey, I remember him, she thought to herself. He'd been on television a couple of times to speak about mutants. He believed they could co-exist peacfully with humans. She skimmed the information on him, comfirming who she thought him to be. She snorted. Yeah, sure. Humans and mutants could co-exist. If they could somehow get rid of all the people like her father first.
She sighed heavily. Personally, she would love to see humans and mutants getting along. She also knew it would be a very looooong time before it happened. It didn't matter what all those bigots thought. Not all mutants were bad. Just like not all humans were bad. Unfortunately, the mutant terrorists who were making headlines and anti-mutant organizations were making it very difficult for people to realize that.
She continued skimming until something caught her eye. Apparently, Charles Xavier ran a school. The Xavier School For The Gifted. "Bingo," she muttered with a smile. She typed it in and searched. She hit paydirt. An address and phone number. She quickly riffled through her bag until she found a pad of paper and a pencil. Glancing back and forth from the screen to the notepad, she copied the address and number. Then she ripped out the piece of paper and shoved it in her pocket.
She happened to glance up as a few people walked in. Her eyes widened a bit. They were wearing F.O.H. shirts. Friends of humanity my ass, she thought. Not wanting to be anywhere near them, she calmly shoved the pad and pen back in the bag and closed the window on the screen. Trying to look as natural as possible, she stood and walked towards the door. After two steps, she stopped, turned back, and grabbed her coffee and muffin. Then, she was out the door.
One of the guys in the F.O.H. shirts spotted her just as she was pushing the door open. "I'll be right back," he told his friends. He went to the door and pushed it open. He looked both ways, but the girl had dissapeared. He frowned and shrugged. She had looked vaugely familiar. Oh, well. He went back to join his friends.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
She found a park and sat down on a bench. There, she finished off her small meal and allowed herself to relax, somewhat at least, for a few minutes. After a while, she fished the paper out of her pocket.
The Xavier School for the Gifted. She'd heard rumors about that place. Rumors that it was really a safe haven for mutants. What surprised her was that an organization like the F.O.H. hadn't attacked it. Then again, Charles Xavier was a very prominent citizen. Besides, what if the rumors weren't true? No one in the country would support the F.O.H. if they attacked a school that turned out to be full of normal people.
1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, NY. That was over in Westchester. She rolled her eyes skyward. "It couldn't have been closer," she muttered. It wasn't really all that far. Less than an hour drive. But on foot... She supposed she could take a cab, but the money she had wouldn't last forever. A bus?
After going to two different convenience stores, she found a bus schedual. She also bought a couple of sandwiches and a bottle of Dr. Pepper. She sipped from the bottle as she studied the schedual. She'd already missed the bus that would take her all the way to Salem Center. The next one wasn't for a few hours. She didn't want to stay in the city that long. She might be tempted to do something stupid, like look up some old friends. Well, *a* old friend. When she thought about it, most of the few people she had been friends with weren't really friends. Just contacts to the outside world. In fact, she'd never gotten the chance to know most of them very well because of the way her father had kept her cut off from the rest of the world. Some of those so-called friends had only wanted to be around her because she had money. When it came right down to it, there was only one that she really missed. And she didn't want to drag him into her screwed up life.
Calmly, she waited for the bus that would at least take her into Westchester. Sure, she could've just walked there. God knows she'd walked farther distances, but it would be pretty late by the time she got there. Besides, she deserved a break from walking and hitchhiking every now and then, right? Impatiently, she looked at the cheap, but functional, watch she wore. Ten more minutes. She could handle ten more minutes. Growing anxious now, she shifted from one foot to the other. It was true that her chances of being recognized were slim, but they were still there. And, quite frankly, she didn't want to run into any more F.O.H. members. They sickened her.
Finally, the bus got there. She climbed on, paid for the ride, and sat down near the back. Purposely, she sat in a seat that was right over the wheels, knowing most people avoided those seats at all costs, and settled in for the drive to Westchester.
_________________________________________________________________________
Okay, still no X-men. In the next chapter. I promise, there will be actual X-Men in the next chapter, not just a mention of one.
