Second Best
An. Thanks for all the reviews, though I don't mind constructive criticism too! Mid-terms are over, so the senior slide begins, so that means I get to write more. *waits for applause from the crowd, but sighs when there is none* Keep up the great work and I will keep on writing.
Love to all reviewers, *hey I am in a good mood, I'll love you even if you don't review!*
Bry
Sumerstormes@aol.com *talk to me anytime*
Chapter 4
On the Verge
Bobby's head jumped off the back seat of the cab. "What?" he mumbled.
"We're here, buddy. That be 25.50 some time this year." The cab driver didn't even bother to talk to him.
Bobby shook his head as he dug his hand into his pocket. He must have fallen asleep during the ride from the train station. He had been up since he had left the mansion the night before and he hadn't been able to sleep on the train with the worry building up inside him. He tossed the money at the driver and pushed the rusted cab door open. His bag hung on his shoulder, and he walked up the driveway that swept up to his house.
Even though the temperature was in the low seventies, he gripped his black leather jacket closer to his frame. Usually he was able to control his mutation, but under severe stress, it had a mind of its own, and sometimes it even made him feel chilled to the bone.
His feet dragged up the stairs that looked a lot better then the last time he had seen them charred. If this was a normal visit he would have opened the door himself, but since he didn't feel like he belonged he just pushed the door bell.
It took moments for his mother to open the door, but when he saw her face he just witnessed relief. "My baby." she cried out as she lunged to hug Bobby. He hugged back as she stroked his hair. "My baby, I missed you so much. Oh, I don't care anymore Bobby. You're still mine no matter what you are." She held on, not realizing her tears were crystallizing on her face. She leaned back and looked up. "You got so tall. Oh, and so handsome!"
He let out a little smile. "Whatever, Mom." but he felt a blush building. "Where is Dad?"
"Right here." William Drake stood behind his wife, his welcome not as open as hers, but he felt a slight relief to be able to see one of his sons alive and well. "It's good to see you, Robbie. Let's hope we can just find Ronny now."
Bobby nodded as his mom dragged him into the house. "What happened? What caused him to run?" He sat his bag down in the entrance way, and followed them into the living room.
Madeline's blue eyes filled with tears again. "We fought. He was so dead set against your not coming back… He started yelling and screaming at me. Ronny was so hateful. I told him we would talk when Dad got back, but he barred himself into his room." She stopped, trying to gain her strength back. "When he didn't answer the door later, we thought nothing about it since he was always having his temper tantrums, but when he didn't come out for breakfast in the morning, Dad took the hinges off the door and found he was gone. We wanted to call the cops, but since we found…" She stopped.
William continued. "We haven't been a favorite with the cops since…the incident. And with this piece of evidence, we weren't sure if they would be overly sympathetic. That's why we called you."
"What did you find? You just said he ran because of me. What could cause the police to just ignore your citizen rights?"
Madeline left the room without saying anything. William looked at his son. "We just know this is bad. We haven't been too fair with you this year, but you lied to us Robbie. Your lying caused Ronny to break down. We can't just leave him go. We need help. He needs your help. And we thought with your connections, with the professor's, you would be able to find him…"
"We found this in the hole in his closet. I don't know what kind of funds he had, or if he took any drugs, but we know this is involved." She handed a red piece of paper to him.
He took it into his hand, his fingers feeling shaky. "Oh Ronny." He looked up at his parents. "This is bad. Bad. He wants to become…" He felt physically sick. "I need to go to his room… I need to make a call. I need…" He jumped up from the couch and ran up the steps.
Madeline sat down next to her husband. "I guess it isn't any better then it looks."
"We raised a good son. He will help us get Ronny home before he does anything stupid." He picked a piece of ice off her pale skin. "I think we can turn off the air conditioner." he said in an attempt to be humorous.
She just cried.
Marie D'Ancanto was looking over her physics' notes, trying to figure out what harmonic motion was about, when she just gave up. Her roommate Jubilee was out of room, but her eccentric personality screamed through the posters stuck to the noble Victorian walls. Rogue was glad she was alone, because she just knew something was wrong. Bobby's face had been too pale when he boarded the train the night before, and every time they were apart, she felt different. It wasn't like she couldn't survive without Bobby at her side every minute, but the self proclaimed Rogue didn't mind his presence. He made her laugh, and rarely made her cry. His attitude was just great to be around except for recently. Something was wrong before he got the call from his parents, but for the life of her, Rogue couldn't figure out what.
They had everything they needed at the school. Friends, security, a great job in the X-men, and each other, but Bobby didn't seem happy.
Her thoughts were interrupted by her com-link going off. She unclipped it from her belt loop, and placed it in her ear. "Scott? Logan? What's wrong?"
"Rogue, it's me."
"Bobby, are you alright? Did you get to Boston alright?"
He sighed. "You can say that."
She narrowed her bottle green eyes. "What happened."
"Marie, I need you to run a check through The Prof's files, but there is one thing you have to do."
"What?" Bobby wasn't sounding the same as usual.
"I know you learned how to keep things on the down low when Scott showed you the trades of computer hacking. I need you… You need to look this up without anyone else knowing."
She almost dropped the link. "You want me to hack through the X-Men hard drive, and you want me to make sure no one else knows… What drugs are you taking? What is going on Bobby?"
Bobby's voice shacked. "No one can find out, because I know they would want me to come in to give them all the details. They would take this as a chance to bring them down, and all I need to do is get my brother before they… before he does something stupid that I won't be able to help him out of."
"Bobby," she said slowly, "where did Ronny go?"
He laughed weakly. "New York. I think he went to join… I think he is trying to become a member of Friends for Humanity."
"But…" she stopped. "He would want to become an assassin?"
"I doubt he knows that. He has always been part of anti-mutant stuff, but I doubt he knows what the group is about. I can't afford a big X-Men style mission. It could take months to get someone to go underground, and by then Ronny could be long gone before we can dismantle them." He paused. "Rogue, I need you to get whatever the Professor has on them. I need to get to him now."
She stared off into space. "I'll do what I can Bobby, but I don't know what I can do. The server is pretty high-tech…" She knew what she was saying on death ears. "I'll do what I can. I'll email what you need as soon as I get it."
"Thank you Marie. I'll keep in touch." He ended the call.
She took the com-link from against her ear. "I love you too."
She looked down at her forgotten physics homework. She needed wished she could work on that instead of the mission that was set out in front of her. She hoped Bobby knew what he was getting into.
AN. Kinda short I know. Keep reading and I'll keep writing.
Bry
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