A/N: Special thanks to Lucas'sgirl, SperryDee, & MoonlightPhoenix3 for your reviews of the last chapter.
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Almost a week had passed since the melee that occurred at the Allison Blaire concert. Jubilee was sitting by herself in one of the rec-rooms at the mansion, thinking about everything that had happened that night. The TV was on in front of her, but she wasn't really watching it. She had other things on her mind, with the number one thing being Doug Ramsey.
They hadn't spoken since the night of the concert, and Jubilee had really expected not to hear from him anymore. She figured that after Doug had time to sit down and think about everything, he had probably realized that having a girlfriend that shot plasma blasts from her hands wasn't such a great thing after all.
So, Jubilee was thoroughly surprised when he called her the other day, asking if he could come over and talk. Jubilee agreed, thinking that it would be a good idea. But, what was she going to say to him once he got there?
Jubilee curled up on the sofa, and tried to figure out some kind of solution to her very complex problem. She figured it wasn't going to matter what she said anyways. Doug was probably coming over to break things off with her and make it official. Jubilee's thoughts were interrupted, however, when Bobby walked into the room wearing a very nice set of casual clothes.
"Where're you off to Popsicle, lookin' like a million bucks?" Jubilee asked curiously.
"I'm just heading into town for awhile, I've already cleared it with Hank." Bobby said as he continued through the room towards the garage, without stopping or giving Jubilee a chance to further question his destination.
"Just heading into town? I'm so sure." Jubilee thought to herself as Bobby left the room, "You must think everybody is like a total idiot or something, Bobby Drake. That's like the third time this week you had some secret place you had to run off to."
Jubilee had come to the conclusion that Bobby must have some new girlfriend, and that he was trying to keep her a secret from everybody else. She thought it was the only thing that made sense for him to dump Rogue for no reason, and then for him to start acting all secretive.
Jubilee sat there, staring off into space and coming up with some rather 'choice' names for Bobby. After a significant amount of time had passed, she looked down at her watch and realized that Doug was going to be there any minute.
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While Jubilee was keeping track of what time it was, so were the other students at Xavier's School for the Gifted.
"Does anybody have any questions, before class is dismissed?" Kurt Wagner asked, as he stood in front of a blackboard in one of the classrooms at the school.
He had been filling in for a short-handed staff, teaching a class entitled Introduction to World History. He looked very teacher-like, as he wore a light blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a pair of tan slacks and a tan tie. Some of the students even joked amongst themselves that he and Scott must be in some sort of wardrobe contest.
Although Kurt had no formal training as a teacher, he was very deeply versed in a multitude of subjects. They included history, the sciences, and the works of writers like Socrates and Shakespeare. When he was growing up in the circus, Kurt wasn't able to venture outside of it's confines into the general public very much. He didn't want to cause a disturbance among the local populace of whatever town that they happened to be in with his appearance. So, in between his rehearsals and after their performances, when he wasn't reading from the Scripture, Kurt would spend countless hours reading every other book that he could find.
"Mr. Wagner?" One of the students asked as she raised her hand.
"Yes, Amara. Do you have a question?" Kurt responded.
"Earlier, when you were talking about the start of World War II, you said that the world's leaders had missed an opportunity to prevent that war when World War I was over. What do you mean?" Magma asked him.
"What I meant is that looking back in hindsight, they missed critical opportunities to prevent another war of that magnitude. They did not make it a priority to rebuild the economies of those countries that had lost the war, and they were unable to successfully create any type of organization that would have given a peaceful voice to the grievances that those countries may have had. What we'll see in our next class is that after WWII, they took steps to try and not repeat those same mistakes." Kurt explained.
"That's because they created the United Nations, right?" Mirage added.
"Very good, Dani! I am glad to see that you have been reading ahead." Kurt said as he complimented her, "I want everyone to read Chapters 44 through 48 for next class. Okay, class is dismissed."
As the students began to file out of the classroom, some of them noticed that Kurt had climbed up into his chair, looking outside through the window.
"Hey Teach, class is over. Aren't you coming too?" Rictor asked his teacher, as he stood with a small group of his classmates near the entrance to the classroom.
"I will be along shortly." Kurt turned and replied from the chair.
Out in the hallway, two of the students wanted to see who could get away from class the quickest.
"Ah'll race ya to the dining hall." Cannonball said to Warpath, as he turned on his kinectic blastfield in the middle of the hallway.
"Sam, come on, don't." Mirage said to him, "You can barely blast straight yourself in a straight line without hitting something."
"The last thing I want is another week's worth of extra practice sessions in the Danger Room." Magma reminded him, "When you went flying through the walls of the mansion the other week, Mr. McCoy made all of us attend your practice sessions with you. He said that we could all use some extra practice in learning to control our powers better."
"It's all right," Warpath said, "we'll see who's faster later."
While the students made their way down the hallway, Kurt continued to sit and look out of the window. He had been feeling extremely homesick lately. He missed his home at the circus, but more importantly, he missed the friends and family that he had there. But, more than anything, he missed the one girl that he had come to care very deeply for there. Her name was Jimaine Szardos. But, just as the public knew Kurt as 'The Incredible Nightcrawler', everyone referred to Jimaine by her performance name, Amanda Sefton.
Kurt had fallen madly in love with Amanda, and he couldn't stop himself from thinking about her. In spite of that, it had become quite obvious that she didn't share the same kind of feelings for him. He had been constantly writing letters to her ever since he had arrived at Xavier's. In them, he explained to her the reason that he had disappeared from the circus, and he also told her about how Stryker had tried to use him. But, Amanda didn't responded to any of his letters. Even though that had hurt him, Kurt still couldn't help but wonder where she was and how she was doing?
Suddenly, Kurt's thoughts were interrupted when another student entered his classroom.
"Mr. Wagner?" Sunspot announced as he walked into the room.
"Roberto, you can call me Kurt when class is not in session." Kurt smiled, as he left the seat and walked towards him, "Is everything okay?"
"It's just that I passed Mr. McCoy downstairs and he wanted to see you in his lab downstairs, as soon as you had a chance." Sunspot informed him.
"Danke, Roberto." Kurt said as he disappeared, leaving only Sunspot and a black cloud of smoke in the room.
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As Kurt instantly made his way to the laboratory to meet with Hank, Jubilee was going to a meeting of her own.
"Um, Hi Doug." Jubilee said as she opened the front door of the mansion.
"Hi." Doug replied as he walked inside.
They stood there in silence for a moment, neither one sure of what to say next. Then, Doug spoke.
"I called you because I think we need to talk. About everything." He said to her.
"Okay, let's go to the veranda outside. We can talk there without being interrupted." Jubilee said, as they walked through the mansion to the garden area.
As they sat down on a bench outside, there was another uncomfortable silence between them. This time, it was Jubilee who broke it.
"So, how about those Red Dogs? Looks like they might make the playoffs after all." Jubilee said, trying to ease the tension between them.
"Jube, we both know I didn't come here to talk about sports. I think we need to talk about what happened the other night." Doug replied.
"Guess you're pretty weirded out by the freaky powers, huh?" Jubilee asked him.
"A little. But, I thought what you did was really brave, trying to help out a stranger and all." Doug told her.
"Just taking your example." Jubilee responded, referring to the night when she first met him.
"You know, when I told you that I loved you, I--" Doug started, but was interrupted by Jubilee.
"You don't have to worry about that, I know you meant it just as a friend." Jubilee told him, letting him off of the hook from his previous statement.
"No, I meant exactly what I said." Doug confessed. He had been feeling nervous the entire week about finally revealing how he truly felt about her, "I think that you're a really beautiful and amazing person."
"Oh." Jubilee blushed, as she looked back down towards the ground, surprised by his statement.
Jubilee and Doug each had personalities that were totally opposite from one another. She was an outgoing and talkative person, a walking comeback just waiting to happen. He, on the other hand, was a reserved, straight-A student, computer whiz. In spite of all of their apparent differences, something seemed to really click between them. It was becoming obvious that those differences seemed to just bring them even closer together.
Then again, anyone could also tell that by the way they were kissing each other on the veranda, at that very moment.
"Nice as this is, maybe we should stop until we're somewhere that has a little more privacy. Last thing I need is to be the lead story for this afternoon's gossip around the school." Jubilee told him as they stopped kissing, but still sat very close to one another, "I can see it now, 'Jubilee and blonde mystery guy suck face', (Story and picture on page 5)."
As they sat on the bench together, Doug noticed something about his surroundings.
"You know, this is the first time that I've been to this part of your school. It's really nice out here." Doug commented, as he looked around the estate grounds.
"Yeah, gotta thank the Headmaster for that one." Jubilee replied.
"How do you like it at this place, I mean really?" Doug asked her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jubilee inquired.
"Maybe that didn't come out right. All I meant was how do you like it here, compared to maybe going to a regular high school?" Doug said, as he rephrased his question.
"I really like it here. I've learned to control my powers better, so that at least I don't fry every major appliance in the house. And at least I don't get harassed here for being different. You should hear some of the horrible stuff that happened to some of the kids before they came here, you wouldn't believe some of the screwed up things people will do to someone just because they don't fit their definition of 'normal'." Jubilee replied.
"If the public could see all of the good that a school like this does in helping mutants to live with their powers, maybe it would change their minds." Doug stated.
"I doubt it. Lately, if you mention anything about a mutant using their powers, everybody just assumes that they're plotting some sort of global takeover." Jubilee pointed out.
"I hate to say it, but can you really blame them? I mean, look at what happened on Liberty Island." Doug reminded her.
"Yeah, but just because one maniac thinks that mutants should rule the world, doesn't mean every other mutant out there is going to automatically jump on the bandwagon. That's just like thinking that all people that belong to the same ethnic, or racial, or religious group all think the same way. It's easy to just assume what someone is thinking. That way, you don't really have to talk them, or get to know the person beyond whatever label society decides to conveniently slap them on the forehead with." Jubilee rebutted, " Plus--"
"Okay, Okay, you made your point." Doug smiled, as he held Jubilee's hand and kissed it, "Remind me to never get into an argument with you."
"And that's just scratching the surface of my powers of persuasion." Jubilee responded.
"What, is that another power that you happened to forget to tell me about?" Doug asked her, with a very serious look on his face.
"Um, no, I was just…" Jubilee started to explain, when Doug interrupted her.
"Had you going there for a minute, didn't I?" Doug laughed, as he kissed her on the cheek.
"You are sooo dead." Jubilee smiled, realizing that Doug was one of the few people that could actually catch her off guard.
Just then, Jubilee and Doug realized that they had an unexpected spectator to their conversation.
"Who's that?" Doug asked, as he looked at a younger boy that appeared to be maybe eight or nine years old.
"What's up Artie?" Jubilee asked, as she looked over at him.
Artie didn't reply, at least not vocally. Instead, he held up a small notebook and made a gesture with his hand.
"No, I didn't forget. But, Doug's gonna join us today." Jubilee told Artie.
"Join you for what?" Doug asked her.
"My session with Artie. Some of us older students tutor the younger ones a few times a week." Jubilee explained, "I've been teaching Artie how to write in cursive, and so far, we're up to the letter H. He's been so amped to get through the rest of the alphabet."
"I didn't think writing in cursive would be that exciting." Doug replied.
"Well, it's one of the few ways he's able to communicate with other people. See, he can hear fine, but he doesn't talk at all. So, we've been trying to figure out ways around it, including teaching him sign language." Jubilee said, as she and Doug stood up from the bench that they had been seated on.
As he stood up, Doug looked down at Artie. Artie looked back up at him, using the sign language that he had learned to say something to Doug.
"Yeah I know, she tries to hide it really well." Doug replied, as the trio started to walk.
"Who're you talkin' to?" Jubilee asked as she turned around, looking at Doug and Artie.
"Artie. He said that you're really nice, even though you try to pretend you don't like being around any of the younger kids." Doug answered.
"Hey, I'm just doing this tutoring thing for the extra credit." Jubilee replied, trying to hide the fact that she really did enjoy working with Artie. Then, she suddenly looked back at Doug.
"Hey, I didn't know that you knew sign language?" Jubilee said to him.
"Hmm, must've just slipped my mind." Doug replied, as he tried his best, but couldn't remember where he could have picked up that kind of knowledge either.
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Doug and Jubilee continued on to the inside of the mansion with Artie for his tutoring session. Meanwhile far below them, Hank was giving Kurt a lesson as well.
"So, tell me again, what does this machine of yours do?" Kurt asked curiously, as he hung upside down by his tail from one of the light fixtures in Hank's laboratory.
"It's a handheld mutant detector." Hank explained as he held the gadget in his hand, "Essentially, it's a Game-boy version of Cerebro."
"But, I thought only a powerful telepath like the Professor could use Cerebro?" Kurt questioned.
"That's the beauty of this device, my dear chum. It should detect the unique brain-wave patterns of mutants, without the aid of a psionically sensitive individual." Hank continued to explain, "The unfortunate downside is that it has a limited range in comparison to Cerebro Sr., and this little unit can only cover about two to three square miles. Also, unlike it's gargantuan relative, it isn't capable of revealing what specific powers the subject in question may possess."
Hank then walked over to a computer terminal in the lab, motioning Kurt to join him. Kurt then teleported from the light fixture, reappearing right behind him.
"I think that our little device may come in handy very soon." Hank said, as he started typing on the keyboard.
"Come in handy for what?" Kurt asked him.
"I believe that I may have uncovered a lead, in regards to the whereabouts of Ms. Blaire." Hank said, as a list of names popped up on his computer screen, "These are the names from the hotel registries of the cities where Allison performed on her world tour. When I ran a cross-search, one name repeatedly kept coming up."
"Lorraine Lightengale." Kurt said, as he looked at the one name that was listed in about twenty percent of the cities on her tour, "I know that entertainers are known to use aliases while traveling, but how do you know that this one is her's?"
"It's just a hunch. When I read an article about her, early on in her career, it said that she started off in an area of New York known as Hell's Kitchen. When I checked a database of the city's residents, a L. Lightengale was listed at an address in that same general vicinity." Hank revealed.
"You have certainly been putting in overtime on this one, Sherlock Holmes." Kurt smiled.
"Indeed, my dear Watson, but not without good reason. If I am correct, and she is in as much danger as I suspect, I hope that we find her before somebody else does." Hank responded, as he sat in the chair at the computer terminal and removed his eyeglasses, thinking about their next move.
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Next Chapter: Storm and her students leave Muir Island, heading to Cassidy Keep in Ireland. Meanwhile, back on the other side of the Atlantic, we get to see what another one of the original X-Men has been up to?