Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nothing at all. Nope no characters. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing I tell you. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Get the picture?

"…….ah'm sorry mama…….. ah know, ah know………I'm sorry mama………yes mama, ya've told me that a thousand tahmes. Yes mama, ah know ah be a very stupid boy…………..Ah gotta go now mama…….they be lockin us up now…….no ah'm not lying ta ya jus so I don have ta tahlk ta ya…… bub bye mama… I love ya too… bub bye."

I slammed the phone down. It wasn't that I didn't love my mother. Honestly, I did, but she just went on and on. You'd think 50 ft high, stone walls and bars would be enough to keep her whingeing southern voice out, but obviously it wasn't enough. Course she had every right to be moaning at me. I mean I did steal some very expensive jewellery from the Jewellers shop in town, but it wasn't my fault. Well, that's what I tell everyone, but they wont believe me. I was just walking down the street and I saw the shinning jewellery in the window and it kind of called out to me.

This was my first day in prison. One day down……….. Seven hundred and twenty nine to go. It was a really scary place. It was a whole lot bigger than any of the small lockups there was back in my home town. The walls stooped over me and were the most amazing colour of grey. Everything was grey. Grey, grey, grey. Even my prison clothes were grey.

Plus. Back home in the lockups (which I found myself in a lot. I just had a knack of attracting trouble. Again this wasn't my fault.) it was usually just yourself and a couple of drunks, but here, this was where the real bad ass guys were. I kept to myself and didn't mix with anyone else. When I get outta here I'm gonna tell people that I did this because everyone was scared of me. The truth is I was shit scared of everyone else. So you could imagine my reaction when someone tapped on my shoulder and said, "Hey."

I turned around, and then I looked up. This guy was tall. Very tall. To really give you an idea about how tall this guy was he was so tall he blocked out the sun. I could have said something back that was really witty like , "Hey there shorty." But sadly my brain shut down and all I said was, "Geez yer tall."

Another guy walked round from behind the tall guy. He was a lot shorter than the other and had brown messy hair and weird looking square glasses he walked towards me and said , "Oh yeah. He's tall. But he's real slow, so if you tell a joke you'll hear him laughing a few minutes later." The guy grinned and continued, "This here is Bruce, I'm peter. And you are?"

"meh, oh, um. Ah'm Alex. Alex Raven." I said trying to look cool. It didn't work.

"Well Alex, what you in for." asked Peter.

"Stealin."

"What?"

"Jewellery. But it weren't ma fault."

"You're gonna fit right in here Alex. Whatever anybody did, it 'weren't' their fault."

"Yes….. I am tall." said Bruce distantly.

Peter and I gazed at him for a while and then Peter said, "just ignore him. Let me show you around."

We started showing me around the courtyard pointing out where I could go, and where I couldn't. It wasn't that there were restricted parts of the courtyard, it was just you don't want to stand somewhere that's going to offend anyone if you get my meaning. "… don't go over there. That's where Mortimer and his henchmen hang out."

"Are they dangerous?" I asked.

"Lets just say they're bad news. Prison makes ya go crazy. And it don't help that half the people in here are mutants."

This shut me up. I absent-mindedly fingered the chip that had been painfully inserted into the back of my neck to stop me from activating my powers. It did shut me up. But only for a couple of minutes, "So there's a lot of mutants in here."

"Yeah. Bruce is one of them. You see they aint all bad. Bruce is just too dumb to be anything else." said Peter.

"So what's he in for?"

"No ones quite sure. He aint told no one. Some think its just for being a mutant. They do that you know. Just arrest people for being a mutant. "

"Yeah. Ah've heard. It aint right. Ah mean some of them don even deserve it."

Peter went very quite and the colour from his face drained away. A tall man passed us, his eyes straight in front of us. He was about 6ft and looked quite muscular. His hair was shoulder length, a sort of auburn colour that was slowly beginning to grey. I thought I saw his eyes flicker towards me, but it must have been my imagination. I watched as he sat down by the wall, and that was it, he just closed his eyes and sat in the sun.

"That there is probably the most dangerous man in prison. Not even Mortimer bothers this guy."

"He looks perfectly normal-."

"oh yeah he looks normal. But he's a mutant. And a crazy one at that."

"What he in for?"

"Everything. Murder, theft, GBH. Everything. And he was really good at all of them. But his main occupation was a thief. He never got caught. There weren't no cop in the whole the USA that could catch that man."

I laughed and said, "If no cop could catch him then why the hell is he in prison?"

"Turned himself in. No one knows why. Guilty conscious maybe. But I don't think so. There has to be something more. Maybe he just made to many enemies on the outside he thought it was better if he was on the inside. He's been here around 17 years"

"What's his name?"

"Another mystery. No one knows it. Not even the guards know what his name be. Apparently they say he sold his soul to the devil, and some say he is the devil. So most of the time people just call him the Devil. It's either that or 'James'."

"James?"

" James."

"Why James?"

"No one knows."

"Well if no one knows then how do they know he's called James?" Peter looked stumped for a minute and was about to reply when a continues bell began to ring.

"Dinner." groaned Peter, "I swear I found a toenail in my stew yesterday."

I just lost my appetite.

I stood in the queue waiting for my 'toenail stew' when someone pushed me. "Get out of the way ya little shit."

I looked up into the eyes of Mortimer. Well, wasn't this just my luck. Of course as my brain was prone to doing, it shut down. So instead of saying, "Of course." and stepping out of the way I said, "fuck off."

There was a deathly silence and then Mortimer hissed, "What did you just tell me to do?"

"Ah said fuck off." Sure I sounded really tuff, but I was shaking like mad.

"Ya got one last chance. Get the fuck out the way."

My Mama always taught me to stand up for myself. God I wish she hadn't.

"No."

WHAM!!!

So now I was on the floor and yes as expected they weren't going to let me off lightly. I tried to count the number of kicks, but I lost count. So then I started on the number of times they kicked me in the stomach and again lost count. Then suddenly it just stopped. I looked up and saw Mortimer and his henchmen pulling back.

"Problem gentleman?"

"N-n-no problem." Stuttered Mortimer. I looked at who he was replying to. It was the devil. Or James. Or what ever the hell his name was.

"So why yo' be usin de kid as a punch bag?"

"He, he, he wouldn't get out of my way."

"Den maybe yo' should wait yo'r turn in de queue."

"Yeah, yeah, I should. I'll just be going now."

I watched as Mortimor scurried away like a rat, his fleas following closely behind. The guy held out his hand to help me up. I took it. "Thanks." I said. Sure I might be pissing my pants right now but my mama always taught me to be grateful. And I was really grateful.

"Yo' alright kid?" he asked.

"Just a little sore." I said, "Why didn't the guards stop them?"

"Guards never get involved wit fights 'tween inmates. Yo' gotta fight yer own battles in here kid."

"So why did ye get involved?"

He grinned at me, "Yer jus a kid, onl' 17 I be t'inkin'. Plus, four 'gainst one aint fair."

"Well, thanks. Ah'm Alex. Alex-"

"Raven. Don look so surprised. Yer de kid that robbed that Jewellers shop. I saw an article about it in de paper. Bet yer mama weren't that happy wit ya?"

I laughed, "She weren't happy wit meh at all."

"What bout yer papa?"

"Ma papa's dead."

"I'm sorry." "Don be. Ah neva knew him. Mama says that I be just as bad as him. But she means it affectionately….. Ah think."

I watched as he laughed. How could anyone think this man was dangerous. I mean his eyes actually shine when he laughs. Bit like a cartoon.

"I bet she does kid. Look. Yo' want some advice?"

"Sure."

"Keep yo'r eyes open. I don t'ink anybody else be t'inkin of beatin yo' up anymore, but jus keep yer eyes open. Stick wit Peter and Bruce. Yo' always better in numbers. Ok kid?"

"Ok."

He began to walk away from me, it was then I saw the chip in the back of his neck.

I quickly followed him and sat across from him at the table. "So what ye in here fer?" I asked.

"Didn' yo' hear? Everyt'in." he said concentrating on his food.

"Yeah, but ah wanna know the truth."

He looked at me for a while and then finally said, "Alright kid. Yo' wanna know de truth. I'll tell yo'. But not now."

"Why not now-"

"Cause yo' be in here a while kid. Yo'r gonna need somt'in t'keep yo'r mind offa t'ings. An I'm hungry. D'yo' get me?"

"Ah got ya. But can ah ask ya something now?"

"Yo' can ask."

"What exactly do ah call ya? Incase ya hadn't realised, ya aint told me yer name yet."

At this he looked me straight in the eyes. His eyes were a very sharp brown. If I squinted my eyes like this they almost looked re- "Don, squint at me kid."

"Sorry sir."

"Round here, eva'body calls me 'James'."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Oh."

"But yo' can call me Remy."