## The Bayville Mall---Two hours later ##
Tenzo slouched into a wrought iron chair paired with a similar table that circled the food court. Faith leaned on his shoulders, peering very closely at him, her curtain of blonde hair blocking half of his view. "Why so low, darling? This was supposed to be a fun outing."
Alyssa leaned on the opposite site. "Yeah, this is about gawking, not moping."
He scowled and shrugged his shoulders, both girls rising off his shoulders and standing back. "Just buzz off, OK," he sneered, folding his arms inside his jacket.
Faith shrugged and adjusted her own jacket over her wings, pointing at Tenzo to the arriving Remy and Piotr. "He's being extra grumpy. Pete, take me for ice cream? I can pay for about two dollars of it?" Always the gentlemen, Piotr offered her his arm, which she quickly wrapped both of hers around. Leaning her head against his shoulder, they walked off towards the ice cream kiosk. Alyssa gave Remy a helpless look and pointed at the defensive Tenzo, mouthing, 'Figure it out.' She stalked off towards a separate kiosk, leaving a gaping Remy in her wake.
Shrugging down into a chair across from Tenzo, he stared plaintively at his sulking teammate. When Tenzo, looked up, Remy was making a fish face at him, but when Tenzo looked back down, Remy rolled his eyes and lost the face. "Homme, what is bumming you out? You've been all depressed since we got back form Alyssa's donut run this morning."
Tenzo pulled a lumpy ball of clay from his jacket pocket and began molding it grudgingly. "It's just...... nothing," he mumbled as the clay began to take shape.
Remy smiled, realizing exactly what it was. "There's a girl involved," he said and laughed at the shifting nod Tenzo responded with. "Don't worry about it. Fate has a way of rewarding those who wait." Tenzo nodded again, still fiddling with the clay. Remy shook his head. "I'm goin' to go get you some cheese fries. That'll perk you up." Tenzo giggled but couldn't stop Remy. The clay slowly took the form of an eagle, spreading vicious talons and massive wings.
"That's beautiful! Did you just make that out of the blue??" An astonished female voice over his shoulder made Tenzo start.
When he looked up, he was consumed by those all too familiar green eyes. "Uhh yeah," he stuttered, carefully holding the eagle out to her. She gingerly reached over and placed it in her own palm. As she bent to examine it, a strand of auburn hair fell across her face, which she compulsively tucked behind her ear. As she turned her hair to examine it from a different angle, the same strand of hair fell out of it's place. Impulsively, he reached up and tucked it behind her ear. She met his gaze, both shocked at the audacity of the gesture but giggled and broke the tension.
She handed the sculpture back to him, nodding, "You're really good. Are you an artist?"
He squinted and smiled at her, still shocked that she was talking to him. "Yeah I guess I am. I never really thought about it before."
She flashed him a dazzling smile and nodded reassuringly. "You really are exceptional. Listen, I gotta go. My friends are waiting for me." She pulled a napkin and pen out of her jeans pocket and scribbled something on it. "I'm Anne, by the way."
"Tenzo," he responded bluntly. Instead of scowling or asking where it had come from, her smile doubled and she remarked, "Nice. Anyway, call me. I'd love to see some more of your work. Maybe hang out sometime." All he could do was nod dumbly as she walked away. 'My angel has a name,' he thought. As Anne walked towards a beckoning Darcy, she shook her head, shocked at her forwardness. 'I can't believe I just did that she thought.
Darcy was just as shocked as well. "He's cute. Did you give him your number?? I mean our number?" Anne nodded and Darcy crowed with glee. "Oh, that's so great. You need a guy."
"Thanks," Anne admonished and let the other girl drag her in the direction of Denise and Wanda in a spirited argument.
"I can't believe Pietro brought him here," Wanda whispered fiercely, throwing a glance over her shoulder at the smug looking Havok twenty feet away.
"The guy likes you, ya fool," Denise berated. "He's crazy about you, or haven't you noticed??"
"He's a flirt, that's all. He doesn't care about me." Her voice was tinged with sadness as she stared at her feet. From his distance, Havok noticed the change in her demeanor and straightened up, his brow furrowing.
Denise relaxed her shoulders and put a hand on one of Wanda's. "Just give the guy a chance. You never know what will happen."
"Maybe. I'll give him a chance some other time than today. I'm going home. Make sure he doesn't follow me, Dee." She stalked off, leaving a sputtering Denise in her wake.
Havok skipped over, pretending to be a school boy but failing horribly. "She hates me. She wants to use my intestines to decorate the TV room."
Denise winced at the graphic imagery but nodded. "Yeah, it looks that way."
Havok was still unfazed. "I always did fall for girls who were bad for me. Oh well. I'll see you guys bright and early tomorrow morning." He walked towards the seating area and left a still gaping Denise and Anne. He walked to the center of the court and purchased a tall hot chocolate from the vendor and did some people scouting. There were a multitude of boring flat scans, milling about like cattle, making Havok laugh as they tried to look important. One female caught his attention, wearing a distinctive white coat, her long legs bent beneath her as she lounged in one of the seats and observed the people as he had been doing. He walked over and took the seat opposite her, smiling. "Who are you waiting for, gorgeous?"
She didn't miss a beat as she met his eyes and gave him a crooked smile. "Jesus. Are you him?"
He laughed whole-heartedly. "Not quite, but I'm working on it. I'm Havok."
"Anastacia," she admitted. "My friends ditched me for a candy store."
"I think you're sweet enough to satisfy," he supplied smoothly.
"Somebody else's sugar, I'm afraid," she argued laughingly.
Havok snorted. "Don't worry. I'm canvassing for someone else's affection and it's a pretty darn big surface."
She smiled at him and nodded deeply. "Then this girl is in for trouble. You're darn charming."
He dramatically rolled his eyes. "I'm glad someone believes in me. Friends?"
"I just met you, fool." She tried to frown at him but couldn't contain her amusement.
He wagged his head at her. "Those are the best kind."
She chuckled and nodded. "Deal. I got to go. Talk to you later, handsome."
She stood and he smiled up at her. "Deal, gorgeous."
Anastacia turned and located the bickering set of Keyaira and Ryan as they argued over who was the rightful owner of a half eaten jawbreaker. Since both had taken several licks of it, neither was willing to give it up but reeling from the knowledge of the swapping saliva indirectly.
"OK," Nathaniel declared rather loudly and both paused in their squabbling. "Since you both already have taken licks of it, just throw it away and go buy a new one for each of you."
The pair exchanged looks but then Ryan shrugged. "Naw, I'm broke." Keyaira nodded emphatically and licked the jawbreaker in question poised between Ryan's fingers. He shrugged then took a lick of it himself. Every body surrounding the pair laughed uproariously, Anastacia leaning her head carefully on Nathaniel's shoulder, glancing at the other people through eyes squinting with laughter. She thought she recognized the tall figure sticking out of a group of figures but shook her head. 'It can't be him,' she reasoned and stood up straighter, wrapping an arm around Andrew's shoulders.
Across that distance, Alyssa noticed a group too bizarre to be human before it hit her. 'They're the group we taped,' she realized. 'That's the girl Pete got so steamed over.' She pulled on Remy's coat and dragged his ear next to her mouth. "We better get out of here. Now." He gave her a puzzled look but she pointed towards the group and whispered, "We don't want Petey to take a drink of something tall and blonde that isn't on Uncle Erik's menu."
Remy nodded. "Agreed," he said gravely. "But your making me miss something I wouldn't like to pass up."
Alyssa snorted and poked his shoulder. "You'll see her again. Let's split."
Remy raised his voice and the Acolytes nodded to the suggestion of departure. As they left the mall entrance, Faith bumped into a burly man and muttered a sincere, "Sorry." The man scowled and kept walking, his 12 or so friends following and mimicking the sour expression on his face.
Nathaniel looked around his rag-tag group of tired teammates. "Let's go home. I'm about to fall over." The group began moving towards the door, dangerously close to the group of scowling men.
Kitty nodded violently, walking backwards in a silly mood. "Yep, I'm about to fall on my face. On my face and through the floor!" She took a small jump backwards and knocked into the one of the pack of men. "OOOPS," she exclaimed. "I'm so sorry about that."
"I heard what you said, you dirty mutant," he growled at her. " 'Fall through the floor'? You're one of those freaks that the world should be rid of." Kitty balked, falling backwards into another man before finding shelter next to Mike.
Nathaniel stepped forward menacingly, Anastacia's arms half reaching out still as he moved away from her embrace. "She said she was sorry. Very sorry. Just back off."
"You're another one of them," another man muttered, the leader nodding smugly. "Just another freak defending his whore. Both of them, if that blonde bitch has anything to do with it." Keyaira sucked in her breath but the man didn't stand a chance. He was down on the ground, a thick bruise blooming on his left cheek, Nathaniel's arm extended.
Nathaniel turned, smiling crookedly at Anastacia. "Nobody insults my girl."
She returned the smile, walking forward to stand next to him. "You're so sweet, but I don't need people to fight my battles for me." She walked forward and met eyes with the lead thug, cocking her head to the side as she examined him. Before he could realize, she spun around, the top of her left foot connecting with his cheek bone. The man fell sputtering to the ground, Anastacia tugging down the hem of her shirt. "You're lucky I'm not wearing my steel toed boots," she warned, "Or you're brain would be a new floor cleanser."
Ryan tensed and Keyaira pressed her shoulder to his chest, whispering, "No powers." He nodded but curved his shoulders in protectively around her form.
Rogue cracked her knuckles and glanced around at the group of thugs. "This is so not what I wanted to do tonight."
Cliffhanger, sorry! I need to celebrate the fact that my hockey team won the Stanley Cup. GO LIGHTNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!TAMPA BAY ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This chapter is dedicated to:
Vinny Lecavlier
Ruslan Fedotenko (he's my favorite!!)
Nikolai Khabibulin
Martin St. Louis
Brad Richards
Dave Andreychuk (Our captain!! He's been waiting 22 years for this!)