Author's Note: Okay, I promise from now on I'll update as fast as possible. Now that my comp has been fully fixed I don't have an excuse not to. I'm excited to say that this story is progressing much faster than I had originally planned. Anyway, I'll be posting new chapters much faster than I have in the past.
Disclaimer: Georgetown is probably the only thing I own in this story, I'm not sure it's a real city in Mississippi. Oh, and I own Mica and Carly.
Interesting fact: In Nevada it is illegal to own a Camel.
The Damned, Episode 1
Chapter 15: Georgetown
"Okay so how many more miles do you figure it is until we hit Georgetown?"
Carly looked at Pietro affectionately, "Don't be in such a hurry, we'll get there in time."
"Yeah but-"
"But nothing oh annoying twin brother of mine."
"Nobody asked you, Wanda," Pietro said.
She stuck out her tongue.
"You two stop being so immature," Mica chastised, "All that's important is that we finally get to go see the Red Hot Chili Peppers in concert. Right Marie?" She didn't get answer. "Marie?"
They all looked over to see Marie hunched against the window, obviously asleep.
"Ouch," Pietro muttered, "that has to be uncomfortable."
"Yeah," Dominic, who was sitting next to her, agreed. He carefully repositioned her head so that it was leaning against his chest. He then put his arm around her shoulders.
"There," Carly said pleasantly, now she won't wake up completely uncomfortable.
Mica didn't say anything, just listened as the conversation turned to gossip about their favorite actors.
"Johnny Depp is so hot!" Wanda exclaimed.
"Sure," Carly said, "if you like the weirdo-I'm going to stalk you-type."
"He is so sexy it isn't even funny." She smiled evilly, "I bet you'ld be singing a different tune if Pietro wasn't sitting next to you."
Carly blushed. Pietro grinned, "My baby wouldn't ever put another guy in front of me because she knows I'm the best there is."
Carly smacked Pietro's arm, "Watch that cocky attitude."
"Kidding sweety," he said nervously.
"That's right Carly, put my brother in his place."
Pietro stuck his tongue out at Wanda.
"You two," came a quiet voice, "stop freakin' arguing."
They looked over at Marie. She blinked a few times, getting reacquainted with light. She stretched out her body.
"Didn't mean to wake you," Pietro apologized.
She shook her head and sat up. Dominic almost protested at the loss of the warmth of her body. "Don't worry 'bout it. Ah was gettin' ready ta wake up."
"So Marie what are we doing when we get to Georgetown?" Mica asked.
She frowned. Marie wasn't sure when it had happened but somewhere between Caldecott and wherever they were at that second, the group and voted her captain. "Why ahm Ah tha one takin' charge?"
"Because Marie," Wanda's tone said that the answer should be self evident, "You are the most responsible of us all."
Marie nodded, "Fahn, ah'll buy that excuse, foh now." She took a notebook out of her backpack, which was seated nicely on the floor, and flipped to the first page, "We should be going to the Warhol Arena."
"That's odd," Dominic told her, "Did they name the Arena after Andy Warhol?"
"Ah think so," Marie replied.
"The pop artist?"
"Yup."
"They're speaking their native Alien again," Pietro complained.
"Get used to it," Carly told him, "They do that a lot, get to talking about things that no one else cares about."
"Hey I care about art!" Wanda protested.
"Yeah Wanda," Pietro agreed, "but you're a nerd."
"Alright! Georgetown!" Wanda exclaimed.
The kids began cheering and whooping.
"Alright, alright," came the driver's voice, "I get it, you're happy to be here."
"Yup, Mr. Rogers," Carly said with a smile, "you got it."
Mica looked out the car's windows to see the large Warhol Arena rising high above the ground, "Wow," she muttered.
"Mica, come on, you can get out of the car now you know," Marie teased.
Mica saw that everyone had already vacated the car and she blushed. She scrambled out of the car and observed her friends with interest. It was odd, almost cute, the way Carly and Pietro and Dominic and Marie naturally fell into step with each other. It left Mica to talk to Wanda.
Wanda had observed the same phenomena. She looked at Mica and gave her an awkward grin. "So I guess its just the dateless losers."
Mica brushed her black hair back, her confidence returning, "We are so not losers, in fact I'll bet ya we can find guys at this concert. We are the hottest girls here."
Wanda laughed, "You do remember that I'm dating your cousin right?"
"Oh Cody's not here right now," Mica said dismissively, "Besides Cody would want you to have a good time while you're out here. And who says we'd actually have to do anything serious with the guys we met here?"
"You have a point," Wanda said.
"Of course I do!" Mica said excitedly.
"THIS IS TOTALLY AWESOME!" Dominic yelled over the music.
"DEFINATELY!" Marie yelled back.
"MAN I LOVE THE PEPPERS!" Pietro screamed.
Wanda laughed at Pietro's groupie antics. She found herself lost in the music when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up into the face of a goth she'd seen eyeing her earlier.
"HEY HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO HANG OUT WITH ME AFTER THE SHOW?" he asked.
Wanda shook her head, "CAN'T! I'M HANGING OUT WITH MY FRIEND AFTER!" She gestured towards Mica.
"GREAT! MY FRIEND OVER THERE IS HERE DATELESS TOO, WE SHOULD ALL HANG OUT!"
Mica caught the last sentance and shoved her way through Pepper fans to get to Wanda, "HEY WANDA WHO'S YOUR FRIEND?"
The teenager looked at her, "THE NAME'S MARK! I WAS JUST ASKING YOUR PRETTY FRIEND IF THE TWO OF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HANG OUT WITH ME AND MY FRIEND JOHN AFTER THE SHOW!""
"SURE!" Mica yelled over the song.
"GREAT!" the boy's eyes lit up, "WE'LL MEET YOU TWO AT THE CONCESSION STAND AFTER THE SHOW!"
When the boy began to walk back to his friend Mica and Wanda turned to each other. Simultaneously they smiled.
"Who was that guy they were talking to?" Pietro asked Carly during an intermission.
"Who?" She asked confused as she bit into her hot dog.
"Mica and Wanda, they were talking to some Goth."
Carly shrugged, "Didn't even see them talking to him."
"I think they have a date or something," Dominic spoke up.
Pietro looked at his foster brother, "How do you know?"
"I heard them yelling," he told Pietro, "They're going to meet up after the show."
"They don't even know tha guy," Marie said.
Pietro nodded his agreement, "Where are they right now anyway?"
"Okay," Wanda said, reapplying her makeup, "This is the plan, we'll hang out with John and Mark after the show but we'll still be back in time to meet Rogers and the others at the car."
Mica wrinkled her nose, "Ever notice just how bad these public restrooms smell?"
"Mica, focus."
"Oh right. That sounds good."
Rogers and the kids' parents had given them permission to explore Georgetown a little bit before heading back home. They figured their kids might as well really experience the town the way it was meant to be.
"Mica we really have to be careful though," Wanda warned, "we can't go anywhere private with these boys, we don't know them."
"I know that," Mica said, rolling her eyes, "We'll just make sure they don't take us to their homes or any dark alleys or anything."
"A dark alley?"
"Well you never know."
The show ended, leaving the audience pumped full of adrenaline yet exhausted from screaming and jumping around.
Dominic felt as though the bass was still playing repetitively in his head.
"Hey Earth ta Dom!"
"Huh?" he asked, trying to regain a grip on sounds.
Marie laughed, "Come on, lets get goin'"
"Wow, so you guys are townies huh?" Mica took another bite of her taco.
"Yup," John answered proudly, "True Georgetown hicks."
Wanda nodded absently, these guys didn't have Marie's accent. She supposed not ALL southern people had to have a hick accent but still it was a very comforting sound to her ears. "So what are you guys into?"
"Well," John started, "we're into all kinds of stuff, like movies and junk food."
Mark smiled, "Actually John's just trying not to scare you. We really love a lot of off the wall stuff, like witchcraft-"
"I love witchcraft!" Wanda exclaimed.
"Really?" Mark asked.
"Yeah, although Mica here hates it."
Mica rolled her eyes as she finished her food, "I just don't see the point."
"Well that's alright," John told her, "Truth is, Mark here loves witchcraft more than I do. I do it just for kicks, he makes a religion out of it."
"Hear that Wanda?" Mica asked, "You may have found your soul mate."
All four laughed. They were seated at a local Mexican restaurant, El Fuego, and had almost finished their meals when they had actually begun to converse.
"So do you guys want to catch a movie?" Mark asked.
"What kind of movie?" Wanda asked.
"A horror movie, I hear there's a classic one playing at the Cineplex on Robinson and Pecos."
John shook his head, "Mark is an absolute horror movie nut."
"So is this weirdo," Mica gestured towards Wanda.
"Mica you just don't know anything about good movies, the last 'good' horror movie you saw was Chucky." Wanda stated.
Mica shuddered, "that movie was scary."
John placed an arm around her shoulders, "don't worry, should any strange, red-headed dolls attach, I'll protect you."
Pietro placed another quarter in the game he was addicted to and began to furiously attack the buttons and knobs displayed before him. He watched as one by one his enemies fell and he laughed as he quickly beat the high score. He typed in his initials and left the overheated machine in its corner as he strutted off towards his friends. He saw Marie and Carly playing air hockey and smiled as he saw his girlfriend in a deep concentration. He adored the way her face would always wrinkle and she would stick her tongue out a bit, like her tongue was the source of her concentrating abilities.
"Booya Marie!" Carly yelled as she managed to score a point, furthering her lead to an amazing 2-6.
"Alright girly, Ah'm ready now, bring it on!"
"Whatever Marie, I get this point I win the game."
Pietro watched in awe as Carly managed to get yet another point off of Marie. He expected Marie to be pissed but instead she high fived her friend and playfully threatening to 'kick her ass later.'"
"Pietro do ya wanna take on yo' girl?" Marie asked.
"Not really," Pietro shuddered.
"That's right," Carly sniffed, "Cuz ya know I would bury you!"
Pietro laughed, "Damn right!"
Marie watched Carly walk into Pietro's waiting arms. "Ah'll see ya'll latah," she said with a smile.
The two didn't even notice as she left.
Mica shuddered in disgust as the horrifying imagery was projected in front of her. John noticed and placed an arm around her. She buried her face in his shoulder. She could hear Wanda laughing next to her. Wanda had her eyes glued to the screen and she and Mark were laughing at the ridiculousness of the movie.
John ran his fingers down Mica's arm and tipped her chin upwards with his other hand. He smiled before capturing her lips with his own. She kissed back eagerly.
Wanda looked over at the two of them and blushed, she felt like she was invading someone else's personal space.
Mark grinned, "They're having fun."
Wanda nodded wordlessly.
Mark leaned in closely, his breath tickling Wanda's ear, "You know you are the prettiest and most fun chick I've been around."
"Really?" Wanda croaked.
"Yeah, none of the girls around here like the same thing as I do." By this time his lips were nearing her mouth, she could feel his hot breath on her wet lips.
"Mark I..." she let her sentence trail, she was too dizzy to concentrate on her words.
He smiled and if anyone had looked in their direction they would have seen two pairs of teenagers making out.
"We're out of time," Dominic announced.
He was walking, hand in hand, with Marie.
"Yeah, bummer aint it?"
He nodded, "but we still have the whole ride home."
"Yeah but we'll be in there with all of our friends."
Dominic smiled, "So you just want to get me alone and have your dirty little way with me huh?"
Marie smacked his arm, "Always in tha gutter." She smiled, "Besides everyone knows that Ah always have mah own dirty little ways with ya."
"PSSST!"
Both of them looked in the direction of the sound. Dominic frowned when he found himself staring into a dark alley.
"Come on," he told Marie, "Probably some sick perv."
"Not so fast!"
Neither Marie nor Dominic could explain what was happening as their bodies froze, each unable to move or cry for help. They became more panicked as their bodies began to be dragged backwards into the alley.
"Where are they?" Pietro tapped his foot impatiently.
"Don't be so fidgety," Carly told him.
Wanda stretched her arms, "Maybe they just wanted a few extra minutes alone."
Mica frowned, "Still its not like Marie to be late for anything."
"That's it!" Pietro exclaimed, "I'm going to go find them." He looked at his friends, "Anyone coming with me?"
"My feet are killing me," Carly said. Mica nodded her agreement.
Wanda sighed, "I guess I should go with you, just in case."
"Fine, just make sure you keep up with me."
"Little girl do you know how long I've been waiting for this?"
If Marie could move she would have grimaced. She felt the hot breath of her captor on the back of her neck. She heard the maniacal laughter of the man she was sure was a mutant.
Dominic felt his body being turned and wanted to gasp at the horrendous figure before him. He wanted, more than anything, to warn Marie but as hard as he tried he couldn't get the words out of his mouth. He felt helpless and thought for a second that this must be what Hell felt like.
Marie felt her body turn and her eyes caught sight of the most terrifying mutant she had ever encountered.
Their captor laughed again, "I guess Mystique never explained to you just who her silent partner in crime is." He came closer, "Just call me Mr. Sinister!"
"Hey! Let them go!"
Marie recognized Pietro's voice and felt relief. Her relief was short lived as she witnessed Pietro literally run into Sinister. An attack that should have knocked the man over did absolutely nothing in Pietro's favor. Instead, Sinister grabbed Pietro by the neck and threw him into a brick wall.
"Try this on for size!"
Two bright orbs exploded in Sinister's eyes. The distraction was enough to make Sinister lose his concentration and let go of Marie and Dominic.
Wanda smiled triumphantly as she began to throw more of her hex balls at this new assailant. To her surprise and dismay, Sinister only laughed. He emerged from the attack without even a scratch.
"Child your powers will do you no good." He smiled, his eyes glowing brightly, "I have done what I came here to do." He snapped his fingers, "My own mutants will take care of you."
Pietro watched as Sinister disappeared and three new mutants appeared in his place.
"Like de bright lights chere?" The mutant tossed what appeared to be glowing playing cards in Wanda's face.
She dodged the cards, only to be tossed into the air by a second mutant.
"Hey, only I can pick on my sister!" Pietro exclaimed as he attacked the card holding mutant.
The mutant smiled as he avoided each of Pietro's punches and kicks. He powered yet another card and threw it into Pietro's face. Pietro felt his eyebrows burn and felt blood drip down his face.
Dominic looked at the overweight mutant in front of him. "And what's your power? Being fat?"
"No body calls me fat! I'm the BLOB!" the mutant lunged for Dominic.
Dominic used his powers to create a small but effective hole. As he had expected, the Blob tripped.
Marie, meanwhile, looked at the large mutant confronting her. He wasn't big in the sense that the Blob was big. He was simply tall, towering over her by at least four feet and was covered in muscle. She watched in amazement as his right arm began to change and mold into the shape of a gun. However, she watched in horror as that gun was aimed at her head.
With no time to think she used a martial arts move her mom had taught her. Before the large mutant in front of her knew what was happening, he was laying face first on the ground, both arms broken.
"Guess you shouln't mess wit' de mutant known as Gambit, non?"
Pietro looked at the mutant standing over him and smiled easily.
The triumphant look on Gambit's face faded as he heard his opponent's next words.
"No."
Marie kicked Gambit in the lower back before bringing her left arm around to put him in a chokehold. "Ya might be tha Gambit but they call meh tha Rogue!"
Wasting no time, Gambit lit another card, dropping it at Rogue's feet. She'd seen what it had done before so she wasted no time letting go of Gambit in order to dodge the explosion.
The Scarlet Witch and Avalanche had their hands full dealing with the Blob. Though he seemed like a bumbling idiot he was actually pretty effective at using their own attacks against them. Every time the two tried to hurt him they would find themselves being hurtled against one of the alley's brick walls.
"Wanda watch out!"
She ducked a punch from the Blob. She didn't want to be on the receiving end of any of his meaty punches.
Avalanche used his powers to try and get the Blob's feet stuck in the ground. He figured if the mutant couldn't move then he couldn't do any damage. No such luck. The Blob pulled his feet out of the ground as easily as it would have been for Avalanche to pull himself out of a vat of Jello.
Rogue and Quicksilver continued to try to fight Gambit.
"How freakin' agile can one person be?" Pietro asked in agitation as he watched Gambit.
"No clue," Rogue answered, "but maybe ya should show him just why we call ya Quicksilver."
Quicksilver smiled as he ran quickly around Gambit, leaving the mutant no room for thought or maneuvers. He stopped abruptly, in front of Gambit, and punched him swiftly.
Rogue used this time to use some of her own training on the cocky mutant. Neither of Mystique's young trainees expected Gambit to rebound as well or quickly as he did. Nevertheless, both found themselves being thrown to the ground as Gambit threw two more cards in their direction. By the time they opened their eyes all of Sinister's mutants were gone.
"Okay," Wanda's voice piped up, "anyone wanna guess what that was about?"
Marie shrugged, "that guy befoh said ta call him Mr. Sinister."
"Yeah," Dominic said, "and he said he worked with Mystique, a silent partner or something."
"What did he want?" Pietro asked.
"That's thah weird thing," Marie admitted, "he said he'd been waiting for this but two seconds latah he said he'd done what he came ta do."
"Come on, lets get back to the car," Wanda said, "this place is making me uneasy."
Irene gasped. She felt the tears falling down her cheeks. She gripped the sides of the bed, where she sat, when she heard Mystique enter the room.
"Is it done?"
Irene looked up at Mystique's figure, hidden by the dim lighting of the room, and unclenched her fists. Her voice, almost too soft to be heard, gave the answer, "Yes."
Mystique smiled, her yellow eyes glowing, "Good."
The first half hour of the ride back home was silent. Mica and Carly glanced at each other uneasily. Their friends had come back in a disheveled state, some bruises, and even blood. They had said that they had been mugged but something about that simple cover story seemed odd to both girls.
"So..." Mica began. All eyes were on her, "Who wants to play a game?"
"Ah'm too tired," Marie told her, every one of her muscles screaming in pain.
"Yeah, me too," Dominic agreed.
Pietro smiled, "I'll play." He shot Wanda a look.
"Yeah, so will I."
Carly nodded.
Pietro figured there was no reason to make either Mica or Carly suspicious so he went along with Mica's game. "What are we playing?"
She pulled a deck of cards out of her purse. "Poker," she looked into Pietro's frowning face, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he said quickly, "Its just that I keep losing at card games lately."
Carly giggled, "Yeah you are pretty bad at card games."
"That's find," Mica told him, "Maybe you just need practice."
"You got that right," Pietro said, thinking about how much more training he was going to need when he got back home.
Marie gazed lazily out the window and gasped.
"What's wrong?" Dominic asked.
She pointed, wordlessly.
He followed her gaze and saw a green sign, St. Mary, population 120. "Yeah?"
"Ah was born there," she said absently. Painful memories she'd tried to forget began to reemerge. She leaned into Dominic and closed her eyes reminding herself that all of that was over and there was no way her current family would do anything to hurt her.
Alright, so what did you all think of Georgetown? Was it overly dramatic, interesting, strange, or just plain lame? Remember I'm open to all kinds of criticism because all criticism is constructive. By the way, could someone please tell me when Rogue got her powers back in the comics? I just read Rogue #1 and I can't remember her ever getting her powers back although the issue mentions it.
Word Up (what a funny phrase) to all who reviewed:
Rogue151:Irene's vision…can't tell you. I really want to though. X-Men Next Dimension…hmmm…I might have to buy it. Actually I was going to buy Reign of Apocalypse for my Game Boy. The thing with the Wolverine wasn't exactly a daydream; he answer to that will be in the next chapter. As for action in the next chapter …hmmmm…..
Tammy: Whoa, really had to get some things off your chest didn't ya? Well I'm glad because I'm a big fan of reviews.
Its funny you should mention Mica and her not knowing about the Brotherhood…::laughs evilly:: Actually I'm not sure that will really come up in this Episode. But in one of the later episodes I'm thinking maybe she should find out. Okay, that really didn't make much sense grammatically but hopefully you understood what I meant.
I think the writers at Marvel did kind of forget to give Marie a love life before Gambit. I think they were always just wrapped up in the fact that she was a terrorist and were working with that angle for a few years. She did have that strange relationship with Longshot that never really went anywhere. I always thought she must have had something going on with someone in the Brotherhood. I mean, they were teenagers, they had crazy hormones, end of story. And yeah I heard the rumors about Marvel and breaking up the best couple in X-Men history. I've already emailed Joe Quesada but if you ask me, this is all a publicity stunt. They'll get a lot of attention just like they did right after the whole Antarctica incident and then they'll have Remy and Rogue together again.
enchantedlight: LOL, glad I hooked another reader! Tell me if you ever have any complaints or if you think I need to do something better. But hey, welcome to my X-Men funhouse!
Ishandahalf: Glad I still have you as a fan. Its always fun hearing from you. Yup, my little sociopath is working out quite nicely in the Brotherhood. ::wipes tear from eye:: I'm so very proud. True the killing is more Passions (which I love to watch by the way) than anything else but at least I'm filling my story with love stories that actually make sense on some level…When will Whitney realize Chad is her brother? Dom and Marie sitting in a tree…K-I-S-S-I-N-G….sorry couldn't resist. ::reaches over and turns off dramatic music:: Although it didn't seem like it the kids began their true journeys in Georgetown…not to be vague or anything. ::turns on Under the Bridge by the Peppers:: Alright, now its time for the next chapter!
Next time on The Damned: San Francisco, Tony Stark, the Avengers, and the biggest Rave to ever hit Caldecott!