Illyana smiled sweetly at the lost little girl. "Hullo." She said in a funny voice. "Are you wooking for your mother?" She asked mockingly.
The little girl nodded. She was blonde-haired and blue eyed. She wiped hesitantly at a tear. She couldn't have been more than five.
Illyana stretched out her gloved hand. "Here then, I'll make sure you go where you're needed." She smiled sweetly and the girl smiled back and took her hand.
I know what you've been planning Emma. I've seen this all too often from you – No originality.
She opened her car door and steered the little girl in. "Back to the office." She told the driver as she ducked in after her.
Poor pathetic Emma… She smiled. How can she compete? How can she know evil like one who is bonded to it? Can she really believe that she can protect herself from someone married to evil itself?
The car rolled two blocks up the street and around the corner.
"… baby?" Said the woman on the sidewalk loudly. "Has anyone?" She began to panic. "PLEASE? SOMEONE?"
But Illyana smiled at the child, and she did not hear as the dark car rolled on up the road and vanished out of sight.
Back in Bayville Rogue turned on her accomplice.
"Are you finished yet?" She prodded.
"If I were finished…" The lock popped open and the access panel began to glow in green and featured the words 'Access Granted'. He smiled and looked her in the eye. "Then we could go in." He pushed on the door and it opened.
She shook her head at him. "I sure hope you're really on our side." She smiled.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Are you kiddin?" She raised her eyebrows. "You're too good to be true." She blushed a bit. "I mean, considering what Kurt needs an all."
He smiled. "I'm just glad for the chance to help. I owe him." He bit his lip and looked serious for a moment.
"And I owe you a thank you that's been a long time in coming." He said. "For helping Kurt and I get out of that pocket universe. I didn't realize how long I had been gone, or how much I missed having someone to talk to… I tend to think a lot about Kurt when I think about getting out, but … He's told me that it wouldn't have happened without you and so… Thank you."
"Don't mention it Forge." She shook her head. "That's what we do for each other around here." She dismissed the fact that she wasn't always from 'around here.'
Together they slipped in to the underground hanger and Forge set his machine to work on the next lock.
Rogue gripped the keys tight in her hand. She never flown anything outside of the simulator and now… She was stealing one of Xavier's new short-range aircraft.
She smiled when the last lock popped open. They were both carrying a large duffel and they carried a crate between them – full of Forge's supplies.
They slipped up to the aircraft and she keyed in a number on the panel and the door slid open. They loaded in quickly and closed the door. Rogue took the pilot's seat and keyed up the flight system.
"Are you any good at this?" Forge asked, climbing in to the co-pilot's seat and buckling in.
"Sure." She lied rather obviously. "I hardly ever crash the simulator any more."
Forge turned slowly to look at her. "How often do you crash the simulator?"
"Twice a week." She smiled wanly and hit the launch button. The bay doors opened automatically and the jet powered up with a whine and exploded out of the hanger.
"Twice a week?" He looked panicked.
"Well, I experiment on the simulator. I'll just fly strait there and back this time. No tricks or fancy flying." She smiled. "I promise."
He sat back slowly, trying to regain his composure.
Rogue grinned mischievously and did a barrel roll, looping the aircraft at high velocity.
"ROOOO-OOOOOO-OOOGUE!" He screamed, locking one hand on his arm rest and the other on the ceiling above him as they rolled.
She giggled a bit, leveled off and then banked the little jet towards England.
Back in London Kitty gunned the throttle on the little motorbike. Alistaire hung on for dear life as she leapt off a hill to become airborne and passed right, diagonally, through a roundabout. Meaning she passed through cars, a bus, and a terribly confused person on another motorcycle who watched them emerge from the side of the bus and pass right through him – before he pulled off at the nearest pub.
"Kitty!" Alistaire called up to her. "I think we're away now. We should ditch the masks and bike and get a cab back to the lighthouse."
She nodded after a second and they pulled up a small side alley. She hid the bike behind a couple of trash bins, but phased the ski-masks in to a brick wall before they scurried away.
"This had better be important Alistaire. My parents would totally ground me if I got deported or something." She eyed him and he smiled.
"My Mum is all I have anymore." He smiled fondly. "And she thinks I'm a disappointment already." He admitted. "I was just… at my wits end with this assignment. No normal channels are working – and I know better than that. I used to help maintain those channels. They're all working fine, but not for me, or … us." He finished.
She exhaled. "Sorry, this just wasn't what I had in mind." She looked down, distractedly.
Alistaire tilted his head in understanding. "Would you like a coffee?" He asked her. "There's a great place just around the corner." He smiled and showed off his dimples.
"Sure." She replied, caught off guard. "I'd like that."
And they strolled casually away, half lost in each other's eyes and attention, as the police and their sirens sped hastily by, heading back the way they had come.
Not far away, a young girl sat in her cell.
"Smith!" One of the guards called through the door. "You awake?"
She wiped her eyes but could really have done little to conceal that she was crying. She composed herself slightly.
"Yeah." She said softly.
"You know a guy named Wagner?" He called through the door.
"No." She said softly.
"Well he knows you. And he's lookin' to come get you out." The guard whispered.
She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Can … can you make him stop?" She asked.
"What? Why?" The guard replied.
"Because he'll just be another greasy government type who wants me to work for them. They all make the promise, they all dangle the hook, and I jump for it… before something happens and it all falls apart." She swallowed hard. "My record is too screwed up to actually get through the process. I know that now. I wish I'd never put myself here. I could have taken the first sentence they gave me and just done my time, but now… I'm lost Jimmy. I … I cant go home like I thought. I can't stay here. You're the only friend I have here Jimmy, and I've never seen your face!"
"I canna show you." He sighed.
"I know. I don't want you too." She moaned. "I just can't go through it anymore. I'm scared Jimmy. I don't know what's going to happen to me now." She began to cry. "I'm a mutant Jimmy. I'm too dangerous to keep … anywhere."
She heard his hands fall on the door, followed by his forehead. "Jus' hol' on Tabby." He whispered. "One step at a time and … please, just hold on. I wish I could do or say more than this – But I'll speak for you if I can. Already I was telling this Mr. Stuart that you've grown up a lot in here and that you know better now."
"Mister Stuart?" She asked. Oh, for that guy… Wagner…
"He says that Mister Wagner knows you and wants to help you out of here. I don't know much more…" He searched the back of his mind. He knew there had been something else…
"I don't know any…"
"Kurt!" He smiled. "Kurt Wagner… from…"
"Bayville." She breathed excitedly.
Her eyes opened and she rose slightly from where she had been sitting on the floor.
Faith and hope returned to her in a flood as she knelt there on the floor.
Suddenly the cell didn't seem so bad. The walls seemed weaker and less imposing. Confidence returned.
Kurt…"So you know him?" The man said quickly. "What sort is he?"
Memories flooded through her: Laughter, smiles, companionship… acceptance.
"The best kind Jimmy." She swallowed and breathed for the first time since hearing his name. "The best kind I've ever known." She began to cry again, despite herself.
And slowly, Jimmy smiled. "That's good to hear lass." He slowly pushed off the door and stood back up.
"Keep the faith little one." He whispered softly, pulling off his glasses and wiping his eyes. Then he turned to walk slowly away, wiping his lenses before replacing his small, round glasses before quietly finishing his rounds.
