Sidekick

Chapter 8

By Trynia Merin


She almost didn't hear the knock on the door five minutes later. Jubilee walked past the door on one of her pacing, and heard the door vibrate with someone pounding on it. She glanced at her watch and blinked. Ducking to the side, she waited to hear if anyone was calling.

"You in there? I hear the music, kid…" came a muffled voice. She peered out the peephole and saw wolverine standing there, in his uniform.

"Wolfster?" she asked. "What are you doing here? I was worried sick…"

"I came back to find you… where'd ya rush off too?"

"I came back HERE… that WAS what I was supposed to do, but you didn't TELL me…" Jubilee called back. Something seemed weird about this. After all that subterfuge…

"Sorry about that. Look, could you let me in, I feel pretty stupid standing out here in the hall…"

"Are you SURE you were supposed to come here? It's only two thirty," Jubilee said, glancing at her watch and tapping it.

"C'mon Jubilation, open up the door," he called. "I'm in no mood for flamin' games…"

"Um… what did you say?" she asked.

"Jubilation Lee, knock it off," he said. "This is serious."

"You bet it is," she mumbled. Since WHEN did he ever call her by her real name? Something was DEFINITELY not right.

"C'mon kid, I'm getting ticked off…"

"Why don't you use the key?" asked Jubilee. "I was told not to open the door to anyone except Remy…"

"He's jerking you around again? Look, I lost my key, would you open up…"

"Open the door yourself," Jubilee shouted back. "I'm sick n' tired of you two treating me like a kid…"

"Now you're being ridiculous… this is NOT funny…"

"You bet it isn't," Jubilee said as she grabbed the communicator and pressed it. There was nothing but static. Again she pressed it. Just as she thought. Great.

"I'm giving you to the count of ten to open this door, before I cut it down. This is seriously pissing me off!" he yelled. Jubilee rushed over and grabbed her purse. She ducked behind the bed as the door began to vibrate. She fumbled to get her rollerblades on her feet.

"Remy, get your butt in here!" she yelled over the link. "Something's wrong!"

"Petit… what's dis…"

"Logan's at the door, but it isn't Wolvie… and I didn't open it up…"

"say WHAT?" Remy asked. "I only just got on da bus…"

"Gambit…" she cried as the door lurched on the chain. Wood was starting to split on the wall.

"Sit tight Petit, Remy was afraid of dis… Remy's comin' back t' get ya… stall him!"

"Hurry up!" she yelled. Another slam, and the whole floor vibrated. Whoever it was it wasn't Wolverine. He'd have popped his claws and cut the chain instantly if he was that desperate to get it.

Another smash and the door gave way. Jubilee huddled behind the bed, hearing the sound of footsteps stomping in. "This isn't funny! Come out here NOW…"

"No WAY dweeb!" she screamed in the midst of silver blue and purple erupting sparks. Right in the face of whoever it was the explosion happened, and she fumbled at the door between the rooms. Climbing her way through, she slammed and locked it. Then she rushed out the other door down the hall. She heard cursing and swearing by the time she reached the stairs, and slid down the railing on her backside.

Shooting out of the front door, she started blading down the hotel lobby. "Scuse me, coming through…"

There came a rumbling in the floor, and glass vibrating. She gasped as she struggled to keep her footing and blading steady as she shot past someone in gleaming gray armor. Cracks snaked across the floor, and she heard a loud shout as someone burst through the elevator door.

"After her, you idiots," she heard someone say. Jubilee shot out through the revolving door and onto the street. The pavement was starting to crack.

"Gambit where ARE you?" she screamed into her comlink.


"She went this way," Avalanche said as a blue featured woman in a long white dress advanced, blinking half blinded.

"That girl is certainly causing us a lot of trouble… she's far smarter than I thought… all the better when I catch her… now shake things up…"

"All right…" he nodded.

Jubilee shot down the street, glancing back as the sidewalk cracked with the effects of whatever was going on. Looked a lot like Avalanche, she realized with horror. But what was HE doing in DC and if that was he, then that meant that whatever was Wolvie was probably a shape shifted.

"Going somewhere?" a voice whispered n her ear. Jubilee saw something black on the side of her vision, and she continued off down the street, desperately looking for Gambit. As she reached the main intersection, flames burst up all around her and she yelped in fear. She just managed to right herself in a 180 and shoot back the other way. Unfortunately the figure in gray armor stood not one hundred yards away, his hands facing the pavement which began to buck and undulate with the force of his power.

Jubilee hurled a paff towards him, but lost her footing.

"Don't play with the petit, play with Gambit instead!" she heard Remy's voice. He stood before the hotel door, behind a series of sizzling rectangles that sailed in Avalanche's direction. It broke his concentration enough so Jubilee could scramble and roll up onto the opposite sidewalk. Flames sprang up all around her, and she paffed left and right.

"You son of a…" Avalanche hissed as more cards exploded in his face. Feet planted in his gut as Gambit levered himself up on his staff and slammed into him.

"Going somewhere, missy?" asked a disembodied voice. Jubilee felt her skin prickling and saw a ghostly shape alongside her. As she raised her hands to paff it, a mist swirled around her, blocking her view.

Her fingers crackled with energy as she surged it into the mist, but it was tangible, clinging to her. Arms seized her, and twisted her off balance. She instinctively turned to fall on her left hip, as an ice skater would. Her side burned as she almost impacted the curve. She tossed her body and hoped to knock the wind out of whoever was tackling her.

The figured flipped so Jubilee landed on the pavement, and lay stunned. Nothing was there around her, and she groaned at the stinging on her left side and arm. The padding had saved her elbow from getting skinned, and the long jeans had prevented a brush burn, but the impact had jarred her aching knee.

"Got you, imp," laughed the woman's voice again. Jubilee rolled over, seeing what appeared to be a woman's face in the mist. She raised her fingers, trying to summon enough of a plasma ball. A feeble light fizzled, and she realized she was too shaken to concentrate properly.

A card exploded in the wreath of mist, dispelling it. Gambit stood fifty yards away, running across the street as he avoided honking horns of worried citizens. They swerved around the thief as he approached. "Sit tight Petit!" he called.

"Remy…" she moaned, and something slammed into the side of her jaw. She saw stars, not unlike her own effect.

"I'm supposed to bring you to the mistress, but she didn't say I couldn't rough you up a bit..." said the voice as she felt something materialize. Wildly she paffed feeble but sparkling lights around her, hoping to disorient it so she could give Gambit time to reach her. She rolled over pushing up against the curve and staggering to get her footing on the roller blades.'

Gambit meanwhile had almost reached her, when a woman's outline appeared in the cloud of mist, and a punch landed in his gut. Fortunately the armor absorbed most of the impact. He threw three cards into the heart of it, causing a shriek and a flash of light that dispelled it.

"That's no way for a lady to behave," Gambit tisked. He reached out his hand to Jubilee, who was staggering to her feet at that moment.

"No way, pretty boy…" someone laughed. "That's NO way to treat my sister…"

"Who…" Gambit turned and felt extreme heat on his arm. A wall of flame had sprung up around him, and separated him from Jubilee. He battered at the flames and swung his staff.

"Gambit!" yelled Jubilee as she struggled to regain her footing. She skated towards him, sending a weak paff towards the figure behind the flames.

"Petit, get away!" Remy called from inside the flames. She saw a staff whirling and beating at them to make a temporary path as Gambit held his sleeve before his face. He rolled over; putting out the flames that had caught on his trenchcoat.

"I can't leave you!" she cried.

"Go!" Gambit yelled. "Gambit not asking, gambit TELLING!"

Remy rolled over, and looked at a large incendiary lion, who opened its blazing white and yellow jaws at him. A laugh from behind it told him who it was. "Pyro!" he gasped, reaching for the rest of his deck.

"And he's not alone…" laughed someone else. The pavement under Gambit began to crack and shift. Avalanche's form was visible through the flames of the incendiary lion, and Remy staggered to his feet to face them both. At least Jubilee got away…


Jubilee bladed on shaky knees towards the hotel. She shot past in the opposite direction, seeing explosions and the whine of charged cards flying through the air. Light flashed off Gambit's staff, and she swallowed hard as she reached for her communicator.

"Wolvie, please come in!" she cried. Nothing but static, and a click that went dead. Biting her lip Jubilee turned and streaked back towards Gambit. No matter what, she wasn't going to leave him alone. Even if he was going to read her the riot act.

"You're not going anywhere…" hissed a female voice. The mist coated Jubilee again, and she yelped as her hands were bound.

"Not again!" she cried.

"Resist, and you'll get hurt. I'm supposed to catch you, but she didn't in what condition…"

"Who ARE you?" Jubilee yelled as she rolled over, struggling. Fingers sizzled and crackled, and something poked her neck hard.

"You gave me a lot more trouble, you little witch," the voice exclaimed. "I don't see WHY you're so important… but if you don't stop fighting I'll…"

"Leave me ALONE!" Jubilee yelled as she flexed her muscles. The mist coated her skin; solidifying and she felt her breath being choked off as invisible misty fingers closed around them. Her hands and feet were wrapped in the cold solid material, and she felt her side hit the pavement hard.

"Stupid girl, you presume too much…" the figure laughed. There was a sharp kick in her ribs, and Jubilee groaned.

"What did I ever do to you?" Jubilee coughed.

"You think that you're so special because you're an X man? Well that won't help you… cause when we're done with you, you'll wish you HADN'T half blinded us…"

"Who the heck are you?" Jubilee croaked.

"Someone YOU used to call names, miss popularity Beverly Hills. The girls in Ricida just weren't fit to socialize with you…"

"Now wait a darn minute…" Jubilee trailed off.

"Of course you don't remember me, Jubilation Lee, you stuck up valley girl. You're too good to be caught DEAD hanging out like with me! Or don't you waste any brain cells even knowing I existed?"

"You are so wrong, it ain't funny… I have no clue who you are…" Jubilee groaned as the mist constricted.

"Does the name Misty ring a bell?"

"Misty… Misty Dell?" Jubilee blinked. "No way… you can't be…"

"Oh yes I can, you stuck up…"

"An you lady, talk too much," cut in a gruff voice. Jubilee's head was swimming from the tightening bands of whatever it was on her. The figure shrouded in a cloak of mist turned at the sound of something swishing through it, and Jubilee almost felt her senses seep into nothing.

"Mind your own business, old man," came the voice, more substantial, with an accent that was an echo of Jubilee's own.

"Wolvie," moaned Jubilee as she heard a hiss, and then something slashing at her bonds. A whirring whine and explosion of something rectangular backlit the figure that crouched over her and picked her up in its arms. Jubilee couldn't move her hands and her legs, and she could only moan softly as she blinked up into Wolverine's masked face.


"Misty!" Pyro yelled as his head snapped around. The white mist coalesced into a slender teenaged figure. Long blonde hair identical in shade to his curled over her face as she pulled herself up, her grey costume blackened by Gambit's explosion. Yellow and blue flashed as Wolverine carried an immobile Jubilee away quickly towards a back alley.

Pavement shifted and a wall disintegrated. Bricks sizzled down, but Wolverine dodged them easily, moving alongside to the street where the footing was better. "Sorry to cut n' run, but you're in my way bub," he said as he bulldozed towards Avalanche, his claws out and gleaming.

"You wouldn't…" Avalanche got out as Wolverine dodged the falling bricks. Claws hissed through air, and Valance toppled over onto his back. A sharp kick from Wolverine's boot sent him rolling as he rushed past.

"Missed me," Avalanche laughed. But a sting on his leg told him that three streaks had cut through his armor, and grazed the skin. Another triple streak was on his chestplate; barely cutting through the kevlar, but enough to superficially break the surface so blood trickled out slightly.

"I NEVER miss," Wolverine taunted. "What's the matter, you had enough of beating upon a kid? Why doncha try me?"

"Wolverine, get her outta here!" Gambit shouted as he vaulted over the flame lion that Pyro sent towards him.

However it was just a defense, for Jubilee blinked and saw that Pyro was crouching by the girl and gently picking her up. Her muzzy vision caught sight of the girl's face, and she shook her head groggily. That face from a sixth grade yearbook and the face of Pyro's unconscious charge matched.

It couldn't be… could it?

"Didn't know…s he was a mutant…" Jubilee moaned as Wolverine carried her through the dimness of an enclosed space.

"Easy kid, I gotcha…" he said gruffly as he knelt down, and lay her across one knee. "Can ya move?"

"I can't… that girl nailed me with some whammy…" Jubilee murmured. "Misty… some kid… got a mad on against me…"

"You know her?" Wolverine asked.

"I guess… she says she's someone who knew me… from So cal…" Jubilee murmured. Logan's hand under her neck supported her back, and his other arm clutched her knees. His knee supported the small of her back.

"Is the petit okay?" asked the Cajun accent.

"I think I can move… a little," Jubilee murmured. "What the HECK happened to you… Wolvie? What took ya so darn long?"

"Traffic in DC was hell," Wolverine quipped in his gruff voice. "You okay to walk kid?"

"I'll try… I'm not gonna be dragged around… you guys mind explaining WHY you left me out of plan b?"

"Sorry kid," Wolverine apologized. "It was to keep those clowns off our trail. I guess we figured out just WHO has been following you. Why didn't ya tell us…"

"I thought it was my imagination," she said softly.

"Well your imagination just came this close to putting you out," Wolverine said. "You say you KNOW this girl? Who is she?"

"Some kid that I knew in school… she was some dweebette who had nothing better to do than call me names n' stuff. Just cause I wouldn't invite her to my stupid Bday bash that my parents planned…" Jubilee trailed off. "But I like had no clue she was a mutant!"

"Tell us everything about her," said Wolverine.

"Gambit suggests we go back to the hotel, n' go someplace else…"

"Right," said Wolverine. "I'll take the kid someplace safe while you snag our stuff. I don't want those bozos trying to come after us… whoever did this was way more serious than we imagined…"