Disclaimer: "Yipee! That hurt!" "No, Cosmo, you're supposed to say 'ouch' when you're hurt!" "Yipee! That ouched!"
(An: TF, I am SO using that joke... I have such evil plans for this series. ;) You get some thin air if you can guess who's involved. The bus terminal/stop is where I say it is, since I pretty much made it up. So there.)
WITH MORPH, THE BUS TERMINAL, ONCE AGAIN...
Morph was waiting for the clerk to process his money and give him his ticket, in a normal human shape, not easily forgetting what had happened last time he'd been here. Ok, so it wasn't really the safest place in the world... but it was a way out, dammit. He took his ticket and headed out to the bus stop, loath to wait in there again.
This time, I'm getting out of here, Morph thought. No sidetracking, not this time.
IN THE PARK...
"Gettin' anything, 'Lock?" Rogue and Kurt had both adjusted by now to the whole "alien" thing. It wasn't much weirder than a hundred-odd year old guy with knives in his fists or an apparently omnicient bald telepath, after all.
Warlock had his eyes closed, frowning slightly. He was picking up something, but it was hardly anything as good as Morph. He shook himself and focused harder. He opened his eyes, looking pleased now. "Yes, Self has located Self-Friend Morph's basic location." He pointed northeast.
"The bus terminal," Kurt said, at the same time Rogue muttered, "Why am Ah not surprised?"
"Query: If you know where Self-Friend Morph is, can Self go back to Self-Friend Forge's dwelling now? Self is... tired."
"Sure," said Rogue, shrugging a little. "Go ahead. This probably ain't gonna be pretty, anyway."
Warlock headed off, with the feeling that whatever Rogue was gonna do to Morph wasn't very nice.
AT FORGE'S, ABOUT FIVE MINUTES LATER...
Warlock walked through the beads and into Forge's, glancing around for the inventor. "Hey, 'Lock," said mentioned inventor, doing the "appear out of nowhere" thing again. "Did you find Morph?"
"Yes, it was not hard," said Warlock. "Self-Friends Kurt and Rogue are going to talk with him now."
"I feel bad for him," Forge muttered, shaking his head. "And anyone else within range." It was about then that Forge realized Warlock wasn't listening. "What's up with you? You've been out of it all day."
Warlock fidgeted, tugging one of his hairs again. Forge prodded him. Warlock sighed. "Self will tell you. Self said that Self did not get along with Self's father, and that is true, but Self did not tell you why. Query: Correct?"
"Yep."
"Self and Self's father do not agree. Self's father is the Magus- the ruler of Self's planet. Self fled Self's home because in order to survive, Self would have to fight the Magus. Self does not wish to." He broke off, apparently thinking. "Query: Mutants are different from humans, correct?"
"That's like the understatement of the century, but yeah."
"Query: And humans and mutants disagree because of this?"
"If you can call hatred and fear 'disagreeing', then, yeah again."
"Self is different from Self's people in that way. On Self's planet, the only way Self would survive would be to kill the Magus. Self does not wish to, even though the rest of Self's people do. Query: Does this make Self a mutant?"
Forge had to think about this one. "So, basically, you're asking if the lack of the inborn drive to fight that the rest of your planet has makes you a mutant?"
Warlock nodded.
"Well, yeah, I guess... alien mutants. What is this world coming to." He peered at Warlock. "Not that the discussion of the mental and social habits of the Technarchy isn't fascinating and all, but what exactly does it have to do with my initial question?"
"Self left Self's planet to avoid fighting the Magus. But the Magus pursued Self. Self landed here by accident and Self thought he would be safe because there is nothing here to attract the Magus's attention. But Self was wrong. The Magus is coming."
"...And what exactly does this mean for us?"
"The Magus will tear your world apart in the search for Self. The Magus will scour the earth, stealing lifeglow from everyone and everything until he finds Self. And then he will fight me and destroy whatever's left."
"...So basically you're saying that this pretty much omnicient being is coming to eradicate whatever gets in his way until he finds you, and then he'll kill you and go all Armageddon on the rest of everything just for kicks?"
This took Warlock a minute to translate. "Well... yes."
"We are so screwed."
WITH MORPH...
The bus was coming down the road. Morph could see it. A few more moments and he'd be on it, out of Bayville for good. To be cliched, Sidney, you've made your bed, so now lie in it. Funnily enough, this didn't make him feel better.
Morph tilted back his head and looked up at the sky as the bus drove up. There was a flash as a shooting star shot across the sky. Make a wish...
The bus doors opened. Morph looked at the stairs, then back at the park.
"Hey, kid, you gettin' on or what?" the bus driver demanded.
Would it really hurt anything for me to stay one more night? I can exchange my bus ticket and leave in the morning. Fresh day, fresh start. "No, no, I'm not," Morph said, walking off back towards the bus terminal.
A FEW MILES OUTSIDE OF BAYVILLE...
The shooting star Morph had seen hadn't been a star, of course. It was a comet. About three miles from its target and thirsting for a fight, the Magus emerged.
(Whoo! Cliffhangy shortness! I've gotta stop saying things I can't back up. Yeah... I know this took ages... But getting out of improv and into plot always gives me writer's block. Ah, well.)