Family Reunions

"I hope you have something better than a gun to carry this plan out," Cover Girl told her captor as she drove back to the Pit. "I mean you know you can't win with just that, right?"

"Just shut up and drive!" The young dark skinned man with a clean shaven face snapped. He was wearing a private's uniform.

"I'm just saying you obviously haven't thought this thing completely through," Cover Girl said calmly. "Okay you got the drop on me and you got that spare uniform from somewhere, but where do you go once we get in? That's what I want to know."

"That's not your problem," The man growled at her.

"Considering the circumstances, I think it is," Cover Girl remarked. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to clean blood out of a uniform?"

"You think this is funny?" The man snapped.

"I think it's embarrassing that's what it is," Cover Girl said. "The guys are never going to let me live this down I know it."

"Just drive," The man was clearly exasperated.

"So just why are you doing this?" Cover Girl asked. "Why are you risking getting blown to kingdom come?"

"I told you, to rescue my sister from your damn mutant detention facility," The Man growled. "I know you have her!"

"Okay…" Cover Girl said. "What's your sister's name?"

"Angelina Chakram," The man growled.

"You're Lina's brother? The attorney?" Cover Girl asked.

"Law student and how did you know?"

"Oh I know Lina," Cover Girl said. "She's fine by the way. She hasn't been harmed."

"Yeah well I'm busting her out before someone does harm her so don't try anything funny!" The man was careful to hide the gun as they drove inside the Pit. They passed the checkpoint. "Now which way is the holding facility?"

"Right this way," Cover Girl drove to the house. "Here we are."

"What is this?" The man looked confused.

"You wanted to know where the mutants were being held," Cover Girl said calmly.

"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!" Pietro ran out at super speed. The Triplets flew behind him cackling insanely as they used a flamethower behind him.

"DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!" Wanda ran out behind them. She hexed a few lawn chairs and they started whacking her brother.

"WANDA I SAID I WAS SORRY! OW!" Pietro whined.

"SORRY DOESN'T CUT IT DEAR BROTHER!" Wanda shouted. "NEXT TIME STAY OUT OF MY SHOE CLOSET!"

The man looked at Cover Girl. "What the hell…?"

"Did I forget to mention that this was a free range mutant holding facility?" Cover Girl said sweetly. "We like to keep our mutants in a natural environment so that they'd be free to cause as much destruction as they like."

"NO MORE SOCK PUPPETS!" Mystique ran out screaming, quite a feat for a pregnant woman. "NO MORE SOCK PUPPETS!"

"Come back! We still have four more acts of Desperate Housewives to do!" Todd bounded out with a sock puppet in each hand. Xi and Fred followed her around with their own puppets.

"Yeah I got a big love scene coming up!" Fred shouted. "And I do Eva Longoria's voice real good!"

Cover Girl's captor looked very nervous. He looked at her. Cover Girl remarked. "If I were you…I'd put the gun away now. It's not gonna help you. Trust me on this."

Trinity noticed something and flew over to her. "Hey Cover Girl, who's the new guy?"

"STAY BACK!" The frightened man held his gun out. "NOBODY MOVE!"

Everyone stopped and looked at Cover Girl. "What's going on?" Pietro stopped screaming.

"Apparently Cover Girl has been taken hostage," Xi remarked. Several of the Misfits started to snicker.

"Go ahead and laugh," Cover Girl groaned.

"What's so funny?" Althea asked. She and Angelica walked out. "Cover Girl?"

"I got captured," Cover Girl admitted.

"How could you get captured?" Althea folded her arms.

"Well apparently I did," Cover Girl told her.

"And you're telling us to be careful," Angelica shook her head.

"Who's telling what to be careful?" Spyder bounced out and saw the scene. "Who's that guy?"

"He's the guy holding Cover Girl hostage," Fred told her.

"Nobody move!" The man with the gun shouted.

"SPIRIT! SHIPWRECK!" Spyder immediately ran into the house and shouted. "COVER GIRL GOT TAKEN HOSTAGE BY A MAN WITH A GUN!"

"What?" Roadblock burst out with Spirit, Shipwreck and Lance. "What's going on here?"

"Oh this guy ambushed Cover Girl," Pietro waved. "And he wants to attack us for some reason."

"He wants to attack us?" Lance asked. "With a gun?"

"I know," Cover Girl shrugged. "Crazy isn't it?"

"You really didn't think this through did you?" Mystique crawled out from behind a bush. "Amateurs!"

"How could you be so stupid?" Shipwreck asked Cover Girl. "Even I know better than that!"

"Its true," Daria said. "He does."

"Well maybe if someone had come with me to get the sodas and helped me like I asked…" Cover Girl snapped.

"EXCUSE ME!" The intruder shouted. "Man with a gun here? Now I don't want any funny business or she gets it!"

"Okay so who wants to do this one?" Althea asked.

"Well I disarmed a guy at the last raid," Wanda said. "So Pietro you can take this one if you want."

"You were not the last one to disarm someone," Pietro told her. "I was the last person to disarm someone!"

"No, you weren't! Remember that security guard when we were at Glory's?" Wanda said.

"Yeah the fat one, I got him," Pietro said.

"Not him," Wanda said. "The one after him. The one with the bad combover."

"Yeah and then I got the guy with the broken bottle," Pietro said.

"It wasn't a broken bottle, it was a plastic bottle," Angelica said. "The guy was drinking bottled water. And he wasn't a guard, he was an accountant."

"Still counts," Pietro snuffed.

"No it doesn't," Todd said. "If the guy had a switchblade or a gun then it would count, but he didn't so…"

"WILL YOU TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" The man with the gun shouted. "I HAVE A GUN HERE!"

"You and everyone else we meet," Todd remarked.

"Guys don't hurt him," Cover Girl said. "I think this is just a case of a major misunderstanding. You see he thinks this is some kind of prison camp and we're holding mutants hostage here."

"You are holding mutants hostage here!" Mystique shouted. "You think this collar I'm wearing is the latest fashion accessory?"

"You don't count!" Fred snapped.

"Yeah you're a terrorist that used to work for my Dad," Pietro said.

"So are you!" Mystique snapped.

"Technically we were more like hired thugs and guinea pigs," Todd told her.

"Of course," Mystique groaned. "None of you were smart enough to be terrorists!"

"That's right!" Fred looked pleased with himself. Then the smile faded. "Hey!"

"Look! This is ridiculous!" The Man shouted. "Now unless you want to see this woman dead, you're gonna…AGGGGH!" Suddenly something invisible grabbed his arm and before he knew it, the gun was torn out of his hands.

Xi reappeared holding the gun. He had taken advantage of the confusion to become invisible and sneak up behind him. "Well I haven't disarmed someone in a while…" He handed the gun to Fred who simply crushed it with his hands.

"Thanks," Cover Girl said before she kicked her attacker back into the arms of Shipwreck and Roadblock who restrained him. "Told you that you needed more than a gun."

"What's going on here?" Lina walked out of the building.

"Oh Cover Girl got herself taken hostage and it was up to me to rescue her," Shipwreck grinned.

"You mean Xi rescued her you idiot," Althea growled.

"Lina you know this guy?" Cover Girl asked.

"Lina?" The man asked then looked at her. "Lina?"

"Anwar?" Lina blinked as she got a good look at the intruder.

"Lina is that you?" The intruder gasped. Lina gave a cry and flew away. "LINA NO! DON'T GO!"

"Who is this guy?" Lance asked.

"He claims he's Lina's brother," Cover Girl explained.

"I'll go after her," Angelica said and flew after Lina.

"What did you bastards do to her?" Anwar shouted as he strained against his captors.

"We didn't do anything," Cover Girl told him. "Like I've been trying to tell you."

"Like hell you haven't!" Anwar shouted. "I suppose that look she has is makeup?"

"No that's just the way her mutation came out," Roadblock said. "Now will someone tell me what this is all about?"

"I came to rescue my sister that's what this is all about!" Anwar shouted. "Obviously you've been experimenting on her!"

"Pal you watch way too many movies," Shipwreck shook his head. "We don't torture mutants here."

"You torture me!" Mystique snapped.

"You deserve it!" Althea snapped back.

"Look lets talk this thing through calmly," Spirit said. "If you are Lina's brother and are truly concerned about her, why did you not try and contact her sooner?"

"I've been in Europe until recently," Anwar grudgingly spoke. "When I got home…My little sister told me that Lina…That my parents had thrown my sister in jail because she was a mutant."

"That's not exactly true," Cover Girl said. "Your parents disowned her and we took her in."

"So you don't hate Lina for being a mutant?" Todd asked.

"If I did would I try to break her out of here?" Anwar snapped.

"He's got a point," Pietro said.

"Look we take good care of Lina here. She's fine," Cover Girl said.

"You brainwashed her!" Anwar shouted.

"We did not brainwash her," Althea said.

"Oh yeah? Then why did she run from me?" Anwar shouted. "Explain that!"

"Your parents told her that you would lock her up if she ever contacted her family again," Cover Girl folded her arms. "Can you blame her for being scared of you?"

"They what?" Anwar gasped.

"It's the truth," Roadblock told him as he and Shipwreck let her go. "I think we'd better go inside and talk."

Twenty minutes later…

"And since that day she's had no contact with her family," Cover Girl finished explaining. "Until now."

"So that's what happened," Anwar sighed. "No one would tell me anything. And when I tracked her down, I thought the worst."

"Lina's been through a lot," Cover Girl said. "Try not to scare her, okay?"

"Scare her?"

"She's had…Problems adjusting to her mutation," Cover Girl said. "But she's much better now."

Angelica knocked on the door and peeked in. "I got her. She's ready to see him."

"Thanks Angelica," Cover Girl got up. "Look, just talk to your sister. Okay? You can bring her in now."

They left Lina and Anwar alone. "Hello…" Lina said nervously.

"Lina…" Anwar said. "What did they…?"

"They didn't do anything…I just…look like this now," Lina told him.

"You cut and dyed your hair," Anwar blinked.

"No, I just cut it," Lina told him. "It turned white on it's own."

"Oh…" Anwar said. "It looks…Nice."

"You're not just saying that?"

"No, no I'm not," Anwar shook his head. "Lina I came to rescue you. When I heard what our parents did…"

"Anwar I'm fine," Lina said. "I'm better than I've been in a long time."

"I didn't know what happened to you," Anwar said. "You have to believe me Sis, I thought you got my letters. I had no idea our parents burned them. And when I got back…And then I found out…"

"I can imagine," Lina sighed. "They didn't take it well."

"I just couldn't just forget you," Anwar held her hand. "The things that were going through my head. I thought you were locked up someplace and being experimented on."

"They're not using me for experiments," Lina assured him. "Actually…I'm in training to become a medic."

"A medic?" Anwar was surprised.

"Anwar so much has happened since I last saw you…" Lina sighed.

"Tell me from the beginning," Anwar said. And she did.

Meanwhile the Misfits were waiting in the living room. "I can't believe Lina's brother showed up after all this time," Lance shook his head.

"You don't think he'll try to take Lina away do you?" Fred asked.

"No, I think he was just worried about his sister," Cover Girl told him. "Besides I'm still legally her guardian."

"Well at least we now know her brother isn't half the jerk their parents are," Angelica said. "I mean if he was willing to take Cover Girl hostage…"

"I am never going to hear the end of this am I?" Cover Girl groaned.

Meanwhile back in the room, Lina was explaining things to her brother.

"So the woman I took hostage is your foster mother?" Anwar groaned.

"You got it," Lina nodded. "It was sweet of you to want to rescue me."

"You don't have to stay here if you don't want to," Anwar said. "I could always go to the courts and…"

"Anwar, no that's not what I want," Lina stopped him. "Believe it or not I'm happy here. The Misfits treat me like family. I feel accepted and useful here. And I know being under the supervision of GI Joe no one will hurt me here."

"Still won't stop me worrying about you," Anwar shook his head.

"Listen," Lina sighed. "There's a chance that either Rika or Maren could be mutants too when they get older. Someone has to stay and watch out for them in case that happens. That's why you can't tell our parents you found me."

"I hate to say this, but you're right," Anwar sighed. "You're really okay aren't you?"

"I'm fine," Lina said. "Why don't you stay for dinner? You can meet my new friends."

"Uh, don't you think Cover Girl will mind? I mean I did hold her hostage."

"Yes but she knows you didn't really mean it," Lina told him, taking his arm.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"So Lina's been reunited with her brother huh?" Kitty spoke on the phone the following day. "That's great Lance. Oh nothing much with me. But Jubilee's Aunt Hope showed up this morning and they've been together talking all day. Well according to what I heard this aunt had a serious fallout with the family a long time ago and she's been overseas with her business. She seems a bit prim and proper but she's really nice. Get this; she's even invited a bunch of us to stay over her place in California during the summer! Well she said she couldn't stay long today because she had to go back to Hong Kong to take care of business. I dunno, I think she said her company does a lot of hostile takeovers or something. And get this, she has her own limo driver here. He's totally hot and…Lance! I'm just saying! Lance! I didn't mean it like that!"

Meanwhile downstairs in the foyer Xavier, Jubilee and Ororo were talking with a middle aged Chinese woman with glasses, short hair, and brown business dress. "I really must thank you for all that you've done for Jubilation, Mr. Xavier," She spoke. "She's certainly flourished under your care."

"Jubilee is a remarkable young woman Ms. Lee," Ororo said.

"Ororo…" Jubilee blushed. "Come on…"

"I just feel awful that I wasn't there for you when you needed me the most," Hope Lee sighed.

"Come on Aunt Hope it's not like you knew or anything," Jubilee said. "My dad was kind of hard headed."

"He was the type to always carry a grudge," Hope sighed.

"What was the cause of the fight anyway?" Jubilee asked.

"He simply did not approve of my career choices," Hope said. "Thought I should have gone a more…traditional route."

"Yeah well he freaked when he found out I was a mutant," Jubilee sighed.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Hope sighed. "Some people can be so…intolerant it makes my blood boil."

"That's what this Institute is for," Xavier explained. "A haven for young people who find the outside world difficult to adjust to."

"If that's not a worthy cause I don't know what is," Hope said. "From what I've seen this place does not deserve even a quarter of the slander it gets in the papers. It must be expensive to run a place like this."

"We do have enough funds to keep things going," Xavier grinned. "I am independently wealthy."

"As am I Mr. Xavier," Hope told him. "And I want to make a donation."

"That's not necessary," Ororo said.

"I know it isn't," Hope said as she took out her checkbook. "But I insist. It's the very least I can do for all that you've done for my niece."

"Aunt Hope you don't have to…" Jubilee's eyes widened as she saw what her aunt was writing. "Is that a comma or a period?"

"Comma," Hope said calmly. She handed Xavier the check.

"Ms. Lee I can't just…" Xavier raised an eyebrow. "This is really too generous!"

"Nonsense," Hope sniffed. "I've worked very hard for what I have and this is but a mere fraction of my fortune. I want you to have it. You deserve it."

"Well…" Ororo was taken aback. "I suppose we could use it for repairs. We always do seem to need them."

A tall blond man wearing a driver's uniform walked in with Logan. "Ms. Lee you told me to remind you when that meeting was to take place."

"Is it One O'clock already?" Hope sighed as she looked at her watch. Thank you Brad. Well Jubilee, I suppose I should be leaving now. Thank you so very much for lunch."

"Thank you for…" Xavier blinked at the check. "Your support."

"Goodbye Aunt Hope," Jubilee hugged. "I hope I get to see you this summer."

"I'm looking forward to it," Hope hugged back. "And bring all the friends you like. My house is too big and empty as it is. It will be nice to have some young people around for a change."

"Famous last words," Logan grunted as Hope and her driver left. "What was all that about a visit?"

"She wants me to visit her in California this summer and bring some friends," Jubilee said. "So can I go, pretty please? Please?"

"I didn't sense any malice in her," Xavier said. "I see no problem with a brief visit."

"Well…Okay…" Logan grunted.

"Thanks Wolvie! You're the best!" Jubilee kissed him on the cheek and ran off. "I gotta tell everyone!"

"That was very nice of you Logan," Ororo grinned.

"I just hope the Firecracker doesn't invite the entire mansion," Logan groaned. "That poor woman has no idea what she's getting herself into."

Meanwhile Brad was driving Hope around Bayville. "I'm so glad Jubilee has found a nice, reasonably safe place to live," Hope sighed. "I don't have to worry about her safety."

"Speaking of safety, we have company," Brad told her. "It seems more of Ang's men followed us." He pulled out a gun from his glove compartment. "You think they would have learned their lesson after the gunfight at the airport in Hong Kong?"

"Hmmm…" Hope looked at the black cars following them in the rear view mirror.

"Good thing I programmed a map of Bayville into limo," Brad said. "We can lure them into a trap."

"I was hoping we wouldn't have to do business in town today," Hope sighed as she pulled out a nine-millimeter rifle out of the car. "Some people are just too impatient."

Huh? What's with Aunt Hope and the guns here? Is there more to her than meets the eye? And speaking of deranged family reunions what happens when you get Mystique, Zartan, and henchmen from the Pride, the Kingpin and Red Ninjas together? You got it. Trouble!