Everybody's Got Some Secrets
"Well that was a fun night," Althea grumbled as the Misfits and X-Girls returned to Aunt Hope's house. "Four hours and it's nearly three in the morning and still no sign of the girls."
"It appears there's no sign of Jubilee either," Xi took some pictures of the house as they entered.
"Hey Jubes! We're back! Jubes?" Tabitha called out.
"Where's Jubilee?" Danielle looked around. "We left her behind."
"Let me guess, she found out Kitty was driving and chickened out?" Pietro asked.
"Smartened up is more like it," Paige told him.
Just then Trinity and Spyder walked in from the kitchen with some ice cream bowls. "Hey guys! Where's have you been?"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Althea screamed.
"Getting ice cream," Spyder showed her.
"Ask a stupid question," Pietro slapped his forehead.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU?" Althea shouted.
"We were worried about you!" Lance snapped. "We scoured half the city trying to find you!"
"We're sorry," Daria looked sad. "We were just playing with our new friends."
"By 'new friends' I take it you mean the Runaways?" Lance asked.
"Uh huh," Spyder nodded. "They're really nice. The older kids are real jumpy though."
"Before I kill all of you…" Althea said carefully. "You might want to answer these next questions carefully. Were you in the Runaways' lair?"
"Yes," Quinn said.
"They call it the Hostel," Daria told them.
"It's a real cool place," Brittany said. "Filled with all kinds of things that are nice and loud. And burn pretty well."
"And is this Hostel still standing?" Wanda asked.
"More or less," Spyder shrugged.
"Did you use your teleportation watches to leave?" Althea asked.
"Yes," Daria said.
"Then you know where it is!" Althea said. "The watches automatically program any locations you teleport to and from to!"
"Uh…" Spyder looked at Trinity.
"Normally yes…" Quinn gulped.
"But in this case no…" Daria said.
"They kind of got…" Brittany was hesitant. "Erased."
"ERASED!" All the Misfits shouted.
"And how did that happen?" Pietro shouted.
"Accident?" Daria shrugged.
"Accident my Aunt Ralph!" Fred shouted. "You did that on purpose!"
"Aunt Ralph?" Rahne blinked.
"Don't ask…" Tabitha sighed.
"AAHHHHGGGG!" Althea was close to tearing her hair out. "When we get home you four are in such trouble…"
Just then Jubilee wandered in. "What's going on? HEY!" She flinched when Xi took a picture of her. "Xi!"
"Say cheese!" Xi said happily.
"Looks like we're not the only ones out all night," Arcade remarked.
"Where did you go?" Paige asked.
"We thought you were going to stay here?" Danielle asked.
"Yeah but uh, I just had to get some fresh air," Jubilee shrugged. "You know. Just take a walk."
"Wait a minute…" Rina sniffed. "That scent…I know that scent…You weren't alone! It was that …"
Just then Aunt Hope staggered in with Brad supporting her. "Uh Hello," Brad gulped. "What's going on here?"
"Uh, nothing…" Jubilee said.
"Hello!" Xi took a picture.
"Xi will you cut it out with that thing?" Wanda snapped. "Sorry. He's like a little kid with a new toy."
"What's wrong with her?" Tabitha asked.
"Uh…I don't feel well…" Hope hiccuped.
"I smell alcohol," Rina waved her hand in front of her nose.
"She had too much to drink at the meeting," Brad told them. "She's not feeling well so I took her home. I'm gonna put her to bed now."
"Sorry Jubilation…" Hope struggled to retain some dignity. "I'll think I'll sleep in tomorrow…Good night." They left the room.
"Well that was odd," Spyder blinked.
"Notice everywhere we go all the adults do is drink?" Quinn asked.
"Gee I wonder why?" Pietro glared at the girls.
"Come on!" Althea grabbed Daria and Quinn by the arms. "We're going home!"
"Yeah and I hope for your sakes you girls better remember where the Runaways are," Lance dragged Spyder along. "Or else Roadblock is really gonna blow a gasket!"
"Sorry about this y'all," Todd said as he grabbed Brittany. "See ya!" The Misfits then teleported away.
"You know we run around with the weirdest people," Paige remarked.
"Well duh," Danielle remarked.
"Okay so now that the Misfits and your Aunt have gone," Rina looked at Jubilee. "Want to tell me what you were doing with that Shane character we met the other day and why you smell like gunpowder?"
"WHAT?" All the other X-Girls yelled.
"Uh, it's kind of a funny story…" Jubilee gulped and she told them.
"Let me see if I get this straight," Kitty looked at her. "While we were roaming around the city looking for Trinity and Spyder, you got involved in a shoot out with some gangsters? And one of them was that guy from the other day and he's a mutant?"
"That's pretty much it," Jubilee shrugged.
"You know if Logan ever finds out about this you're dead right?" Amara asked her. "Not to mention your aunt."
"Are you crazy?" Jubilee hissed. "I don't wanna worry Aunt Hope. Especially if she isn't feeling well!"
Meanwhile in Hope's bedroom…
"I told you splashing you with all that alcohol was a good idea," Brad carefully checked the bandages on Hope's left side.
"Great now my niece thinks I'm a drunk," Hope winced.
"Somehow I think they might be used to people who drink a lot of alcohol," Brad smirked. "Well if you want we could always tell them the truth."
"Are you insane?" Hope grunted. "Yes, let's tell my niece I got shot while fighting off the henchmen of my former employer. That will impress her!"
"Maybe you should tell her? You know, about everything."
"No," She told him. "Not until this is all over anyway. And don't you say anything to her!"
"Hey, I value my hide way too much to do that," Brad grinned. "So now what's the plan?"
"Give me a day to recover," Hope growled. "Then we're going to make a little visit to Ang. Nobody shoots me and gets away with it!"
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Meanwhile across the country, the Hellions were attending the Massachusetts Academy Annual Summer Fling Dance. Evan was dancing with Yvonne and they were the envy of the academy.
"And now…" Solomon O'Sullivan announced. "This year's king and queen of the dance…Evan Daniels and Yvonne Bloom Frost!"
It seemed like a picture perfect evening as they were both crowned and began their dance. In the background were the lights and pictures flashing behind them showing the glory of the campus. It was a perfect moment.
A moment that was ruined in a second by a loud collective gasp.
Evan heard it and for a moment thought that his fly was open the way everyone was staring at him. Until he noticed that a lot of people were staring at the screen behind him. And so was Yvonne. She seemed to be in shock. Evan looked up and saw why.
FIVE-YEAR OLD GIRL MURDERS PARENTS IN BED The headline of a newspaper was shown on the screen behind them for everyone to see. Beneath that was a picture of a small child being led into a police station.
The girl was Yvonne.
A loud giggle got Evan's attention as he whirled around seeing Tarot and Monet looking very pleased with themselves. "That's right everyone," Tarot shouted. "Your queen murdered her parents when she was only five years old and spent nearly all her life in the loony bin!"
"I knew you were vindictive Monet," Evan hissed. "But I thought better of you Tarot! How could you do this?"
"Serves you right for dumping me," Tarot gloated. "Now you know exactly what your girlfriend is!"
"I already knew," Evan told her evenly. "And that's not the whole story! She was framed! It was…"
"That's enough Evan," Yvonne said quietly. "You don't have to defend me."
"Yes I do!" Evan told her.
"No, you don't…" Yvonne had a strange look in her eyes. "Because I'm perfectly capable of defending myself!"
"What are you going to do? Kill me like you killed your parents?" Tarot sneered.
"You say that like it's a bad thing!" Bevatron yelled. "Hell she can wipe out my parents and I wouldn't care!"
"I don't need my powers to take you on!" Yvonne screamed as she lunged at Tarot. Soon both girls were kicking and fighting. The whole school was egging them on.
Evan glared at Monet. "You've made a huge mistake Monet."
"Why because you're a little mad?" Monet laughed. Then she felt a cold hand on her shoulder.
"No…Cause you hurt my sister!" Catseye hissed as she changed into lion form and knocked her down.
"Bring it on Kitty cat!" Monet floated in the air. "I've been waiting for this!" She then dove at Catseye who clawed and scratched at her. "MY HAIR!"
"All right! Now this is a dance!" Beef whooped.
"Place your bets people!" Solomon shouted.
Evan then noticed Emma and the other chaperones standing to the sidelines. "Aren't you going to stop this?" Evan asked.
"Eventually," Emma grinned as she watched her adopted daughters switch partners and beat the stuffing out of their tormentors. "Once the girls get all the rage out of their systems. Then I can get all the rage out of mine!"
"Tarot and Monet are going to get serious punishment aren't they?" Beef chuckled.
"Definitely…" Emma told him as she watched Tarot try to get to her cards but Catseye wouldn't let her.
"And I thought the X-Men's dances were disasters," Evan sighed.