Chapter Four

Search and Rescue

We do not own X-men or anything else in here that you may recognize. Satori does, however, own 2 drooling rabbits.

I think it was just after 4:00 when I fell back asleep, Bobby had been pacing back and forth in front of my door, I could see his shadow travel across the back wall. He kept muttering about having to baby-sit me when he could have gone to help. He thought they could have just locked me up in the room until they got back. 'Cha right.

If the lot of them were gone I'd be out of here as soon as you can say 'lock pick.'

I kept running my plan though my head, ensuring that my departure would be quick, painless (for me anyway…) and memorable.

I was pretty damn sure that I'd fully covered the last bit.

They weren't going to forget me anytime soon. And it was likely that Bobby would have to go to therapy once I was really done with him. Some things are just too much fun to do only half-assed. And this was one of them.

My plans might have been a few hours delayed, but the amusement factor was going to increase tenfold.

And now I would get a little more sleep…

Ah… sleep.

Beep… beep… beep… beep… beep

"Ugh…" I shut off my alarm, it was 8:00. In the morning. "Double ugh…"

I cracked a weary eye open and blearily gazed about the room. From the lack of a sleeping body in Miss Munroe's bed, they hadn't yet returned from whatever emergency errand they had to run at 3:00 in the morning. I hadn't intended on sleeping for so long. I guess that when I had been resetting my alarm I had added a few hours… Not a difficult thing to do, seeing as how I had to do it nearly blind… But seeing as how they still weren't back… my plan could go on as scheduled. Now I was stuck with Tweedle Dum.

Hooray for me.

I threw back my covers and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. A task harder than it should have been I tell you now.

Damn I was tired.

I walked out into the kitchen/bar, which had been rid of all alcoholic beverages, prior to our arrival, and poured a glass of orange juice. Just as I had been sitting down to flick through the channels and watch some quality early morning television. (I use the term 'quality' loosely…) Bobby walked out of the bathroom, still in his Snoopy boxers might I add? What a pig.

"Morning ki…ahhhh!" he screamed, covering his eyes and turning away from me. "What's wrong with your face?"

I lifted a hand to my face to see what the matter was with it.

Bobby smirked.

"I guess it's true what they say… Make-up does do wonders," I slammed my empty glass down and shot him my meanest glare. "I just never realized how effectively it can cover-"

"Shove it!" I said, cutting into whatever lame insult he was going to throw at me. He made this pathetic false hurt face and walked over to the couch where I was sitting. Without even waiting for me to move out of the way, he threw himself down on the cushions. I yelped and dodged his feet as they settled where I had been sitting.

Another glare.

"What'cha watching?" he asked.

I glared at him again. He didn't even notice.

What's wrong with these people? Even my old teachers would look away if I glared at them. Hell, loads of my classmates scurried away if I was glaring, even if it wasn't directed at them.

Why didn't it work on this fool?

"Nothing," I chucked the remote at him and went to gather my clothes for a shower. As I rummaged through my clothing I secured my little secret weapon to escape in my make-up bag, Frenchy over there wouldn't ever think to look in it. I grinned, this was going to be too fun. I walked into the bathroom and locked the door. How was I to know if he was pervo or not…even though I strongly suspected that he was, after all he was a twenty year old male. I showered rather quickly or quicker then I usually would anyways, I mean I did have to be out of there before Miss Munroe, Scott and Jean came back, because after that there was no escape. Or at least not an easy and inexpensive one. I pulled a hoody over my t-shirt and put my little surprise in its pocket. I unlocked the bathroom door and neatly put my stuff away.

"So…" I went and sat on the opposite end of the couch "what are you watching?"

Oh my God. He was watching MTV…and they were playing 50 cent…ugh.

"MTV…it's one of my favourite songs it's called 'Candy Shop,'" he said in what must have been his 'cool voice' "You know I can bust quite the rhyme."

I tried so hard not to roll my eyes and laugh, but if I was going to get any good info out of him I had to be nice…

"Wow Bobby, really?" I said looking at him.

"Yeah," he grinned, "wanna hear one?"

"Maybe later, so tell me about your self I want to know everything," he looked at me in surprise and then directed his attention back to the television.

Jeez, this was going to be no problem…

"What do you want to know?"

And so it began the multiple but pointless questions

"Umm… what's your favourite color?"

"Where are you from?"

"Oh yeah, I hear it's really nice there…"

"Where's the nearest bus station around here?"

"Who's your favourite singer?"

"What brand of sneaker do you like?"

"How much is bus fare?"

"I never noticed how nice your smile is, have you had dental work done?"

"They really did a good job…"

"How do the prices of the bus compare to those of the trains?"

"Uh huh…really?"

"Plain or nutty M&M's?"

"Oh, me too…"

"Pink or purple?"

"Wow, I had you pinned as a purple man myself…"

"So the nearest train station is where?"

"Wow, all of that talking made me really thirsty, I'm going to grab something to drink. Do you want one?" I smiled innocently at him; poor fool had no idea what he was in for.

"Sure, Pepsi's fine," he answered, not looking away from yet another black rapping guy dancing around with barely clothed women.

Sigh. All guys are perverts…

I walked over to the cupboard and grabbed two glasses and filled them each with the dark soda. Then, as cautiously and quietly as I could, I took out the little plastic prescription bottle I had swiped from Gram's overflowing medicine cabinet. Despite her being in near perfect health for a woman her age, it didn't stop her from stocking up on all the vitamin pills, high blood pressure prevention pills and whatever she could get her hands on. She was a bit paranoid in that department. Not to mention that she always wanted to have me in perfect health.

Do I need to go into detail about all of the damn health shakes she would try to force down my throat every morning?

Anyway… My choice weapon of the day was a few extra-strength sleeping pills. Gram had switched to a new favourite brand of sleeping pills a few weeks ago, and must have forgotten that these beauties were still hiding up on the shelves. I shrugged to myself and glanced at the directions on the outside of the pill bottle. 'Take fifteen minutes prior to lying down. Do NOT take more then two pills at a time. Doing so could result in-'

Hmmm… The rest of the label had worn away…

I shrugged again.

I carefully and silently as possible opened the container and slipped two of the little white pills into Bobby's drink. Then, thinking about my escape plan, I decided I might need a bit more time to get sufficiently away from these nutters.

In went the last two wonderful pills.

Heh heh…

"What's taking you so long?" came Mr. Obnoxious' voice over the musical strains of some strange sound the media was calling music.

"Umm… the bottle was flat, I needed to find a new one."

"Oh, all right."

What an idiot.

I popped the cover back on and buried the evidence into the trash underneath the sink. They would never suspect it under there after all… I put the rest of the pop away and by the time I had brought Bobby his pop, the pills had completely dissolved. I handed him his glass as I sat down and preoccupied myself with staring through the television screen (which was, at the moment showing an advertisement featuring a dancing guy in a rubber costume…) and, slowly sipping on my drink, waited for him to drop. He gulped his down and for a minute it seemed like it had no effect on him. Five minutes later though…

"Weird…I'm getting kind of sleepy," he looked at me and yawned.

"You did have a long day yesterday…."

"You're right," he yawned again, "I… did…" he leaned back and then went limp.

Hmm… I suppose that when you double the dose, it works twice as fast. Too bad I hadn't had anymore of the pills. Then I wouldn't have had to watch any of that damn station…

No, I wouldn't have killed the poor boy. It just wouldn't have done to kill the fool. It was much more rewarding to think about him waking up and realizing I had put one over on him.

I packed my stuff all up and placed it beside the door. I made sure that I raided the mini bar in mine and Miss Munroe's room (and the other's too…) and took all of the other complimentary gifts the hotel people had left for us.

Free is my favourite number.

I was all ready to go… except there was one last thing I had to do.

I looked over to the couch where Mr. Obnoxious was snoring loudly. A trail of drool was making its way down his chin.

The picture of innocence.

Heh heh heh… Until I was done with him of course.

I took out a bright red wig I had worn my first Halloween with Amy and Kristy. Even though I hated giving it up, it was well worth it for the laugh I would get out of it. I also took out my camera complete with a full roll of film, and the business card Scott had given me the day they had approached me at home. Sure enough, the school number was on there as well as Scott's, Mrs Summers', Miss Munroe's and… Bobby's cell number. Perfect.

I tucked it back into my pocket for later.

I then walked over to Miss Munroe's suitcase and, hoping that the calm woman wouldn't overly mind me going through her stuff, uncovered a slightly revealing light pink, off the shoulder top, a knee-length black skirt, some strappy black heels and her make-up bag.

"Now…what was it you said earlier this morning?" I wondered out loud, dropping my supplies at the drooling man's feet. "Oh yes… I remember now… You were mocking Jean and then said, 'The day she gets by the Iceman is the day I dress up as a woman and pass my number out in the red light district.' …Well, well, well Robert - or Roberta, I should say. Today's your lucky day. You're going to make a lot of people very happy." I grinned, "That is, a lot of guys really happy…" and began my mission. The skirt went on first, which was a task way easier said than done.

He may look pretty buff but he still weighs a friggin' ton.

Then the shirt went on. He was looking pretty impressive by the time I had added the wig, but there was still something missing. All I had left now were the shoes… damn! They didn't fit! That was a disappointment, but who was I kidding? The boy had some monster feet – not to mention some kind of strange odour coming from them – it was almost cruel to think that Miss Munroe's beautiful shoes would fit on his big clunkers. Now it was time to get him into make-up. I bet you're thinking, 'did I make him look trashy?'

You're damn right I did.

Teach him to underestimate me…

I positioned him into a few suggestive poses that would undoubtedly be more appealing to the people who were into that sort of thing and snapped a dozen or so photos. I grabbed my book bag in which I had managed to stuff at least three quarters of my stuff into, the rest of it was in another smaller bag I had slung over my shoulder. I swung open the door with just one look back at 'Roberta' sleeping very peacefully. I can just imagine how pissed he was going to be when he woke up.

But his torture didn't stop there.

Maybe I was pushing it a little, but I had snagged the key to his room from where it had been carelessly flung on his bedside table and hid all of his clothes, leaving a few of Mrs Summers and Miss Munroe's delicates in their place.

I washed my hands after that. I didn't think that they were dirty, but it was weird all the same. 'Course that's the price us truly masterful pranksters have to pay.

I left a small note on the bed in his room.

'Good luck- you'll need it more then I do.

Have fun Roberta. Pity I won't be around to see your reaction, guess I'll just have to deal with it. Have a nice life, I know mine'll be great – no mutant school for me! Say 'bye to Scott and the girls.

I'm not one of you guys Bobby, sorry.

Well, not really, but it seemed like the thing to say.

See ya,

Marlee

P.S. Pink is so totally your color, girlfriend.'

I was practically skipping down the halls and into the elevator. I got off at the bottom floor and pushed through the doors never to look back again.

"Good bye," I said to the posh building, "and good fuckin' riddance." Then, with a definite spring in my step, I walked down to where I had seen the ATM the night before. I got twenty dollars knowing that it wasn't a very good idea to keep a whole lot of money on me on such a strange place. I mean, it might be Maine, but there were still weird people around. I tucked the bill away inside my wallet and continued to the nearest bus station. My plan wasn't very elaborate, but I was sure it would work. I would continue to ride the bus until I got to the border then I would board the ferry to cross over and then bus or hitchhike home – whatever it took.

'I'm on my way home Gram, it's a promise.' I thought with feeling.

As I made my way to the bus station, I had a bit of time to think about my situation. I knew without a doubt that I didn't want to go with those crazy people, but…

What if…

What if they were right?

I don't want to be – nor do I actually believe I am – a mutant. But it would explain why I always felt a bit out of step with the rest of the world. I don't have powers… But I just feel so… different.

Whatever. I'm so not thinking right. I'm just tired.

Or scared, I mean – public transportation? It's like the grossest thing in the world. Do we really ever know what people have done on those bus seats? Or the last time they were cleaned? Now there's a full body shudder for you.

I stopped into a store to buy some batteries and to make change for bus fare and waited at bus stop number 22. Since I had no idea when it came, I made myself cozy on the little plastic bench, (making sure I wasn't sitting in any gum or anything else just as disgusting) put on my headphones and waited.

And waited.

And just for good measure, I waited some more…

When I finally heard the telltale rumbling of a public bus, it was nearing 11:00. Jean and them had to be back by now. And probably still trying to wake up Bobby. I laughed to myself; it would take more than a bucket of water in his face to wake him up after the four sleeping pills. The bus screeched to a halt a few meters away from the stop. Gathering up my stuff, I paid my fare and boarded the bus. The bus driver paid me no heed as I dropped my change into the meter. The guy looked like the saddest thing in the world. I'm serious, he had really thin, stringy hair, a squished up face, and beyond blue, watery eyes. It looked like one misplaced word would send him into tears.

I sat in the back all by myself with nothing but my Pantera mp3 and the occasional odd sound coming from the bus engine to listen to. The scenery here was different than the drive up; there were small shops all squished together along the road with colourful displays and interesting things crowding the picture windows, people talking amongst each other in the street, drinking coffee and leaning out their car windows talking to the people in the car next over, and unusual but beautiful houses. Far more interesting than home, I'll admit, but really, that's not a hard thing to accomplish. Even so, I'd still rather my boring little community.

When the last stop finally came I had made it through my mp3 one and a half times. It was a really long ride, as it was a pretty damn long mp3. I was the last person off the bus, and that was only because the driver had stared at me at the last stop until I was creeped out enough to grab my stuff and book it out of there. Mind you, it was the end of his route, so I would have been doubling back on my trail… The final stop was in a quaint (can't believe I used that word…) little town, a lot smaller than the place we had stayed last night. There were no posh French restaurants here, just a little café and a corner store coupled with a Starbucks and a McDonalds, of course.

As I walked down the street I realized something; I hadn't a bloody clue where in the hell I was. And that I was hungry. It was past four now and I hadn't eaten breakfast; my stomach was justified in making its emptiness known. But I just continued to walk, the people I passed on the street and driving along in their cars looked at me as if I had some sort of contagious disease. I recognized the situation. In a smallish town like this, everyone knows one another, not to mention their business. When an outsider like myself walked into town looking like a lost puppy, everyone knew within minutes. That sort of thing didn't happen in the city, it happens around home often enough too. It's just not the same having it happen to you.

Man, there I go again, mentioning home. I just can't make things easy for myself can I?

I paused to look in the window of a crystal shop to hide my brooding. I want to go home… The crystal was nice though, I especially liked the figurine they had of an old lady walking her dog. No, it wasn't because it reminded me of my grandmother, she hated the things. It was funny because it was this old, bent over woman walking a huge ass German Shepard. While I was staring at the crystal figures, all of a sudden, they started to loose their sparkle.

'What the hell?' I turned around, puzzled, then realized it had been because of the steadily increasing amount of black clouds that were darkening the afternoon sky.

"Great…" I muttered, "That is SO just what I didn't need…" Taking one last look at the figurines, I pulled my jacket more closely around me and continued walking in the direction away from the bus stop, kicking random pieces of garbage to temporarily amuse myself. People moved out of my way as I came close to them, must be my look of extreme happiness that made them change their mind about saying hello.

"Marlee!"

What the hell?

"Marlee!"

Someone was calling to me? How would they know me? I wasn't wearing my personalized backpack that Grandma gave me, I threw that in a dumpster the first time she made me wear it and said I was mugged.

"Marlee!"

That was Miss Munroe's voice but she… I looked all around and didn't see her. I must be hearing things. I started to walk a little bit faster, hoping to outrun the voices in my head.

"Marlee, stop!"

That was Mrs. Summers, this time there was no mistaking it, and still there was no sign of either of them. The townspeople looked at me oddly, though to see a teenager carrying what looked to be all she owned in a few backpacks twirling about like a madwoman, I can't say that I really blame them.

"Marlee!"

That was definitely Mrs. Summers, and she had a 'this is getting old' tone of voice that I didn't want to mess with.

That was about the time I took off into a full out run.

I was running blindly, looking back over my shoulder to see if either of the two women were behind me when I ran into something and was knocked flat on my ass.

I looked up. I had run into a massive wall of ice.

Ice? Okay.

"Kid."

'Ah shit,' I cursed mentally.

There was Bobby looking smug as ever, but very, very pissed off, glaring down at me from atop his ice tower.

"What the hell is going on?" I cry out, still on the pavement looking up at Bobby's form being silhouetted against the sun. It was an interesting sight, but I was terrified. Ice towers just don't appear in the middle of the street, and normal people don't climb up on top of them. Not to mention the voices I heard had to have been Mrs. Summers and Miss Munroe. If Roberta was here, the others had to be.

I was in deep shit.

"You are so going to get it," he called down at me.

Major deep shit.

"Iceman, calm down," Scott said, walking up on my right-hand side.

"Come on Cykes, you seen what she did to me…" Bobby whined. Scott just half-smiled beneath his visor, while still trying to look intimidating.

Scott looked over to me, the smile now gone so completely from his face I doubted it had been there at all. "You are in so much trouble," he said grimly.

Gathering my courage, I stood up and brushed the dirt off my butt, hoping there had been no bubblegum spat onto the sidewalk where my ass had been residing.

These people really are mutants, or Bobby is at least… Wouldn't he be? What if he was using some sort of projector to make it look like he was on top of the ice tower? They could all still be normal; it could still be a hoax…

Then Mrs. Summers and Miss Munroe entered the picture.

They were flying.

Well, there goes that idea.

Within seconds they landed beside me, I was cornered. On one side there was a huge ice tower, another a grim looking buff guy with queer looking sunglasses, then the two flying women looking just as grim as Scott, except without the whole bouncer intimidation thing going on.

I looked around hoping against hope that someone would see this, classify it as child abuse and would rescue me. But they were all frozen, not in ice but like mannequins in a store window.

What had they done to them?

"Marlee, just calm down," Mrs. Summers said, inching towards me slowly, "we're here to help you if only you'll just come back with us."

"No! No! I won't… I… this is all a test…a lesson… yeah, that's it… Gram is trying to teach me a lesson, the ice wall's just a movie prop, the frozen people are all extras paid to stand impossibly still … You're… It's all like a magic trick. And since I figured it out, I pass. I get to go home now. I'm willing to bet none of you are more than bad B-movie actors between gigs."

"We've all experienced what you're going through child," Miss Munroe said, trying to ease my ramblings, "let us help you, you will learn to accept it in time."

"Accept what?" I cried out. "I'm not one of you. You're not even mutants yourself." Yep, here's denial at it's best. And here I go making a blathering fool of myself, yet again.

I snapped.

"Prove it! Prove that you are mutants! Let's see these wondrous powers! And while you're at it, show me mine, since you're all so dead set that I have some bloody powers too! I want to see it! Show me! Show the whole friggin' world, why don't you?"

The quartet all exchanged significant looks while I was breathing in deeply, to get a hold of myself. It wasn't going too well, I'll tell you that.

"Alright then," Scott said, and nodded up to Bobby.

Bobby, while standing at the top of the ice tower, turned his body into ice and then created another ice tower right beside the first one. I could reach out and touch it.

It was real, and cold to the touch.

Seeing some movement out of the corner of my eye I could see Scott lift a hand to his sunglasses and touch the side of them. Suddenly a huge ass, bright red light shot from his eyes, turning Bobby's second tower into a pile of ice cubes.

Miss Munroe's eyes turned white and she held her hands out over her head. As I watched, not able to breathe, all of the clouds above us cleared and the sun shone through, sending a welcome warmth though my weakened body, but still not enough to get me over my fear and shock.

That's not what creeped me out the most either. That privilege belonged to Mrs. Summers. She looked at one of the frozen people who had been walking along with a bad of groceries in his hand before all of this craziness happened, pointed her finger at him and the man started to float right off the ground. Then, with another wave of her finger, she set him down in the same place he had been before, not a thing spilt out of his bag.

My eyes grew wide and I fell back against the large brick building behind me.

"You're one of us child, we're sure of it," Miss Munroe said softly.

"I am not one of you!" I screamed, "I refuse to be! I don't want to be a freak! … It's not possible! I don't have any powers!"

The sky started to darken once more, this time great storm clouds were collecting over the street.

"I'm already treated like a freak, I don't need any of this!" They all just looked at me nervously and the clouds darkened even more so, "I don't want to go to that school…"

A loud peal of thunder rumbled throughout the town.

"Why the nine hells do you think I tried to leave? I want to go to MY home, I don't want to meet new people or go to a new school…!"

"Marlee…calm down," Scott was trying to get me to stop, but over the thunder and my own cries I could hardly hear his pleas. Flashes of lightning lit the sky, turning the scene even more surreal.

"Marlee," Mrs. Summers stepped towards me. "Let us help you," she smiled down at me.

I glared up at her resentfully. "I don't want your help. I don't need your help," I mumbled.

She placed her hand on mine and tried to help me stand up off the wall.

"No! Don't… touch… me!" I snatched my hand away from hers. I fell to the ground; I covered my head in my hands and started to cry.

I figure it was from emotional stress, if you had been in my position you'd probably do the same thing.

A few seconds after the first hot tear ran down my cheek, I felt something fall on my head. Looking up I saw the rain start pouring down; looking like the heavens had just decided to start crying with me.

I looked up to Mrs. Summers, fear apparent in my eyes; she looked down at me sympathetically.

No…

No…

It wasn't true…

I wasn't one of them…

I felt another warm tear escape my eye and the heaven opened up with unrestrained sadness.

My head fell forward on my lap and I continued sobbing until there was nothing left in me.

The rain had always been my companion though my pain. I guess it's only right that it be the cause of some of it too.

With one last deep gulp of air I gathered what little strength I had left in me and pulled myself to my feet. I was soaked, cold and pathetic. I weakly tried to pull my sopping jacket closer to my still trembling frame, but the act was pointless. The soaked piece of fabric would offer me no protection from the weakly falling rain. I felt something dry go round my shoulders.

Glancing up, I see the familiar blue colour of Miss Munroe's jacket. She was standing beside me with that same comforting expression on her face, the same one she had been wearing while I had been screaming at them minutes before. A guiding, yet gentle hand on my shoulder followed the jacket.

"Come child," Miss Munroe said, smiling down at me, "let's go back to the hotel, so you can get warmed up. We are expected back at the school, the invitation still stands for your enrolment if you are interested."

I sighed in defeat.

"Fine," I almost whispered, "I'll go," and the clouds above us started to clear, letting the weak beams of sunshine though. It wasn't to show my happiness, just my relief that a decision had been made.

During the short walk to two parked taxicabs Mrs. Summers had somehow procured for the five of us, Bobby gave me an evil grin. I took it as an "I will so get you back for the hell you gave to me" look. The thought that he didn't know I took pictures reassured me that I would have some retaliation ahead of time. I've got many a plan for Miss Roberta.

I might not be happy that I was going to the school, or that I was a mutant, or that I would have to wait even longer to go home, but at least now I knew they had been telling the truth – and while that wasn't an especially cheerful thought, it was better than nothing.

Scott, Mrs. Summers and I climbed into the first taxi, with Mrs. Summers and myself in the back. I wanted to put my music on, but lacked the energy.

More public transportation… gross…

"Some weird weather we're having isn't it? What with that crazy thunder storm and all, must have lasted about ten minutes and then cleared right up, now look at it, sun like nothing even happened," the driver rambled on, trying to make light conversation. Lucky for him, the dimwit chose the worst possible topic.

"Yeah, weird," Scott replied, glancing back at me in the side mirror.

"You have no idea," I muttered quietly, so that Mrs. Summers and Scott were the only ones who could hear me. Mr. Taxicab Man was still going on about the strange weather patterns and what was going to happen next.

"Just wait 'till I get really pissed."

End chapter four!

Thanks for the wonderful reviews everyone! It makes us so happy to get them! 'Till next time!

Nico-Ru and Satori B.