Take the Long Way Home
Chapter 12! Now we learn more about the mysterious "Hack" and "Slash". Also, we'll learn a bit more about the mysteries surrounding Mozart. Not to mention a little road rage on the part of Tom O'Reily. Let's see exactly what happens when he gives Kitty a taste of her own driving!
Animeluvr1-*Crosses arms* What's wrong with Don Henley? I like Don Henley's songs!
L1701E-You'll have to wait and find out with the rest of the readers, but I will tell you that they will each have a one or two chapter cameo, with possible additional cameos in later chapters for Razor. BTW, thanks for the specs on Tusk and Razor's powers.
Naja-It's about time! If you had a story, I would've reviewed it ten times over by now! But thanks for the suggestions, I'll put them to good use.
AzureDragoness- O-o-o-o-kay…*Looks over at Shawn* I think she might be a fan. *Shawn gasps for air* "Ya think! I just hope Maria doesn't see this!"
Disclaimer-All bow down before the great and powerful Toaster of Doom!
"AAA"-talking
'AAA'-thought
AAA-telepathy
AAA-self debate or conversation with "feral side" in Shawn and Rahne's case.
Chapter 12-Road Rage & Reconciliation
Shawn sat on his bed, staring blankly at the wall. He had gone to his room immediately after his uncle had given him the details on his two best friend's departures, ignoring the questions of "What's wrong?" from his friends and roommate.
-Flashback-
"Whadda ya mean GONE!?" Shawn shouted. His uncle winced as his nephew's voice went up three octaves.
"Just that kiddo. Slash left to train with an old friend of his grandpa's. I've taught him all I could. After all, there's only so much a ninja can teach a samurai. He took the Tetsaiga with him too."
-End Flashback-
Sebastian 'Slash' Kamiya was of Japanese descent and the latest in a long, long line of samurai. Like Shawn, both his parents were dead. He had lived in town with his grandfather, a spry old coot with the annoying habit of always saying 'dude' and 'man'.(Think Tyson's Grandpa from 'Beyblade'.) He did it because he thought it made him look cool, but in all honesty it more often than not ended up embarrassing his grandson.
Slash was a composed looking young man, whose serious face hid a brilliant tactical mind, especially when planning strategies on how to put the newest bully in place, or how to pull off a prank without getting caught. He had been the tactician of what had been known as the "Prank Triad".
The Tetsaiga was his family's ancestral sword. Passed down through the generations, Slash's grandfather had often said that it was supposedly forged from the fang of a great and noble inu youkai, or Japanese dog demon, of immense power.
The fact that Slash had left hadn't come as that big of a shock to Shawn. All three of them had always known that Slash would leave eventually to receive training from a great swords master that his grandfather was friends with. It was the fact that Hack had left too that caused him the greatest distress.
-Flashback-
"What about Hack?" Shawn asked in a subdued voice.
Thomas O'Reily's face took on a look of mingled regret and anger. "His father found out Shawn."
"Please tell me that you're talking about the stash of Playboys under his bed." Shawn moaned.
"Fraid not kid; he walked in on Hack when he was getting back from one of his little 'adventures' on the net. He was lucky that his computer was still on. His father was stunned just long enough for him to grab some things and get out again. He showed up at the dojo more scared than I've ever seen anyone before in my life." He sighed. "He took his shurikans, his kunais and his daggers, left some packages for you… and left again."
-End Flashback-
Jon "Hack" Lutz was the third and final member of Shawn's small inner circle of friends. A small, wiry kid, Hack was a genius with any type of electronics. Shawn had met him when his father, a large beefy individual with an extreme prejudice against anything that didn't conform to his way of thinking, had signed him up for basic classes at the dojo, saying something about making a man out of his son.
After a few days of training, Shawn had noticed that Jon always watched his uncle practicing with his Sais with something approaching reverence. A few days later on his birthday, Shawn presented him with a pair of daggers that were shaped like kunais; the diamond shaped throwing knives used by ninjas. The other boy was thrilled. That day the seeds of a powerful friendship had been sown.
After a few lessons, it was apparent that Hack had the makings of a master knife wielder, so Shawn's uncle began to include how to use kunais and shurikans in Hack's training. Thus he earned his nickname from his style of in-fighting, hacking away at his opponents, not to mention his computer skills. He had been the brains of their three man operation, digging up the data that Slash needed for his tactics.
Shawn himself had been their front man and negotiator, talking his way out if he and the others got caught in the act of planting a prank, or making the arrangements if they needed some hard to come by supplies. He had also been the one who selected most of the Triad's targets; he had a habit of singling out bullies and other potential targets for their pranks.
During the course of their lessons, the three of them, Hack, Slash, and "Crush", nicknamed for his style of crushing his opponent, as well as the fact that his weapons of choice were designed to do just that, became a close knit triangle of friends, bonding over pranks and video games, and later arguing over which girl they thought was hotter. Their ties of friendship had tightened even further the day that they had all discovered that they were mutants.
-Downstairs-
"Aren't you worried about your nephew Mr. O'Reily?" Storm asked as she sipped from a cup of tea. Shawn's uncle clutched a coffee mug in one hand and took a small sip. He shook his head.
"No. I know how he'll work this out on his own. He always tended to go through two stages to work through something." He began to tick them off on his fingers. "First he just sits and thinks back on things, then he finds a practice dummy or a bully, doesn't matter which, though I think he prefers to use bullies for the more extreme problems, and beats the tar outta them." He took another sip of his coffee. "After that, he's usually over whatever it is that was bothering him."
"What exactly is bothering Scales bub?" Logan asked menacingly. "And while we're at it, why are you here in the first place?"
"I have to admit, Mr. O'Reily, this is quite a surprise," Beast said.
Tom set down his mug. "It's like this. Two of Shawn's best friends left town and they gave me some things that they wanted him to have. That's why I've got the trailer. Plus there's the little fact that this kind if news isn't something that you tell someone over the phone."
"Why did they have to leave?" Beast asked. He had a glass of lemonade and was leaning forward in interest. Most of the adults had gathered around the kitchen table in order to get the 411 on what exactly Tom was doing here. The professor was the only one not there, having retired to his study to speak with the contractor about how fast the wall could be repaired.
"Well… Slash, that's the nickname his friend Sebastian goes by, is training in the art of swordsmanship with a friend of his grandfather's. But we all knew that he would be leaving soon."
"And his other friend?" Storm asked curiously. Tom just shook his head before he answered.
"His father found out that he was a mutant." Beast sprayed his lemonade over the table, soaking Wolverine in the process. Luckily for him, Logan was in to much shock to really say anything.
"And the reason you didn't tell us this IS?!" He roared. (AN: So I lied.)
Tom took a casual sip of his coffee, then looked Logan right in the eye. "Number one, they wouldn't have come here, even if you had asked. Both of them currently have excellent control of their powers and don't believe that they need help learning to control them as they evolve. Number two, Slash had a prior commitment and I didn't see fit to break that up. Third, even if I wanted to, I don't have a damn clue about how to get in contact with Hack." The martial artist took another swig of coffee and prepared to launch into a full blown explanation, when a voice interrupted him.
"Mr. Logan? You said that you would take me driving today." It was a slightly pissed looking Kitty. Logan squirmed in his seat, looking desperately for a way out of this. His eyes locked on Tom and a light bulb went off over his head.
"Hey O'Reily; you up for a challenge?"
Tom cocked an eyebrow. "What type of challenge?"
"Take Half Pint here out driving."
Sirens and alarms were blaring in Tom's head, but he had learned long ago to ignore those alarms. They were the ones that usually sounded when he was presented with a situation that could either end up making him look like a fool, or give him the last laugh at whoever had set the situation up. Now the ones that sounded when he was about to walk into mortal danger, those were another story altogether. "Sure. One condition though. I drive her around first, just to get the lay of the land. Then, she drives me back to the Institute." He turned to Kitty and stuck out his hand. "Sound okay to you?"
Kitty appeared to be thinking it over. Storm and Beast were so interested in what they assumed was going to be the funniest thing of the year, that no one noticed Mozart standing near the doorway. He seemed to be wearing a doggish grin.(No pun intended) Suddenly, his eyes flashed a bright yellow color, before returning to their normal hue. Kitty suddenly grinned and accepted the man's hand.
"Sounds like a plan," She said. Mozart made a sound that was suspiciously close to a snicker, then padded his way up the stairs. He stopped at the top of the stairs, sniffed the air once, and headed towards the boys rooms. He stopped in front of the closed door to the room that Shawn and Sam shared. His eyes flashed again and the door opened.
"Go away Sam," Shawn muttered from his position facing away from the door.
"Sorry, but I'm not Sam, just your average Native American Sacred spirit," the coyote chuckled in a light bass voice, mischievousness accenting it heavily. Shawn turned and stared at THE Coyote, the original trickster himself.
"Are you outta your hairy little mind?! What if someone hears you?!" He half yelled in disbelief. Apparently ancient Native American spirits talking to him wasn't that big a deal.
"Nice to see you again too kid." Mozart jumped up onto his bed and circled around a few times before lying down, making himself comfortable. "Just wanted to let you know that this whole moping thing aint gonna help you. Sure Hack and Slash are gone, but they'll be back. Do you really think that Hack wouldn't leave you a way to contact him if the need ever arose? All you need to do is drop him an e-line. What the tournament ring is to you, the internet is to him. And at least you know where Slash is." He paused. "But I digress. I came up to tell you that I just pulled what I think could be the mother of all 'Just Desserts' pranks. Come down to the drive if you want to see." With that, the spirit got up, and left the same way he had came.
Shawn stayed where he was for a moment, then followed after the canine. If Mozart had taken the trouble to set up a prank using his powers, it was bound to be a lulu.
He got to the drive just in time to see Kitty climb into the passenger side seat of his uncle's jeep. He panicked a little, then remembered some of the horror stories that he had been told about her driving skills by Bobby, Jamie and Kurt. He chuckled. "It seems god has a sense of humor," he laughed.
At the jeep, Kitty settled into her seat while Tom hoisted himself into the driver's side via the rollbar, ignoring the door. He settled in and started up the engine. Kitty expected them to get started right away, but instead he pushed a cd into the player. Then he pulled a pair of mirrored sunglasses off of the dash. He slipped them on, a wild light that looked slightly familiar to her coming into his eyes. That's when the opening to "Bad to the Bone" started playing. Kitty started to get a bad feeling.
That's when she remembered where she had seen that same light. In Shawn's eyes during his first DR session! She opened her mouth to say that she had changed her mind, but it was too late. Tom floored it, doing a burnout before the jeep shot forward. Kitty looked towards the gate in horror. It was only half open! The jeep wouldn't fit through! She was in such a panic; she didn't even think to phase the jeep through. "WAIT FOR THE GATE! WAIT FOR THE GATE!" she screamed.
Tom didn't even flinch. He casually jerked the wheel sharply to one side, the tires on the right side of the jeep hitting the curb of the drive. The jeep was sent up on its two left wheels, passing through the half open gate easily. Tom jerked the wheel back, and the jeep thudded back onto all four wheels as it sped down the road leading to town. A few seconds later, sirens started up behind them.
-Bayville PD-
The captain was leaning back in his chair, glad that the almost permanent piles of undone paperwork had mostly been cleared away for the moment. One of Bayville's boys in blue chose this one moment of relaxation to stick his head through the door. "Hey boss, we just got a call from cycle unit 17 that I think you should hear"
"I'm on my break!" the captain snapped. The officer nodded, but didn't leave.
"Do you remember those horror stories that you told us about that one driver that was in your district before you got transferred here?"
The captain paled. "Fine, but this had better be worth interrupting my break," he growled, following the officer to the dispatch. The dispatcher handed him a sheet of paper.
"Just got a call from unit 17. They're currently in pursuit, along with units 18 through 23," the dispatcher said. The captain looked over the paper and paled once again when he read the license number and the vehicle description. He grabbed the dispatch mike and started shouting into it.
"Attention all units, this is the captain. Do not, I repeat DO NOT attempt to apprehend suspect. I've seen this guy before. I repeat do not attempt to apprehend the driver of a brown jeep, license number," he rattled off the number. "Trust me on this one; there is nothing that can stop this guy." That said, the captain went back to his office, lay back in his chair and breathed a heavy sigh.
"If O'Reily is in town, then I think that we're gonna be in for a loooong week," he sighed.
-Back at the Institute-
Shawn had returned to his room. He sat down on his bed for a moment, then sighed. He had thought on his problem enough. Can you say Danger Room? I knew you could! Bahumut said in the back of his head. Shawn nodded, then heaved himself off of the bed. 'Maybe some katas will clear my head,' he thought, heading to the lower levels.
As he went, he passed by Maria's room. The door was open, and being the guy he was, he looked in. She and Rouge were the only ones there. She was sitting near the window, reading another book. Rouge was sitting on her bed, staring into space. She idly twirled a red rose in one hand, while in the other she held a playing card. Shawn peered at it for a moment. It was the Queen of Hearts.
He shook his head as he continued on his way, leaving both girls to their respective trances. So the Cajun went through with his little idea? Bahumut asked idly. Apparently Shawn answered. Both of them then fell into an easy silence, the kind shared between old friends. After a moment, Shawn spoke up again.
Bahumut? he asked. Yeah kid? He's not going to stay caged forever, is he? Bahumut sighed. No kid, he's not. I think that the only thing you can really do is prepare for that eventuality, and try to explain some of the finer points of the world to him when he does get out. Hopefully, he'll listen to you. After that, both of them fell again into the easy silence they had shared before.
-Back on the Road-
Kitty clutched at the door handle for dear life. The cops in pursuit had fallen behind about ten minutes ago. But they were still racing around at speeds that would make Quicksilver queasy. She couldn't even tell where they were anymore. As they took a particularly sharp turn, Kitty decided to make a run for it. She jumped, phasing through the door as she did so. She phased through a tree that was growing close to the curb, and landed heavily on the ground. She paused a second when the 'ground' grunted as she landed and swayed a bit. 'Since when does the ground grunt and sway?' Then she noticed that the 'ground' was far softer than it should be. A wry, slightly out of breath, voice cut through her reverie.
"Not that I'm complaining, but could you get please get off of my chest?" Kitty's head jerked up, her face completely crimson. Her gaze locked with that of Lance, whose humorous expression quickly turned to disbelief, then to alarm. "KITTY?" he gasped. Kitty gulped.
"Um, hi Lance," she squeaked in a tiny voice. Suddenly, both of them seemed to realize the exact position they were in. Kitty was lying fully on Lance, who was lying in a large hammock, her face level with his chest. Almost unthinkingly, Lance had wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders when Kitty had landed on him. He quickly unwrapped his arm, and both of them scrambled to get out of the hammock. Of course, being the nature of hammocks, it decided to just flip them both out onto the ground. Kitty landed first, squeezing her eyes shut and bracing herself for when Lance dropped on her. She waited a moment, but the impact didn't come. She cracked open one of her eyes.
Lance had landed face down. But he had splayed out his legs and straightened out his arms so that he didn't crush Kitty. His face was beet red however. He blushed even darker as he got up off of her. "Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his head with a hand. He used the other to pull Kitty to her feet.
Kitty shook her head. "It's my fault," she said, her blush still in full force, "I should have, like, watched where I was jumping." Lance looked at her for a minute.
"Jumping?"
"Shawn's uncle was, like, giving me a driving lesson. Let's just say that I understand why he walked to the Institute now," she laughed. Lance chuckled too. After a moment they settled into an uneasy silence. "So…where is everyone else?" Kitty asked, looking around for emphasis.
"Blob's on another grocery run, Quickie's still out cold and Toad asked Wanda if she'd like to eat lunch with him," Lance said, also avoiding looking Kitty in the eye.
"Wait a minute," Kitty held up one of her hands, "Toad asked Wanda out to lunch? And she accepted?!" Lance nodded, a grin forming on his face. "How did he manage to do that without getting hexed?"
"Shawn gave the dude a little advice a while ago. It seems to have worked. Plus he scored the money off of me. I kinda bet him twenty that he couldn't get her to say yes." He made a wry face. "I was wrong." The two of them sat down on the porch and continued to talk for a few more minutes, unconsciously slipping back into old habits. 'Man, it's good to talk to her again' Lance thought, watching Kitty laugh as he described Pietro and Shawn's first meeting. She looked down at her hands then, her mood changing suddenly.
"Hey Lance?" she asked, her voice hesitant.
"Yeah?" he replied, faint concern tinting his voice. 'What did I do to make her sad?' he thought.
"You remember that stuff I said…that night?" the sadness in her voice had tripled. Lance nodded slowly. "I just…I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I was mad at you and after thinking about it for a while; I realized that I didn't mean most of the stuff that I said to you." You could hear the misery in her voice, it was almost palpable.
Lance gently cupped her chin with one hand, bringing her eyes up to meet his. "You know what?" he asked. She shook her head. "I'm sorry too. You were right; I was acting like a hood." Kitty tried to look away, but his gaze held hers. "But you know what else? I've tried to change a little and while I did, I did a little thinking of my own. And I think that we could start over. But first we need to become friends again. I think that we concentrated so much on being boyfriend and girlfriend… we forgot to just be friends. So… if we're friends again, maybe we could have what we had before, but better." He gently let her chin go, and held out his hand. "What do you say? Friends?"
Kitty gave him a watery smile as she took his hand in her own. "I'd like that," she beamed. Then she pulled him into a tight hug. Lance was stunned for a moment, then returned the hug. A screech of brakes at the curb brought the two back to the real world. Tom walked up, as the two separated hastily, scratching his head under his hat.
"I'm really sorry Kitty; I didn't notice that you were gone until I realized that the screaming had stopped a couple of blocks ago." He stopped and looked at Lance, recognition dawning. "Hey you're that polite kid from earlier!" he said. He snapped his fingers and scrunched his forehead up. "Um…Lance, right?" he said. Lance nodded. Tom looked from Kitty to Lance, then back to Kitty. "You two…involved?" he asked. Lace and Kitty shook their heads.
"We're just friends," they chorused. They looked at each other, then burst out laughing. They had taken a step that day, a very large and important step, towards regaining what they had once had.
"I believe it's your turn to drive Kitty," Tom said, motioning to the jeep. Kitty waved to Lance as they sped off, Tom's "WAHOOOO!!!" echoing behind them.
-At the Institute-
Logan finished washing his hands in the kitchen, wiping them dry on a towel. He grinned as his acute hearing picked up the sound of screeching brakes. But his jaw dropped as Tom sauntered in, completely unruffled. "How'd the lesson go?" he asked, struggling to hide his astonishment. Tom shrugged.
"Phasing through the gate was…an interesting experience," he said. He grabbed an apple from a bowl of fruit on the counter, then headed towards the rec room. Logan heard him exclaim, "Hey is that Super Smash Bros. Melee?" Bobby's voice carried back to Logan, confirming that it was. "Can I play?" Wolverine sighed. 'How could a pit fighting legend be so childish?' he asked himself.
Kitty walked in then. "Hey Half Pint, how was the lesson?" She shrugged.
"It was…interesting." She grabbed a banana from the bowl, then also headed towards the rec room. Logan just stared after her. He shook his head in disbelief, then grabbed an orange from the bowl, leaned against the counter, and began to peel it.
In the rec room, Shawn looked up from the match between his uncle and Bobby. It looked like his uncle was getting his ass handed to him, but he liked to turn things around on his opponent, so he wasn't to concerned, and looked at Kitty. "I see you survived," he quipped. Kitty shot him a glare, then headed up towards her room. Shawn looked at Mozart, who was lying on the rug, busily shredding of Scott's second most favorite pair of shoes. "Was it something I said?" he asked innocently. Mozart chuckled quietly, still intent on reducing said shoes to nothing more than a pile of shredded leather and rubber. The look on Scott's face would be priceless, especially coupled with when he found the little, 'gifts', Mozart had left in his favorite pair of treads.
-To Be Continued-
There's the Lancitty that I promised. It may not be the best in the world, but I tried my best. And you'll find out more about Hack and Slash's powers later on in the fic. Next chapter, Thanatos makes his first move against Shawn, while dangers gather in the shadows around Maria. This is Metal Dragon1 saying, until next time, Read & Review!