Take the Long Way Home

Well, here's chapter twenty-one!  This time we see what happens when Hack tries to make Jamie a little less lonely.  And we find out what Dante needs help with!  Plus trouble's in the air following a special training session Jean has with the Professor.

MCM: I don't know, but I'll see what I can come up with.  Read and see.  And why don't you invest in some of my new "Anti-Lawyer spray" (Patent pending).  P.S.: here's a B.A.G. (Bad Ass Gun) to fight the IRS.

Fluffy's numba one gal- Sorry, but Inuyasha was a half demon.  At the end of the series he used the shikon jewel to turn himself fully human.  His kids looked human too, but how do we know that some demon DNA didn't stick around?  Something to think about, huh?

Animeluvr1: As a great man once said: "Close, but you're way off".  Dante has absolutely no connection with Slash or any of his ancestors.  Dante didn't always live in Japan ya know.  And Decoy will be staying with Hack.  Jamie will get a totally original pet… kinda.  About Starving Julius…I'm definitely going to try and get them into the story, with a few changes in the lineup of course.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by who I've selected as the drummer.

LW: Of course you like Dante!  You're the one who created him!

L1701E: I got Rick from animeluvr, she actually asked me to include him.  I fully intend for Razor to make another appearance, tying it in with a little mini-drama involving Hack's girlfriend.  I think you may get where I'm going with this in a bit.  I'm gonna use that first idea you suggested to me, I'll think about using this one later on.

-AAA- Translation

AAA-telepathy

AAA-self debate, or conversation with feral side in Shawn and Rahne's case

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except what I've created myself.  And if you still feel like suing, let me introduce you to my fight muse, Vegeta.

Chapter 21-Jamie Gets A Pet!

            "So Mr. Night, tell me exactly what it is that you need help with."  The professor steepled his fingers as he looked across his desk at Dante Night, self proclaimed half-demon.

            "As I've already told you, I am half demon.  This imbues me with certain… shall we say abilities, among them an almost constant regenerative factor, as well as certain abilities I receive when I use either of these." He gestured to the sword on his back, and the gauntlets that hung from his waist.  Logan, who was leaning against the wall, raised an eyebrow.

            "How do a fancy pair of metal gloves and a big knife give ya powers?"  Dante shot a cool look in his direction, making the feral squirm after a few moments of silence.

            "This 'big knife', as you call it, contains the spirit of an ancient thunder demon.  It also allows me to tap into my demon heritage.  And these 'gloves' contain the spirit of an ancient, and extremely powerful Ifreet, or fire demon.  Unfortunately…"  Xavier leaned forward.

            "Yes?"

            "When I tap into my full demon heritage, it unleashes an unspeakable power.  I've spent every day of my life since the moment it first emerged holding that beast back."

            "So why come to us now?" Logan asked.

            "I was in Cleveland a while ago, tracking a clan of shadow demons that had developed a taste for warehouse workers when I felt a vast energy being unleashed downtown…"  Dante trailed off, turned, and shot a look at the door.  "The same energy, in fact, as the energy currently hiding behind the door."  Logan strode over and yanked the door open.

            Shawn, Tabby, Rick, Bobby, Kitty and Jubilee all tumbled inside, with Kitty escaping through the floor.  Rick looked up from the top of the pile and grinned.  "Hey Badger, what's shaking?"  Logan just growled and pointed out the door.  The kids got the hint and ran for their lives.  No one noticed a tiny black spider-like machine perched on the wall.

            All the way on the other side of the mansion, Hack, who had changed from his old wife-beater and shorts to a gray t-shirt and jeans, Jamie, Maria and most of the New Mutants were gathered around a small TV monitor, laughing their heads off, except for Maria.  She looked around in confusion.  "Why are you laughing?  They failed to complete their objective."  Ray shook his head.

            "We're laughing at the faces they made when Logan caught them," he explained.  Hack's laughter cut off as the screen suddenly turned to static.

            "Uh-oh."  He looked around at the other teens.  "I think my 'SPY-der' just got squashed (AN: Bad pun, I know).  I suggest we split up so we don't get busted."  The others quickly agreed, and the gathering split up.  Hack headed to the roof, discreetly being tailed by Jamie.

            The hacker plopped down on the roof, and took Biker's orb off of his belt.  "Might as well give him that upgrade he's been bugging me about," he mused to himself.  He pinched a section of the orb, and drew a string of energy from its surface.  He plugged the strand into his goggles, which he had pulled over his eyes, and produced a purple orb.  It changed into a keyboard with a strange pronged thing at the end of the cord.  He plugged this into Biker's orb, and began to type rapidly, computer code scrolling down the lenses of his goggles.  Jamie watched him for a moment, before he accidentally knocked a small stone with his foot.

            "Hey kid, c'mon over," Hack didn't even turn around.  Jamie walked up and sat down cross-legged next to Hack.  He stayed quite for a minute, as Hack typed; then…

            "Whatcha doing?"

            "Biker's been bugging me about giving him a power boost and making some changes to his appearance.  Keeps saying that he needs to look meaner for some reason.  So…why come up here to hang with a geek?"  Jamie looked a little surprised to hear Hack call himself a geek.

            "You're not a geek, you're really cool!"  Hack gave the younger boy a look of gratitude.

            "Thanks kid, but I'm not cool, my powers are cool.  Without them, most people wouldn't give me a second glance.  Excepting Sharon of course."  At Jamie's inquisitive look, he continued.  "Sharon Smith, my girlfriend.  But I call her 'Cat', cause of her powers."  As he spoke, a smaller than average orb fell off of his belt and rolled to a stop next to Jamie.  The boy picked it up and, forgetting about Hack's girlfriend and whatever powers she may have had, looked at it curiously.  Unlike the other orbs in Hack's arsenal, it was a dull gray, meaning that it hadn't had its program type classified yet.  Hack took it from Jamie and looked closely at it before smiling.

            "Ah! I was wondering what happened to this little fella."  He looked at Jamie.  "This was a project I was working on for a little bit before I scrapped it.  I had just cornered Biker, and I had to devote all my attention to converting him from his full viral form, so this guy kinda fell between the cracks."  He looked at the orb for a moment, before looking appraisingly at Jamie.

            "Ya know…this little guy isn't really suited for life in the net.  He's too young, and he would slow me down."  He paused.  "So how'd you like to have a pet?"  Jamie looked astonished, which quickly gave way to excitement.

            "Sure!"  He paused.  "What is it anyway?"  Hack smiled.

           "Initiate program!" he commanded.  The orb glowed, and stretched out into a small, bipedal shape, about a foot high.  The creature chirped as he rubbed at his eyes with his clawed forearms.  Jamie's eyes were almost bugging out of his head.

            "Whoa!" he breathed.  He looked at Hack, a little concerned.  "What does he eat?"

            "Just about any type of meat, but not humans, dogs, cats or any other domesticated animal, if they're alive anyway.  But his main source of energy is electricity.  I'd suggest giving him hamburger as a special treat sometimes.  Other than that, he's cool.  And he won't attack humans when he's fully grown, that was one of the first things I programmed into him."  Hack grinned; he could see that Jamie was going to make damn sure that he kept this little (For now) animal.  "So," he grinned, "whatcha gonna call him?"

            Jamie thought on it for a moment as he rubbed the little creature's head.  "Razor, cause he's as cool as Kid Razor," he finally decided. (AN: Jaime saw the news footage of the fight, and is in the first stages of hero worship towards Kid Razor.)  Hack nodded.

            "An apt name for a baby Velociraptor," he declared.  (AN: Betcha no one saw that one coming!)  He got up and dusted himself off as he put the keyboard and Biker's orb away.  "Well, you take good care of Razor, ya hear?"  Jamie, who was introducing himself to the little carnivore, nodded.  "Then I guess this is bye.  I need to get ready for my date tonight.  I won't be seeing you guys for a while."

            Jamie looked up, and opened his mouth to thank the older boy, but the words stuck in his throat.  Hack ruffled the younger boy's hair, before he turned and walked down the stairs.  He paused and turned, fumbling in his pockets for a moment.  He tossed what looked like a collar with a small speaker attached to Jamie.  He caught it and looked at it.  "What's this?"

            "A translator collar.  This little guy is pretty smart, so being able to talk to him when he gets a little older might be a nice advantage in certain situations.  Just put it on him, it's already keyed to him.  And it'll stretch as he grows."  Jamie held it up, and looked inquisitively at Razor.  The little raptor padded over to his new owner, and sniffed at the collar.  He cocked his head and chirruped.  –What that?- the watch said in the voice of a small boy.  Jamie's eyes got really big.

            "Whoa," he breathed.  He looked up at Hack and grinned.  Hack returned the grin.

            "To quote Shawn, 'I think this may be the beginning of a be-u-ti-ful relationship'," he laughed; turning in order to go and find Shawn and say his good-byes to his old friend.

            He found him in his room, plinking away at his keyboard, taking old tunes and changing them slightly, making them new.  Rick was there too, strumming on his guitar, blank sheets of music scattered around him.  Hack smiled and shook his head.  'He's never satisfied until he tries out every variation of a song, and then… he decides that the original version was the best!'  He leaned against the doorframe.  "Hey."

            "Hey."  Shawn looked up from his playing.  "What's going on?"

            "I'm heading out.  Got a hot date tonight," Hack wiggled his eyebrows for emphasis.

            "Go get 'em man," Rick chimed in.  Shawn, without turning, threw his pillow in Rick's face.

            "Hey, before ya go, I got something to ask you.  You remember that CD you gave me?"

            "Yuh huh."

            "What's it for exactly?"  Hack sighed.

            "It says what it's for right on the stinkin disk for cryin out loud!"

            Shawn ducked under Ricks return salvo, grabbed the pillow out of the air and flung it back, knocking his roommate on his back.  "Refresh my memory."

            Hack sighed.  "If you put the disk into a computer with net access, it'll run a finder program that'll send a typed message from you to me, wherever I am on the web, or, if I'm not on the web, to my cell."  Hack grinned.  "Remember, you never know when an 'Alpha-red-thirteen' could come up."  With that he turned and left.  Rick looked at Shawn.

            "What the heck is an 'Alpha-red-thirteen'?"

            "Girlfriend captured by secret anti-government organization."  Rick digested this information for a moment.

            "Oh."  A second afterwards, a loud scream reverberated through the Institute.

            Shawn and Rick came barreling out of their room, and headed towards the screams' source.  They got to the rec room to find just about everyone in the Institute there.  Amara was in the center, along with Jamie, who seemed to be holding a squirming something close to his chest.  Jamie was protesting something loudly.  "You scared him!" he accused the princess, before murmuring some soothing noises to the little animal in his grip.  When Rick got a good look at the creature, his jaw dropped.

            "Okay, this has got to be a dream!" he exclaimed.

            "If it is we're all having it Shaggy," Tabby commented, coming out of nowhere.  Shawn on the other hand, noticing the conspicuous absence of Hack, had a pretty good idea where Jamie had gotten his new friend.  But before he could say anything, Beast was there.

            "Now what's all the fuss abou-OH MY STARS AND GARTERS!"  Shawn looked at Rick and Tabby.

            "Did he just say…?"  They nodded in unison.  "Just checking."

            "Jamie," Beast said, "Where did you get that animal?"  Jamie cuddled the little dinosaur as he answered.

            "Hack gave him to me.  His name is Razor and he's got a translator collar and he won't eat people and he eats electricity and…"  He stopped for breath as Razor wriggled out of his arms and began to pad around the room.  He sniffed at Amara before the princess could get out of his way, and chirped.

            -Loud lady-, the collar said.  Kitty cocked her head as she looked at him.

            "Ya know…he is kinda cute," she said.  Razor padded over, and nuzzled at her leg with his head.

            -Nice lady-, he 'said'.  She leaned down and patted the little lizard on the head.  He stretched up into her hand, and a few of the braver girls; and all of the guys, gathered closer to get a better look at him.  "Hey, check out his claws!" Bobby announced.  Shawn and the others took a closer look.  Indeed, the little dinosaur's claws were all blunted and rounded off, even the larger ones on each inner toe.

            "He's kinda ugly if you ask me," Scott commented from a safe distance.  At least, he thought it was a safe distance.  The little raptor hissed at him, and taking off at a speed that seemed to defy his slight frame, leapt into the air, closing the last  two feet, and clamped his jaws shut on Scott's hand.  All of this took less than two seconds.  Scott stood there in shock for a moment, before he began to dance around wildly, shaking his hand and yelling curses that even Logan didn't know.  All the while, Razor hung on, growling gleefully, as if it was a new game.

            "GETHIMOFFGETHIMOFFGETHIMOFFGETHIMOFFGETHIMOFF GETHIMOFF!!!!!!" Scott screamed.  Shawn, Rick, Kurt, Bobby and Tabby all exchanged glances.

            "Shouldn't ve help him?" Kurt asked.

            "He's not bleeding…" Tabby pointed out.

            "Ya, but still…"  All of them exchanged glances once more.

            "NAHHHH!" they chorused.

            "I'll tell ya right now Hank, there's no way in hell I'm taking that thing for walkies," Logan grunted, an amused smirk spread over his face.  Beast could only nod in agreement, passing a bowl of popcorn over to Dante, who took a handful and passed it to Storm.

                                                                                                -The Hood House, 2 hours later-

            Lance sat on the ground in the back yard, arms crossed and eyes closed.  It was the third day of the 'Hood's training and already they were making surprising progress.  Todd had found that he had a natural ability for martial arts, having already gotten some of the basic rules down.  Coyote had had to correct his stances far fewer times than the rest of them.

           Wanda and Lance had two hour meditation sessions with Coyote every evening, after Lance got back from his, now, part time job.  Wanda had begun to use her powers in ways that the elderly witch who had trained her could never have foreseen, such as being able to use her powers without throwing a visible hex-bolt.  All she could do right now was make things hover a little bit, but with Coyote's training, both physical and mental, she would undoubtedly improve rapidly.

            Lance's control of his powers had begun to increase as well.  With each meditation session, it seemed a mental wall was coming down.  Just yesterday, he had been able to create a small mound of dirt to trip Pietro after he had stolen his spare guitar strings.  His smile quickly turned to a grimace of pain as a walnut bounced off his skull.  "Rocks don't smile," Coyote chastised from his position on the back porch. 

            The man had a bowl of walnuts next to him, and every so often he would reach into the bowl, pull out a nut and crack it with his fingers.  If he saw that one of his students wasn't following the exercise, he would throw a nut at them.  It was never a hard throw, and it served more to annoy than to cause pain, but it was enough.

            Lance scowled, but quickly dismissed the feelings and resumed thinking of nothing.  Coyote had told them that the best way to meditate was to think of yourself as a rock, not moving, not thinking, not seeing, only feeling the outside world, as well as your own inner self.  Surprisingly, enough, even Pietro had grudgingly consented to at least try the training.  Not surprisingly, he was getting whacked with a nut every other minute.

            Coyote smiled to himself as he watched his students practice.  Wanda and Lance were both meditating, with small patches of earth rippling around Lance every so often, and small ripples forming in the grass around Wanda as she concentrated.  Something concerned Coyote though.  Every so often, the girl's face would scrunch, as if she was reliving something horrible, and the ripples would increase in intensity, but they only lasted for a second or two.  He knew that the boys knew something about this; Toad looked especially pained when ever these moments occurred.

            Coyote smiled as he thought of his favorite pupil.  Not only was the boy a fast learner in the martial arts, but he also seemed to posses a great deal of knowledge when it came to mechanical devices. Not only that, he had a pranking streak almost as large as Coyote himself.  All in all, he showed great promise.  He, Fred and Pietro were practicing the katas he had shown them earlier under his watchful eye.  As he thought, he sensed an energy coming towards him, one that he had become quite familiar with over the centuries.

            A tiny man, almost the size of Coyote's thumb popped into existence on the railing.  "Good day Fur-face," he said in an astonishingly bass voice.  None of the Brotherhood appeared to have heard him.  Coyote inclined his head in a nod.

            "Puck," he answered, handing the pint sized fairy a walnut.  He took it, and pulled it apart easily, before feasting on the nut inside.  "So," Coyote asked, "What brings you from Oberon's kingdom?"  Puck scowled, biting viciously into a piece of walnut.

            "My liege has felt some unknown force moving in the human's realm, a dark force as ancient as the sea and nowhere near as forgiving.  He sent me to find out anything I could about it."  Coyote began to look concerned, but carefully, masked it, automatically chucking a walnut at Pietro.

            "So why come to see me?"  Puck grinned.

            "We've missed you at the games lately.  Loki is insufferable, and Grim just doesn't have the heart to deal anymore.  And don't even get me started on Mercury!  All in all, the poker games haven't been as much fun without you there to help me liven them up."  As he finished, Puck looked sharply towards the front of the house.  "Someone comes, and they don't appear to be a well wisher."

            "Show me please."  Puck produced a small drop of dew, and began to chant in a strange language.  The dewdrop seemed to glow for a moment, before it projected an image into the air.  It was Mystique, in her Raven Darkholme disguise, driving down the highway.

            "She will arrive in three days.  She has no great power, and will not pose a threat to you directly.  But she wishes to take these children, and use them in a dark plot," Puck said in a grave voice.  Coyote's eyes hardened, before a crafty look came into them.

            "So she wants to use my students eh?  Well, I think that a little bit of a lesson is in order, don't you old friend?"  Puck's answering grin was positively vicious.

            "Tis been far too long since I've had a chance to prove what fools these mortals be," he grinned.

                                                                                                            -The Institute, the day after-

            Jean Grey, sat back, and opened a book that she had been reading for a time.  It had been awhile since she could just sit down and read in peace.  First it had been the arrival of Mr. Night, who insisted on being called either Dante, or the codename Rick had suggested after hearing he was half demon.

                                                                                                              *FLASHBACK*

            "Look," Rick said to the others gathered around him, "I'm saying that demon's come from hell, right?"  He and some of the other New Mutants, which Shawn had been 'demoted' to after a series of pranks on Logan, were gathered in the rec room with Dante, who was lounging on one of the sofas, reading.  He had a surprisingly large collection of books, some of which were quite old, and worth quite a bit of money, but hey, meditating and practicing with his weapons when he's already a master at them gets real old, real fast, right?  The kids were discussing what Dante's codename should be, after he had declared that he didn't really care, providing it wasn't something completely and totally stupid.

            Shawn nodded, "Yeah, but I still don't see where you're going with this."

            "Well…" Rick said, "I've heard hell referred to as the great inferno.  And there's the whole 'Dante's Inferno' thing too.  So…how about Inferno?"  The last part was directed towards Dante.

            The man nodded his assent, not even looking up from his dog-eared copy of… 'Dante's Inferno' of all things!

                                                                                                         *END FLASHBACK*

            After Dante, had come Razor.  Jean had to suppress a grin.  It had been funny.  After a while, they had managed to pry the little dinosaur's jaws apart and had found Scott's hand perfectly intact.  Further investigation revealed that he could lengthen his claws and teeth to normal razor sharpness if he so desired.  Well, maybe lengthen wasn't the right word exactly.  It was more like they unfolded, kind of like a switchblade knife.  His teeth did the same thing.

            Eventually, the professor had decided that Razor could stay, and he could sleep in Jamie's room, with the understanding that Jamie was the only one responsible for the carnivore.  Should he neglect the animal, Shawn would be asked to contact Hack in order to have Razor returned.

            As Jean settled back, the Professor's telepathic voice rang through her head.  Jean, please come to my office.  Jean got up, sat her book down, and went to Xavier's office. Wondering what he could want.

(AN: Animeluvr, I took this from you, it's better than what I had planned.  Hope you don't mind.)

            "You wanted to see me professor?" she asked, walking in.

            "Yes Jean. I want to take you to the next level of your training. I believe you're finally ready."

            "What would it be?"

            "I want to show you the Astral Plane."

            Jean gasped. Only the most able telepaths could go to the Astral Plane. It was a real honor that Xavier considered her ready. She sat down in the chair across from his.

            Suddenly, the world around them seemed to melt, and there was only white. An endless expanse of white.

            Jean cried out, as her advanced mind processed what exactly the Astral Plane was. It was a dimension of perspective. A glimpse of the entire unimaginable infinity of creation, and how it related to her, a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot that says "you are here."

            Her mind seemed to explode at the sheer vastness of it all. Her hands shot to her temples as her eyes screwed shut and her teeth ground together in pain. Her brain was shutting down in response to the unthinkable size of it.

            Xavier immediately pulled her out and wiped memory of the event. She was NOT ready. Definitely not.

            Across the Institute, Bahumut and Smaug shifted uneasily within Shawn's mind.  Since both of them were composed of mental energy, they had a link to the Astral Plain.  They had felt a mind nearly shutting down, overcome with the vastness of the Plain.  And they had felt something else, something that didn't bode well at all.  A consciousness had stirred; a dark mind within a mind.  Bahumut strode into the Nexus, and looked up at a frowning Smaug.  His own face mirrored that of his 'roomie'.  "You felt it too, huh?" he asked.  The red-winged dragon nodded.  "Whatever that thing is, we don't have enough power to fight it," again a nod.

            Bahumut paced the room for a moment, before he snapped his fingers "Wait a minute!  Shawn has a power store in his section of the mind, and it has more than enough power to boost us up to a fighting chance!"  Smaug looked a little concerned.

            "Doesn't he need that energy to anchor us?"  Bahumut nodded.

            "Yeah, but all he really needs is a small sliver of power, not much more that two percent of what he's got.  And since he can't use it…"

            Outside, so to speak, Shawn was involved in a game of treetop-tag against Maria.  And she was cheating.  Whenever he got to close, she would rush in, and tickle him under the joint where his wings joined his shoulders.  It was his Achilles' heel, so to speak.  As he tried to catch his breath after another fit of laughter, he 'heard' something. Kid, we need to talk to you for a second Bahumut sent.

            Fine, just talk as I go

            Smaug and I just felt something shifting on the Astral Plain, and we think something big may be coming.  Something that you can't take on physically

            But you can?

            In a manner of speaking.  But neither one of us is strong enough to do this, at least without a power boost

            You want the power I've got stored in my section of the mind, right?

            Got it in one.  You don't need to do a thing; I just need your permission to divvy it up between the two of us.  And you'll still retain about two percent of what you have right now

            Do it.  If this thing creeps you out that much, go for it

            Done, and done

            With that, Shawn returned to the game.

            (AN: Again, this is next part is taken directly from Animeluvr)

            Scott shot a glance at Jean from his place at a library work table. After coming back from the professor's office, she had seemed cheerful. Uncharacteristically so. He got up and walked over.

            "Jean, what did the professor want?"

            He got no response. Jean's eyes were glazed over.

            "Jean?" he trailed off, poking her.

            "Huh? What? Oh, Scott, hi. What's up?"

            "I could ask the same."

            "What are you talking about?"

            As Scott opened his mouth to speak, Bobby stuck his head into the room.

            "Hey, Logan's gone out for a few days, and Mr. McCoy's letting us have an all night movie marathon!"

            The two got up and walked to the Rec Room.

            Eight hours later, all the X-Men were in the Rec Room, passed out on the floor. Scott and Jean had been lucky enough to nab a couch for themselves.

            Scott stared at the glow of the TV, the only one still up. It had taken seven hours for them to get to the movie HE had wanted to see, and he was NOT falling asleep. NO WAY.

            Suddenly, Jean began to stir in her sleep. He looked down at her.

            "It never ends… it never ends…" she moaned, tossing and turning.

            He raised an eyebrow as she stopped moving and went back to a seemingly blissful sleep.

            Scott shrugged and went back to watching his movie, promptly forgetting about it. A half hour later, he was asleep, too.

---To Be Continued---

            If you've read the Pyror Saga in "Bittersweet", you know what's coming.  There's going to be a surprise ending though, I can assure you of that!  And what madness and mischief will descend on Mystique when she gets to the 'Hood house?