Chapter 2
"Owwwwww."
Eyes closed, Jubilee raised her hand to her head. "What the hell happened?"
Every motion felt like she was moving through molasses. A smoke-caused cough cleared her brain fog and she snapped her eyes opened.
The smoke, thick and pungent, was everywhere, accented with an occasional flying spark.
"Oh my God! Help!" She fumbled to unlock her seat harness. Panicking, she screamed, "Scott, help me. Get me out of here!"
On the verge of using her powers to burn away the safety belt, it finally unclicked. She bolted out of the seat and ran for the door.
Pounding on the controls to get it open, she screamed when it did not respond. "Scott, Scott, where are you? Scott, help me out!"
Terror rose from her gut. She realized that Scott had already abandoned the damaged ship. She screeched, "Bastard! Why did you leave me here? How did you get out? How could you leave me?"
She pounded on the door without success.
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"Hey Cajun, where's everyone?"
Remy looked up from the coffee he was studying at the growl that just entered the room.
"Hi to you too, Wolverine. You be hiding ina cave? Professor and Jean in Washington for dat conference of all big-ass leaders. Cyclops and Jube are out west, somew'ere. Da kids're scattered about, studyin' I guess. Da women be shoppin' leavin just us to hold down da fort."
"Coffee fresh?"
"Yep, help yourself."
"What's botherin' you, Gumbo?"
Gambit stared back down into his coffee cup. "Remy have dis feelin. T'ought he heard somet'ing over the radio, but stopped soon as it started. But somet'ing 'bout dat chatter bother Gambit."
"Give it to Hank. Maybe his computers'll decipher it."
The Cajun smiled, "Already did, mon ami."
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Tears streamed down Jubilee's face. Terror was bubbling up through her gut. 'How do I get out? How did Scott get out?'
She ran back to the front of the plane with the thought of trying the radio, and stopped dead in her tracks. 'The window! It's broken.' Gingerly, but with as much speed as she dared, she climbed out the jagged exit catching the back of her leg.
"Ouch!" she cried as she looked down. 'Hmmm, nothing that a band aid wouldn't fix.'
Once freed of her prison, she backed away from the jet, surprised and dismayed at the damage. There was no way this bird was flying out of the desert.
"How're Scott and I gonna get home?" The thought of Cyclops snapped her back to reality and she called out, "Scott! Scott, where are you?"
She frantically looked about turning away from the plane. She remembered that he wasn't harnessed in and her heart skipped a beat when she saw something resting against the base of a rock formation almost 100 yards away. She recognized the tan shirt and blue jeans and started running towards him. As she neared, she could see that his clothes were tattered, the jeans of his left leg from above the knee was gone.
"Oh my God, Scott," she cried as she fell to her knees next to him. She tentatively placed her fingers on his neck and felt for a pulse. She took a deep breath as she removed her trembling hand. He was alive. It didn't take long for her to realize though that his glasses were missing. If he woke up and looked at her, she would be toast.
The first thing she did was search the breast pocket of his brown leather jacket. She groaned when she pulled out several broken pieces. Worried, she hunted for the glasses that he was wearing when the plane crashed hoping they fell off not far from him. After looking around for 15 minutes, she cursed and headed back into the damaged ship for the first aid kit. If she wrapped his eyes he would have a little warning before he tried to open them.
Jubilee sat on a rock next to the injured man. She had finished wrapping his eyes almost an hour ago. Still he hadn't moved.
"Scott? Please wake up. Don't leave me. I need you. I can't survive without you. "Please Scott!"
As if answering her prayer, a soft groan escaped his lips.
"Scott, Scott! Don't move. Just lay quiet and don't open your eyes," pleaded the young girl.
"Huh. What happened? Why are my eyes bandaged?" He hissed in pain when he tried to move. He was lying on his side and wanted to roll onto his back but thought better of it.
"I can't find the glasses you were wearing on the plane and the spare in your pocket were smashed."
"Did you check the drawer under the consol? I have another pair in there."
"No," she cried and ran to the ship before he could say anything more.
He knew that either they weren't there or they were busted when he heard her curse. He tried to move again but pain shot up his leg deep into the marrow of the bone. He gritted his teeth and waited for the girl to return.
"I couldn't get to the drawer Scott. I tried everything including my powers. There's hardly any of the consol left intact."
"Do you have the first aid kit out here?" he asked trying to mask the pain in his voice.
"Yeah. Oh, Scott. You're leg!" His lower leg took on an unnatural bend indicating both bones were fractured.
"I know. Did the bone break through the skin?"
"It didn't. It's a clean break."
"Then use the airboot in the kit. Put it on and inflate it."
She rummaged through the box and pulled out a leg-shaped piece of soft plastic. "I got it."
He instructed, "Place it on my lower leg and just pop in the air cylinder. It'll inflate on its own."
"I'm sorry, Scott," she said as he hissed. Any way she tried to put the boot on caused him pain. Anyway she moved the leg, it hurt. Frustrated she said, "Scott, I can't do this!"
"Just put in on Jube. It's gonna hurt no matter how gentle you are. So just get it done and over with."
She picked up speed and saw that Scott held his breath during the agony. She cringed every time she had to handle the leg.
She almost panicked when the cylinder was popped in to inflate the air-cast and he let out with a scream.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"Stop saying that. You did just fine. You did everything right. It's inflated, so now the bones immobilized."
"But it's my fault we're here. I don't know what I did wrong, but I was flying the plane."
"It's not your fault. We were shot at."
"What! Who? How do you know?" she couldn't believe what he just said. But that explained the funny sounds she heard just before she lost control.
"I don't know who, but I took a hit."
Before she could say anything he rolled onto his back and moved his arm away to expose a large pool of blood.
There was a pause before he whispered, "I'll think I'll go to sleep now." Scott fell into a deep black void.