Enigma found Lucas sitting at a booth table in the back of Club Cabana. He was alone, sipping something in a foggy glass and watching the people. She walked up to him slowly. When he noticed her, she casually waved. Lucas waved back and motioned for her to sit.
As she sat next to him, he asked, "Want anything to drink? It's on me."
She was slightly comforted that he was still sober, but declined the offer, "That's okay, I'll pass. I actually came here to talk to you," She replied, getting to the subject quickly.
"About?" He prompted, tensing slightly.
"About the new kids you brought to the store last night-"
"Hey," he said, suddenly defensive, "one of 'em's my brother, and the other two are just as close. They're mutants, too. We're all in the same boat, here. You have no reason to be suspicious of-"
"And you have no reason to get angry," E said, calmly cutting him off, "Just tell your brother and his little friends that the next time they recognize me, don't say anything. I don't want anything to do with them."
"Tell 'em yourself," Lucas replied, pointing behind E. She turned around to see the three boys standing behind her.
"You're in my seat," the one that had recognized her said coldly.
E stood, "Sorry, kid. I just came to tell you-"
"I heard," he said, "And my name's Alexander, not kid. I'm just as old as you."
"You may be as old as my," E replied, taking defense instinctively, "but I'm more experienced."
"So you're pretty much saying you think you're better than me."
"Look, I'm not here for a fight-"
"Then what are you here for?" Alexander demanded.
Temper funning thin, E replied angrily, "I'm here to tell you to get the hell outta my life, 'cause I don't need some insecure rich-kid getting in my face and ruining everything I've worked for here."
Lucas stood suddenly, nearly knocking the table over, and placed a hand on E's shoulder. "You've made your point. You can go and have fun now. I don't want to bring my brother's friend's mangled up body home with me, k?"
E nodded and left without a word. She thought she could hear Lucas talking to Alexander as she left. "And that's one of the reasons we call her Enigma. DO not get on her bad side."
Linzay's Place was one of the most popular raver clubs in down town. It consisted of all the "clean" kids who like to party in a 30 mile radius. The music was good and everything but the food and drinks was free. Everybody brought in their own CDs and handed it to the DJ. If a track got an "A" from the crowd, the assistant would rip the track onto the music selection list. About 3 CDs were brought in every Friday and Saturday night (new music nights) and the DJ would mix those songs in with the usual. The DJ and assistant were local brothers, doin' what they like for free. Admittance was free. The bartenders worked for free (mostly just people watchers that volunteered), and Lindsay bought the refreshments and charged as little as possible without going into debt. Her dad owned the land and handed it over to her for the price of making the place successful. And so it was.
E walked in after being checked over by Brutus. (His real name was Joe, but everybody called him Brutus because he was Lindsay's bodyguard.) She scanned the small groups of people sitting on the sidelines, getting a breather and having a drink, but didn't see Tony or Jonny. Next she looked over the crowd of moshing people, swaying and rocking to the beat. She knew if she wanted to find anybody in that crowd, there was only one way to do it. And she wouldn't mind it at all. Squeezing her way in between two twins and their group of adorers, E made her way through the crowd, feeling her body move to the pulsing music. She couldn't help but dance. This was one of her favorite songs!
"Move and show me what you can do
When you step into the circle and shake like we do
Move when you just can't take it
And move if you just feel like breaking it"
And soon after the song ended and people stopped moving for the few seconds in between the two songs, E found Jonny standing up by the DJ, who everybody called Rhythm, and his brother, Tech. She came up behind him and tapped his shoulder.
"Where's Tony?" she asked above the song that had just started up.
"Brutus wanted him at the door," Jonny called back, "He should be back soon."
"He's feeling better?" Enigma asked. She always worried about him. He got beer illegally by using his mutant power to make people see whatever he wanted them to. He showed them an elderly man buying beer and they didn't even bother to ID him. It wouldn't matter if they did, he would just produce his ID, only make it look how he did.
Jonny just shrugged, "As good as he's gonna get."
"I'm gonna go look for him," E informed him before making her way back to the door, knowing that was where Brutus was. But instead of Brutus standing on the outside of the door, he was standing on the inside, making sure people couldn't get out.
"What's going on?" E demanded.
Brutus looked down at her (being 7'4", he had to). "Enigma," he addressed her in a worried tone, "get to the back of the room, don't draw attention to yourself."
"Why?" Enigma asked, all of her anger and suspicion turning to worry. "What's going on?"
She heard a ruckus near the stage and turned to see two guys in all out fed armour standing on the stage, pointing guns towards Rhythm and Tech. She could hear Lindsey as she pushed her way to the stage shouting, "What the hell is your problem! These guys are clean! They're all clean! This is a good club! Go after the ones selling drugs! Not us!" But her attention was turned back to Brutus when he answered Enigma's question.
"They're hunting mutants. They ordered me not to let anybody out. There's an open window in the bathroom. Go out that way. Take all the mutants you know with you."
"Where's Tony?" She asked suddenly.
"They already have him," Brutus answered, "He was the first."
For some reason, that phrasing chilled Enigma to the bone. He was the first. Implying there would be more. Many more. Enigma wove her way through the crowd, picking up those she could find that always met at the comic store. She found Blake, the punk kid that always called her beautiful, and Garnet, the girl who always wore black. She tried to find others. She searched for Horus, hoping his thickly rimmed glasses would make him more noticeable. But there wasn't time. They had Rhythm and Tech. They were searching through the crowd. Enigma took those two and brought them with her to the bathroom.
The two bathrooms weren't distinguished between boy and girl, and luckily one was open. The three kids went into it and Enigma found the window open. She told them to get out and followed closely behind them. She jumped from the window, her body in a crouch to catch the impact of the landing. As soon as she straightened, she looked up to make sure the others were okay, to find herself staring down the barrel of a rifle. "Don't move, gene junk. You haven't got a chance. And we've already got your little friends with us." Enigma froze. They had caught her.
