CHAPTER TWO – Bitches and Booze
Knocks on the door caused Storm to look up from the documents that were strewn all over the surface of her work desk.
"Come in," she called, taking one last glance at the papers before gathering them up and slipping them back into their proper file. She smiled at the small group of people that lingered at her office doorway.
"Well, don't just stand there you guys, I said come in!" she said, waving her hand. "Logan's just doing his rounds to make sure the kids are getting ready for bed. Hank's still busy at the lab, but he'll be joining us within the hour."
"Busy doing what?" Marie asked, as she and Bobby sat down on the sofa. Peter and Kitty settled into the arm chairs opposite them.
Storm walked over from her desk to sit in front of the fireplace with them. "He's just finishing the analysis of those test results we took of Alana Stratford."
"Oh," Kitty said, throwing a meaningful look at Marie. "Did anything interesting come up?"
Storm smiled. "Well, she's a mutant, that's for sure," she said. "And she's telekinetic, just like she told us."
"Do I sense a 'but' coming on?" Bobby said wryly.
Storm sighed. "But…we all know telekinetic abilities could reach far and mean a lot of other things," she said pointedly. "We have yet to find out how strong her gifts are, and what's she's really capable of."
"So what's the deal? Logan said she's been sent here on court orders," Kitty said. "She's just here to learn how to handle her powers, right?"
"That's right," Storm nodded. "The courts ruled that she has to stay here and train with us until we give her clearance to leave. Meaning, we should be able to certify that she's in full control of her abilities and won't be a danger to herself or anybody."
"In other words, they've turned us into some kind of mutant rehab center," Bobby said with a grin. "Nice."
"If you want to look at it that way," Storm said. "But as always, we're just here to give guidance to any mutant who needs it. Especially this one."
"Oh come on, is she really that special?" Bobby said, raising his eyebrow. "Why, because she's some supermodel celebrity?"
"No," Storm replied calmly. "Because she's the Professor's goddaughter."
"What!" The room erupted in simultaneous exclamations.
"Goddaughter and niece," Storm added. "Her father, Kevin Stratford, was Professor Xavier's first cousin."
"Whoa…" Marie breathed. "Logan didn't mention that part!"
"Who'd have thought?" Kitty said, shaking her head. "The first mutant we've heard of who's actually related to the Professor."
"Blood-related," Peter pointed out.
Bobby frowned, looking genuinely concerned for the first time that day. "So what does that mean?" he asked. "Are we actually expecting her powers to be somewhere in the same level as the Professor's?"
"That would be stretching things quite a bit," Storm said. "But who knows, right? What matters now is that she's come to us, and I feel it's important that we help her understand and embrace her powers as soon as possible. We don't want her getting herself into more trouble than she's already in."
Bobby snorted. "IF we can get her to listen to anything we say, that is," he said, shaking his head. "I mean come on, Storm. She's a model! She's already loaded with attitude problems even without the stress of being a mutant."
Kitty rolled her eyes. "That is so typically judgmental of you."
"I think what Bobby's trying to say is," Marie jumped in quickly to her boyfriend's defense. "Alana's older than most of us. She's not going to be so willing to take our orders. I mean you've got to admit, she does seem pretty spoiled. She didn't even come down to eat dinner with us on her first night!"
"Maybe she really was just tired," Peter pointed out. "Wasn't that what she told Warren?"
"Speak of the devil," Storm said suddenly. "Or I should say, angel."
They all looked up towards the doorway. Sure enough, Warren was standing there, smiling apologetically.
"Sorry I'm late. Some of the kids stopped me to ask questions about today's lesson." he explained as we walked into the room and joined them. "And Storm, I went to check on Alana. Her room was locked, and she wouldn't answer when I knocked. But that's okay, I'm pretty sure she just fell asleep. Might be best not to wake her."
Storm sighed. "Then that's all right I guess," she said. "Thanks, Warren."
"So what did I miss?" Warren asked, looking around their small circle.
"We were just discussing Alana's situation," Storm told him. "About what we can expect from her stay here with us."
"Ah…" Warren said slowly, his brow furrowing in a slight cringe.
"That bad eh?" Bobby chuckled.
Warren scratched his head. "Don't get me wrong," he said. "I'm sure she's a nice enough person in her own way, but for now I can tell you, she's going to be a pretty tough one to deal with. She hates being a mutant, and I'm pretty sure she's not too thrilled about being sent here either."
Storm sighed. "All right, I'll admit," she said. "So she's a little problematic. We might have a hard time getting through her negative attitude." Then she smiled at her former students. "But we were able to get through to all of you, right? I don't how she could be too different."
"Hey Storm?"
It was Logan who had arrived this time, but he did not come into the room immediately as Warren had.
"Just thought you should know," he said, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorjamb. "I saw a Porsche being driven out of the grounds just a minute ago. Now, either one of the kids has finally learned to hotwire, or Ms. Cover Girl isn't as tired as she said she was, after all."
"Oh no," Storm moaned, shaking her head. "Tsk. I should have known." She sighed and hid her face in her hands for a moment, before looking up at Logan again. "Could you just go after her, please? Logan?"
Logan smirked. "I figured you'd say that," he said, turning to leave. "Don't worry. I'll bring the Princess back in for you," he called as he walked down the hall. "And as a bonus I'll throw in a complimentary sermon on observing the house curfew."
There was a brief silence after Logan's departure. Finally, Bobby leaned closer to Storm, scratching his chin.
"So…are we sure she's the Professor's niece?"
Alana frowned and wrinkled her nose in slight distaste as she searched for a table at the far end of the diner she had ended up going to. This place, which obviously doubled as a bar at night, was practically biker haven, a far cry from the VIP clubs she usually went to. But at the moment, she was just too hungry to care about class or ambience. She just needed to get a hot meal and a few drinks in her stomach.
Ignoring the many stares that followed her as she passed, she found herself a table and quickly ordered the most edible thing she could find on the menu. As she waited for her food to arrive, she pulled out her cell phone and checked for any messages or calls she might have missed. There were none.
Alana bit her lip in hesitation, debating with herself for a few moments before finally punching numbers on the keypad. She held the phone to her ear and waited, but no one picked up at the other end. Tears welled in her eyes as she finally gave up and put her phone away. What else did she expect? David made it clear long ago how he felt about mutants. She should just accept it once and for all that it was over between them. He was never going to take her back.
When her order came, Alana ate quickly, keeping her head down and mentally willing away the goons who kept glancing over in her direction.
"Anything else I can get you?" the waitress asked, as she came to collect her empty plate.
"What sort of drinks do you carry here?"
The woman smirked. "None of the sort you big city girls like, that's for sure."
"Great," Alana said sarcastically. "Just get me a nice fat beer then."
"Make that two."
Alana looked up with a start. A tall guy sporting a leather jacket and a very strange haircut was now sitting across the table from her.
"Excuse me?" she said icily. "Who are—"
"You see that fat bozo sitting over there?" the man interrupted, nodding his head in the direction of the bar. "He was just about to lumber over here and take this seat himself before I beat him to it. I think you owe me at least a thank you."
"Hey…" Alana said slowly, suddenly recognizing him. "You're one of the teachers from the Institute!" She snapped her fingers. "Logan, isn't it?"
When the man nodded his head in confirmation, her eyes narrowed in accusation. "Wait. Did you follow me here!"
"Again, no need to thank me," Logan said with a careless wave of his hand. "Just doing my job."
Alana raised her eyebrow at him. "So what? Are you actually here to bring me home?" she asked scornfully. "What am I, in high school?"
"No," Logan retorted. "But you are in a school that observes a strict set of rules. And those rules include eating dinner with the rest of the student body and a ten o' clock curfew."
She let out a derisive laugh. "A curfew?" she repeated. "I'm well over twenty-one, and you're still going impose that one on me? You've got to be kidding."
Logan leaned across the table towards her. "And that just proves you don't know me very well," he told her with a smirk. "I don't have a sense of humor."
He leaned back again as the waitress arrived to set two bottles of beer on their table. "Look," he said, picking up his bottle and pulling it towards him. "We're going to cut you some slack since it's your first night. But from now on, you go by the rules just like all the rest of the kids, got it? If you're gonna be a student at Xavier's, then you've gotta act like one."
Alana sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine," she muttered. Grabbing her own beer bottle, she took a deep swig.
Logan looked at her in mild amusement. "I thought you model-girls always stayed away from this kind of stuff," he said. "Isn't it one of those poisons that could end up ruining your career?"
"Yeah?" Alana said bitterly. "Well then, no loss for me there. It's not like I've still got a career to take care of anymore."
"So you decided to just sneak out, drive all the way here, and booze all your curves away?" Logan said.
Alana slammed the bottle back down angrily. "What is the big deal!" she exclaimed. "I just felt like getting out of that stuffy old place, okay? Just a couple of hours in the outside world to get a couple of lousy drinks. God, is that such a crime!"
She fished into her purse and dumped a few bills on the table before pushing back her chair, scraping the floor loudly in the process. Without giving Logan another glance, she stormed toward the diner exit.
"Hey sexy," the fat guy at the bar had suddenly blocked her way. "What's the rush? Stay a while and have another drink on me."
"Not in your life, loser!" Alana snapped. "Or better yet, why don't you crawl back into your hole and try to look for one?"
"Whoa!" the man laughed, glancing back at his buddies back at the bar. "Look at her, guys! She's not just hot, she's one helluvah bitch too!" His friends started hooting in drunken approval. "Our kinda girl!"
"Hey!" Alana yelled, struggling wildly as the man suddenly grabbed her arm. "Don't touch me, you sick bastard! I'm warning you!"
"The lady's already had a long night, Bub." Logan said, coming up behind them. "You'd better just leave her alone."
"Why don't you make me, punk!" the fat biker sneered.
"Because I don't like hurting big stupid animals," Logan told him with a smirk.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" the biker growled, releasing Alana's arm to face Logan.
"Oh, who am I kidding? I hate big stupid animals."
Logan's fist shot out to strike the man evenly on the nose, breaking it with a satisfying crack. The biker howled, clutching his face as blood started streaming down his nostrils. He swung out blindly at Logan, who swiftly grabbed his arm and twisted it painfully behind his back. Within a second Logan had pinned him face down on the floor, his boot pressing down painfully on the guy's neck.
"I'm guessing no one else wants some of this?" Logan growled, glaring at the rest of the goons at the bar. When no one made a move to help their pal, he removed his foot and took Alana by the arm. "So maybe you're not all as stupid as you look."
"Are you all right?" he asked, when they had both stepped out of the diner. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"No,' Alana snapped back, pulling her arm from his grasp. "I'm fine."
"You know, you've GOT to be the most ungrateful kid I've ever, ever met." Logan said, shaking his head. "And I thought I've already seen them all."
"I could have handled it back there," she said coldly. "I didn't need your help."
Logan crossed his arms over his chest and started down at her. "Oh, really?"
"Really," she shot back. "I've done it before. Except this time, these powers could have actually been put to their best use in shoving that jerk in his place."
"Hah," Logan scoffed. "Well then, take lesson one from me, kid. Using your powers to win a bar brawl is like flaunting the fact that you're a mutant. I thought you of all people would want to avoid that kind of exposure."
"Well too late," Alana retorted. "I already got it. So why should I bother hiding anything?"
With that, she stormed over to her car and got inside, not saying another word or giving the X-Man another glance. Tires screeched as she pulled out into road and spend away, leaving Logan standing alone but shaking his head in amusement.
"Damn…" he muttered, breaking into another smirk. "She IS a bitch."
To be continued…
