Tierney Doran is rethinking every life decision at the moment. She hasn't made very many good ones. Joining up with the crew of hired guns she'd been running with was probably the worst. Stealing that shipping container is pretty high up on the list as well, but in fairness, she didn't know that at the time.
The dumbest decision, however, the one that really makes her an idiot, is the fact that she'd impulsively decided to pick pocket the girl who is easily the most dangerous person within a twenty mile radius. Tierney has a pocket full of cash now. God, it is so much cash. It'll be a solid start for her. But she's gotta get away first and she's got a sinking feeling in her gut that she won't make it. And she's right, of course, because Jamie's waiting for her. Jamie's likely to be wise to any and every move Tierney would pull.
Jamie's got a look in her eye like she's not about to take any more shit from anyone, least of all Tierney Doran.
"Ok. Take it easy, short stuff."
"You know, this is just sad. You were like a sister, T."
"Still am, I just gotta look after myself for a while is all."
"Yah could've just asked me nicely." Jamie's got a hard look in her eye. A mean, angry, icy hard look. "I might've been able to fix this easier."
"I'm sorry, kid, I really am, but now I just need to go." She tries to slip past the half-pint.
She only makes it half a foot.
Jamie dips down in her signature move, so fast, too fast. T has no time to react; her legs are swept right out from under her. Her head knocks hard against her car, dark spots burst out and scatter across her vision. Pain explodes at the back of her skull, sharp and intense, and before she can get her bearings she's being pulled up by her shirt collar to look the half-pint in her gold-flushed eyes. Two sharp, long claws press themselves her neck, and she's got no room to really even move.
"I can't just let you go."
"This doesn't need to be your problem."
"You got no idea what you've gotten yourself into. I've got orders to make you hurt, Tierney, and I took three bullets for you last night. Shit hurts. We're even as it gets. I'm not stickin' my neck out for you again. Where's my money?"
"Jacket. Inside pocket on your left. Take it. It was a dumb move, I jus' didn't know what else to do. You're right, we're even. Now look, kid -"
Rage manifests itself, contorts Jamie's features. She slams Tierney back against the car, hard. "Quit patronizing me. I look or sound like just a dumb kid to you right now?"
No. No, she does not look like a kid. She looks and sounds like a monster has been created, partly at Tierney's hand, and now T herself is about to pay for it. "You're right. I'm sorry. I won't call yah that anymore."
"Where's the container?"
Tierney gives in and tells her. "But listen. Yah need to take a peek inside the thing before yah hand it off, ok? Promise me you will, there's a reason why I didn't wanna tell them where it is. Somethin' doesn't feel right."
The feral backs off, letting Tierney go in favor of raking a hand through her short brunette waves. "Alright. I'll look. But first..."
"I don't know much about these folks I guess yah're workin' for." Tierney goes on, resigning herself. "But they're a powerful bunch. I assume you've got your reasons."
To spite clearly still being angry, Jamie's looking a little green about the gills. She doesn't want to do what she has to now, that much is certain. "I'm sorry. I'm in hot water as it is."
"I know. I'm no more innocent in all this than you are." She comes up to press a kiss to the younger girls forehead. "Do what you gotta do and we'll call it all just even. Wouldn't be my first busted lip. Just do a girl a favor and don't break anythin'?"
"Deal." Jamie clenches a fist, blows out a breath, and swings.
...
"What the hell, kid? I said go easy on me!"
"Shut up. I just need ta get a good picture. Yah're gonna be fine." Jamie holds up her phone, steady as she can manage, and snaps a few pictures at different angles.
"Fine." Tierney spits blood onto the pavement. "You broke. My face."
"Shut up." Jamie growls again, and hauls the other girl into her car. "Just breathe. I gotta set your nose back in place and then I'll fix yah up."
"Wait now, what're yah-"
Jamie reaches out with lightening reflexes. She's done this a time or two before. The sound of bone scraping against bone is sickening to say the least. But before T can protest any further, Jamie's hard at work. It's not pleasant. The feral can feel her own energy draining slowly away, and T spits curses as the pain grows twice as intense before it gets better.
"There's not even a scar left. An' I feel wired. Wow."
"Yeah, that'll last a while, I'd taken advantage of it while yah can." Jamie stumbles some as she gets to her feet, dizzy.
"You gonna be ok?" T's brows furrow in worry.
Jamie waves her off. "Just..get outta here and try not to die, ok? I'll be fan-freakin'-tastic long as I never have to see you again."
...
Jake doesn't ask questions, bless him. He just calmly gets in the car with her and cranks up the radio.
The drive takes them maybe two hours. They're way out in the middle of nowhere by the time they reach their destination. Jamie sleeps her way through most of it. About twenty minutes had been spent kickin' up dirt down a shabby gravel road; they're disturbingly isolated out here. Jamie doesn't like it and insists he stay with the car; she's got a bad feeling and wants to ensure their only means of escape isn't tampered with. Just in case.
The container is full size, the kind hauled by semi-trucks. It's plain white and would be inconspicuous enough if not for the fact it's been hidden back behind a grove of trees. How did T even get the thing out here, anyway? It's got no lock on it, which is strange, but then again, all of this kind of is.
"Alright, T." Jamie grumbles. "Lets see what you were on about." She opens the door.
It's a lot of heavy equipment of some kind. Jamie doesn't recognize any of it. There's a big glass tank and some kind of control panel with a bunch of temperature gauges, and a contraption that looks like it's missing parts but is far more sinister in nature.
But none of these things are what worry her the most. What really worries her is the large crate that had been chained shut - T had probably torn the chains right apart using her mutant strength, trying to figure out what all the fuss was about.
She opens the lid.
Oh.
It's just a bunch of rock fragments. She picks one up to inspect it. It's nothing special. Looks like space rocks - maybe meteorite pieces, like she'd seen in school text books, one of the few subjects she'd actually been interested in. The crates only half full with them.
There's a notebook of sorts hidden in a pouch under the lid of the box, along with some blueprints. It's all old and tattered. She opens the notebook with care and stares at the scribbles on the pages inside, trying to make sense of it. It's a lot of science-y jargon, and pictures of the machinery that the rest of the freight container is filled with. The sinister multi-armed contraption she'd noted earlier is supposed to be fitted with some sort of needles and...
Oh. Oh, shit.
Her stomach turns, but she isn't given time to dwell on it. The isolated quiet outside the container has just been intruded upon by the sound of helicopter blades slicing through the air. A lot of them.
Ouroboros had been tracking her the whole time. She's hardly surprised.
She slips out of the container quickly and shuts the doors, then books it back to the car, notebook and other papers still in hand. She can't stop them getting their hands on the equipment, but for all she knows they won't have any idea what to do with it without the notebook and the blueprints. That buys her time to figure out what's up.
She hands Jake the stolen evidence. "I need you to do me a favor. When we get back to the hotel I need you to put all this somewhere with your things, and do not tell me exactly where."
He flips through it a bit. "Is this...what the hell is this?"
"Ain't sure yet. But I have an idea and it is not good."
...
"I told you not to test me, Ms. Logan. Where's the notebook?"
"I don't know."
"If I find out you are lying to me, I will not be pleased." Trixie LaBelle's frustration is almost palpable even through the phone.
"Good thing I ain't a liar, then." Jamie answers confidently. She isn't one. She has no idea where Jake put the notebook. She could guess, but that's not the same thing.
Trixie informs her that their target is returning from Washington in just over a week, and then leaves her be.
...
Virginia - Fredricksburg - Ouroboros HQ
~Trixie LaBelle~
"Commander. I wasn't aware that we were expecting you."
"My apologies, Ms. LaBelle, I just happened to be in the area, that's all, I won't take up too much of your time." Commander Sanchez strolls up almost casually, nodding towards the container docked at the shipping bay. "Is this...?"
"Yes, sir. It was all here, just as the old man promised." She clears her throat softly, nervous. "Well, mostly, that is. I do apologize, sir, we did run into some trouble obtaining it."
The Commander waves her off. "Yeah, yeah I know the instructions for its assembly are missin'. Not a situation easily remedied but we do have some awful big brains here to work on it, now don't we?"
"Well, yes, I suppose so, sir."
He turns to study her, hands clasped behind his back now. "You don't sound terribly confident."
She crosses her arms neatly as she takes a moment to choose her words. "I have every confidence in my team here. It will take time but they shall figure out how to piece the machine together. Working the metals into a more pliable state will present a bigger problem, but if they worked out how to do it once one would suppose we could figure it out again with enough diligence."
"Yes, but...?" Sanchez pushes.
"But..sir. The problem remains that our potential subject is not as easily controlled as we had hoped. In fact, I do believe she has proven to be a looser cannon over the past few days than she was when we first managed to recruit her. She's growing ever more confident in her own ablities, presenting more a danger."
"You're beginning to doubt our plan will work, then?"
Trixie sighs. "Frankly? Yes. The carrot we're already dangling in front of her is proving barely enough to keep her on our line as it is. Agreeing to this..I just don't see what more we could offer her. The only other option would be..."
Sanchez scrubs a hand over the stubble just dusting his cheeks and chin. "I'm still listening, Ms. LaBelle."
Trixie shakes her head. "The thing of it is, sir, test results suggest her bone density is greater than ours already. Ms. Logan is remarkable enough on her own, it is possible that none of this is..."
Sanchez holds up a hand. "I commissioned you to zero in on Ms. Logan because Ms. Logan had already proven herself to be dangerous. To be so young and already have a track record of expressly criminal activity, you agreed that we would be doing the world a favor if we could manage to make her ours. Just think of the damage she's already done. The man of ours that she sent to the hospital the other day has yet to wake up."
"Yes, sir. I know, sir." Trixie answers, contrite now as she remembers the damage done that night. "I only wish to point out that we may be devoting quite a lot of time and resources into a procedure that may not fully be necessary."
He sighs, softening a fraction. "You've got heart, Trixie. I appreciate that. But for our purposes we don't just need her 'hard to kill'. We need her 'indestructable'. You see to it that all of this gets sorted out right." He waves a hand at the shipping container. "Let me worry about the rest."
"Yes, sir." Trixie sighs. "In that case would you perhaps consider allowing me to use her as a test subject for compound 52? Testing so far has rendered promising results. If it works..."
Sanchez holds up a hand, waving her off. "Alright, alright. You can try it. But if the results aren't as impressive as I know you're hopin'..."
"Then you'll hear no further arguements from me."
"I sincerely doubt it." He answers, a little playful. "Thats all for now, Ms. LaBelle. I'll get out of your hair."
Commander Sanchez begins strolling back towards the exit at a leisurely pace.
An image flashes in Trixie's mind as she thinks a moment; of the agent that Carol James Logan had sent to the hospital, how fragile he had looked, all beat half to hell with a tube stuck down his throat.
She comes to a decision. "Sanchez. Sir." She catches up with him.
"Yes?"
"She doesn't seem terribly interested in anything more material. Even money seems of comparatively little consequence to her. I would suggest you begin thinking less of what we might have to offer her, and more along the lines of what she might do if, uhm, certain things were...taken away, as it were."
Sanchez contemplates that for a moment. A smirk creeps up to stretch his lips upward. "Ah. Now that's an idea I can work with."
...
~Jamie~
They leave for the mansion immediately. She thinks about going to see her mother and grandfather one last time but doesn't want them to see how amped up she is. They'd worry, and they don't need the stress.
Her mother texts her just as they're about halfway home. Went to the doctors this morning. All is well. Logan knows now, by the way.
Jamie breathes a relieved sigh. Well there's one less thing to worry about, anyway.
...
Jake doesn't bother taking his 'medicine' throughout the trip back. He seems to have simply stopped caring enough. He hasn't been sleeping well and is growing tired and as downright irracible as she can be at times, but she supsects they've just been gone a touch too long. He'll get a hug from his mom and sleep in a more familiar bed and find his zen again soon enough.
Or, so she thinks. The universe apparently has other plans. They're greeted by Sarah, who seems tense and exhausted herself. "Thank God, I thought you guys would be gone forever. We've been trying to call." But her tone isn't biting. It's genuinely relieved. "I'm about to tear my hair out."
Jake and Jamie share a look. He crosses his arms over his barrel chest, scowling. "Where's my mom?"
Sarah rakes a hand through her hair. "She and Dr. McCoy went on a mission few days ago. Iceman and Logan, too. Supposed to be mainly reconnaissance, someone came asking for help with a missing mutant child. But we lost contact."
Jamie's brows furrow. "Where's Rogue?"
A scowl contorts the redheads features. "She ran off days before any of this came up. Won't answer my calls, seems to be a running theme." She sends a glare at Jake.
He brings a hand up to rub the back of his neck. "Sorry. We ran into some trouble of our own, it's been a strange few days."
"Well now I need you both to have your head in the game here." Sarah answers harshly. "Without Rogue the number of teachers left runs up to a lovely grand total of two, and neither are trained as X-men. Which means 'tag'. We're it." She hesitates. "Jake, can you let me talk to Jamie alone for a minute?"
His eyebrows raise in wary surprise. "Yeah. I guess. Just..play nice, ok?" He stalks off.
Jamie waits until he's likely well out of earshot. "Alright, Barbie, I think I know what you're gonna say and -"
Sarah holds up a hand, talking right over the feral. "I'm sorry."
Jamie stops short and just stares, dumbfounded, head tilting in that 'curious puppy' way she and Logan are known for.
The redhead goes on. "I was acting like a spoiled brat. There's..reasons. But there's no excuse. I realize that now. You and Jake and I can talk some more things out later. But right now I need you on my side. I'm not sure I can do this otherwise."
Jamie takes a moment to soak all this in, blowing out a breath. "Alright. Ah. I'm not sure I understand. You want my help?"
"I've never experienced any kind of combat outside of the Danger Room. None of us have. Except, I'm suspecting, you." The redhead studies Jamie a moment, sighing softly. "Which leaves me in desperate need of your advice. We're about to go up against something big enough that it just took Wolverine off the radar. You may not have been around here long enough to realize, but that simply doesn't happen. I don't even know where to start in preparing. We don't even have the jet. Hell, even if we did, I only barely know how to fly the thing. We're stupidly out of our depth."
Hands on her hips now, Jamie turns and begins pacing. Thinking hard. "Details." She said. "You said there was a missing mutant child?"
"Yes. The mother is here but she's..clearly not well. Mentally, that is, the poor thing. Deciphering her babbling is..difficult. But the long and short of it is that she claims some men came and took away her daughter. She's convinced it's because the child's a mutant. She even knew where they took her too, God only knows how. Obviously we were healthily skeptical, which is why the original mission was to just scout out the location she gave us." Sarah crosses her arms, worry overtaking her features. "I'm now convinced something really is going on. Storm sent me a communication warning that they were under fire. Their last known coordinates put them in what should be just a forest, any maps I pull up suggest it's just trees and snow out there."
A thought strikes Jamie. "Doesn't the jet have a tracking device?"
"Yes. Actually, that's the weirdest part. It appears to be neatly landed in a field, and there's nothing to suggest it's been damaged."
"Maybe..maybe they weren't shot down in the end. Maybe they were boarded somehow?" Jamie theorises.
"Maybe. But teleporters usually need to be able to visualize where they're attempting to teleport, lest they end up materializing inside a wall."
"Some kinda mind freakery, then. Can telepaths control minds?"
"Well, sort of yes and no. They can't necessarily override base instinct enough to force someone to walk right off to their death. The human mind is too strong for that in most cases." Sarah's brows are furrowed in concentration as she thinks. "But...it's not out of the question that one might be strong enough to have compelled Storm to land the jet. It would take a frightening strong telepath to manage that, though. Compulsion on that level would suggest a mutant that's probably a class 4. And you don't want to know what else a mutation like that could make someone capable of." Confusion overtakes her features. "But there's only ever been two other known telepaths of that strength, and both..." Something else crosses her face. Some deeper emotion, almost sorrowful. It's erased in the next moment but the redhead hunches in on herself further. "Both have been dead ten years now."
Jamie almost wants to ask...but thinks better of it. Now isn't the time, anyway. "You're certain of that?" She asks, a little gentler.
"That they're both gone, yes." Sarah avoids eye contact. "But I'd suppose there could be a mutant that strong now, our population booms again with each year that passes. It would have to be a younger one, though, to have escaped our original radar. Could be my age, but likely much younger. Ororo's got a pretty impressive network when it comes to getting information, and a telepath that powerful couldn't escape notice for too long. All told, I highly doubt that's what we're up against."
"We can't rule anything out." Jamie asserts. "Even if we find it's just a kid, we might have to shoot first and ask questions later. I know it's not pretty but you should get that into your head now, Summers. If you can't make the right move, I will."
"I know." Sarah answers, subdued but not missing a beat. "The thought terrifies me. But I think something about it is why Storm thinks we'll make a good team."
Jamie thinks on that a minute. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd s'ppose that makes sense."
The girls share a look as a proverbial light bulb goes off.
An understanding is come to.
Jamie nods after a minute. "Alright. So best guess is class 4 telepath is the biggest obstacle. Can you show me on a map where the jets landed?"
Before Sarah can answer, the sound of an approaching vehicle reaches their ears. Loud and rough. A motorcycle?
One of the garages large bay doors opens.
No, it's not a motorcycle. It's a truck. Big, sleek, colored midnight blue. It parks itself succinctly in the nearest space that's big enough and idles a moment. The purr of the engine has Jamie approaching the thing to inspect it further. It's gorgeous.
She and Sarah both trail around to the drivers side just as the thing turns off and the drivers door opens.
"What the hell are y'all gawkin' at meh like that for? Fah heaven's sake." It's Rogue. Looking a little rough, with dark circles beneath eyes rimmed in smudged eyeliner. She's clad all tough in leather and dark denim and her hair is cut short now, her auburn locks barely reaching her chin. A last bit of a cheap cigar rests comfortably between her fingers, trailing smoke into the chilly air that she'd just let in with her.
Jamie wrinkles her nose. "Where the hell have you been, girl? You smell like sex and cheap booze."
"Ha. Pot meet kettle, bub." Anna fires back haughtily.
"Very funny but that doesn't answer my question."
"Fuck you, that's where I've been."
"Hey, you wanna come at me with that tone, we might wanna take this outside." Jamie snaps, raising a challenging eyebrow.
Sarah pinches the bridge of her nose, clearing her throat. "I tried to call."
"If Ah hadn't gotten the message Ah wouldn't be here, peaches." Anna puffs her cigar and discards it flippantly before heading inside, ignoring Jamie entirely. "You two comin' 'r what? We don't got all day."
Sarah and Jamie share a look.
"Is it just me, or does she sound...not herself?" Jamie grumbles, feeling wary now.
"S'not you." Sarah confirms, shaking her head and muttering a curse under her breath. "But we're lucky she's back at all, I suppose. C'mon. Lets get to work."
...
"Ah know where they are." Anna sounds as though she isn't surprised.
Jamie and Sarah exchange a confused look.
"Where?" Jake voices the obvious question.
"Round about where Ah'm guessin' yah just came from, oddly enough."
Jamie shoves Anna aside to get a look at the map herself. Sure enough, the coordinates of the sight where the jet landed is, indeed, not too terribly far from where she'd grown up as a child. "Oh."
"Fabulous. Any ideas on how to get us up there, then?" Sarah questions. "Because we needed to be there probably like, days ago."
One of the other Junior X-Men steps forward, a tall girl with darker skin and an assortment of feathers and flowers decorating her raven-black hair. "I might be able to help. My father has a plane, a private jet. He knows all about us here, he'd be excited to be able to help. It's just small, though, and we'd only be able to get so close."
"Ok, that's a start. If we could find some place to hit the ground around this little town here, do you think we could hike it up the mountain?" Sarah directs the question at Jamie.
Jamie shrugs. "Fifty-fifty chance this time of year, there'll be snow the further up we go, likely a lot of it. We'd have to gear up good. Looks like the jets location is pretty far up there. Ah. I don't suppose any of you has ever gone hiking like this before? Up in the mountains somewhere, I mean."
Jake and the other two Juniors exchange looks, shaking their heads.
Sarah heaves a tired sigh. "How much experience do you have?"
Jamie rakes a hand through her hair. "My grandfather and I used to go on hunting trips pretty regularly." She hesitates.
The redheads supposed to be their 'fearless leader'. But she looks tired and there's a pleading quality to the look she sends Jamie. "Can you get us up there or not?"
"Yeah." Jamie answers, and shocks herself with how commanding and confident her tone is. There's no hesitation. She actually knows what to do. "Yeah, if you're willin' to let me take point, I can get us up there. It won't be pretty, though. I doubt any of you has dealt with this kinda cold before."
"Storm had all sorts of gear ready made for us in good faith. I'll show you where it us and then leave it up to you to get us prepped for the hike."
"Got it."
"Ms. Rogue -"
"Fah heaven's sake, Ah know yah did not just call meh miss while plannin' yah first rescue mission." Anna plants a hand on her hip.
Jamie snorts.
A blush creeps up to color Sarah's cheeks, but to her credit she doesn't miss a beat. "Rogue, what more can you tell us about what we'll be walking into?"
"Concrete. A lot of it. The place is a fortress. Also, missile launchers and a lot of bullets if yah aren't carefull. But Ah think there should be an openin' right around this area here. Now, yah'll have to really be lookin'..."
...
"We'll need someone who's used to actually dealing with hostiles."
"Jamie's got yah there."
"...and someone to fly the jet back just in case...?"
"You can fly it just fine, Ah've sat next to yah while yah done it."
Sarah sends a look at Jamie, questioning. Jamie just shrugs. The redhead goes on. "And you'll have to head us up if we manage to get inside the facility." She finishes.
"Ah drew out what Ah remembered of the labyrinth already." Rogue counters. "Ah'm not goin' with yah."
Sarah's brows furrow. Her mouth opens, but no sound makes it past.
Jamie scowls. "Why the hell wouldn't yah come with us?"
Rogue crosses her arms. The look on her face almost reminds Jamie of a Logan look, the one he gives her when she really needs to stop and think for a minute. "Somethin' just wiped out damn near all of the X-men in one go, includin' Wolverine, and you wanna leave the school guarded by nothin' but the only two teachers who aren't even half-assed trained for some kinda combat?"
Sarah looks appropriately chastised.
Jamie huffs. "There's no evidence to suggest..."
"Sure there ain't evidence to suggest it, we don't have evidence of anythin'. All we know is that our most senior kick-asses straight up disappeared on us days ago and y'all are now wastin' time, which is precious. So here's what's actually gonna happen. I called for backup and thankfully heard from a few friends that were close. They're gonna come man the fort with meh just in case, should be almost here by the time y'all leave. You, Sarah Jean Summers, are gonna go get this done, and you," Anna points at Jamie, her gaze suddenly intense, "you, Jamie Logan, are gonna play nice like a big girl and help because that's the only way y'all are gonna get through this. Is that clear?"
Sarah and Jamie exchange a look. Neither likes the situation, but they can't really argue either, because Rogue's absolutely right.
Anna softens after a moment. "If Ah didn't trust yah two to take care of business, Ah'd leave one of yah here and lead the other kids in myself, but the fact is we'd be worse off that way. Ah know it ain't fair but there's no in between here, yah guys have to be ready and yah have to be ready now."
Frustration breaks through the fragile mask of calms Sarah's been sporting. Her fist connects with the table, abrupt and brutal. "Dammit but I'm not. I'm not ready, we are no where near ready!"
Jamie blows out a breath. She can smell it. The redhead reeks of fear and panic and Jamie doesn't blame her but the weird thing is that Jamie herself feels no panic at all. In fact, she's not sure there's even any real fear there. All she knows is the only thing she needs to know: a lot of very important people are missing and clearly in danger. Worse than that, Logan is among them, and since he's the father of her sibling-to-be... "I'm not the only one that's seen shit hit the fan a bit outside of the Danger Room." She points out, calm and confident. "Jake's been tested too now, and he held up pretty well considering. We're goin' in a little too blind for my taste overall but things could be worse."
Sarah doesn't seem to take that as too much consolation, but it's the best Jamie has to offer.
Anna dismisses the redhead, and faces Jamie with a hard look. "Here's the thing, Sugah. There's a little somethin' Ah left out about this - this installation or whatever yah wanna call it."
Jamie raises a bemused eyebrow. "I'm...listenin', I guess."
"It was almost military in nature. Uncannily military, enough so that Logan and I thought it had to be government run somehow but Jamie-girl..." She hesitates.
"Aww c'mon, just spit it out." The feral snaps, impatient.
Anna rolls her eyes. "The symbol on their uniforms - and on literally everythin' else - was a snake eatin it's own tail. So maybe, yah just might wanna make a phone call or two before stormin' the place like y'all're about to. There. Ah said it."
Silence. Jamie has to process this one. It takes a moment.
Anna huffs a growl. "Hello? Phone call? Yah don't got all day, kid."
Jamie stalks forward a few paces and reaches around to Anna's back pocket, removing the small bottle of cheap whiskey she'd noted in there earlier. The older girl scowls as the feral pops the bottle and slugs it's contents. Jamie growls in return, challenging. "I don't know who you suddenly think you are, but the only one who talks to me with that tone is Logan, and that's 'cause he can easily kick my ass."
"So could Ah if Ah thought it was needed." Anna answers, hauty now. "Ah just spent a couple days takin' a page outta yahr book, matter of fact!"
"Takin' a page outta my..." Jamie suddenly does not at all like where this is going. "Anna, which page exactly are we talkin' about here?"
The older girl seems to sense the change in Jamie's tone well enough. "Well Ah... Ah felt like jus'..lettin' my hair down, Ah s'ppose, and Ah figured, Ah got enough of Logan still swimmin' around up in this little head o' mine, and if you could be queen of the cage like you were..."
"You went off on your own lookin' for that kinda trouble!"
"Yeah. Jus' for a few days."
"No but, completely on your own."
"Yeah."
Jamie walks a slow circle around Anna, inspecting the older girl. "An' yahr still in one complete piece." Her tone one of utter amazement now.
"Ah. It sure appears that way, don't it? What's the matter, Sug, Ah though yah'd be all for it!"
"Oh don't get me wrong. You've got probably the biggest pair of lady balls I think I've ever come across and that is sayin' something. I mean, really. How many times yah lose?"
"A few. Got a few good bruises hangin' around, too, ain't gonna lie, took me a few days to find my footin'."
"Hell, you should've been KO'd so hard after one go, it should've put yah off the whole thing all together. I mean, it's one thing workin' the kinda hand-to-hand where there's more than one guy after yah but you've also got more space to work with, and yahr used to workin' with a team besides, so I'm impressed, girly, really. I mean, damn."
Anna beams with pride. "Now that's a compliment!"
"Yeah, it is. Now I need yah to promise me somethin'. An' I mean, I need yah to promise and mean it, understand?"
Confusion overtakes the older girls features now. "Well, yeah, Ah guess, but what -"
Jamie's tone lowers, goes gruff and hard. "Do not ever do that again. An' especially not alone, for shits sake."
"Oh. Ah don't understand, though, what're yah...?"
"I once fought a guy that turned out to be as bag-of-cats crazy as they come. He didn't like bein' beat by a girl, 'specially since I'm just a half pint, so he came back another night with rat poison and paid off the new bartender to spike my drink with it. I would've died, Anna. The only reason I walked away was because I'm a freak of nature even by mutant standards and all the poison did was make me dizzy and give me a belly ache. I later looked up what it should have done to my insides, you wanna know what I found out?"
Anna's eyes have gone wide as dinner plates. "Well. No. No, Ah think..Ah think Ah get the picture."
"I sure as hell hope you do get it, because that's not the only time weird stuff went down up there, and about eight times out of ten it was entirely concernin' me." Jamie plows on bluntly. "Pulling stunts like I used to is the kinda stuff that I only just got away with, and only because I heal like I do and I got friends up there. I don't know what else yah been up to, I don't know what else yah been on, but this is too far. No more cages. Promise me, please."
Much more subdued now, Anna blows out a breath. "When yah put it the way yah just did...yah're right. No more cages. I promise."
Jamie softens some again. "Good. And seriously, comin' from someone who actually cares, try to sort yahrself out. Wanderin' around half in the bottle lookin' for a fight is no way for someone nice as you to be tryin' to live." She pockets the cheap whiskey she'd stolen earlier and stalks off to make some calls. They've wasted enough time now.
"Hey." Anna calls out, quiet now and almost sorrowful. "Hey, yah know, Logan says the same kinda thing yah just did an' Ah just don't get it. What makes it not ok for me to wander around like that but no one bats an eye when he does, do they? They just - accept it. Like they're startin' to with you. It ain't right."
The question catches Jamie off guard. "Well that's... just, different I guess." She stutters. "Yah know what happens when I lose my temper. There's some other things I haven't told -"
"Ah know yah well enough and Ah know that yah are not an animal, Carol James Logan." Anna answers, so firm of a sudden. "Don't let them turn yah into one."
Something about the statement sends a chill down Jamie's spine. She pulls the whiskey back out to slug some as her legs carry her away and she forces her thoughts to focus on other things.
...
"I'm...I'm sorry, Miss Logan. Truly. This particular situation is a touch more complicated than what you were imagining."
Jamie huffs a growl and puts the phone on speaker, setting it down on the railing of the porch so she can take another hit from the bottle she'd pilfered from Anna. "Explain."
"We've little if any control over the operations seen to up there. There are higher powers at work. If it were on American soil, perhaps I could work some magic. But it is not."
"You're..you're tellin' me there's a whole different branch?"
"Yes. And I have no real pull over it, nor does my direct superior past a point." There's a slight pause. Trixie sighs. "But. I..may be able to provide some intelligence, at the very least."
Jamie's shoulders sag. She brings the bottle of whiskey to her lips and downs whats left in one go. "Alright. Name your damn price."
...
Some few hours later.
"I thought you said no one would..." Sarah eyes up the cowboy stepping down out of a large red pickup truck.
"I did." Jamie smirks, feeling rather proud of herself. "And then I thought to phone a friend. Hey Kelly!"
Kelly strolls up, removing his wide-brimmed hat to hold it over his chest as he greets the girls. "Jamie-girl, I'd swear yah look prettier every time I see yah."
"Aww, quit lyin'. Dork." She plants a kiss on his cheek (ignoring Jake as he huffs a bit at the sight). "You sure about this?"
"Hey, if you say it's important, yah know I've got yah. I stopped and bought some sandbags for the truck, it should handle well enough."
"We don't need yah to take us very far, we're plenty prepared for a hike."
"Lets load 'er up, then." He wanders past the two girls and over to meet the others.
Sarah eyes him up as he goes, seeming hesitant.
"What?" Jamie prods.
"Nothing." The redhead frowns. "It's just, I would've expected any friend of yours to be a little less..."
"Well. In fairness we were a bit more 'n just friends, actually. I was his first." Jamie points out, smirking suggestively.
"His -" Sarah scowls. "Please, don't go on."
"His first girlfriend that is." Jamie adds, amused. "Don't tell me yahr jealous, Summers."
The redhead snorts. "You wish. I'm just sorry for him. He seems like a nice enough guy, I'm sure he could've done better than you, Cavewoman."
Jamie raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "Better me than some plastic little Barbie doll with a stick stuck so far up 'er -"
"Ladies!" Kelly jogs back over. "If we're gonna do this, it needs to be now. Jamie, you know well as I do that you don't wanna be out there in the cold for long now the suns gettin' low. It'll be well below freezing and the wind'll do yah in real quick." His brows furrow as he takes note of the way Jamie and Sarah are sizing eachother up. "Ah. I miss somethin' here, or what?"
Though it looks almost painful, Sarah turns away first. "No. My apologies, you're right, we should get going." She sashays past Kelly and towards his truck.
"I know that look, Jamie-girl." Kelly's tone is scolding. "Yahr not startin' fights again, are yah now?"
"Hey, if yah knew her yah'd know she's askin' for it! Though to be fair, I don't blame her for bein' jealous. Yah're just so..." She raises a suggestive eyebrow. "Whew."
A blush creeps up to color his cheeks. "Oh. That's what you're...ah. Heh. C'mon, lets just get at 'er, darlin'."
She can't help the smirk that remains on her lips.
Jake scowls as she comes up to sit next to him in the bed of the truck. "The entire Senior team is missing, not to mention the fact that I'm right here, and your over flirtin' it up with - I mean, what the hells gotten into you?"
Jamie doesn't know, and an apology is what should make it past her lips but something meaner inside her rears its ugly head for a strange minute. "Hey, take a chill pill, I was just teasin' him, he's kinda an old friend."
"I ain't stupid, Jamie , you were eyeing him up the same way a starvin' wolf would a goddamn ribeye." He's talking kinda...
Since when does he talk like that?
The other girl they're sat in back with - Sparrow, the girl with the feathers in her hair whose father had flown them up - glances at them, clearly growing uncomfortable.
Jamie scowls, voice low and gruff now. "Lets maybe don't do this now, McCoy. Christ."
He huffs at her but says nothing more.
.
"This is what you were looking for?" Kelly seems incredulous, appropriately so.
Sarah hustles over, running her hand along a certain area on the belly of the jet. It takes a moment but she finds what she's looking, pressing her hand flat against a certain panel. it lights up, scanning her handprint, and then popping open to reveal a small control panel. She taps a few buttons, and the jets back end opens wide. Jamie and Jake climb in, looking around, while the others keep watch at the only area that resembles an entrance to the clearing in the forest.
Kelly peers inside, eyes wide.
Sarah glances at him, hard and suspicous now.
Jamie waves her off. "We can trust him. I wouldn't've called him if we couldn't."
Sarah may not fully trust Jamie under normal circumstances, but there's an unspoken understanding there that they've all got just the one thing in common - no ones gonna do anything to jeoperdize the school or the other people protecting it. If Jamie says Kelly's trustworthy, it's safe to assume he is.
The redhead shrugs, and leaves the rancher to be curious.
"You know, we've all seen somewhere, read about the X-men, but it all seemed so - distant. I never gave it any thought. But this is..." He trails off, clearly in awe.
Jamie sniffs around. "I'm not catchin' any foreign scents."
"No blood or anything, no signs of a struggle either. Everythings where it should be." Jake points out.
Sarah sits herself in the pilots seat and looks over the control panel. "Fuel tanks solidly half full and the engines appear to be functioning at maximum capacity, there's nothing to suggest they didn't land willingly." She pauses, brows furrowed. "Maybe they thought they could storm the place themselves?"
Jake shakes his head. "Mom would never be that impulsive and yah know it."
"Which only leaves one other option." Jamie adds. "Telepath. Right?"
Sarah sighs. "I don't see how anything else could make sense but it doesn't matter anyway. We need to keep moving."
"I can take yah further up the road a ways." Kelly offers. "Who knows, I could be useful."
Sarah shakes her head. "No. I don't even know what we're actually walking into, and this isn't your fight besides."
"Fair 'nough. I'll get outta yahr way then."
Jamie strides over to plant a parting kiss on his cheek. "Thanks again. I owe yah."
Jake huffs a growl. She ignores him.
Kelly drives off and they get moving.
