It
had been days since Solider Boy had come by, and that worried Jean. Their last
conversation hadn't been pleasant, and she worried for Kitty out there alone.
She worried for Logan, who looked weak and nearly dead in that cell next to
hers.
"Jean,
hold out your hands." Jolted out of her thoughts, she hadn't noticed
Solider Boy come in.
"Why."
"Hands, now!"
She
swallowed hard and did as she was told. He slapped a pair of cuffs on her,
followed by ankle shackles. He lead her out the door,
and the first thing she saw was a dead body.
"What's
going on," she gasped.
"Logan got loose."
"What
do you want me to do?"
"He's
asking for you, I'm taking you to him."
"What
about the others?"
"I
already let them out."
"We
can't go anywhere, this is going to look bad on us," she covered her mouth
as they passed another body.
"We
have tapes, they tortured Logan
needlessly," he jerked open a door. There was Logan, getting dressed in black fatigues.
"Let's
move, Jean."
Solider
Boy removed the cuffs and she dressed with no concern for modesty.
"They'll be after you."
"We
know," Logan
snarled, grabbing Jean's hand.
"Thank
you," she whispered before Logan
knocked the solider out.
Together,
Jean and Logan were unstoppable. He killed whoever got in their way while Jean
used her telepathy to override the computer systems with correct codes.
Survival instinct spurred them on far after they reached the outside. They ran
for hours in the dark, tree branches scraping skin and snatching at hair and
clothing. "I need...a minute," Jean finally wheezed as she felt
weakness gripping her legs, her hand fell out of his as she slumped to the
ground. Logan
came to a stop and forced water down her throat, then gripped her calves in his
hands and squeezed the cramps out.
"We
have to split up."
"No."
"I
have to keep them off track."
"I
can't make it, not without you," she began to sob.
"You
will, because I say so," he pulled her to his chest. They clung to each
other for a few desperate minutes.
"Go
find Jubliee and Kitty. If no one took them, they should be around the mansion
still."
She nodded, and stood up. "I'll find you, now run."
Jean
slipped into the mansion hours later, exhausted and weak. The place had been
ransacked, but she knew they wouldn't find much. Walking as quietly as possible
in the heavy military boots she was given, she sent her mind out to search for
the two young girls. 'Kitty, Jubliee? It's Jean.' She caught their frantic
thoughts, and followed them down to the lower levels. Kitty was dragging
Jubliee room to room, afraid they would be caught. 'Katherine, Jubilation! I don't
have time for this, girls!' Jean looked into the glass doorway and caught her
reflection, she looked like a soldier. Pulling off the hat, she let her limp
hair fall around her shoulders, and continued to the infirmary. It was no use, Jean was too tired to keep trailing them all over the
place. She sat on a hospital bed and lay back, wanting to rest her eyes for a
moment. When she woke up, Jubliee and Kitty were on the bed with her, lying
half on her because they were all full grown women on (at best) a two-person
bed. She hugged them fiercely, kissing their heads.
"It's
been three weeks, we didn't think anyone would come
back."
"Only three?"
"Where
is everyone?"
"Logan freed us."
"Is
he here?"
"No,
he's got his own mission to take care of. Mine was to come get you two."
"Where
are we going to go?"
"I
think it's best we leave the country for a little
while," she answered quietly. "We have one hour."
They
were out the door within thirty minutes at Jean's urging, and on their way to a
contact she was introduced to through Logan
years ago. This time it was by vehicle, that wasn't linked to Charles or any
Mutant affiliation. All Jean had to do was slap the money down on the table to
get the process going, and then walked over to the crate next to the couch.
"Okay girls, who wants to go blond?"
"I
will," Kitty answered, catching a box of dye.
"You
want a light brown, Jubes?"
"What
are you gonna do with your-" Kitty's eyes grew wide in horror as Jean
picked up a pair of scissors, grabbing her thick hair up in one hand, and
hacked it off just above her fist.
"You
two get started. I have to finish up," she lay her sixteen inches of wavy
red hair on the table and turned toward the mirror, starting to cut away more
length. Jean's hand started to shake as she took another lock of hair in hand.
"Let
me, you don't want to end up lopsided," Jubliee took the scissors and
finished up the back where Jean wouldn't be able to reach.
"How
do I look," Jean turned to Jubliee, her eyes filling with tears.
"Logan would love
this," she grinned.
Jean
turned back to the mirror, running a hand over the spiky pixie cut. "I
look like a fairy," Jean muttered.
"You
look like a badass," Kitty grinned.
"Go
rinse out your hair. I'm gonna go get our stuff."
"Whoa
baby!"
"Shut
it, Parker. Did I get my money's worth," she examined the birth
certificates, driver's licenses and passports over his shoulder.
"Doubting
me? Logan
wouldn't take kindly to that."
"Logan isn't here, I have
to look out for myself," she smirked.
Parker
sat her down in front of a generic blue screen, snapping her photo. "We
just need pictures of the other two."
"Girls! Dry your hair and smile pretty for the
camera," she shouted into the next room.
Fifteen minutes later, they were completely new people.
"Zeva,"
she handed Kitty her new papers.
"Sakura,"
Jubliee grinned at her ultra-Japanese name.
"Ford? You guys named me Ford," Jean leaned over
the counter with a disbelieving look.
"It's
English, means 'road'," Parker informed her.
"How
are we gonna pull off being sisters," Kitty giggled nervously.
"Sakura
was adopted, our parents had you later in life," Jean replied easily.
"You
look younger with that hair."
"I'm
only twenty eight," she snapped.
"Well
your passport says you're twenty five."
"I
easily pass for twenty four, even when I had my long hair," she shouted at
Parker. "Fix it!"
"Yes,
Amazon Queen."
"Flatterer,"
she rolled her eyes.
"Je...Ford?"
"Yeah?"
"You're
different," Kitty bit her lip as if she spoke out of turn.
"It's
still me," she smiled at Kitty. They went straight to the airport after
that, and had to wait two hours for their flight out.
"Where
are we going?"
"New
Zeland," Jean came back from the bathroom in a pair of jeans and a tank
top, she decided to keep the boots for the time being.
"Couldn't
we go to France,"
Kitty grumbled.
"No,
Zeva." The sight of uniformed men made Jean's stomach turn.
"Fuck," she hissed. They were checking passports.
"What
is it?"
"Do
you have your identification handy?"
"Yes,"
they echoed.
"Good,"
she kept watch of them from the corner of her eye.
"Afternoon, miss."
"Hey,"
Jean smiled.
"Do
you mind if we take a look at your passports?"
"'Course
not, girls get 'em out." They grouped the passports together and eyed each
of them closely.
"Sisters?"
"Can't
you tell," Jean replied easily, though with the tone that it wasn't polite
to cross that line.
"Have
a good flight."
"Thank
you," Jean took the passports back with a nod.
"Ugh,
I wanna throw up."
"It's
okay," she patted Jubliee's knee.
