Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.
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"This is how it's gonna go down, ya step out, ya look all the way up ta the top floor, and ya wait for me to put my jacket on ya. Ya don't scream, ya don't make eyes with no one, and if'in ya try ta fry my face off then the first frail I see gets ta find out how long it takes ta die from a gut wound. Comprende?" Victor asked, all the severity of years of doing what made him the best at what he did backing him up.
"Comprende." Jubilee whispered.
Closing her eyes and waiting as the robe binding her arms was cut, she took the locks being thrown open as her signal to exit the car. Her arms hung limp and useless behind her, standing there waiting until he came around to throw his jacket over her shoulders. It dragged but she didn't care, she was doing just everything she was told to and that bought her the certainty that the lady with the carriage or the other with the hot boyfriend didn't die.
"Ya forgot ta look up." Victor whispered, stopping just short of the doors to direct her gaze upwards.
She had to admit that the skyscrapers of New York City had their own appeal, the concrete canyons built in the height of business barons vying for prestige and headlines something to behold. Biting her lip until she tasted blood as he laid his hand on her shoulder, she let herself be guided on in through the revolving door and past all the staff that welcomed them right until the elevator doors closed. Crying silently as she had learned to in the foster homes, she kept her head down as the doors opened at other floors for Victor to glare and menace the would be riders to get the next one..
"Just about done, then your Uncle Vic gets ta drop ya off ta yer new handlers. They'll keep ya until our mutual friend makes her debut." Victor whispered, the doors opening to his floor at last.
Nondescript aside from the fact that she would have used words like 'old' and 'art deco' and 'lame' if she was forced, she let her self be guided along. Walked up to a suite and held there as he knocked, she expected a butler as the door opened to see it do so on its own instead.
"Welcome home." Victor whispered, roughly pushing her in so she missed a step and fell hard on her knees.
"I expected different company with you Victor, please enlighten me."
"Oh this is just perfect."
Looking up a man straight out of a black and white movie, complete with a fedora resting on the table beside him, looked down with just enough sympathy in his eyes that she had to fight from pitifully crawling across the floor to him. But it was the woman who stepped out of an adjoining room she felt a new wave of fear from, the smurfette bitch from the beach.
"You know her Mystique?" The elderly man asked.
"She's the one that screwed everything up, what the hell is she doing here?" Mystique explained, turning on Victor for an answer..
"Wouldn't ya just know it if'in she didn't make friends, this one and an ol' pal oh mine. Just dangle her like a bit o' meat and they're both bound to come a callin'. Just send the boy my way." Victor explained, pulling out the cell to toss it to Erik.
Shivering as all the talk going on as if she were just nothing more than meat, she found enough strength to pull the jacket around her feeling cold and so very alone. Looking on her full of that odd sympathy, Erik smiled and beckoned her over with two fingers. Getting to her feet on weak legs and walking across, his hands tenderly touched the bruises and cuts of her face and with a gentle thumb eased her mouth open.
Two teeth hurt and one was just shy of falling out that she just hadn't the guts to pry free. Fighting the urge to play with it with her tongue just like any other tooth she'd lost without a tooth fairy to leave a dollar for, she hoped it was one that had its number coming up anyway. Patting his knee, she sat down with him and rested against his chest as he pulled her near.
"Mystique dear, put some soup on for our guest." Erik bid, then turning hard eyes on Victor.
"Time ta pay up, I got what ya wanted in a round about way, ya just gotta wait a bit." Victor urged.
Working a gesture with a stage magician's flair, Erik waved his hand and a briefcase from across the room skittered to land at Victor's feet. Opening it and counting the cash quickly, used to making all kinds of shady deals from general crime to outright espionage, finally satisfied he locked it up and walked up to the pair. Offering a hand, Erik shook it once concluding their business, Victor giving a wink to Jubilee as he turned his back on them.
"Keep the coat kid, somethin' ta remember me by." Victor said in leaving.
Tearing it off and throwing it on the floor, she felt Erik eyeing her state of dress and sighing in open displeasure. Clenching her jaw tight fearing she might have displeased him somehow, fearing just what he might do to her, she felt a crunch and hot wash of blood that told of her tooth torn free with a hiss of pain. A handkerchief was offered for her to spit it into, set aside as he reached for a kleenix next.
"We haven't been formally introduced, I am Erik Lensherr, could you tell me your name?" Erik said softly, that kind smile coming back.
"Jubilee." The mumble was awkward with the tissue.
"Someday I hope you can understand all this child, but for now let me just say I am doing this for all of us. I, we don't have time for niceties, but the least I can do is play the proper host." Erik explained, helping her to her feet for a walk to the kitchen of condo.
Where she expected to find the smurf, a lady straight out a fifties family comedy was toiling over the stove in a pink polka dotted dress. Erik laughed at this, guiding her to the table and getting her a glass of water to gargle.
"I was told you are quite capable by Mystique." Erik said.
The lady at the stove looked back, a ripple running over her flesh to reveal her true self under the guise she wore. Admitting to it with a nod, she watched as the cutlery at the table hovered in the air to twist and melt into a ball with a mirror finish. Taking it in his hand, he pulled at it like taffy until it was a sinuous band.
"This is my gift child, mastery over magnetism, for that reason I call myself Magneto just as your friend has taken the name Rogue for herself." Erik explained, letting go of the strip of metal.
Scared as she was, she still found some amazement in it and reached to touch it quickly expecting it to be hot, only as she found it cold did she run a finger over it. In the blink of an eye and a snap of his finger it flew at her neck, a seamless collar slipping around her throat that was snug without being tight.
"Just a precaution that I don't believe I need to explain." Erik cooly remarked.
Swallowing hard and fighting the nausea that threatened to rob her of her appetite, she just nodded and had another sip of her water. A bowl of soup was set down with crackers on the side, right along with a fresh spoon.
"What do you want with Rogue?" Jubilee asked, staring down into her soup trying to find that hunger that had been gnawing at her belly earlier.
"Why, to give her the chance to save us all." Erik answered, taking his leave with a pat to her head.
Left alone in the kitchen, nibbling on the crackers and fighting tears, she waited until the closing of a door put some distance between her and them. Rubbing her eyes and letting them finally come as she had her first sip, she thought of Remy and Rogue.
"Roguey, can you just save me please..." Jubilee whimpered, her spoon clattering to the table from her slack grip.
Hiding under the table and curling up with the last of the crackers, she let herself cry swearing once the tears were over with she'd start living by her wits again, listening, watching and waiting just like life had taught her the last time it had pulled the rug out from under her.
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"Someone's coming." Rogue whispered in the darkness, the only light a crack under the steel door and Remy's own smoldering red on black eyes.
Trusting her unnaturally sharp senses, he raised a finger to his lips asking for silence as he crept to the door. Chopsticks became his weapon of choice as the glow of his gift encompassed them, the storage locket cast in a purple haze. Glancing to his rogue one last time, he had to admire the way her pale skin caught the light so well, looking more lilac than the ever ivory with only a few sun kissed freckles.
"There's three, two women and a man, I smell...jet fuel?" Rogue whispered, taken by a memory she'd never known before that moment.
Backed into a corner was when he was at his most dangerous, with only one way out he had proved time and again he had what it took to make it through. Keeping himself between Rogue and the door, he hoped she could divine more out of the trio before, thinking it impossible his Stormy could make it in such a short time.
"Anything else?" Remy whispered, twirling the charged chopsticks.
"She says she's here to help, just like she promised..." Rogue whispered, pressing fingers to her head with a troubled look.
Before he could ask just what she had meant, the door threw itself open to reveal two he knew from years before and a lady with dark red hair and avian features. Stormy looked clearly amused by her entrance until she caught sight of Rogue behind him, the mirth draining from her features to open concern. Straight laced had a hand to his glasses that looked like a threat, the two sets of chopsticks raised in challenge if the glove was tossed. Playing the peace maker, Red stepped between them with eyes only for Rogue and a kind smile.
"It was you on the phone, I can feel you've had...much happen. I keep my promises." Jean soothingly said with an offered hand.
Taking a step back so he could keep an eye on them, he watched Rogue find her gloves before slipping out of the bed to take the offered hand. Breathing easier, he let the glow of the chopsticks fade, throwing them just so that they pierced a box in a tight cluster in unspoken threat to the man who still stood rigid.
"You saved her?" Rogue asked, fighting to keep her expression anything but hopeful.
"Yes, she's at our school now, safe and sound. We understand you need us to save someone else now." Jean said with a kindly smile, reaching out slowly to brush a lock of hair from Rogue's troubled eyes.
"D, don't touch me..." Rogue sputtered fearfully as she flinched away.
"I'm sorry." Jean apologised, a sadness filling her eyes as she looked on longingly.
Hard as it was, Remy left Rogue to the red haired beauty who seemed so intent on helping her, stepping out for a word with his Stormy under the watchful gaze of Shades. Fishing out a pack of cigarettes and tapping the box until one popped up, with a press of a finger to the tip he took his first drag as a breeze picked up blowing away from where Stormy stood looking disapprovingly at him.
"Thought you said your school was in New York, no way you fly commercial here. Just what kind of school have a private jet?" Remy asked, fishing for answers.
Eyeing the pair, it was the first time he saw a hint of emotion on the straight laced looking man next to him, a smirk that likely would have reached his eyes had they not been hidden by those curious aviator shades of his. Even Stormy was smiling, the breeze taking on fragrance all its own that reminded him of hot summer days walking the back roads between meadows looking to hitch a ride, days back when life had as simple as the next con.
"You shall just have to see, for now can you tell us just what is going on?" Storm asked.
Considering it as the smoldering ember ate away at his smoke, Remy looked back to see both Red and Rogue sitting on a mattress talking in hushed voices. There was much he couldn't tell them, much he wouldn't tell anyone, but he could tell them the man he knew was at the centre of his ruined dream hoping his past would never catch up to him here.
"The man, Victor Creed, few days back he try to take Rogue from what I be told. Course I didn't know it be him then, just think it be my Petit exaggerating again. A werewolf and a smurfette bitch, who believe that non?" Remy explained, dropping his butt to stamp out.
Looking up to see the troubled look Stormy was giving him, right along with Shades getting all stiff again, he turned to her for answers now. Instead she looked back to Rogue and Red, his own gaze following hers.
"You didn't know she called us, did you?" Storm asked.
"Stormy, I be a gambler, if she be lying that she didn't know you then I plan on taking her to Vegas once this all be over with." Remy spat, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Jean thought there were three of you there, even now she tells me...Rogue is of two minds, and the other is getting stronger. We need to find out what happened to her, and the only way we can do that is at our school." Scott said not unkindly, just in a business at hand sort way.
"How far from New York City be your school? I leave Rogue there to get the help she need, but I have a promise to keep." Remy pressed, balling his fists as he vowed not to break another.
"Just outside of it, Salem Center in Westchester County." Scott replied, sparing a look to Storm.
"You don't have to do this alone Remy, we can help you." Storm pressed, closing the distance between her and him to place a gentle hand on his shoulder.
Running a hand through his hair and hissing, at the sound of light footsteps he looked to see Rogue standing with Red looking far more relaxed than he had seen her ever since the nightmare had begun coming back home to his apartment in ruin. Looking to her for her answer, staring deep into those emerald eyes of hers, she gave him a nod that was all he needed.
"I think about it on the flight back, so, we off to LAX oui?" Remy asked, this time the trio looked again to be playing a joke on him.
"Actually, we're parked just outside Venice, give or take." Scott said, leading the way off out of the storage lockers.
"I catch up, just got to clean up. You go with them Chere, I not be long." Remy promised, waiting until they were gone to rush into his locker.
Ignoring the takeout and leaving it to rot, he dove into the tool chest and found all the things he'd need. Throwing knives shaped like slender spades, a short length of pipe that with a twirl extended to a bow staff, collapsing it again and throwing it with the rest. Cash, credit cards, and finally out of a box he found his old duster to give it a shake and slip on. Everything found its place inside, finally slipping on a pair of sunglasses that were among his favourite.
Locking up, he raced after them and ignored the looks of all but his fellow rogue, something in her eyes telling him she understood and approved. Something Shades had said came back to him, that she was of two minds, wondering just how much of Victor was prowling around in there tormenting her. The pieces were falling into place to explain so much, now he just had to find out who it was that had put such a man on her trail, because that was a man he meant to have words with.
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Consciousness came easier this time, Jubilee finding her body feeling rested after the cry she had the night before. Feeling lost for a moment, rubbing the sleep and crusty crud from her eyes and blinking to bring them in focus, she found she was in a plain bedroom with large windows overlooking the skyscrapers of the last century. A knock at the door had her dreading just who might be calling, scuffling back until she found a corner and drew her sheets up to hide her balled fists.
Swallowing hard as she tried to find her voice to call out the invitation that was likely expected but something made it hard, raising a finger up to touch her throat. The band of metal was warm, the threat instantly coming back as she remembered just how easy he had twisted it and thinking just what he could do to her now. Feeling helpless again, she let the burning in her hands fade and instead pulled her knees to her chin and waited. The knock came again, this time the door opening to reveal Mystique looking nearly nude walking in with a tray set for two.
"Breakfast time." Mystique said, placing the tray down and pulling up an armchair.
Doing her best not to stare at her figure, she took a piece of toast and nibbled at it keeping her eyes on the jam the whole time. Though as the laugh came she had to look up, Mystique smiling at her as she lounged catlike in the chair.
"Relax kid, I'm not gonna hurt you. Can't say I didn't want to take you over my knee after your stunt on the beach, but I think Vic gave you the beating you earned." Mystique said in an amused tone, waving a hand as if to brush away any fears.
"You were trying to hurt her!" Jubilee argued, glaring at the older woman.
"Short term, I suppose. Long term, if everything went the way it should that girl is gonna be next to impossible to kill just like Victor himself." Mystique said, mulling over the lesser evils.
"What do you mean?" Jubilee warily asked, hardly believing the woman.
"You don't even know who she is or what she can do, do you?" Mystique asked.
"I know she's my friend, and if you hurt her, I'll..." Jubilee started, balling her fists again.
"I just have to call his name." Mystique said slowly with the only threat that need be spoken.
Shaking with unspent anger, forcing it all back down with a grim line across her lips, she managed to unclench her fists again and instead glared right across to the woman who stood to take a seat on the edge of the bed. As she did her form rippled and shifted, where a lady in blue with red hair and yellow eyes had started, a girl just a bit older than Rogue with blonde hair and blue eyes sat dressed in vintage sixties if she was any judge.
"Erik and I have been in this fight since it started, and trust me kid, it hasn't gotten any easier now that it's public. Back then the only people that knew were spooks and they kept it under their hat. Now the whole world knows and they're getting the trains ready, just like Erik had to ride. They're digging out the rope and looking for tall trees. Registration is just how it starts, we're not waiting for the rest." Mystique said softly with steel in her voice.
"How's Rogue going to stop it?" Jubilee asked, thinking it impossible.
"She can do what Erik can't, not without him becoming a martyr when we need a leader. We're going to change the world." Mystique promised.
"You're nuts." Jubilee spat.
"That's what they said at first, when we expected them to believe we could read their minds or take on their guise. That men could lift submarines out of the ocean, or that we could stop World War III from happening. They stopped laughing pretty fast." Mystique said with a bitter smile.
Biting her lip at how sure the woman sounded, she instead went back to breakfast and ignored it all, the two eating in silence with the view of the city as something to look as she chewed. With only crumbs left Mystique gathered up the dishes and stood at the door for a spell shifting back to her natural self.
"Have you ever been to the Empire State Building?" Mystique asked out of the blue.
"Never been to New York before..." Jubilee admitted.
"If you promise to behave yourself, I'll take you up there later. Got some business there. There's some clothes in the dresser for you, get freshened up." Mystique said, throwing a wink as she left.
Having a sniff of herself, the lingering stench of her episode in the car hung with tears and sweat, climbing off the bed to explore her curious cell. Finding a shower and running the tap, there were fresh toiletries in the cabinet along with an unopened toothbrush. Using the routine to try and ignore it all even if just for a half hour, she carefully took of her shirt and shorts and folded them neatly right along with her underwear. It was the only thing of hers she had left to tie her back to the sunny west coast where she belonged, right along with CynJenn, Remy and her newest friend Rogue.
Climbing into the shower and cranking it right scalding, she scrubbed hard determined to wash clean every bit of skin he had touched, wishing she could do the same for the memories that still haunted her.
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