Written by Darkstorm5000
Disclaimer: X-Men Evolution, the X-Men, and other related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group and Film Roman Productions, are used without permission and not for profit.
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Chapter 4- Just Another Day
At the Xavier Institute in Bayville, New York, a lazy Sunday afternoon atmosphere has comfortably settled in over this place of learning today. Which is something rare this late in the semester, since the students who are enrolled here spend the majority of their time attentively keeping up with the abundantly comprehensive academic course-load assigned to them by their headmaster, Professor Charles Xavier.
And when they are not, their days and evenings are spent preoccupied to a greater extent with a far more intensive schooling that takes place down in the advanced training facility located far below the Institute, appropriately enough referred to by them as the Danger Room. But, like everyone else, Professor X's students also take great pleasure in the chance to just enjoy the simple things in life, such as those normal everyday activities that most people usually take for granted. When they find that they actually do have some free-time to themselves, that is.
Which, may be why Charles Xavier was a bit surprised to sense an approaching presence towards his study this afternoon, as most students' usually tended to get and stay as far away as possible from their teachers on the weekend.
"Professor, mind if I bother you for a minute?"
This was the question being posed, as John Proudstar opened the door to Professor Xavier's study. John hadn't even bothered to knock first, which was due to the fact that in the time since he had been at this school, he had gotten used to Professor Xavier's telepathic abilities and the almost extra-sensory aspect that they afforded him.
"John, of course not. Please, do come in." Professor Xavier replied, as he sat behind his desk with numerous documents and folders both opened and closed before him.
"We saw on TV just now about how they opened up a new mall here in Bayville. So, we were all gonna catch the bus into town and go hang out there for awhile." John said while taking a few steps further into the study's interior and towards the Professor.
"Very well. But, I'm sure that Logan would be more than happy to drive the four of you." Xavier replied, looking up at John briefly, and then back down at two folders in particular on top of a small pile that sat on his desk right in front of him, "I believe I last sensed him out in the garage, if you wouldn't mind passing my request on to him?"
And with that, the matter seemed pretty much open and closed. John then shot a hardened glare at the Professor, whose own gaze was fixated on the documents down in front of him, before turning to leave his study.
"Yeah, he's gonna be thrilled when he hears this." John muttered under his breath, with a tinge of reluctance at the prospect of going out to personally deliver the Professor's 'request' to Logan. Which pretty much carried the weight of, and amounted to, an order. But Professor Xavier always had such a clever, yet direct, way of phrasing such tasks to make them not necessarily seem like it.
Meanwhile, Professor Xavier himself neither heard, nor sensed, the small degree of trepidation emanating from John as he left, mainly due to him being so deeply immersed in his close examination of several mysterious file folders directly in front of him. The first one of these dossier binders before him was marked as 'E. Frost', with the other two underneath it each labeled as 'E. Braddock' and 'H. McCoy' respectively.
They were all alongside another, and much thicker folder on his desk, which had a far more ominous sounding epithet 'United States Government Classified-Confidential: Panel review of the Stark Enterprises Proposed Bid for Project Chimera' on its outer-cover…
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Once he was outside, the first thing John saw on the short set of steps in front of the doorway, a connecting concrete walkway path, and the outlying ground area was that they were all covered in snow that measured in at least a couple of inches. While one might be tempted to assume that this was a new experience for the Arizona native, the truth was that John was all too familiar with the sight of fallen winter precipitation. What was new to him was the perpetual gray and overcast winter presence in this region that felt as though it lasted for months on end, as opposed to the intermittent cold-snaps and mostly sunny year-round atmosphere of Camp Verde. It was one of the few things that John truly missed about being back home on the reservation, and significantly contributed to his growing feelings of homesickness.
At any rate, it only took John a few minutes to quickly make his way out to the mansion's large auto garage, where true to the Professor's words, he located Logan.
"The Professor sent me out here to find you." John said, announcing his presence as he walked in through the open main exterior door to the garage. Although, Logan's heightened senses had managed to detect John approaching at around twenty paces prior, when he was just about halfway out there.
"Well, looks like you did just that, Proudstar. Somethin' major must be goin' down for Chuck to be sendin' you all the way out here to get me?" Logan surmised, almost enthusiastically, at the prospect of getting to see some battle action.
But, Logan did so without actually looking up at John, and instead continued to tool around under the hood of this used, navy/gray full-sized conversion van that had been bought recently.
Meanwhile, John stood there and just observed his surroundings, initially taking notice of the Bentley stretch limousine and other luxury sedans owned by Professor Xavier from out of the corner of his eye, which were all parked over to the far side of the garage. These refined vehicles were in sharp contrast to this monstrous, yet pragmatic, GMC Vandura that Logan was working on. And, even more so to the beat-up and slightly rusted motorcycle also in the garage, which was propped up against the wall over in another one of its corners.
"Not exactly." John said, as he begun his explanation of why he had really been sent out there, which didn't have anything to do with them going off to fight anyone, "Me and the rest of the gang wanted to head into town, and the Professor 'requested' that you to take us."
"Why? You four don't need a babysitter." Logan remarked, as he came out from under the van's hood, with the timber brown zip-up coveralls that he had on showing barely visible black smudge marks from the engine at various spots all over them. Logan then grabbed a nearby rag off of the garage-floor, wiping his oily hands while looking up at the taller teen.
"Yeah, but we do need a licensed driver. Apparently, Professor Xavier doesn't agree with Morph's theory that three learner's permits equals out to a license in the end." John replied with a hint of sarcasm in his tone, which only increased, "So, then we were all going to just use our powers to fly there, but I don't think that'd sit too well with Xavier either."
"Hmph, I didn't even know that T-birds could fly? I figured you more for the ground-level, cruisin' type." Logan responded in kind, as he bent back down under the hood in front of the van, so that he could hurry and finish up his work on adjusting its carburetor.
"Not so much fly, as run really fast and jump pretty far." John jokingly continued, although there was more than a grain of truth to his words, as he stood off to Logan's side and closely observed what he was doing, "You know, like leaping tall buildings in a single bound. But, without the cape and colorful underwear."
"Uh, huh." Logan now only mumbled, once again far more engrossed in his work at hand.
"The way Xavier likes to flash his cash, I'm surprised he didn't go out and buy a brand new van, instead of this old clunker." John remarked, as he walked around to the right side of the van by the front fender, so as to get a better view of what Logan was doing.
"Maybe, it's because he ain't the one who bought it, kid!" Logan loudly replied from under the hood, and in a tone that made it obvious who the vehicle's purchaser really was, "Besides, toolin' around out here at least gives me somethin' to do, while the rest o' ya are busy sittin' in study hall."
John, still leaning over the front passenger-side quarter panel, immediately realized what Logan was working on with this van, and decided to get involved as well.
"Here, Pops. Let me hold this, while you finish screwing the throttle lever back on." John now offered, as he leaned in under the hood from its side, joining Logan underneath here and securing the carburetor's choke plate firmly with one of his massive hands.
"You know about workin' on cars?" Logan looked over and curiously asked John.
"I might've picked up a thing or two. Here and there." John replied rather facetiously, as he went on to give a helping hand in finishing the reassembly of the van's fuel intake control. Which Logan didn't mind, since an extra pair of hands always made things a bit easier.
John wound up staying out there in the garage with Logan for quite some time. And in the process, these two individuals ended up discovering that they actually had something in common with the other.
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More than an hour later, John made his way back towards the mansion, while Logan stayed behind to find out if, or what difference, their work ultimately had on how the van now ran. As John came in through the front door and approached the central staircase, he made a detour back towards the nearby living room when he heard something.
The loud and unrestrained laughter of Mariko and Morph coming from inside of there.
"Hey guys, what's so funny in here?" John asked, as he poked his head in through the entrance with an inquisitive eyebrow raised.
"Ren & Stimpy." Mariko replied, struggling to get that much out through the fit of laughter that she was now caught up in, as she sat up on the sofa in there with her legs folded over in front and underneath her in an agura position.
"I finally managed to wrangle Mariko here into watching it with me. I'm tellin' you, they're freakin' comic geniuses!" Morph fervidly added, from the sofa where he and Mariko were seated together, and who was cracking up just as much as her over this as well.
"…STIMPY, YOU EEEE-DIOTT!"
After hearing this, accompanied by a resounding backhand smack that also came from the TV on the other side of the room, John stood and visually took in the sight of this animated cat and dog duo. He then made his own on-the-spot critique of this show that had come on since his having left to go talk to Professor Xavier earlier. And while John definitely had a sense of humor, it was quickly obvious to him that he was seeing something completely different from what his two teammates were. Because, while they were still laughing hysterically at it, John just wasn't feeling the same level of appreciation, as they apparently were, for the lowbrow comedic nature of this cartoon.
Still, John figured to each his own.
And, he was glad to see that Mariko was at least coming out of the doldrums that she had seemed to fall into following her injury, which had occurred a number of weeks ago at the hands of Weapon Alpha, and during her gradual recovery afterwards. John knew that her lift in spirits was in large part due to Morph's constant presence, who had spent most of his free-time keeping Mariko company during her recuperation period. The pair had become almost inseparable during that time, with Morph getting Mariko to open up personality-wise and come out of the introverted shell that she had wrapped around herself before arriving at the Institute.
After briefly informing Morph and Mariko that they would be heading into town to the mall shortly, John decided to leave them to enjoy the show and headed upstairs. He was going to change clothes before they departed, particularly out of his gray, long sleeved cotton-tee that had the Xavier Institute's distinctive 'X' logos on it, which had become slightly soiled while he was working on the van outside with Logan.
Once upstairs, John made his way down the second-floor corridor towards his room and passed by Ororo's bedroom in the process, whom he saw was currently in there.
"Hey, 'Ro." John spoke to Ororo from out in the hallway, her bedroom door left open as she lay on her bed reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, which was for a report that she was working on to be soon turned into the Professor.
"Hello, John." Ororo replied, looking up at him before putting her book down and then sitting up on her bed, wearing a very casual white embroidered peasant blouse and a simple pair of calf-length Capri jeans.
Unknown to John was that Ororo, who had earlier in the afternoon been downstairs with him and the others watching TV, had also much like him decided to come up to her room when she too failed to grasp the somewhat crude humor of the animated program that Mariko and Morph had tuned into.
"Logan's gonna drive us over to the mall in a little while." John now said, as he relaxingly leaned with one arm up against the side of the bedroom's doorframe.
"That is very nice of him." Ororo replied, as she shifted herself over to the edge of her bed, her legs slowly gliding across and over in front of her, while her hands slipped back and remained planted firmly behind her for support.
As he stood and observed her, John couldn't help but notice, and once again marvel, at just how genuinely graceful, sophisticated, and beautiful Ororo was in just about everything that she said and did. As well, John also wasn't used to being around someone who was so uninhibited and exuded such confidence in themselves, that they could turn the routine early morning shower into a titillating outdoor experience from the clouds right above the Institute.
Although, he hadn't been the only resident at the Institute to have witnessed this unforgettable sight of their own real-life weather goddess.
Still, every time that John was with Ororo, she left an indelible impression upon him that he was in the presence of a woman able to carry herself well beyond her years. Finding this level of poise and maturity in someone else who was around his own age certainly wasn't something that John was used to seeing. Which, was one of the many striking characteristics that John had found himself becoming uncontrollably attracted to in Ororo over these months since they had arrived at the Institute. It sometimes even caused him to act unnaturally awkward and unsure of himself when he was around her. But, as captivating as Ororo was just by sitting there, an object that was hanging on the wall up over her bed also suddenly managed to equally grab John's undivided attention as well.
"That's a wicked-lookin' blade you got up there." John now remarked to Ororo, doing his best to initiate a decent conversation with her for a change. John then took a couple of steps into her bedroom and pointed up at the large Bowie knife, whose sheathed blade measured about a good eight to ten inches in length, and was mounted above on the wall behind her, "And from the looks, it should be pretty good for hunting too."
"I…have never been." Ororo looked back up at the knife, and then responded to John's hunting comment.
"I could take you sometime and show you a few things. You know, about surviving in the woods. My Dad and Uncle Jack are a couple of the best trackers around, and they taught me everything they know." John now offered her.
"Thank you, but I too have been taught a great many lessons in the art of survival." Ororo replied from her bed's-edge, "Although, some of my former teachers' were nowhere near as noble with their desires to educate me."
"What do you mean?" John asked her and then caught on to her subtle hint a split-second too late, after the question had already been delivered.
"Let's just say that this knife has been used as protection, in self-defense against animals of a decidedly human nature. More or less." Ororo more clearly explained for John's benefit.
"Oh. Then, I'm sorry you needed it at all." John replied, now feeling bad about making his comment to her.
"Perhaps if I had grown up in a family such as yours, I would have been spared such experiences all together." Ororo surmised, as she began to briefly reminisce on her past and her former life.
"What happened to your family, exactly? If you don't mind me asking, I mean." John now more cautiously asked of her, since her family had been something Ororo had conspicuously never talked about.
Even when he, Morph, and Mariko were briefly discussing their backgrounds one night, Ororo pretty much skirted the issue by only stating that she had lived in a great many places, before winding up in the heart of Africa's Serengeti once her mutant weather-powers began to emerge. Ororo then proceeded to abruptly excuse herself, saying that she had a special extra-credit assignment that she needed to go ahead and complete to hand into the Professor.
"My parents…died when I was very young, killed in an earthquake that buried them." Ororo closed her eyes and sighingly revealed to John, doing so for the first time in a very long time to another living soul. And with her admission, the overcast sky outside suddenly turned much darker due to her current emotional state and her increasingly melancholy mood, "And I was buried as well…alongside their decomposing bodies, all of us left underneath that ton of collapsed rubble for days afterwards."
"Whoa…" John said in an almost whisper, in contrast to the far-off sound of thunder that could now also be he heard, and was made all the more unsettling thanks to its out-of-season winter presence.
"And, as you can imagine, that has left me with a chronic aversion to tight and confining spaces." Ororo now finished up, reopening her eyes after having shared some of her most privately held secrets with John, and surprisingly she felt a little better because of it.
"Yeah, I can understand." John somberly told Ororo, not really able to find words to say anything more eloquent than that. Still, he did want to extend his genuine sympathy towards Ororo for what had she been through, which she did unmistakably sense coming from him.
And, John's heartfelt sentiments were very much appreciated by her, as evidenced by the barely noticeable smile now on Ororo's face, while the darkened sky outside just as suddenly cleared up considerably.
But, John decided that he had best quit while he was ahead, as he could tell by the previously deteriorating state of the weather outside that he had obviously hit on a very sore subject with Ororo. And he definitely didn't want her to hate him any more than she must already, for his having brought all of this up in the first place.
"Well, I guess I'd better hurry up, so I can go get changed." John now said, as he hastily prepared to head off to his own room, "See you downstairs, in a little while."
John then left, turning and walking out of Ororo's bedroom without another word said to her. But, with his thoughts already preoccupied and without even thinking about it, John instinctively removed the grease stained, tight-fitting shirt he had on from his oversized frame as he walked out under the doorframe, all in anticipation of his trip down the hallway to his own room. Thus, momentarily showcasing his back with its huge, and extremely well-sculpted, trapezius, latissimus-dorsi and lower back muscles.
Which, unknown to John, certainly didn't go unnoticed by Ororo from her own well-positioned vantage point. As her barely-noticeable smile, now widened considerably at this departing sight.
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A short time later, and after a few wardrobe changes between them all, Mariko, Ororo, John and Morph all made their way out to the garage. They were now wearing varying styled jackets and coats, along with other winter accessories such as hats, gloves and scarves.
They were met inside of the garage by Logan, who himself had replaced his work coveralls with a simple ensemble consisting of a tan chore-overcoat, jeans, boots, and a very worn-looking black cowboy hat.
"Alright people, let's load up and move out." Logan said, as he went over and slid the van's huge side-passenger door open towards its rear.
"Sir…YEESSS, SIR!" Morph mockingly shouted out, as he gave Logan a full salute in the temporary guise of Private John Winger, while the others piled on into the van in front of him.
"Chuck, you are gonna owe me big time for this!" Logan muttered in a low voice to himself, as he slammed the sliding door closed behind Morph once he was inside, then walked around the front of the van to its driver's side.
Within a few minutes, the now better-running van had left the Institute and was making its way down the main roadway into downtown Bayville. And, Logan was receiving a crash-course in what it was like to travel, even this very short distance, cooped up in a moving vehicle with four slightly rambunctious teenagers.
"…only one hit song. One freakin' song, and they're already callin' the guy the next John Lennon. Seriously, I heard someone on TV actually say that."
"But they're speaking out for our generation."
"Is he really that good of a singer?"
"Not so much good vocally. But, they are different."
"Which says a lot right there."
"Yeah, but what?"
"Say, can't the four of you find something else to argue about for awhile?" Logan now interjected himself into the conversation and asked.
"Okay. Arrrree weee thheerrrre yyyeeettt?" Morph replied, intentionally doing so in the most nasally, whiny voice that he could mimic.
"Don't start with me!" Logan slightly growled at Morph's provoking statement, "And yes, we're almost there. Thank, God."
A few more minutes passed in silence, with everyone in the back looking out through the windows on both sides of the van, gazing at the passerby's while Logan turned down one street after another, before finally reaching the new Bayville Mall.
"All of you listen up. We all meet back up here in a couple of hours, got it?" Logan said to these four students that he had escorted down to this destination, as he finished up the cigarette that he had lit and quickly smoked during the walk across the parking lot from the van towards the mall entrance, "I'm gonna go in here and find me somewhere I can grab myself a beer or two."
"I think you're gonna have a slight problem there." John said, putting his hands in the pockets of his olive and navy-trimmed jacket, as he and the others walked along with Logan towards the mall's entrance.
"Why's that?" Logan asked, as he paused, took the cigarette out of his mouth, and agilely put it out on the sole of his boot, before continuing on with them.
"Heellloo, McFly. They don't sell alcohol in the Food Court." Morph, who was now in his guise of Kevin Sidney, said to Logan.
Morph considered Kevin to be his own personal alter-ego, which he used only when they were out in public and he needed to blend better into a crowd. By morphing into Kevin, he was rid of the pasty physical features that were the trademark of his mutant powers. It allowed Morph to recreate himself into what he thought that he would have probably looked like by now, had he never developed these shape-shifting abilities in the first place. Although, he was generally more comfortable in being just plain old Morph the rest of the time.
"Shit!" Logan reflexively cursed, his exclamation just loud enough to be heard by the gang, along with a few other shoppers close by who were exiting the mall. All the while, Logan was thinking to himself that now he really was in for a long afternoon.
"Um, you're not going to start getting the shakes on us or anything, are you?" Mariko smirked and sarcastically asked Logan, surprising both him and her other teammates' with her biting remark. To the point that it took them all a few moments to respond.
Which, they all finally did with brief and raucous laughter. All, except for Logan, that is.
It had been apparent just how much of an influence that Morph was having on Mariko's overall personality, as evidenced by this display now. Gone was the shy and introverted girl that had first arrived at the mansion those many months ago, replaced by a more wisecracking and fun-loving individual. Regardless though, Logan wasn't the type of person to settle for such lampooning at his expense, and he and his short temper would usually react to it either physically, or at least verbally.
But, given the fact that Mariko was just now starting to get back on her feet from a modest rib-fracture, which she had received while coming to Logan's aid against an old acquaintance of his a few weeks back. And, especially since he had so callously questioned her placement on the team prior to her timely rescue effort, Logan didn't even hurl one of his expectantly surly retorts back at her.
Instead, Logan just shook his head and let out another grunting sigh at her comment, pulled his hat down a little in front and continued on into the mall, fluidly disappearing into the throng of holiday shoppers up ahead of them.
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After working their way through the crowd of fellow shoppers, the gang then further split-up to head off to their own differing destinations in the mall for this afternoon. Ororo and Mariko soon found themselves upstairs in The Lacuna, a trendy clothing store that specialized in, and only carried, the latest in current fashions.
"So, what do you think?" Mariko asked, as she came out of one of the store's dressing rooms, modeling a fluorescent orange and black sheer-sleeved blouse, with a form-hugging orange and black checkered miniskirt to go along with it. Which she was considering buying, and now solicited Ororo's opinion for help in making her mind up, "Pretty all that, huh?"
"Quite." Ororo replied, as she stood close by in this rear-section of the store and was herself debating on two brightly-colored outfit ensembles, which she was currently holding in each hand, "And I'm certain that Morph will, for perhaps the first time in his life, be rendered speechless upon seeing you in it. Which, would be a feat in and of itself."
"C'mon, this is Morph we're talking about. I doubt he's going to get all that worked up over me wearing a new outfit." Mariko said, as she turned around and went back into the change room, closing its lightweight louver-style door behind her.
"You must be joking." Ororo said in response, unable to believe that Mariko wasn't seeing what the rest of them obviously were.
"Joking? About what?" Mariko asked Ororo from inside of her change room stall.
"That, judging from the way that he acts when he is around you, Morph is apparently already worked up over you." Ororo grinningly clarified, revealing her own personal observations of the two.
"No way!" Mariko quickly refuted, but then paused and allowed this possibility to sink in a bit. Mariko now more carefully considered Ororo's assertion and then stood up on her tiptoes, so that she could look over the top-edge of the fitting room door right at Ororo, "Wait, do you really think…he likes me? Like that?"
This time Ororo merely shot a silent, yet affirming, nod of yes in Mariko's direction, as she went and took both of her outfits into another dressing room that was right next to the one that Mariko was currently occupying. Meanwhile, Mariko took a break between trying on outfits and a seat in her dressing room, her mind now trying to wrap itself around this idea of Morph having developed some level of romantic feelings for her, and that she had been so painfully oblivious to it.
And, more importantly, with how she was going to deal with it all?
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Meanwhile, downstairs in the mall's jam-packed video arcade…
"Boo-yah!" Kevin (aka Morph) victoriously exclaimed, as he and John both stood side-by-side in front of Fatal Showdown and played this fighting video-game, "Better get ready to crown THE king!"
"Yeah, the king of luck." John replied in a more subdued tone, after having been beaten in the first round of their latest match of the game.
"What's luck got to do with it? This is pure skill, Johnny baaayy-bee." Kevin said, as the self-proclaimed arcade master prepared for their next fight-round to begin.
Which, was also over in less than a minute.
"K.O., again!" Kevin gloated, as his fighting character named 'Flux' landed a final finishing blow against John's 'Sickle' opponent.
For a competitive spirit like John, defeat was a concept that didn't sit too well with him. Even, if it was only in a video game. John just silently stood there and looked at the arcade screen for a moment, as the match concluded with the victorious character's post-fight celebration. Which was nothing when compared to Kevin's own current revelry.
"Can't touch this! Oh-oh oh, oh oh-oh-oh…" Kevin happily proclaimed from within the arcade, with accompanying dance moves to go along with his intonations.
"I can't believe you just did that." John said, as he took a couple of steps back and shook his head at Morph's antics.
"And I can't believe you just lost…" Kevin said, as he held his hand out to his side, mockingly counting up for John's benefit one finger at a time, "…for the fourth time now."
"Well, I'm glad that Hooked on Math worked for you, but can we get back to the game." John replied, as he went over and put another quarter in the arcade machine, eager for a rematch with his friend.
"Sure. This time around, though, you might do a little better if you go ahead and use 'Superchief'?" Kevin said, as he stopped his celebration and came back over next to John, who was now using his controller to scroll through the list of characters on the screen in front of them.
"Why, because he's a Native American too?" John now turned and half-jokingly asked Kevin, although with a very noticeable amount of indignation in his voice as he did.
"Uh, not. It's because you're gettin' your ass handed to you, and Superchief's ultra-combos might at least make you look respectable against me." Kevin smirkingly replied to the conclusion that John had automatically jumped to, before turning back to the screen to select his own character, "Even though it still won't keep me from slapping you around some more with 'New Kong', big man."
"Ohhh, just bring it on, pasty-boy!" John now rousingly announced, as a new match started on-screen that instantly and deeply drew both him and Kevin into it.
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A couple of hours later, following the remainder of the afternoon having been spent going from store to store to store in the mall, Mariko and Ororo had incidentally enough wound up in its capacious Food Court. It was here that they had decided to take a breather from their clothing perusal, grabbing a quick bite to eat and having taken a seat amongst the multitude of tables located there.
Which is where they were soon joined by some unexpected, but welcome, company.
Two local boys, who were also about Mariko and Ororo's age, had spotted these beautiful young ladies from the other side of the Food Court and immediately came over to strike up a conversation with the unfamiliar girls'. Whom, they had not seen around Bayville High, and were quite certain that they would not have forgotten such a memorable sight as either of them.
As their small talk continued, they covered music, fashion, movies, and everything else in-between that was of a contemporary nature. During this time, Ororo and Mariko also wound up giving these other two curious teens a fanciful, yet convenient, cover story for why it was that they lived at the Xavier Institute boarding-school. But, before too long they were all joined by a fifth individual, who managed to slip up on them completely unnoticed.
"Gettin' about time to go." Logan now gruffly said, as he surprised the four teens sitting at the table, after spotting them from afar off in the mall's interior distance, while on his way down to their earlier agreed-upon meeting place.
And, Logan was particularly disappointed in the fact that he had been able to get so close to Ororo and Mariko without them detecting him. Especially, since they had run a number of training drills focusing on the importance of keeping constant tabs on their surrounding environment at all times.
"Oh, hi Logan. This is Mark and Adam." Mariko said, as she and the rest of the group looked up and over at him from their table.
"We were talking and they were just telling us about…" Ororo told Logan next, when she suddenly realized that this latest part of their conversation had just been interrupted by Logan's arrival.
"The Cafè A-Go-Go, sir." Adam said, as he stood up to introduce himself to Logan by extending a hand out to the older man, who was obviously some kind of chaperone from the girls' boarding school. But, Adam didn't receive a reciprocating gesture from Logan, and decided to sit back down and proceed with what he was going to say, "It's this place close to our high school, where all of the students can go and hang out. We were telling Mariko and Ororo about our petition to keep it from being demolished."
"Yeah, they want to tear it down so they can replace it with Gut Bomb, some new mega restaurant-chain. But, we're trying to get the city council here to save it by seeing that it's a part of our town's history." Mark now added, as he remained seated at the table.
"Hmmph. I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Logan curtly said to both boys, giving their argument little consideration before turning his attention back over to Mariko and Ororo, "You two ready?"
And with that obvious hint delivered, Adam and Mark both promptly and politely excused themselves from the table. But, not before inviting the girls' and their friends to come and hang with them again some time.
"Didn't mean to scare off your new boyfriends'." Logan amusingly remarked, as he, Mariko, and Ororo had by now gone down a nearby escalator to the first-floor, and were on their way towards the mall entrance so that they could meet up with the other members of their little shopping party, Morph and John.
"I don't think that you have to concern yourself too much about that." Ororo replied to Logan, while flashing a surreptitious smirk in Mariko's direction. Which, caught Mariko a bit off-guard at first, but she pressed on to keep up with them and their brisk pace.
When they passed by the mall's huge decorative water fountain, Mariko was the next to make her own remark to Logan.
"With the way you were acting earlier, I thought that we might end up having to fish you out of there, or something." Mariko jokingly ribbed Logan, pointing over to the fountain and referring to his earlier statement about needing a drink, as they journeyed onward to the mall's main exit.
"Night's still young, shortcake. At least for me, anyways." Logan laughingly replied while looking back over at Mariko, this time with an uncustomary smile coming across his face.
Which, was most likely due to Logan thinking about the fact that this little outing was almost concluded. And, at the prospect of him actually getting the chance to quench his urge, once he had dropped Mariko, Ororo, Morph, and John off back at the Institute and could himself head off to the Auger Inn, or some other nearby bar.
Which, were the only local establishments that Logan could ever really see himself being motivated enough to go and sign any kind of petition on their behalf…