How would I feel about seeing her again? I'd love to. I think that between her, Valarie and my parents, I'm not sure who I miss the most. How do I feel? I want it…I want it so bad…but…
*I can't Jean. You know that. The risk is too high, I mean, what if I run into someone else I know? I…I can't.*
*Danny?*
*Ja?*
*What would you do if you just…saw her?*
*Run the other way probably. Why?*
*Why would you run away? Don't you want to see her again?*
*You know I do Jean, but you also know what they did to me, why I can never risk going back.*
*But Danny, if yo-*
*NO! Jean! I can never put my family at risk again! They were at risk just being near me, and that was without the GIW knowing who I was! I'm sorry Jean I just, I can't. I just can't. As much as I might want to, I can never go back. I…I'm sorry I yelled at you Jean, but, not right now. I gotta go.*
Jean tried to respond but came up against an iron-clad defense. He really wanted to be alone right now.
Danny sighed, why couldn't things be simple for once in his life? Just once. He'd been trying to put it all behind him, but with Jean looking the way she did, and then her bringing his sister up like that…was it any wonder he couldn't forget? He would never truly forget, but he didn't want to live with the pain either, the hurt, the constant ache of what was and will never be again. Why did she have to bring it up just now? Why? Why? WHY!...things were quieter now...why? He looked up and everyone was staring at him, a little surprised and a lot freaked. Why were they…they weren't looking at him, they were looking at his desk, which he now looked at as well. It was broken in half. He didn't even realize it but he had gotten up and smashed his fist down a and broken it, and bent the metal a good portion too. He looked to his trig teacher.
"I-I'm sorry ma'am. I'll pay for the desk, but I think I need to be excused." She nodded slightly
"Very well Mr. Fenton, when you calm down, I would like you to visit the principal's office, but for now you are excused. I will be mentioning this later and making a call to the institute you realize."
"Yes ma'am." He said, under his breath, a lost look in his eyes. He gathered his stuff and loaded it into his pack, a glazed over look on his face. He absentmindedly made his way to the window, and opened it up and sat on the window sill.
"Mr. Fenton? Mr. Fenton what are you doing?" he tipped backwards "Mr. Fenton NO!" she screamed and tried to rush over to him, but she just couldn't catch him. He was going to die. He was just going to kill himself right there. How…why…why? She was still rushing to the window, the rest of the class following, when she saw what happened. His feet came up, followed by the rest of his body, arcing diagonally away from the building, his hands slightly scraped from the push off. His body twisted in mid air, turning as he was on a collision course with the light post, but he did not crash into the post, he caught it behind his knees. His momentum swung him up until his knees could not hold him any longer, but then his hands, they reached out and grabbed the horizontal bar as he swung around again, like an Olympic gymnast. His legs stuck out straight and he came full circle, swinging around again, like he was on a swing, and he launched himself into the air once more, rolling in a back flip, three times, before he came to a stop on the hood of a red convertible with white stripes. The car came dangerously close to the ground, even as his knees bent to absorb some of the force, but he wasn't finished there. He turned, still crouched, and swung himself over the windshield and into the driver's seat. He disappeared from view a few seconds and his classmates just stared on in shock, but they were soon brought out of it by the sound of Scott's car roaring to life and, seconds later, taking off at speeds that made the tires screech and were surely illegal. He'd been gone from their line of sight for barely a moment before someone asked the obvious.
"Did he just steal Scott's car?" the answer was a thump as their teacher passed out.
Danny...was kinda depressed. He didn't feel like...being, today, so he shut down to wallow in his self pity. Yeah, kind of really lame, but he didn't care. He had talked to Jean, she knew how he felt, he told her things that he hadn't told anyone else, he had bared his soul to her. Why would she ask that? Why would she ask that. It's not possible, so why would she bring it up? Why make him remember? He just didn't understand. So he shut down. He felt like he was falling apart. Save the world? No problem, even with one hand tied behind his back. Save the time stream and play god with reality changing items? That's a regular Wednesday. Be hunted by the government and hated by the people even as he put his existence on the line for them? Yawn. But if you asked him about his family now, he would just crumble. He didn't know how long it was, all he knew was that all of a sudden, Tabitha was sitting next to him...well, on him, and she was pretending to drive the car making 'vroom-vroom' noises. And then she honked the horn, in a small enclosed place that echoed.
"So Z...wanna tall me why you pulled a Spider-man back there? I mean, don't get me wrong, it's nice to look out of your first period window and see one of your friends pull off some acrobatics then steal a car, but why didn't you invite me? I've always wanted to joy-ride in Scott's baby, but I never had anyone brave enough to do it with, and really, what's a joy ride without someone to pin the blame on?" Danny started to come out of his funk.
"If you touch my motorcycle I'll leave you in Mormon country." she looked at him then
"You have a motorcycle?"
"Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 modified to run on dual gasoline and ectoplasm engines. Keeps the engine cooler, and adds more of a kick to it, not to mention an extra sixty-four miles per hour. Comes out to a top speed of around two hundred and fifty miles per hour." if he had been thinking, he never would have told her that. She would be almost as bad as Logan.
"You gotta let me try that out!" he shook his head
"Wouldn't work for you, it draws ectoplasm from the rider to refill the tank, meaning me. And as a sorta anti-theft thing, it only works for authorized energy signatures. You're not on the list."
"I'm sure I could hot-wire it."
"Unless you're a genius, you'd just blow up." she sat up just a tiny bit straighter and looked him in the eye
"Did you just call me dumb?"
"No, just not an ecto-chemist and not an ecto-physicist." she scrunched up her face
"A what and a what now?"
"Exactly." she shrugged
"Whatever, I'm sure I could get it out of you." then she looked at his watch "Hey, it's almost lunch time, wanna race back? You take your bike and I take Scott's car?" He smiled at her then.
"Well, he does need his car back. I guess we should return it to him." Tabitha smiled one of her trademark trouble smiles
"Now, that's more like it!"
The idyllic serenity surrounding the mansion disappeared as, from a wall on the between the second and third floors, a motorcycle sped through the wall, miraculously not damaging it, and the lone occupant, with a Hichigo Hollow Mask style helmet let out a whoop of joy.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
K-K-KATHNK-NRNGGGN-SCREEEEEEEEEAAAACHHH was the sound of the motorcycle hitting the pavement and coming around in a circle, screeching to a stop in front of the garage.
"Wow, you sure are one for dramatic entrances and exits, aren't you?" Danny flipped up his visor and grinned,
"Shut up and lets race, I'll even give you a ten second head start."
"Oh, it's on now. 3-2-1-GO!" Scott's car was later seen squealing down the road to the school with a fast black silver and green motorcycle following soon after.
"I received a report of vandalism from you Mr. Fenton, so explain to me what you were doing, stealing, then racing Mr. Summers' car. And just where did you get the motorcycle?"
"Well, Scott lets me drive his car if I let him drive my bike, and I just had to get out and calm down. I had to calm down. I'm sure you've heard the rumor that I got all these scars in fights, and it's true, but they weren't my fault. I got in a lab accident and it gave me this scar." he pointed to one that ran vertical over his eye, making him look like Scar from the Lion King. "Then people just started to go at me. I think it was the whole 'He looks tough, I want to prove I'm tougher.' mentality. My mom trained me in self defense." Danny smiled for half of a second "Then, as more and more fights happened, I got more and more scars. Sometimes they tried to light me on fire or stab me or, just break my bones." The principal was looking on in horror "But I never gave up, I was always afraid of what they would do if I actually lost." he pretended to shiver there "So I kept on fighting, and I kept on winning, and I kept on getting scars and a reputation.' he paused and licked his lips "But, I also got nightmares. I mean, you get cut up a couple dozen times and you're gonna have nightmares...but there was the fire, and the pipes, and broken glass...I've even been shot a couple of times." Danny tried to smile this time and it just came out as a grimace. "I met Jean in the hallway after Sharandra broke my watch. It's just, looking at my scars, and seeing how people were reacting, Jean tried to get me out of my funk, but she got me thinking and...I didn't even realize I had broken the desk. I was just, so angry at myself. I screwed up in my parent's lab and then all these fights happened, I could have tried to walk away, I could have called the cops, but I didn't I tried to talk him down, and I lost my temper and I fought! It cost me my friends, my family sent me away so that I could get help...I...I'm just so angry at myself, and sometimes my temper gets the best of me. I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to unload it all on you, and I will pay for the desk and accept any punishment you deem necessary." The principal looked at him for a moment before he sighed
"I don't think that's necessary Daniel." Danny hid his smirk
"Sir?" he asked with an innocent confused look on his face
"You said you'd pay for the desk and I think you're being harder on yourself than I would be so I don't think any punishment is needed this time. Get any missed work and be sure to study, and I think I can let you off with a warning this time." Principal Kelly tried gave an attempted 'friendly smile' and was about half way there.
"Thank you sir, I'll do better next time, and I won't break anything else sir." Danny got up and shook the principal's hand and made to leave
"Daniel?" Danny stopped and turned around, hand on the doorknob
"Sir?"
"Racing with Tabitha?" he rubbed the back of his head and tried to look sheepish, not too hard really.
"I had to get Scott's car back and I don't trust Tabitha not to mess with me when I'm driving, and I don't trust her on my bike either, so I let her drive Scott's car. Please don't be so harsh on her Principal Kelly, she just wanted to make sure I was alright, she was just trying to cheer me up." Principal Kelly sighed.
"Well, I suppose, but just this once. Now off to lunch with you." Danny smiled a 'genuine' smile and left with the words
"Thank you sir."
"How the hell do you do it Z?"
"Do what Tabs?" Danny opened up his yogurt and stuck his spoon in. Strawberry. Yum.
"How do you break a desk, jump out of a window, steal a car, skip school, drag race back to school and lie straight to the principal, and get 'I don't think any punishment is needed this time'. From him?" a passing Toad stopped and asked
"Wait a second, you did what now?" Danny and Tabitha turned to him, spoon hanging out of Danny's mouth.
"Danny punched his desk in half, made his teacher faint by jumping out of the second story window, hot wired Scott's car, and skipped school, raced back against me on his motorcycle while I drove Scott's car, and fed the principal the worst sob story I've ever heard, and got off scotch free, no punishment." Todd looked at Danny for a good ten seconds as he ate his yogurt, then fell to his knees and bowed, yelling
"TEACH ME OH MASTER!" Danny snorted and walked away.
"Danny did what, to my car?" Kitty, Kurt, Spike and Jean backed away from Scott as his face turned interesting colors. Tabitha smiled a Cheshire smile.
"He hot wired it, and let me race it back against his Kawasaki."
"I'm going to kill him." was all he said. Then he walked off, murder in his eyes, er, shades. Jean looked over to Tabitha
"Do you really think it was wise to tell him that?"
"Please!" Tabitha scoffed "I went on you tube to watch some of Danny's fight's back in Amity, He has nothing to worry about other than maybe accidentally maiming Scott if he doesn't back off his case." Jean looked doubtful
"Well, maybe someone shouldn't have gotten him all depressed and junk." Evan butted in
"Hey, I didn't do anything!" jean protested, but Kurt, Kitty and Spike gave her disbelieving looks while Tabitha piped up
"What did she do now?"
"She started talking about his family."
"It was about his sister," Jean clarified "and I was just asking if he missed her and wanted to see her again!" they all looked at her as if she had proclaimed Scott had given his car away to Lance
"Vhy vould you ask him zhat?" demanded Kurt "Zhe X-men are pretty tight knit and a good foster family, but zhey could never replace mein own family."
"Yeah, I mean, I got auntie O and I lover her and all, but she's not my mom and dad."
"Yeah, like, why would you even go there? Didn't you have some sort of, like, mind meld thingie going on with him for a year or something?" Jean sighed and looked off into the distance
"I asked, because the four other members of TYPO were discussing estranged family members and family members lost to unfavorable circumstances." she sighed, looking off to where Scott had stormed, thinking of his little brother "It was a topic experienced by all members of the group, my cousin ran away and was never seen again." she said, it seemed to shock them all a bit "Horace lost his sister to a training exercise in the military, Robert's parent's were murdered, Sharandra was abandoned...and the last member of our group had a brother who ran away when he was betrayed two years ago. She's staying in town for the next month and will be attending meetings in the library three times a week for the next month before returning home. The last girl's name is Jasmine Fenton...she's Danny's sister." she let the information sink in before waiting for the outburst, but surprisingly it did not come from a mutant in front of her, but rather behind.
"WHAT?!" everyone turned to look at a shocked Rogue.
It had been two days from the point it was agreed upon to keep Danny's sister from him, at least until they got his feelings on it so they knew how to approach the situation, 'delicately'. The professor had been driving them all harshly, and the only one who didn't seem all that affected by it was Danny who had said he was used to getting no sleep for days at a time and fighting for around six to eight hours a day every day. Everyone else envied him his ability to go without much sleep. The professor refused to use Cerebro and instead insisted that Jean do it for her own lessons. Danny did spend more time talking with Wanda, but that was simply because she was now around the mansion, upon the professor's insistence of course and after hearing his reasoning for it, no one ever wanted them to train together with their powers. They all still remembered Danny's nightmare. When he finally saw how ragged the others were and how hard the professor was driving them, he asked about any particular reason and received a brow beating about being more observant.
"We are going after Magneto Daniel." Danny cocked his head to the side and twirled Sally around him, trailing hell-fire while he thought. Well, it wasn't a great idea, but it wasn't too terribly bad either, so he nodded.
"Okay, I can get on board with that, mind me asking why though?"
Amara was having a rough day, some snooty eight year old who had swallowed a dictionary had insulted her heritage and talked about her homeland like they were some back water rural ho-dunk inbred people. It made her angry, but she had a date tonight, she had picked the local, and the theme and her clothes just right to complement each other and now she was touching up her makeup, just right, so she could watch him flounder when he saw just how beautiful she could be when she chose, and of course he would have to pay for dinner. She was finishing her lipstick and had to do it, just right. Less than perfection was not acceptable. She was startled by a sudden cry that caused her to smear lipstick across her cheek.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WOLVERINE WAS ABDUCTED BY MAGNETO?!" she growled and her hair lit on fire, destroying hours of work.
She knew that voice. Daniel would pay.