Malibu Mall Madness
Disclaimer: "Nobody says WHOO around here but me!" - Ric Flair
Chapter 2: Mall Arrival!
A park in Malibu
A homeless man tried to sleep on the bench. However, for this man, slumber was going to evade him for a while, as a man paced up and down nearby. The man was grumbling and grunting to himself. He reached behind his head, and yanked off a band holding his shoulder-length brown hair in a messy shoulder-length ponytail. The action made his hair fall wildly over his head.
"Lousy chicken punkasses at Stark..." The man grumbled. He was dressed in a blue flannel shirt with the top button undone and sleeves rolled up, and blue jeans. "They fire me. Fire me. Fire ME? For what? Being brilliant, that's what! They said I was crazy! They said, 'No, you can't put missiles on a surfboard, Farley'! 'No, Stark Industries doesn't make weapons anymore, Farley'! 'No, you can't have the freeze laser, Farley'! 'No, you can't have that, now put it down, Farley'! 'No, you cannot have a picture of my wife naked, what the hell is wrong with you, Farley'!" The homeless man watched him grumble and complain to himself.
"Oh, fer God's sake, can't he shut up..." The vagrant groaned, pulling the newspaper he was using as a blanket over his head.
"But I'll show them!" The long-haired man, "Farley", grinned madly, pulling out a folded up newspaper article from his back pocket. His blue eyes gleamed and a wide grin spread across his face as he stared at the article. "I'll show them all! This new mall shall be the perfect place to show the whole world what a genius I am!" He then cackled madly. "Yes! Yes, I shall!"
"Make him stop. Please, God, make him stop..." The homeless man groaned.
"Oh YES!" Farley cackled. "Yes, the world will know my genius! And I'll start with this mall! The world will know the genius of Samuel Farley! Yes, they'll know my brilliance...and my fury!" His mad grin widened. "Oh, yes! They will know...They! Will! KNOW!" He then continued cackling. Groaning, the vagrant peeked up.
"Hey, will you shut up, man?" He snapped angrily. "I'm tryin' to sleep here! I gotta job interview at Disneyland tomorrow!" Farley turned angrily at the vagrant.
"Hey, f#$# you, buddy!" The insane blue-wearing man retorted, then he went back to his cackling. "BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" The vagrant growled angrily.
"Grrrrr..." He grabbed up an empty bottle of Jack Daniels that was lying next to the bench, and tossed it at Farley.
Clunk!
"OW!" Farley screamed as the bottle whacked him upside the head.
The Malibu Mall
A red Ford Mustang convertible pulled up in the vast parking lot of the new mall in Malibu, California. Scott Summers sighed in relief as the car came to a stop.
"Thank God we arrived at last." The optic blaster sighed tiredly, flopping his head on the steering wheel. His head started to hurt, and he desperately tried to ignore the sounds of Tabitha and Amara chatting excitedly. He turned to Jean, who was sitting in the passenger seat...with earbuds on.
"Oh, we've arrived." Jean smiled, pulling her earbuds out. She looked at the mall, a large complex that was around five stories tall. "It's so beautiful."
"I am so excited! I heard this place has a bowling alley, restaurants, all kinds of stuff!" Tabitha whooped.
"I know..." Scott groaned. He had seen the mall's website. To his surprise, he never thought that it would be possible to fit a movie theater in a mall. His surprise was compounded by the fact that the theater was actually a multiplex. There's no way this mall can compete with the Mall of America in size. He took a look up at the mall. Probably explains why they decided to go upward instead of outward. "I'm going to get out of the car. I need some air." As quick as he could, the optic blaster got out of the car. In concern, Jean followed her boyfriend.
"Scott, are you alright?" The redheaded telepathic telekinetic asked.
"I'm fine now." Scott nodded. "I had to get out of there, Jean. I couldn't take much more of those two. Why'd they have to ride with me?" Jean shrugged.
"I have no idea." The redhead eyed another van pulling up in a nearby space. "Hey, the others are here."
"Too bad most of the main team couldn't come." Scott remarked. "But with Kurt still recovering from his infection, I think much of the older team would want to be with him for the moment." He noticed Sage and Ororo emerge from the van. Sage was rubbing her temples.
"I swear, if I had to break up one more argument between Ray and Roberto, I will telepathically wipe their minds clean." The dark-haired woman grumbled in annoyance.
"Welcome to teaching for the X-Men, my friend." Ororo smiled sympathetically.
"You think they're bad?" Scott chuckled. "You should sit with Tabby and Amara, Those two wouldn't stop chatting."
"Look at that crowd..." Jean remarked, eyeing the massive crowd of people entering the mall. "All those people..."
"I'm not surprised." Scott remarked. "It's the grand opening. Grand openings are always very busy."
"I am so excited!" Tabitha whooped. "This is so awesome! A break from all that training and worrying about the Organization trying to kill us all. Finally!"
"And even better..." Amara added. "The Superstars will be here!"
"Hell yeah!" Ray whooped in agreement. "That babe Jenni Starr will be there!" Bobby Drake rolled his eyes upon hearing Ray utter that name. Jenni Starr was one of the last people on earth the cryokinetic wanted to be around at this point in his life. Her, and her Superstars' bandmate, Lila Cheney.
"Bobby, you okay?" Jean asked in concern. "Your jaw is clenching."
"I'm fine." Bobby grumbled.
"What's your deal, man?" Tabby blinked.
"My deal is, you guys keep talking about the Superstars like they are a great bunch, but all they really are is a bunch of thugs." Bobby scowled. "They just go around beating people up, and nobody holds them responsible for it!"
"Oh come on, Bobby!" Ray groaned in disbelief. "Your old man was asking to get his ass whipped. And you knew if Jenni and Lila didn't get their hands on him, Kyle Wildfire would've. And that kid wanted to rip his head off. You could see it in his eyes, man."
"How could you tell?" Roberto snorted. "He was wearing those stupid blue shades he always has."
"Oh, you didn't notice the fact that the Starr brothers had to hold Kyle back from ripping his old man a new one." Ray mocked.
"Guys, stop it." Sam sighed. "You two have argued throughout this whole trip."
"Hey, it's not my fault that this idiot believes Batman is the Chuck Norris of superheroes." Ray rolled his eyes.
"Hey, I'm not the one that thinks Kyle Wildfire could take Batman!" Roberto snorted.
"Kyle and Craig Starr's fights are legendary! They're the bad boys of the band! Either one of them could take Batman on!"
"Okay, now I know you're just trying to make me mad!" The Brazilian mutant snapped. The other New Mutants moved to keep the two separated...except for one. A stewing Bobby Drake stood to the side, lost in his own thoughts. A certain redheaded telepathic/telekinetic noticed that the cryokinetic had distanced himself, and decided to try and cheer him up.
"Bobby, are you alright?" Jean asked in concern. The ice-maker frowned.
"I don't know...it's just...they're all going so crazy over the Superstars." Bobby explained. "It's...nothing. Nothing at all."
"Bobby, you can tell me." Jean reassured. "I know it's been hard for you, your father disowning you and all..."
"It's just..." Bobby sighed. "I thought I was over this."
"Bobby, it's only been a couple days since that concert disaster. Things like this take time." Jean reassured.
"I thought I had accepted that I can't get my family back, but..." Bobby shook his head. "It's just the idea of seeing the Superstars again after that concert..." The ice-maker sighed. "I can't describe it. I know, my dad disowned me, he hates my guts, but...Lila and Jenni beat the crap out of him. And..." He shook his head.
"It still hurts because he's still your father." Jean realized. Bobby nodded.
"Yeah. Essentially." The ice-maker confirmed. "Call me crazy for hoping this, but..." His head drooped. "I hoped that maybe one day...my dad would understand...and maybe I'd get my family back..." His fists clenched. "But Lila Cheney and Jenni Starr may have completely wrecked that. I know it's stupid, but..."
"Bobby, I understand." Jean smiled. "Look, maybe you can talk to them and settle things with them. They were always very approachable with us."
"I doubt it." Bobby scowled. "I doubt they even remember it, nor do they care. They're celebrities, Jean. God knows nobody will hold 'em responsible for anything they do. Everyone will just let them keep doing whatever they want, because they're famous, and they automatically become untouchable by any laws or even decency."
"Bobby, they're not really like that." Jean shook her head with a smile. "Look, just talk to them. It won't do you any good to hold a grudge like this." Bobby started to object, but then just sighed.
"Fine." The ice-maker agreed. "But I promise nothing."
"Fair enough." Jean accepted with a nod. "Come on, let's go join the others." She and Bobby joined the other mutants.
"Everything okay?" Scott asked.
"Fine." Jean smiled. "Just Bobby needed a little perking up." She then whispered in his ear, "He's still a little down about that whole disaster at the concert."
"Ah, I see." Scott answered quietly, nodding his head. "Well, maybe this'll help him out." He then concentrated on the group. "Everybody ready?" The group nodded.
"Let us go, then." Ororo smiled.
"I do have something to admit, Ororo." Sage told the Kenyan. "I've never been to a mall before."
"Well..." Ororo grinned at the British living computer. "I hope you enjoy your first mall outing."
Well, well, well! Looks like business is finally picking up! What insanity will happen next? Will Bobby get out of his funk? Who is Samuel Farley? What is he plotting? And can our heroes stop it? Will I stop asking stupid questions? Find out in the next chapter! Suggestions needed badly!