Mutants of the mansion
Chapter 27
I originally intended this fanfic to be 5 chapters long.
(Jubilee)
I winced and breathed heavily as I ran, since random twigs decided to dig into my exposed skin. Man, I need to run more. I'd use my new powers, but I might set a tree on fire. A warning flashed up on my shades. I dove forward and rolled, a shot cracking through the air where my head just was. Goddamn, she's pissed.
"Why aren't you dead?!"
"Because death doesn't like me!" I grinned to myself and started weaving through the trees in an attempt to make her waste bullets. I have no clue how many she has, but some gone is better than none. As predicted, many of them hit trees. I burst into a clearing and skidded to a stop, pausing momentarily to catch my breath. "Hey, why don't you stop fighting like a coward and face me for real?" That was answered with a bullet hitting my shades. I almost panicked before I checked them. Not even a scratch.
"Because bravado kills people."
"So does cowardice. Only cowards use guns." I have to finish this as soon as possible. It'll take around 5 minutes to get all the X-men rounded up, and 10 more to find us. "Kitty, are you going to face me as a respectable person, or are you going to stay hidden in the trees?" I actually broke through to her that time. I heard a few guns being thrown, and my adversary stepped out to meet me. All black. Why.
"I'm just glad that I get the enjoyment of ripping your heart out." I grinned.
"And what will you do about everybody else? They all know."
"Yeah." Kitty turned her head to look at the ground for a moment. I flinched at the look I got. "If you had only just stayed away, everything would have turned out fine." The glint of her pistol caught my eye, and I only just managed to lift my hand and block a shot to the head. When I got the courage to lower it, She was in a half-glare, half-bewilderment stage. "How did you just block that?"
"Y'know, people always have room to improve, room to grow." I mumbled, picking at the new stitching on my gloves. "Some people turn into assholes, like you." Her eye twitched. "I'm not calling myself a hero. I'm far from it. Heroes are loved by people, save lives on a regular basis and do good for people. I'm not a hero."
"Then what are you?" I lifted my glasses from over my eyes. I could feel the green eye aching.
"I'm a survivor. I'm not desired by anybody. I'm a loner. I understand what you mean, though. Everybody's better off without me. All I do is cause problems."
"Then why did you come back?" I pushed my shades back down to mask the hurt in my expression.
"A survivor doesn't leave business unfinished." She scoffed. "We're going to settle this. One of us is going to walk away. But only one."
"Now that's what I like to hear." She grinned, holstering the pistol and cracking her knuckles. "I'm going to enjoy tearing your heart out."
"What a great way to start a friendship." I grinned, earning a scowl. I flexed my arms and tested my fireworks. Haven't actually used them in a while. This is the only reason that I've had to do so. I saw her foot move, and we both started running towards each other. I didn't even bother doing anything until she tried to phaze into me. Adamantium is fun. When she bounced off my torso, I jumped and used my powers to fully propel a kick to her stomach. I waited until she recovered enough and started asking me questions. That's what the good guy does, right?
"What the hell was that?!"
"Adamantium threaded clothes." The look of hatred I got was insane. "Stark technology." I stepped back in shock When Kitty got up and shot me in the chest a couple of times. They just bounced off. Well, that's the field test completed. "Like I said, people have room to improve." When the gun was pointed at my throat, I barely managed to fly up enough for it to bounce off my chest again. "And room to grow." The fear in her eyes grew again, and she scrambled up to run. I shook my head And grabbed the back of her shirt, throwing her against a tree. Before she got up again, I lifted her by the front of her shirt and held her against it. "Not gonna lie. Thought it could be more climatic than this."
"Just kill me and get it over with." I lifted my shades and fixed her with a sad look. "Come on! What are you waiting for?"
"Kitty, I'm not you."
"No shit." I chuckled and set her down again.
"I'm not you. I'm not perfect, I don't have the best personality, I'm short, and not well built, so I don't have a good body to look at. Not to mention the huge scar on my face and the heterochromia. But I'm not a killer. Ending your life won't give me any kind of satisfaction."
"Then why the hell did you come back?!"
"I wanted to know. You said I was annoying, thats true. You said that you would be doing everybody a favour. But what was your real reason?" I recoiled when the gun was lifted and pointed at my head. I fell backwards when a card let off a small explosion on the side of Kitty's head, knocking her out. I hate those! My head reeled for a few seconds before I had enough sense to push myself up. I know that they were around. I don't know how many were in the immediate area. I stepped forward and tested Kitty's pulse. She's still alive. Not sure if I should thank something or not. I stepped back, breathed out and turned to run. She's still right. Everybody's better off without me. I bumped straight into somebody and landed on my butt again.
"Where are ya goin'?" Fuck. I looked up at Wolverine.
"Uh, in that general direction?" With a huff, he grabbed my hand and pulled me up. We stood in silence for a minute.
"Is that really what you want, Kid? To be alone?" I sighed.
"No. It's not. But it's what's best for everybody." He grabbed my shoulders.
"You know that's not true."
"Isn't it?" I had to exert a lot of willpower to not cry. "Just think about it. Hasn't everything been a lot easier since I've been gone?" Another few minutes of silence passed.
"No. It hasn't." I felt my eyes widening in surprise. And a few tears threatened to escape. "It's been hell. The entire place seems gloomy, the fun has gone, it's quiet at all hours and nobody's had any drive to do anything. We've all been sat on our asses." He obviously knew that I was about to cry, since he pulled me into a hug. "It's never gonna be the same without ya, Jubilee." Tears just started rolling down my cheeks. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Rogue, tears in her eyes.
"I don't see how ya could ever think that." It felt like a huge weight had been lifted. My fears were gone, my adversary is down, and I still get the girl. Sounds like an amazing movie.
I was totally not crying over this. And I'm not crying even more over the fact that I'm going to write the epilogue next.