Part 8 –‘Bright lights and Hicksville…’
‘Her name is Jubilation Lee, and she’s in trouble…’ Professor Xavier was facing the window. The X-men seated or stood around the room. He always seemed to be facing away from them now, ever since Jean’s death, always away from them.
Hank was as usual hanging from the rafters, Bobby and Kitty sat in the leather armchairs in front of his desk, Storm was perched on top of it. Kurt took his place on the sofa. Logan had taken a lazy stance leaning against the doorframe, his keen eyes trained on the opposite side of the room where Rogue had chosen to stand in the corner half-concealed by shadows.
She caught his gaze and turning to look at him slowly locked onto his eyes with a slow smile.
The only notable absence from the room apart from Jean was Scott, he rarely attended briefings now, and he rarely left his room.
It was with some effort Logan tore his eyes away from Rogue and stepped further into the room, ‘What sort of trouble?’ he asked.
‘Jubilee is very young, she is trusting, unfortunately for her the man she is currently travelling with does not have her best interests at heart. You must find her before she is…seriously hurt.’ Professor Xavier tapped his fingers together quietly and they all knew the sort of hurt he was referring to. A young girl travelling in a car with a stranger, there was really only one way it could go.
Rogue grim expression became illuminated briefly by the light as she stepped out of the shadows, ‘What powers does she have…?’
They all turned to look at her. There was no doubt something strange was going on with Rogue, she was more sullen, angry than usual, but it was fluctuating. There were moments when she was perfectly normal as well, or as normal as she had been. The younger mutants dismissed it simply as Rogue being Rogue, but the older ones new better.
And Professor Xavier knew better than most. But he had turned away, from Rogue and from everyone else. Whatever he could have seen he chose not to see.
‘Harmless really, they’re quite sweet actually…fireworks.’ The professor allowed himself a small smile.
‘Fireworks?’ Logan repeated with some incredulity. He folded his arms across his chest and went back to his post by the door.
‘Yes, they’re more fun than potent; she can release small charges from her hands, lights and harmless explosions.’ The professor turned to face them at last. ‘But she is still a mutant, from what I have sensed of her she is a generally happy child and left her parents house with some reluctance…’
‘Let me guess, once the general neighbourhood became aware of her mutancy they didn’t think her as that cute little kid anymore … ‘ Rogue had stepped fully out of the shadows now, wearing a look as black as her clothes, ‘never mind that she would have saved them a packet on the 4th July…’ she added with some sarcasm. ‘Harmless powers or not, she’s a mutant right, one of the accursed…’
‘Where is she?’ Logan interrupted; this was not the time for Rogue to begin her rant. She glared at him and he offered her a slow smile in return.
‘On her way here…’ Professor Xavier replied quietly.
Jubilee Lee was the sort of typical 14 year old girl that in a perfect world was what all 14 year old girls should be allowed to be. She was warm, spunky and filled to the brim with a lively energy. The only fault one could ever accuse her of having was perhaps that she was a little too trusting. But unfortunately that was a mistake she had yet to learn from, and learn she did through painful experience.
The neighbourhood kids had loved her powers at first, they saw her as the best friend any kid could have. She made a light show from her hands! But suspicion is a disease solely afflicting adults, and it afflicted their parents. The kids were forbidden from interacting with Jubilee, the whole Lee family were branded outcasts, refused service from local stores, derided and disdained wherever they went. Their lives became a misery, and the young Jubilee was forced to acknowledge that she was the cause.
Her parents however loving and however supportive did not deserve such vilification, and when their home was spray painted with the worst sort of abuse and vandalism, Jubilee made her decision to leave. It had not been easy and knowing her parents would never hear of it she had packed a bag in the middle of the night. Had stood in her parent’s bedroom watching them sleep for a while before wishing them a silent goodbye, leaving only a three letter note taped to their door, ‘I’m so sorry.’
She had walked nearly a mile to the main highway, crossing fields, through the back alleys and backyards of typical suburbia to get there. And from there she had hitchhiked. She had been lucky, or so she had thought at the time, the man who had stopped was sweet, round about the same age as her dad and even looked a little like him to.
She knew where she had to go, New York, and a very special school.
‘AAAH…you bitch, you little bitch. I can’t see…what did you do?!’ Jubilee scrambled for the car door handle as the man she had trusted too much held his hands in front of his face.
Jubilee had known he was not taking her in the direction she had asked for and he had promised, rather than head for the city, they had been travelling into areas that were growing less populated and sparser with every passing sign.
And he had stopped talking, when she had first climbed into the car he had talked as quickly as she had, but now he remained quiet and she saw how grimly his face was set. It was then that Jubilee realised her mistake. When they seemed to be passing out of yet another small town, one Jubilee was convinced would be the last for a while she had seized her chance. She charged her hands and released a spark of light directly into the man’s face. He had promptly lost control of the vehicle and they crashed into a telephone mast, right in the centre of town.
Jubilee had counted on the town population helping her, but being too young she knew little of the level of hate for mutants that had penetrated the back waters of even the out of the way town. Consequently the crowd that had gathered saw what they wanted to see, yet another mutant carrying out yet another unprovoked attack on another human.
So they gave chase, an anti-mutant mob fuelled by blind anger and hate was chasing a young frightened girl who simply had a power they refused to understand. Rogue’s face set into a grimace of fury and disgust watched it all from the rooftop.
The X-men it seemed had arrived just in time, their X-jet had been landed just outside the town and Rogue somehow sensing the young girl’s terror had ran out of the jet before the cargo doors had even touched the ground. Logan called out after her but she ignored him.
She saw them now gathering around the crowd herding the humans in like the animals they were. Engaging some of them in a fight, those too drunk or too stupid to think they could take on a mutant. They had left Bobby guarding the jet, Logan, Storm and Kurt were too busy to notice the few stray men that had slipped away from the fight to continue their pursuit of Jubilee, among them the driver who had kidnapped her in the first place.
But Rogue saw, perched on that rooftop she saw it all and began to give chase. She leaped over the gaps between buildings with an amazing agility and grace. She found them eventually, Jubilee backed against a wire fence being menaced by three heavily built men.
Rogue stood up, standing tall on the edge of the roof; she flexed her neck from side to side, warming up and smiled, this was almost too easy.
The first one she took out just as he made a grab for Jubilee, she landed on him hard, planting both her heeled boots firmly in his back, she crouched low over him in a catlike stance, thoroughly revelling in the painful OOOMPH that escaped him, and the knowledge that she had cracked at least a few of his ribs.
As she looked up her smile widened at the sight of sheer terror that crossed the faces of the other two. She stood up slowly and waited for them to get over their shock and charge her as she suspected they would.
The first one rushed at her with a blind war cry and in a stance that had her convinced he had once upon a time no doubt been the star quarterback of this little Hicksville town of theirs. But she countered him effortlessly, stepping lightly and easily to the side, she took hold of his upper arm and using his own momentum flung him effortlessly into the nearest brick wall.
His face met the brick and mortar with a satisfying crunch, now he was going to be the former star quarterback with the most deformed nose in little ole Hicksville.
Rogue was enjoying this, it had been too long since she had gotten into any good fights, she needed to let off steam. And the danger room simulations with its robots and various set scenarios were no substitute for the pounding of flesh and bones. She turned to the next idiot and adapting her best martial arts stance, with one hand placed on her hip defiantly, invited the hairy looking biker to take her on. With a raised eyebrow and an extended hand she gestured for him to dare come closer, he took a few tentative steps forward and Rogue sniggered at him.
And with that he lost it, looking around him he picked up the nearest weapon which turned out to be a thick metal pipe. She was unfazed, it took a single crippling punch to his gut as he rushed her, and he was doubled over and had promptly dropped the pipe. She finished him off with another punch to the face.
Standing back she regarded the scene around her, all of them were out cold and she had barely broken a sweat. She lamented it could be over so soon, and almost contemplated waking one of them up again just so she could have another go. But there were more pressing matters, such as the young Jubilee who had already seen far too much than was healthy for a 14 year old.
Rogue had half expected the girl to be cowering in the corner; she was unprepared for the excited, eager voice that appeared at her shoulder.
‘Wow….that was awesome! You totally nailed those guys…!’ Rogue turned around to face her, and was met surprisingly with a face that projected total fear. For a moment Rogue thought Jubilee was afraid of her.
‘Hey, look kid, ah’m not gonna hurt ya.’ She reassured her, but Jubilee wasn’t afraid of Rogue, but rather of the menacing figure approaching from behind her.
‘Look out!’ Jubilee’s warning came just a split second too late, even as Rogue turned to look behind her, she caught the blur of a metal pipe before it came down hard, connecting solidly with her jaw. She was caught off guard and the force of the blow saw her flung to the floor a few feet away.
Stunned and dazed, Rogue raised herself to her knees in time to see that she had forgotten about the driver, he was raising the bar again this time heading for Jubilee who was fast running out of ground to back away into.
Rogue began to laugh; it was a small chuckle at first, until it grew into a full throaty laugh. Both Jubilee and the driver turned to look at her convinced he had gone nuts, but Rogue it seemed was very much in control.
She stood stoic and unmoved as a fine trickle of blood ran down from the corner of her mouth; she ran her tongue along the bottom row of her teeth. She never took her gaze away from the driver; the bastard had broken one of her teeth. She spat it out to the side of her feet along with a fair amount of blood.
Taking off her gloves slowly, she ran a finger along up the trail of blood and ran the bloodied finger along the tip of her tongue clearly enjoying the coppery taste, smiling all the time.
She narrowed her eyes and began to concentrate, before he knew what was happening he was lifted off his feet and was heading straight for her! She let him struggle in front of her, his feet flaying and kicking desperately, vainly trying to fight her telekinetic hold.
Suddenly reaching out she grasped the side of his face with her bare hands, and watched him finally understand what true pain was. Closing her eyes she pulled him in, intent on bleeding him dry. Images, memories flashed before her, Jubilee was not the first young girl that he had attacked. At least three other girls had been as unlucky as to come across this monster.
Rogue grimaced against the pain and the horror of what his victims had suffered overwhelmed her and she winced in pain. With a growl of pure anger, she tightened her hold and threw him. Hard and fast into the brick wall, such was the strength and the fury with which she had flung him that the impact caused the wall to shake and crack. His skull smashed and as he slumped down to the concrete floor a trail of bloody matter stained the wall behind him.
She was breathing hard, a fine sheen of sweat covering her tense body staring at the driver and the bloody mess he was in. She was sure she had killed him.
Jubilee came running up to her once again, Rogue held her back with a sudden rising of her hand. ‘Don’t touch me…!’ She snapped at her. The younger girl’s face fell, ‘I’m sorry…’
Rogue turned to look at her at last, ‘No, ya don’t understand…’ she picked up her gloves from the floor, ‘my skin…, ya could really get hurt.’
Jubilee seemed to understand at last, ‘Oh, that’s your power?’
Rogue nodded, ‘Yeah, my power…poisonous skin…’ Jubilee stepped closer all the same. Rogue smiled at her, this kid sure had a nerve.
‘But if that’s your power, what about the thing with your mind…the way you pulled that guy towards you… that was telekinesis, right?’ And she sure was observant.
Rogue sighed and having put on her gloves placed an arm about the younger girls shoulder leading her away from the carnage. ‘Yeah…kid about that; let’s just keep that between ourselves for now huh…’ She pressed the girls shoulder, ‘can ah trust ya Jubilee…?’
The young mutant looked up at Rogue surprised, ‘You know who I am?’
Rogue nodded and smiled at her, ‘Ah sure do…my name’s Rogue. We’ve been lookin’ for ya kid, lucky we found ya just in time…’
Jubilee nodded, before adding, ‘It sure is…and Rogue, you can trust me.’ Rogue looked down at her as they walked; surprised to see an expression in the kid’s face that was something akin to adoration.
Rogue tightened her arm about Jubilee’s shoulder and allowed the girl to lean into her. Just before they left the alley and turned into the street Rogue concentrated once more, she kept Jubilee moving as the iron bar that had been used to attack began to quiver and rise from the ground.
It hung suspended in the air, shaking a little before it straightened, the metal seemed to hesitate for a while before it shot through the air straight and true, right into the chest of the Jubilee’s kidnapper. His skull may have been smashed against the wall, and he may very well have been dead, but Rogue so no harm in making sure.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Rogue grimaced against the pain and the horror of what his victims had suffered overwhelmed her and she winced in pain. With a growl of pure anger, she tightened her hold and threw him. Hard and fast into the brick wall, such was the strength and the fury with which she had flung him that the impact caused the wall to shake and crack. His skull smashed and as he slumped down to the concrete floor a trail of bloody matter stained the wall behind him.
Rogue doing what Rogue does best, kicking ass, but could it be that she's forgetting when she needs to stop?
Rogue doing what Rogue does best, kicking ass, but could it be that she's forgetting when she needs to stop?