Marie sits in front of her vanity, meticulously mending a dress Ava recently tore during a scuffle with a fellow student. After what happened early in the locker room and with Magneto, she finds her room and the act of patching a dress soothing. Not to mention the sound of Ava laid out on her bed trying her best not to sing along with the TV show.
“Chica! We heard about what happened!” Jubes and Kitty suddenly burst into the room, surrounding her. By the bandages neatly applied to parts of their bodies, both of them just came from medical, thankfully looking no worse for the wear. Though by the expression on their faces, they are more worried about her.
“Are you okay?” Kitty looks her over, carefully checking her for any signs of injury. “I heard there was an incident in the locker room.”
“Yeah, I’m fine nothing I can’t handle” Marie tries to smile at her friends. She lays the dress down and lifts her shirt, showing them that she too has been patched up. “This is all from the training session.”
“Are you sure Marie?” Jubes frowns at the sight, and prods at Marie’s bandages lightly. “We should go to the Professor, we can’t let them get away with this.”
“No, I'm fine. Really, most of it is from the training session.” Obliging their curiosity and concern, Marie let them finish their inspection before redressing, “Plus getting a teacher involved will just make things worse.”
“Well… Okay. But if this happens again…” Jubes trails off ominously. The grim expression contrasts starkly with her usual personality.
“Marie says she can handle it Jubes, let's let her okay.” It is unusual to see Kitty snap, and Marie wonders if something else might be bothering her.
Snapping at Jubes might not have been the wisest course of action, as Kitty just drew Jubes' full attention. “Then how about you?”
“Me?” Kitty shrinks back slightly. Jubes might not be particularly fearsome or frightening but she possesses a strange insight when it comes to people, and if she is of a mind, she can make things uncomfortable very quickly.
“Yeah, you. How is it going with Bobby and Johnny?” It's been quite a few weeks since they last spoke of this, and like Kitty, Marie thought Jubes might have forgotten about it. Obviously, that is not so, Jubes has just been holding back for a specific occasion.
“Umm…” The issue between her, Johnny, and Bobby never fails to evoke a reaction from Kitty, but Kitty has known Jubes for a long time and is not without a few tricks of her own. Clapping her hands together Kitty uses the most potent trick available. “Hey, how about we celebrate our victory at the Mall downtown!”
“Hell yeah! They are doing a grand reopening too!” Marie smiles at the sudden change in ambiance, Jubes never fails to take the bait when it comes to shopping.
“Why not.” Marie feels that after today she too could use a little distraction “Ava, would you like to go to the mall too?”
“No.” Ava shakes her head without so much a glance at them, the TV show currently holds almost all of her attention. “I’m testing for my black belt later.”
As much as Ava is their friend, she is Logan’s students even more. Having worked long and hard to earn the belt, Marie doesn't blame Ava for being eager to complete the exam “Well, I guess it is just the three of us then. Ava, can you lock up once you're done?”
Seeing Ava’s nod, Marie grabs her keys and purse before following the other girls outside. Just as Marie exits her room, Jubes turn back to them with a glimmer in her eyes, “Oh, Kitty, don’t think I’ve forgotten, it's an hour and a half drive to the city. I will expect details.”
“It was worth a try.” Marie offers sympathetically and Kitty just sighs.
A bright yellow beetle speeds along the winding highway. Inside Marie can sense the tension radiating from Kitty, waiting for the proverbial sword to drop. Jubes has been keeping quiet on the drive so far, but Marie can almost see the gears in her head turning, no doubt considering how to best broach the subject of her interest.
It is times like these that Marie finds her friends to be the most frustrating. They obviously care about each other but every once in awhile, Jubes and Kitty have these little spats, actually, it was during one such spat that Marie managed to befriend them. Since then she’s been trying her best to keep the peace with in this little circle of theirs. Finally, she speaks after a long stretch of silence, by Marie's count this is probably the longest Jubes has ever gone without speaking.
“Soooo,” Jubes cooed deliberating dragging out the word, her eyes glance at Kitty through the rear view mirror.
“So?” Kitty returns with a surly response and Marie sighs. Both of them are going to be as stubborn here, right now it’s best to just let them work this out of their system.
“I know you’re dating Bobby now, did you tell him about Johnny yet?” Jubes as always goes straight for the jugular, not a hint of restraint in that head of hers. Marie wonders if today’s practice affected them all more than any of them realized.
“Tell him what? That I give his best friend a sloppy blowjob at a party the night before I agreed to go out with him?” Kitty snaps back, that situation is obviously a major source of conflict within her. Marie can relate, it feels wrong, to pine after one man while being intimate with another. Marie’s memories of her relationship with Remy, while still holding the torch for Logan, still stings, even if she knows that it's not really herself make those decisions.
“I wouldn't put it exactly like that, but yeah!” Jubes seems more invested in this than she should be, and this is letting Marie glimpse a side of the Asian girl than she or anyone for that matter, has yet seen. “You can’t keep this a secret Kitty. Johnny is not going to keep this a secret.”
“He promised he would!” Kitty folds her arms and looks out the window. Marie is seriously suspecting that there might be more than just a fling between Kitty and Johnny.
“Kitty…” It is obvious that Jubes is going to say something but stopped herself. Sounding surprisingly resigned Jubes continues after a brief pause. “Johnny is going to tell. Maybe not now, or even soon, but he will. You need to be the one to come clean.”
“But...” Kitty is still conflicted but Marie can see that Jubes' rather candid suggestions are having an effect.
Jubes must see it too because she presses her point home. “Besides it's not like you cheated on him.”
This is the opportunity Marie has been waiting for, as much as she would like to spare everyone’s feelings, there is a good chance someone is going to get hurt here. As selfish as it sounds she rather it not be her friends especially not Kitty. “Kitty, Jubes is right, just tell him that Johnny got you drunk and you did something you wouldn't have done. If he likes you half as much as you like him, he will understand.”
“Okay… I’ll tell him.” Kitty sighs, perhaps she knew this would be the inevitable outcome or Marie’s voice might have tilted the scale but either way she finally gives in. Then Kitty’s head snaps up, looking between her two friends she mumbles out, “But... what if he wants me to do that too?”
“You tell him only when you're ready,” Jubes responds firmly and instantly, and Marie places a hand on Kitty’s shoulder and nods in agreement.
Kitty clenches her fist and nods. “Okay. Thanks, Marie.”
“Hey! I’m here too!” The playful indignation in Jubes tone lifts the heavy mood within the car and the three of them burst into a fit of giggles.
“Of course I’m grateful to you to Jubes.” Kitty finally manages to speak after catching her breath.
Marie hasn’t been in this mall before, even before the whole Chitauri incident. This is not the type of mall they usually go to either, this one is far more upscale, an average person can easily spend an entire month's salary here with only a few things to show for it. Crystal chandeliers hang from the tall vaulted ceiling, well-polished marble floor gleaming in the sparkling light. Row upon rows of upscale boutiques line the three story complex, this place is the epitome of a luxury shopping experience.
Unfortunately, she is not currently in a position to enjoy the luxury. Walking briskly behind Jubes, Marie is just able to keep up with Jube’s almost punishing pace, trying to hit all the boutiques involved in today’s flash sale. Nevertheless, after close to three hours, Marie is also starting to feel some fatigue setting in, and poor Kitty, who started to sputter an hour and a half ago. If experience serves they are near the end of this impromptu shopping trip, simply due to the fact that there aren't that many stores left to visit. Plus Jubes has to be tiring as well, Marie smiles to herself and the enthusiasm still oozing from Jubes, if only she applied a small portion of this energy to her studies or training, Jubes would be a formidable girl indeed.
Jubes would be living in a mall if she could, in fact from what Marie could gather, she did for a time before she was picked up by Mr.Summers. Kitty on the other hand probably only came along because of the two of them, left to her own devices she would be in her room, reading the latest romance novel or perhaps in front of her computer looking at god knows what. Marie herself rather enjoyed the mall, it isn’t because of the shopping. Any large crowded public place would do, it is the anonymity it makes her feel normal. Inside a large crowd of strangers, she wasn’t a mutant girl with deadly skin, strange dreams and strange memories, she is just another teenager enjoying her free time.
They finally stop at a cafe, Kitty slumps down into a booth looking quite haggard. “This place looks so much better now.”
Jubes looks around at the mall, then peers into the coffee shop, “Yeah, this mall was just sitting empty for so long after the Alien attack.”
“Were you guys here during the attack?” Marie sips her iced coffee lightly before adding some more sugar and cream. “I just heard about it on the news.”
Kitty gulps down her drink and signals for their waitress. “Us? No, the Professor locked everything down, wouldn’t let anyone in or out.”
That surprised her, she would have expected the Professor to at least make an attempt. Marie was only ten years old when it happened, still trying to come terms with the vision and memories in her head, an alien attack in far away New York felt insignificant when she was plagued by visions of mutant extermination camps. “He didn’t send a team to help?”
“No no, that would have been bad. The rumor is that we’re on some secret agency’s shit list.” Jubes remarks off handedly, it is rather interesting how she can go from an enthusiastic shopper one moment and casually disregard a secret government agency in the next. Idly Marie wonders if the Mutant Response Division is the agency in question,
“Woah, look over there.” Leaning over the second story railing Kitty points down at a large group of people. A crowd is gathering in front of the main entrance. Marie follows Kitty’s hand and spots trouble immediately. The brown jackets, the signs, the rancorous mood, Friends of Humanity is now in New York.
“F-O-H, FOH… foh!” Jubes, smacking her gum while trying to sound out the acronym. She wiggles her eyebrows at her two friends, “Is that what you say if you bite your tongue while stubbing your toes?”
“Jubes! Shhh! Not so loud!” Marie places a finger to her lips, with a sly smile. “They hate humor almost as much as they hate mutants, and they hate a humorous mutant most of all!”
Marie knows she should be taking this more seriously that she is, FOH is no joke. They started in a small desert town out west, and in a few short years somehow became an extremely noisy if not prevalent political force. She has never seen them so riled up before today though.
“We should go check it out!” Kitty is in business mode now. “We really could use some intel on those guys”
“Kitty, you heard what Marie said, they hate humor and mutants!” Despite her light tone, Marie can tell Jubes is wary of approaching an angry mob of a hundred plus men. “I’m in the most danger here!”
“Seriously Jubes! These guys have been popping up all over the news!” Kitty is already moving to a better vantage point, craning her neck trying to get a better look, “I heard Bobby and Johnny talking about running into these guys during one of their lab raids.”
A loud scream follows the sound of shattering glass from below drawing their attention. Several FOH members can be seen dragging someone from the store through the shattered window. Marie is the first one to react, pulling out a scarf from her shopping bag she wraps it around her face leaving just her eyes exposed. “Come on let's go help. Kitty do your thing.”
“Seriously Marie after what you just said?” Jubes looks at Marie like she is crazy but follows Marie’s lead and covers her face as well.
“That was before they started hurting people.” She grabs both Kitty and Jubes hands. “I’ll get him. Jubes you create a distraction and Kitty get ready to do a lot of phasing. Okay?”
“On three” Marie holds up three fingers to her friends.
“One. Two. Three!”
It is always strange to fall without feeling the rushing air that usually accompanies such action. But Marie has no time to process the sensation. Within seconds she lands on the floor below, the mob as of yet are unaware of their presence. Maire knows the next few seconds will make all the difference. Scanning the crowd she quickly spots the target of the mob's ire, a boy their age, with golden skin. Calling Jean’s powers to the forefront she levitates the boy into the air, to gasps of surprise and shock from the mob.
“My turn!” Despite her initial objection, Jubes seems more than enthusiastic about her part in the plan, with an exaggerated flourish, several bright colorful lights splash over the crowd, on instinct everyone ducks down and shields their eyes.
“Run for it!” Setting the confused boy in front of her Marie gives him a shove, and they all break into a run. Several of the more intimidating men in the crowd recover first and give chase. While Marie and her friends maybe able to outrun the men, the boy they picked up obviously can’t. Spotting a nearby entrance Marie guides them towards it. At the last moment, they link hands again and jump through the door of the mall. With a quick peek behind them she can see the FOH members, single minded in their chase, slam straight into the rotating door and are now struggling to push through.
Now working their way through in the parking lot, Marie spots a truck suddenly appearing, barreling towards them at high speed, intent on running them down. She manages to spot Jubes uniquely colored car right at that moment. Grabbing the three other teens, she focuses on bright yellow smudge in the distance, and they vanish in a puff of blue smoke.
Still coughing from the sulfurous odor, they reappear inside Jubes beetle. “Aww Chica, not that I’m not grateful, but it’s going to take more than a few air fresheners to clear out this smell.”
“Sorry, Jubes” Marie smile wides at her giddy friends, they just completed an improvised field operation, on their own, and successfully no less.
“So… I’m Jubilation you can call me Jubes, this is Kitty and that there is Marie,” Jubes rattles of their introduction while fumbling for her car key. “And your name?”
“What? Right? Sorry, I’m Josh.” The golden skinned teen seems flustered amidst the three of them, and fidgets noticeably in his seat.
“Well, Josh welcome to the Jujubee Express where can we drop you off?” Before Josh can respond screeching of tires catches all of their attention, a large Ford pickup charges towards them at alarming speeds. Several of the FOH men they ditched earlier can be seen inside.
“Sh-shoot.” Jubes floors the accelerator and they careen towards the parking lot exit. “Sorry, Josh looks like you're stuck with us for a while.”
Flying down the road at high speeds, Marie is for the first time thankful of Jubes crazy driving habits, she expertly weaves in and out of traffic while accelerating. Marie tries her best to hold on to her seat, and watches speechless as Jubes looks away from the road. “Hey if we ever decided to rob a bank, I call getaway driver!”
“Jubes! Please pay attention and we have to lose them! They have a gun!” Kitty’s panicked voice cuts into the surreal moment. Marie can hear the distinctive pop of gunfire.
“I’m trying!” Jubes screams back, as one of her side mirrors shatters from the impact. The bits of humor gone for her expression. “Can’t you phase us or something!”
“No, I can’t! Not us and the car!” Kitty’s face is completely pale now, and Marie can see the truck steadily closing in, whoever is driving that truck is even crazier than Jubes is at the wheel.
Suddenly something flashes in her mind, this street looks familiar. She recognizes the sign on the side of a tall skyscraper from somewhere, she has never been here but somehow she knows this place. On instinct, she yells out at Jubes, “Turn right here!”
The little car skids to the right, squeezing her into the other passenger, the car almost running into the oncoming traffic. To her dismay, the large truck somehow makes the turn with them but thankfully much further behind than before.
“Oh, Shit! Road spikes!” Marie barely comprehended Jubes words before she hears all four tires on their car pop, and her world starts to spin. Ducking down as best as she can, the covers the back of her head with her hands, bracing for impact. A long second later the car slams into a concrete barricade, nearly ripping her from her seat if it were not for her seat belt.
Men in riot gear with assault weapons swarm their car surrounding them, screaming orders at them. Still disoriented Marie could not understand the sounds they are making, instead, she frantically points at the way they came. The truck is still chasing after them, getting closer every second and obviously with no intention of slowing down. Just as she thinks the truck will run into them, a metal pillar pop up out of the ground, stopping the truck dead, the frame crunching itself against the steel obstruction. She watches with horror as one of the passengers is ejected from the car landing a few feet away motionless.
Abruptly she feels a shower of glass raining on to her, then large gloved hands grasping at her. She is dragged out of the car by her arm then pressed into the hot concrete face first. Her hands are soon cuffed behind her back, and a collar is secured around her neck. She looks around at her friend’s panicked faces, they too are now tied up and helpless, then commotion near the wrecked truck draws her attention.
Three men are dragged out of it, screaming at the top of their lungs, the soldiers, surrounding them, beating them with batons. One of the men points towards Marie and her friends, “Fuck! Not us man! Get the Muties! They’re all muties!”
Even though the FOH bastards are getting what they deserve she feels no satisfaction, she led her friends into this horrifying situation. This is no ordinary corporate office, the men here are armed to the teeth and obviously experienced in dealing with mutants. She could have just led her friends straight into the hands of some secret government agency. She closes her eyes and fights back a sob when she feels a rough hand pulling her up by her hair, then she hears him.
“What the fuck Jim!” She opens her eyes to the sight of Logan walking out of the nearest building flanked by another dozen heavily armed men. “With the commotion, I thought we’d been hit by an assault team.”
The lead man, Jim runs up to Logan sheepishly, with a salute. “I’m sorry sir, these fucking kids and those damned FOH punks! They wouldn’t stop! Ran straight through our checkpoints!”
Logan's eyes meet Marie’s and she saw the barest hint of acknowledgment. Calming down she lowers her head and relaxes, Logan is here she now knows that things will be fine from here on.
“Alright, call in a cleanup team, you deal with the punks, I’ll take care of the kids.” As soon as Logan had spoken she feels herself being pulled up again. The soldiers drag them along to a shady looking black van and stuff her and her friends into the back.
They look at each other wide eyed and almost jumping when a few minutes later Logan enters to take the driver's seat. He looks them all over. Marie can feel his eyes lingering on her, assessing her condition, before flickering over to the boy next to them. With a push of a button he releases their cuffs and collars, grabbing the restraints from their hands and cocks an eyebrow at them. “Did yer all go and rob the mall or something?”
Shaking their heads, all of them let out the breath they were holding all except Josh who stares at Logan warily. Logan will notice Marie is sure of that and she knows he would not handle this with a careful hand. Surely enough Logan barks at Josh eyeing him through the rear view mirror. “Yer got a problem with me?”
Josh tenses up instantly beside Marie, he clenches shaky fists and finally forces out a few words, “You’re GSG…”
“And yer point is?” Logan is visibly annoyed just as she knew he would, he hates it when people dither about like this. Not that she blames Josh given what just happened, Josh doesn't know Logan, and Logan is wearing the same uniform as the men who just a few minutes before had them cuffed, collared and pinned to the floor.
She can see Josh take in a deep breath, and force out a laugh. “You guys are just really scary.”
“Yeah! I almost peed myself!” Jubes blurts out obviously trying to lighten the mood.
“Eww! Jubes I did not need to know that!” Kitty joins in too, both of them catching on to the rising edge in Logan’s demeanor.
Marie picks up the barely perceivable flare of his nostrils and the dangerous gleam in Logan’s eyes off the mirror. Just as she about to react, it is gone and Logan glances back at them his eyes calm, an amused grin plastered on his face. “So that’s what that smell is?”
“NO! No, I didn’t! I…” Jubes turns beet red in an instant, stuttering in her denial before she realizes Logan is just teasing her. Crossing her arms she looks away from him and pouts.
It wasn’t until the van passes the gate of the school that Marie realizes that Josh is still sitting beside her. Occupying her mind for the entire drive is Logan’s reaction to Josh. They seem to recognize each other or at least Logan seems to know something of Josh. That preoccupation is what prevented her from noticing that they never dropped Josh off. Considering what had happened she is sure Josh would have been far too intimidated to object to Logan’s plans. The car slowly rolls past the garage's entrance when she's finally formulated how she intends to approach Logan with this little problem.
“You girls head on out, I’ll take him to orientation.” Logan preempts her plan, and it takes a few seconds for everyone to understand what Logan just said.
“Orientation?” The three girls say simultaneously, each one as confused as the other. They all look over from Logan to Josh, who shrugs his shoulder and forces a smile on to his face.
“Yeah, he is a new student, looks like he got in a day early.” Logan manages to exit the van and opens the sliding door while Marie’s mind tries to catch up.
“I uh... just wanted to see the city first.” Josh’s explanation made some sense, Marie herself often feels the pull of curiosity, toward various places, various people. One of those people is currently standing by the van signaling rather impatiently at them to exit.
Josh exits last, Logan some how managed to get his hands on an orientation packet and shoves it at Josh soon as he exits the van. Logan motion for Josh to follow, but he stops and walks back up to them. “Umm thanks for helping me out, I-”
“Hey! Hurry the fuck up.” Logan calls from the doorway, it dawns on Marie that their little car chase must have ruined Logan’s schedule, and Ava was supposed to spend the afternoon with him.
Giving Josh a smile, Marie urges him on. “You better hurry.”
Kitty pulls them out towards the yard as soon as Logan disappears, letting out a sigh as they near their tree. “Wow what a trip!”
“And awesome! Don’t forget awesome!” Jubes adds, happy that after everything she is at least still in one piece.
“We also managed to help out a new student.” It is quite the coincidence that they decided on the trip otherwise who knows what could have happened to Josh in that mall.
“Speak of a fellow student, Josh is pretty cute.” Marie and Jubes both turn to stare at Kitty, speechless. Kitty looks between the two of them, “What? He was! He kinda reminds me of Bobby.”
Kitty tries to defend her outburst. Marie didn't really pay attention to Josh’s looks but she did remember that he was blond and given that Bobby and Johnny are both blondes, Kitty's attraction no longer seems so far fetched.
“Speaking of cute guys.” Jubes sounds disturbingly smug as she elbows Marie with a wink. “Hot Frenchie heading your way, Marie”
Sure enough, Remy manages to catch sight of them and is jogging towards them. Despite herself, her heart rate jumps when a few rather intimate images pop up from her memories, this situation is very similar to when he first proposed to her back in that other time. “Oh crap, Remy! I forgot he wanted to show me some place today.”
“Well, I think Jubes and I can manage with just us two for the night.” Kitty winks while pulling Jubes away. “Good luck.”
“Details I want details!” Jubes yells back as she is being dragged away.
Marie smiles at her departing friends, she does owe Remy for that night at the party. She also did promise herself to be a bit nicer to him, this Remy is not the one that proposed to her then left her to rot in a lab. She takes a deep breath and relaxes herself, she promised to spend some time with him, so she will. Drudging up her strange memories will only make things worse for everyone. With that in mind, she lets him raise her hand to his lips and she tries to respond with a real smile.
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Chapter End Notes:
Up next, Marie goes on a date and gets a gift from Logan.