Marie slowly walks along a cobblestone path, it is already dark. As she passes the perimeter of the party, she could almost sense a change in the air. The moon is bright in the sky, flickering lights of the campfire, soft melody of a guitar floating from somewhere in the grove of trees. Marie shakes her head and smiles, this is a scene straight out of those romantic movies Kitty loves so much. Something stirs in the back of her mind and she can’t help but feel a sense of longing.
Walking along the grassy path, Marie feels that the night has an air of finality to it. Her time as a student is rapidly dwindling, a few months from now all the responsibilities of an Adler will rest on her shoulders. The informal nature of the gathering is intriguing even after close to a year at the school.
A light breeze sends a wave of chill along her skin. While the short-sleeved knee-length cotton dress she is wearing does offer some relief from the variance in temperature, nevertheless Marie is tempted to return to her room for a jacket, and perhaps a pair of gloves. She doesn’t want to admit it but part of her reluctance does stem from how exposed she feels. Usually, with such an outfit she would have a body stocking underneath. For tonight though her friends insisted that she should relax, with Leech nearby there isn’t supposed to be a need to be so cautious.
Of course, none of them consider the fact that she would need to spend the entire night within a few feet of the boy. He is pleasant enough, nice even, but she is not sure if she should indulge his teenage crush. Perhaps more than the fear of an accident is the fear that she might enjoy the experience more than she should. Maybe even enough to give her doubts about the path she has undertaken. Shaking her head clear, Marie smiles when she sees her friends waiting for her near a campfire. She might make a memory tonight or she might not, in either case, the only path she can take is forward. She owes her momma far too much to do anything else.
“Marie!” Jubes skips over to her grinning wide, with Kitty following close behind. “Woo! Now the party can start!”
She can sense it, Leech’s power field. She knows whenever she is within it, she can feel it when it crashes over her, swallowing her whole. In the month or so since they started hanging out with the ‘outcasts’, as the new students started to call themselves, she’s been conflicted. It is nice to be normal, to be able to touch her friends, goof around with them. However, she also feels different, she feels that she is not whom she is supposed to be. Her mind feels dull, her senses numb, she feels as if she is less, although it is possible that just how being normal feels. Marie fronts a smile waving at the two boys when they appear through the trees. “Joshua. Jimmy.”
“Hey, glad to see that you can make it, Marie.” Joshua walks towards them full of confidence and swagger, with Leech right behind him, an awkward grin on his face. With an exaggerated sweep of his hand over their surroundings, Joshua address them with a smile, “What do you think?”
“Oh! Wow!” Kitty comes into view behind Marie. Clapping her hands together she looks about with palpable excitement. She looks over towards Joshua beaming, “Did you do all this Josh?”
“Well, I had some help.” Joshua takes a step back and pats Jimmy on the back. “Actually, a lot of help. Jimmy’s pretty damn good at this kind of stuff.”
“It not like that Josh.” Jimmy looks down at his feet in embarrassment, but not before Marie notices a glance towards her.
She finds the entire situation rather cute. There have been boys and men that have shown interest in her, but never someone quite like Jimmy. Jimmy is so normal, or rather more importantly with him, she can actually feel normal. Against her better judgment, she offers him some praise. “I think you did a good job, Jimmy.”
Jimmy’s eyes light up and he actually manages to close the distance between them with a few hesitant steps. Marie is fairly certain he is planning to ask her on a date or perhaps the next school dance.
“Hell yeah! This looks freaking awesome!” With Kitty distracted by her new crush, Jubes’ timely arrival manage to prevent the situation from getting even more awkward. Marie is already considering how to turn him down gently, now perhaps she would have the chance to be more considerate about it.
Jubes drapes her arms around Kitty and Marie, pulling them close, laughing with excitement. “We are going to have so much fun tonight!”
“Yeah? It does look pretty cool sparkles.” Marie spins around to find Johnny standing there, in surprisingly fashionable attire. Stepping forward Johnny’s eyes narrow at the sight of Kitty standing next to Joshua. “Kind of sucks that I wasn’t invited.”
“Oh get a life, Johnny!” Jubes makes a face at Johnny and Marie grimaces.
While Marie was trying to keep Jubes out of trouble, Joshua steps in front of Kitty, partly shielding her from Johnny. “We might have if you weren’t such an ass.”
It is pretty obvious Johnny is not here because he feels left out from the party. Even still Marie did not expect him to be here, and to make matters worse Joshua is doing the one thing he shouldn't in this circumstance. Not that Marie cares for the cockfight that is about to ensue but she knows for certain that Kitty would feel horrible thinking she is causing this.
“Well, actually I don’t give a shit about your party.” Johnny nonchalantly steps up to them, a silver metal box twirls between his fingers. The top pops open and a small orange flame can be seen within. “I’m just here to speak with Kitty.”
Kitty pushes past Joshua but stops before reaching Johnny. Marie is not sure what history they have together, but the connection must run deeper than she realizes. Even Jubes is holding her breath beside her. This is an important moment for her friend, but also an important moment for her. She honestly thought Johnny was just a mistake for a night, an assumption made from the memories within her dreams. Often it is hard to separate her memories of people from who they really are, a distinction she hopes to be easier to make in the future.
Joshua reaches out and grabs Kitty by her arm pulling her back towards him. “She’ll speak with you if she wants to not a moment before.”
The flame in Johnny’s hand flares brightly, and his expression turns dark. “Back off, man. This isn’t any of your business.”
“You think that fire makes you more dangerous than me, you are wrong.” Marie barely manages to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the boy’s antics. Sure both boys have dangerous powers, and they’re posturing themselves like they are badasses from a movie. Nevertheless, Marie knows an errant thought from the Professor, or even Emma would leave them a simpering mess.
“Stop it! Both of you!” Kitty phases through Joshua and stands between them. Then she turns to Johnny in a mixture of anger and surprise. “Johnny, what are you doing here?!”
Johnny’s expression softens slightly, and the flame in his hand falters. Taking a step towards her he stops mid-stride when he sees her back away warily. “Kitty… it has to be tonight, I was hoping we could leave together.”
“Tonight?! Johnny… you know I can’t.” Kitty clenches her fist and takes a step back, shaking her head. Her entire body is trembling in the moonlight. Even in the dim light, Marie can see the conflict on Kitty’s face, and she can’t help but be curious about them, their relationship, their history, what they are struggling over right now.
There is a movement, in the corner of Marie’s eyes. Emboldened by Kitty’s reaction, Joshua places himself between Kitty and Johnny, an uncharacteristic sneer plastered on his face. “Go then, she’s got nothing more to say to y-”
Before Joshua can finish speaking, Kitty pushes him aside, “Josh, please! This doesn't involve you.”
At first, Marie expected Johnny to try something, perhaps even try to take Kitty by force, the Johnny she knew would have done exactly that. Instead, she can visually see him deflate, the fire in his hand wilts along with the one in his spirit. He turns around and starts walking before glancing back. “You know where I’ll be.”
Kitty looks frantically between her friends and Johnny before stomping her feet and cursing to herself. “Damn it! Johnny, wait!”
The four of them stand there and watch in shock as Kitty disappears into the night. Marie turns to look at Jubes and for a brief moment, they just stare blankly at each other. Jubes is the first to recover, placing a hand on Marie’s shoulder and pulls her in close, “We are not going to let Kitty go off like that, right?”
“No way in hell, Jubes. Come on!” Marie pats Jubes on the back and starts running after Kitty, Jubes following close behind her. Kitty couldn’t be more than a few steps ahead of them, and Marie is confident she can catch up. Until they hear Johnny’s Mustang rumble to life.
Marie barely has the chance to see a glimpse of Kitty passing through the passenger side door before the vehicle speeds off. They slow to a stop, watching the red taillights disappear down the road. Further behind she finally hears the two boys start moving, faintly calling out to her, “Wait! We’ll come with you.”
A shiny new yellow beetle rolls along the highway towards New York City. Jubes sits confidently in the driver’s seat. The ride is much smoother since the last time they were in this car together. Jubes has taken it upon herself to be their designated driver, and it sure feels like to Marie that her hard work has paid off.
Deep in thought, Marie stares out the window into the night. For the life of her she can't see Kitty joining Johnny on something as crazy as this. A thought Jubes sees fit to give voice to. “You know, I don’t see it, I mean why would Kitty want to leave? With Johnny no less!”
“Doesn’t it sound like they kinda have a history together?” Marie wonders if she had paid more attention to Kitty’s problem and less time buried in her own, the outcome could have been something different. At least Marie is now aware of her glaring lack of intel on Johnny and is currently withholding judgment on his actions.
“You think so too?” From the sound of her voice, Jubes seems to be as surprised by this as Marie is. It makes her feel slightly better, Jubes has known Kitty for years, so this could not just the result of her carelessness. “It must be before I came to the school then because I’ve only ever seen her pinning for Bobby.”
“Um where are we going exactly?” Joshua speaks up from the back seat. Marie didn’t actually want the boys along. This is a rather personal issue for Kitty, and for them. They barely know these boys and it feels like they are intruding. Still, she really wasn’t willing to spend the time to argue the point and let him convince her to let them tag along.
“The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.” Thanks to Jubes' rumor mongering they at least have a good idea of where to begin the search. The word around campus is that Johnny is going on a cruise to some faraway country. Marie is pretty certain she’s heard of this before but didn't pay it any attention, no one would have thought it is planned to be a one way trip.
The trip is quiet and uneventful everyone seems to be lost in their own thoughts. The traffic is better then usual and before Marie realizes it, they are already in Brooklyn with the port just a few minutes away. Suddenly something in the rearview mirror catches her eye. The car behind seems to be approaching them at very high speed.
“Oh Shit!” Jubes' scream pulls Marie’s attention back to the front just in time to see a pickup truck suddenly drive on to the road. For a long second all she hears is the screech of the tires as Jubes slams on the brakes. But it was too late to stop the collision. Marie lurches forward in her seat, thankfully her seat belt prevents her from being thrown from the car. The boys behind her aren’t as lucky, the momentum slams them into the seat in front of them.
Before she can regain her senses the car behind them rams into their car, for the second time today she lurches violently in her seat. This impact she is ready for, and her combat instincts kick in. Soon as the motion weakens Marie pulls out her pocket knife and slices the restraints on her and Jubes. She drives her elbow through the passenger side window and vaults out of the car, pulls Jubes with her.
She knows to have any chance against whoever these men are she needs to distance herself from Jimmy as quickly as possible. With Jubes still unconscious, she is still extremely limited in her options. Dropping to the ground Marie rolls herself and Jubes off the road, and into a mass of bushes. Holding herself still, she waits.
Two SUVs pull right up the wreck, four masked men armed with shotguns step out. The leading man peeks into the cabin, weapon raised. Pressing a finger to his ear he says in a calm voice, “We have the target.”
Marie can feel the panic rising within her. Her breath turns ragged and her heart begins to pound. Suddenly Logan’s instincts seem to envelop her and a calmer more rational part of her mind surges forward. Already she is beginning to assess the situation. Given Jimmy’s abilities, if she lost him here, it would be very difficult to find him again. Jubes is still unconscious from having slammed her head on the steering wheel. Still, as long as she can regain access to her powers she feels confident she can retain control of the situation.
She waits till they start on the warped car door before she rises from the ground, her eyes glowing. The first man didn’t even have the chance to point his gun at her before he is thrown off his feet by the kinetic blast. Four more men scramble out of the two SUVs and Marie curses herself for the amateur mistake.
“Mutants sighted! Shoot to kill!” In an almost synchronized move, the four men raise their weapons and open fire. The hail of bullets slices through a puff of blue sulfurous vapor. She reappears amongst the group of men, phasing through them all in a flash she rolls down and away from them with a wide grin. Various parts of their weapons scattering on the ground around her. The men look at the ruined firearms in their hands and drop them in disgust.
They rush toward her all at once, but Marie is faster. A bright bloom of plasma flares from her fingers, forcing her assailants to flinch away covering their eyes. With several quick pulses of her optic blasts the men are sent flying away, unconscious. She walks up to them smirking, dusting off her hands before realizing she is one man short.
She hears movement from behind her, spinning around she is just in time to see Jimmy being thrown at her. Jimmy is heavier than he appears and the force of the impact knocks Marie down to the ground. The last gunman takes a few steps forward before drawing his handgun, sneering, “Not so tough now are you, mutie?”
Marie holds her breath as she watches his finger tighten on the trigger, then he abruptly disappears from view. She lets out a gasp when she sees just his head poking out from the solid ground, and Kitty’s grinning face rising out of the asphalt beside him, her chipper voice ringing out, “Hey, Marie! Need a hand?”
“Owww…” Just then Jubes stumbles out of the bushes clutching her head and she catches sight of Kitty. “Kitty?!”
Marie pushes Jimmy off of her and rolls on to her feet. She greets Kitty with a hug, before pushing her back to arm’s length and smiles. Even in the darkness, Marie can see that Kitty is in tactical gear.
“I thought you left with Johnny?” Jubes walks up to them and tilts her head at Kitty, “What's with the getup?”
“Well… It’s kind of hard to explain.” Kitty grins sheepishly as Johnny steps out from behind her, dressed in a similar fashion.
“Hey, Marie, Jubes,” Johnny raises one hand in greeting. Even without Logan’s enhanced senses she can tell what he has been up to by the pungent scent of burning hair.
Jubes narrows her eyes at the presence of Johnny, but decides to ignore it for the moment. “How did you know we were here?”
“We kinda have been tracking these guys for a few weeks,” Kitty makes sure to keep herself right between Jubes and Johnny, adrenaline is running high right at this moment, things could easily flare out of control. “They style themselves as mutant hunters.”
“Tracking them? Mutant Hunters?” Currently, Jubes is doing the perfect imitation of a deer caught in the headlights.
While Marie can see that Jubes still has so many questions, right now is not the time for them. There is still the mess to clean up, and the questions that come with it. “I’ll contact the Professor. Let's get this mess taken care of first.”
“Well, guess I’ll catch you all later.” Johnny gives Kitty a lingering look then surprisingly nods at Marie before turning and leaving with a farewell wave.
Later on that night, after finishing the debriefing regarding their latest incident, Marie lounges in her room as she usually does. Jubes is on the other side of the bed browsing through another stack of magazines she dug up from somewhere while simultaneously surfing on her phone. There is a tense feeling in the room that is amplified when the door opens and Kitty finally joins them with a tray of drinks in one hand. Jubes looks up from her magazine and gives Kitty a knowing look. “Okay! So… time to spill it, Kitty! What exactly is your deal with Johnny?”
“Yeah…” Kitty nods as she sets the tray of drinks down on the coffee table. She glances at Marie for support before turning back to Jubes, “Just promise you won't be mad.”
“Wow!” Jubes pats herself on the open mouth in shock. She looks between Marie and Kitty a few times before smirking. “Honestly, I never thought anyone would say that to me!”
Marie rolls her eyes and lays back on to the bed while Kitty stifles a giggle. After the girls settle down Kitty proceeds to recount the story she told Marie just days earlier. After she is done, Jubes stands up and paces back and forth along Marie’s bed, throwing her arms in the air. “I can’t believe it! I don’t freaking believe it!”
She stops right in front of Kitty and jabs her finger into her chest, “Are you telling me that I’m the only one without some kind of a dark secret?!”
Marie is the first to recover from the absurdness of Jubes’ tantrum, and looks at her skeptically, “Um, Jubes, do you really think that was the important part of the story?”
“Well, yeah! First, you both have boyfriends now, you both have dark secret identities-” Jubes starts to pace again.
“I don’t have a boyfriend, and my identity is not dark…” Marie objects weakly, sometimes it is best to just let Jubes get it out of her system.
“I have neither!” Ignoring Marie, Jubes just continues on before raising her hands dramatically to the sky. “How am I going to catch up now…”
“Jubes!” Marie and Kitty both yell out, catching on to Jubes' little game.
“Okay, okay seriously now.” Jubes smiles and sits down with her friends on the bed. She looks at Kitty closely, analyzing a friend she has known for years. “All the prim and proper crap, it is just an act? And that night with Johnny and Bobby it wasn’t about you two…”
“I’ve been avoiding him and Johnny was getting impatient. And Bobby started suspecting things...” Smiling awkwardly, Kitty avoids the eyes of her friends. “Sooo, I thought a sex scandal is easier to deal with than being revealed as a spy.”
Narrowing her eyes Jubes leans in towards Kitty, “Did you actually blow him?”
“Jubes!” Marie couldn't help it she really wishes Jubes could stay serious for more than a minute at a time.
“Hey, it’s alright!” Kitty smiles and drapes an arm around Jubes pulling her in, “I understand ,Jubes, your body has been undergoing some changes, and you’re starting to get curious. Let big sister Kitty-”
“Oh, no!” Jubes pushes Kitty away laughing, “I already got that talk from the Professor!”
A smile breaks on Marie’s face. Things seem to be okay now, there is still much for Kitty and Jubes to work out, but Marie knows it has to be done privately between the two of them.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks again to cschoolgirl for all her work betaing this
Chapter End Notes:
Up next, Logan returns to NYC