Things happen for a reason. That’s what my parents always told me. But after they died, it was as if that saying was the antithesis of why I became an X-Man; of why I lost my powers, and of why Wolverine was destroyed at the hands of the Alliance. I thought that I was left to pick up the pieces and once again start a life on my own. But now I’m starting to doubt myself, which is weird. I’m about to wake up now, and things are never going to be the same again... Again.
Haven, The Thirteenth and a Half Floor, morning...
Her room was an absolute disaster. Despite the fact that she was a messy person by nature, it was clear that the room had had a little help. Charred blast-holes and chunks of singed fibers were apparent all about the room as sunlight glazed over the suite at the current ungodly hour. Sure she slept soundly enough, but as Science often proves, with every action, there is an opposing and equal reaction. Silence was soon penetrated by equal noise.
“Jubilee! Wake up!” It was a familiar voice. A voice that sounded too damn perky first thing in the morning. The first thing she wanted to do was slap the voice away. Man, she was so tired. But it obviously wouldn’t help. She recognized the voice as Marilyn Hodge’s.
“Wha...Marilyn? If I need clean towels, I’ll just call you, ‘kay?” She said, lifting her head up enough to speak before plowing her face back into the pillow.
“That’s room service, sweetie, which is definitely not a job I’d like to have in this room, especially. But seriously, though, something’s happened! You have to get up immediately!” Said Marilyn-voice. This time, her voice was beginning to sound impatient instead of happy-go-lucky, which was a bit out of character for her.
“Well...” Jubilee mumbled into her pillow. “Can’t you just like, take notes and put ‘em on my desk later?...” She was falling back asleep; and not making any sense to boot.
Marilyn rolled her eyes and pulled the pillow out from under her head and flung the blanket from Jubilee’s tired form. Almost immediately, out of completely exhaust-fueled delirium, Jubilee balled her fist up and with eyes still straining to open, she said, “Cut the crap ‘fore I-“
She opened her eyes to gaze in front of her. Except the only problem with that is that she was forced to look all around her surroundings, noting that almost every pristine white surface was charred black and was littered with holes, like a minuscule bedlam had happened in her room while she was sleeping. It was then that she noticed the most unexpected thing of all.
“-blastcha.” The term seemed almost alien; she hadn’t used it in so long.
Marilyn stood before her, slowly backing away with a look of awe on her face, and she was staring straight at Jubilation’s balled up fist.
It was glowing. Not only was her fist glowing, but it was glowing the familiar iridescent hue that it glowed back when... you know...
“I HAVE MY POWERS!?” She exclaimed, the words echoing out of her freshly shattered windows, apparently from the previous night’s fiasco. She uncurled her fist and looked down to her palm, which was giving off little sparks of energy that discharged with a ‘PAF’.
Haven lobby...
The entire room was uproarious. It was difficult for even Wasp and Hulkling to keep them under control as some were shouting with glee, some were crying, while most were simply furious that some of these people suddenly had had their powers back and they didn’t. A podium was set up towards the reception desk and Marilyn was the first one to take the stage.
“Everyone, please, just be calm. I’m going to need all of your focus and attention if I’m going to be able to explain how the situation is.” She pleaded to the ground.
“I’d say the situation is pretty f%!#in’ bad, Marilyn!” Came the voice of Longshot, being amassed by ex-mutants who were bombarding him with questions and rants as he was one of the ‘lucky’ ones who woke to find himself repowered. Maybe chance had something to do with the fact that he’d even lost his powers in the first place, simply based on the fact that he wasn’t a mutant to begin with.
Jubilee exited the elevator, still reeling from disbelief, and looking completely disshevled with her usual bob worn messy and out of control, and her sleeping clothes holey. It was a good thing she double-bagged her Hello Kitty tank-tops, otherwise everyone would be staring at the large amount of non-boobs she possessed. Don’t judge. She glanced around a bit and spotted Molly, who was looking extra super-happy that day, despite having to be herded around by Vange. She rushed up to Jubilee right away.
“Jubes! Do you-“
“To answer your question...” Jubilee interrupted, holding a hand open before her as if to halt Molly’s words, but instead, glowing globules of energy discharged from her palm, fizzling out before they hit the floor.
“Sweet!”
“I know, right? Did it get you too?”
“Yeah. Rumor has it that-“
“Any and all Ex-Mutants who slept on the Fourteenth floor last night woke up today with their powers back... sort of.” Marilyn claimed from the podium. It was obviously an awkward approach to starting a speech, but Marilyn hadn’t exactly had a lot of practice at this sort of thing.
“Why them!?” Exclaimed a young man from amongst the crowd.
Marilyn sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose. “Security feed that was taken from last night’s episode showed some sort of energy beam charging towards this sanctuary at about 1 A.M. Shortly thereafter, all cameras on the Fourteenth floor were decimated. What this beam of energy was or where it came from remains to be seen. However, I urge all of you not to panic and to await further instruction in the cafeteria. All Ex-Mutants who slept on the Fourteenth floor last night, please report immediately to the group room for a private discussion. That is all.”
The caucus of noise filtered out of the lobby and headed down into the cafeteria, leaving the newly powered mutants to wander over to the group room. Apparently, last night wasn’t just some random miracle. Or was it...
Chairs were lined up side by side across the room in front of a desk where Marilyn strode towards; Teddy and Janet already in their seats. In the seats across from the tribunal sat Jubilee, Molly, Longshot, Shatterstar, Vange, Telford Porter (who Jubilee still thinks changed his name accordingly), Cynthia Sommers, Beth Destra, and Dee Dee Cloon. Kyle Gibney was still locked in his room.
“I guess I’ll just cut to the chase here.” Started Marilyn. “While no one really knows why exactly you’ve been repowered, it’s obvious that now, none of you necessarily need to be here. So why don’t I go down the line and ask if any of you have planned anything.”
“Planned?” Came the Vanisher’s voice.
“Yes. You know; where you’ll stay, what your goals are; that sort of thing. Dee Dee?”
According to Haven gossip, Dee Dee used to go by the name She-Bang. Apparently she could snap her fingers, causing miniature sonic booms. Apparently, she was also stupid.
“Are we gonna die?”
Jubilee started laughing immediately.
“Jubilee.” Came the stern voice of Marilyn. “No, Dee Dee, you’re not going to die. I wanted to know what your goals were.”
“I always wanted to play tennis.” She offered.
“O...k.” Marilyn quickly shifted her glance between Teddy and Janet and then continued. “What about you, Beth?”
Beth Destra was a mutant that went by the name, ‘Oops’. She had some sort of bad-luck power. All that Jubilee knew was that Beth was British and drank a lot.
“Seeing as how there’s nothing left of my home to go back to, suppose I’ll stay around here a while. Stupid question, really. I don’t see the sense of treating us like we’re in grade school.” She lit up a cigarette and Marilyn continued.
“And what does the future hold for you, Miss Sommers?”
Cynthia Sommers was hardly older than Jubilee. She was supposedly some sort of super-genius that already had a degree in botanical sciences. So not only was she a dork, but her power was her being able to turn into any form of earth or something lame like that. She called herself Forsythia. Which sounds like some sort of anti-depressant.
“I’m afraid I can’t answer that at this moment, Ms. Hodge... blah blah blah...”
Jubilee drifted off to sleep from all the boring goings-ons until Molly started talking.
“...I’m not going with the Runaways again, that’s for sure! After I lost my powers, they left me on the Hollywood strip and a prostitute took me in for six weeks!”
Evangeline’s eyes went wide with panic. “What!?”
“And then she forced me to take drugs and I ended up pregnant!” Molly gesticulated with her hands. Jubes liked that about her. Too bad she was too busy covering her face in her hands to notice. Tears were streaming down her flushed cheeks as she tried to breathe. She hadn’t laughed this hard in a long time.
“I’m just kidding. No, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll go to school again.”
Vange was mortified. Marilyn was stunned. Jubilee was proud. Now let us progress.
Haven, noon, Lobby...
Molly and Jubilee strode out of the group room after an entirely too boring meeting, to be greeted by one of the Haven’s concierges. “I have a phone call for Ms. Lee.” He looked to Jubilee. “Would that be you?”
“No, Ms. Lee is my mother. And she’s dead.”
He looked extremely uncomfortable. She rolled her eyes and patted Molly on the head. “Go ahead and meet me out front. It’s probably one of the X-Men seeing how everything’s been going. Boy, they don’t even know the half of it!” She exclaimed melodramatically, flinging her arms in the air as she spoke.
She skipped over the service counter and picked up the receiver that was laying on the table.
“Jesus speaking.”
“Yer far from Jesus.”
“Oh yeah? Well which one of us got crucified, hmm?”
“Ah’d say all three o’us.”
Jubilee felt a well of relief and glee flush into her face. It was Wolvie!... well, sorta. Wolverogue.
“Rogue!”
“Jubes!”
“You’ll never guess what happened to me last night!”
“Ah’m scared t’guess, sugah.”
“I GOT MY POWERS BACK!”
The voice on the other end sounded muffled and Jubes rubbed her palm on the ear-piece.
“Hello?”
“No, Ah’m here. What didja say?”
“I. Got. My. Powers. Back.”
“How!?”
“I dunno. But hey, that’s old news. When are y’gonna pick me up? Now that I’m repowered, I’m large and in charge!”
“‘Bout that... listen Jubes... Ah can’t really do that right now. Y’understand?”
“Personal business; my favorite oxymoron...” Jubilee stated with sarcasm.
“Look Jubilee, Ah promise Ah’ll come’n gitcha. And soon... but now Ah don’t have t’worry aboutcha as much now that ya’ll have yer powers back... which you will explain t’me at some point, right?”
“Soon as I think up a believable enough scenario, you’ll be the first to hear it.”
“Yeah...”
An awkward silence spread between the two. The situation obviously hadn’t gotten any easier. And this weird, psuedo-bond that the two shared was still... budding, I guess you’d say. But someone had to say something, otherwise the uncomfortable moment would stay with Jubes all damned day.
“So. I hear Val Cooper’s gettin’ fat. What’s up with that?” Jubilee blabbed. It was clearly the end of the conversation.
“Ah’ll call ya soon, hun.”
“Yeah... bye...” She set the phone on it’s cradle and massaged the bridge of her nose. Abandoned again. Whatever. She made it a habit not to rely on friends. They either ended up dead or fought against them when they were needed most.
Hollywood, afternoon...
Jubilee and Molly decided they needed to take a little hiatus from all the craziness back at Haven, so they found themselves walking the Hollywood strip, talking about how things were going to pan out for them and if they would decide to stay at Haven or not.
It was around then that Jubilee spotted Shatterstar headed in front of them, walking by himself and looking kinda depressed. Jubes furrowed a brow and rushed ahead of Molly to his side.
“Hi.”
“Hello again.”
“We kinda got off to a rocky start before, huh?”
He remained silent.
“Look, it seems that we’re all in this together now.”
“How’s that?”
“Well, being the only mutants in Los Angeles kinda puts us at odds with everyone else. That and I’m not quite sure I get you yet.”
“I do not even ‘get’ me yet.”
“Well... let’s start this again, then. So rumor has it you have a boyfriend over in New York. How long y’been gay?” Jubes didn’t mind delving into personal matters, apparently.
“‘Gay’?”
“Yeah, you know; disco, tight pants, Barbera Streisand; that sorta thing!”
“Well I do not know about all of that, but I do know that I have deep feelings for Rictor.”
“Rictor, huh? I heard about him. Nothing too bad. S’what? Ya gonna join the X-Men now?”
“My place isn’t among the X-Men seeing as how I am not a mutant.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re an alien; I get the picture. Where are you headed now all by your lonesome?”
The two stood before a tattoo parlor across the street from a costume shop. It didn’t look all too clean, but then again Jubes never been inside a tattoo shop before. She glanced over to him with an eyebrow raised. “You’re getting another tattoo? Of what? You’re covered as it is, unless you’re putting it on your naughty areas.”
“‘Julio’.” He stated simply. Shatterstar, since M-Day, had made appointments almost every week to get something done. Since he’d lost his powers, it made him feel like he’d lost his most important sense. Naturally, he used self mutilation to make himself feel better. But, pretty self mutilation, at that. Now that he’d gotten his powers back, it probably wouldn’t change anything. Tattoos are like an addiction for the man at this point.
Jubilee held a hand to her chin as if to think for a moment. “Maybe I should get one too. Like a butterfly or something girly and retarded like that. What do to you think, Molly?” She realized Molly had been silent for some time now. “Molly?”
She whipped around and found that Molly was nowhere in sight. This was a problem. Maybe this was the reason Vange was hanging out with her all the time. “S#!+!” Jubilee exclaimed. “Molly’s gone!”
“Well then we will look for-“
“GET YOUR HANDS OFFA ME, CREEP-O!” Rang out before Shatterstar could finish. It was Molly and it came from the alleyway beside the tattoo parlor.
Jubilee and Shatterstar ran to the alley, met with the visage of a purple gooey guy wrapping his sludge around Molly’s arms so she couldn’t use her tactile telekinesis. Why he was there and what he was doing with Molly were all inconsequential at this moment.
“Eat fireworks, Sister-Boy!” Jubilee spout out, diving ahead of Shatterstar, unleashing a blinding display of bright reds and yellows, causing the purple drooley guy to drop Molly and cover his eyes with his hands.
Molly ran to Jubilee and Shatterstar grabbed a knife he had hidden in his boot and tore it through the air as he performed a front somersault; his arm jutting out so when he landed in front of slime dude, a perfect cut ran from top to bottom. Probably would have killed him, if he hadn’t reformed almost immediately.
“No one’s going to stop me from taking her!” He shouted towards Molly before using his slimey arm to drive Shatterstar into the opposite brick building like a mallet.
Without a moment to spare, Jubilee leapt into the air, legs stretching outward in opposite directions, allowing her to gracefully clear herself over the purple slime. But not before she let out a blast of white-hot plasma directly down over his head, causing the rubbery substance he was made out of to pop and sizzle. He let out a cry of pain and smacked her away blindly, before making his way over the fence at the opposite end of the alley.
“This isn’t over!” He shouted angry.
“I’m sure it is!” Jubilee mocked, pushing herself from the cement and dusting off random debris from her brand new jeans. Molly ran to her side to help her up.
“Are you ok?” Molly asked, a hand on Jubilee’s shoulder.
“Yeah... I’m ok. Is he ok?” Jubilee offered, a thumb gesturing to a fallen Shatterstar, still on the ground.
“I don’t know.”
“Well did you check?” Jubes asked, concerned, yet agitated.
“No, I don’t like him that much. I’m ok too, though.”
Jubes rubbed a hand through Molly’s sloppy locks that remained visible after she dropped her hat sometime during the kidnapping. Jubilee leaned forward, letting a hand out for the waking Shatterstar to take, but he still seemed dazed.
“Are you ok... I feel stupid calling you Shatterstar, so.... Are you ok, Fat-Deb-Shopper?” She offered, teasing.
He raised himself up and put a hand against the back of his head and looked at his palm for blood. “Do not ask me that again. And my name, for your knowledge, is Benjamin.” He stated in the same cold way he always states stuff.
“What kinda name is that for an alien?”
“The human kind.”
“Who was that guy?” Molly butted in.
“Ugly- Oh! Who? Hell if I know.” Jubilee stated.
“He is Gorgeous George. Formerly of Mister Sinister’s team.” Shatterstar answered.
“He ain’t that gorgeous.” Jubilee replied under her breath.
“I think we should head back you guys. We’re going to have to talk about this to some of the Haven guys.”
“Why?” Jubilee asked.
“Because I almost just got kidnapped.”
“Oh. Well at least it wasn’t me for a change.”
Molly stuck her tongue out at Jubilee before they headed back down Hollywood Boulevard, towards a bus that would lead them back to the home.
Haven, a short time later...
The entire place was swarmed with media. Apparently word had gotten out about several members of Haven regaining their powers after a mysterious light show the night before. Among the reporters was Trish Tilby, on special assignment from the New York branch of Fox News. The three of them made their way towards Haven with no idea how to react.
“There they are!” Shouted a blonde man in a three piece suit behind a camera man.
The group rushed up to the three residents and Trish was the first one officially on the scene. “Welcome home, Jubilee. Any comment on the current crisis surrounding the Haven Treatment Facility?”
Jubilee pushed the microphone out of her face before she replied. “Thank you. And no.” She said simply, dragging Molly towards the entrance with her. Shatterstar, or Benjamin, as he is called, was able to breeze past the horde with little-to-no effort. Jubilee had no interest discussing the well-being of her people.
“So Jubilee, Val Cooper’s put on a few extra pounds since her inditement into the United States Press Secretary. Do you have anything to say on the matter?” Called the voice of a male working for a local tabloid.
Immediately, she whipped around, leaving Molly in the dusk and skipped over to the man.
“Boy! Do I ever!” She exclaimed gleefully before she was abruptly tugged by the arm back towards the Haven entrance by Benjamin’s tight grip. She cursed the whole way inside.
Inside, the three were immediately rushed by Hulkling and Wasp.
“What’s going on?” Asked Molly.
“Trouble. We’re going to have to keep everyone inside until further notice. It’s way too hectic out there.” Wasp claimed, glancing out the door as she ushered the three into the lobby where they were met by Marilyn.
“I’ve been looking all over for you, Jubilee, where’ve you been?”
“Geez, calm down mom. We needed a breather. Unfortunately, it’ll be the last one for a while now.”
“Why’s that?”
“The Avenger people over here decided to issue a lock-down.”
“Oh no.” Marilyn didn’t sound too concerned. “Well, I’m sure it’s all for the best. And Molly? Evangeline has been in hysterics looking for you.”
“I wonder if I buy her a cat, she’ll stop being so possessive.” Molly stated to herself.
“Something happened while we were gone today, Ms. Hodge.” Benjamin spoke.
While Shatterstar was telling her the story, Teddy and Janet got involved because they decided to eavesdrop the entire time. That officially made the lock-down worse. If the media attention wasn’t dangerous enough, then it would be up to Hulkling and Wasp to find a way to make it that much more severe. Keeping an entire facility of both mutants and exes alike inside, altogether, for a long duration, the drop of one bomb could wipe them all out. Just saying; it could!
Just then, a nameless resident of Haven rushed up to the gathered group and took Marilyn aside. Apparently, it was far enough from the two Avengers that they couldn’t ‘accidentally’ overhear what she was saying to Marilyn.
According to the girl, a newsbreak exclusive made its way on the Fox News channel proclaiming that a lock-down had been issued and that several residents of the shelter were still missing. Trish Tilby must have been damn good because a majority of the people staying at Haven had no idea still.
Later, Jubilee’s room...
Evangline was in absolute hysterics. It was a little obvious that she would react that way. She practically made a vow that she would never let Molly out of her sight again. And it was no use for Jubilee to promise Vange that she’d look out for her, seeing as how she did a pretty lousy job of it this afternoon. But after a few shots at the bar, Vange allowed Molly to stay in Jubilee’s room for the night. So apparently the vow wasn’t that big a deal.
Jubilee was laying flat on her back atop the coffee table by the window, staring directly at the ceiling with her hands resting on her chest. Molly was sitting at the nearby desk, talking and raving like a twelve year old often does.
“What are you doing?” Molly finally asked, after going on and on about something that Jubes was hardly paying attention to.
“There’s a fly on the ceiling. I’m trying to decide whether it’s dead or not. This lock-down business is probably the most boring thing I’ve ever had to participate in besides being kidnapped by Emplate in my Generation X days. Y’know... when I was with the X-Men-“
“I miss my friends.” Molly stated before Jubilee could finish. Apparently, Jubilee’s rants were infamous as well.
Jubilee furrowed a brow and perched herself on the table, her legs dangling over the end. “What exactly happened with you and the Runaways, anyway?”
Molly sighed and stuck her hands into her hooded-sweatshirt pockets. “Well... everything was basically ok before the whole Scarlet Witch thingy. But after I lost my powers, no one knew how to keep me safe. Like, everyone wanted me in a concentration camp. Those who didn’t wanted to do tests and stuff on me. So I guess Chase and Nico did what they thought best for me.”
“You’re not happy here?”
“Not as happy as I’d be with them.” She looked over at Jubilee with a sad expression on her face.
“Don’t sweat it, kid. I’ll stick with ya till the end. And that’s a patented Jubilation Lee promise. Ya get what I’m sayin’?”
Molly wiped at a tear forming in the well of her eye and nodded. “Ok, boss lady.”
Just then, a knock sounded at the door and Jubilee begrudgingly stalked off, not bothering to look through the peep hole as she stopped at the entrance. “Hi, I’m not home right now, but if you leave a message after the beep, I’ll listen to it, then forget to call you.”
Jubilee pointed to Molly.
“Beep!” Molly belted.
“It is Benjamin. Let me in, please.” It was Shatterstar.
Jubilee swung open the door and stood in the frame; her hands on her hips and her hips, themselves; cocked. “Geez, Benny, dontcha believe in contractions when ya talk?” She asked, psuedo-annoyed.
“I-“ He started before Jubilee yanked him into the room, slamming the door shut behind her.
“If Vange was awake and sober, she’d probably kill me for having a boy in here with Molly around. I mean, you’re queer and I’m totally not interested, but Vange is pretty oblivious if you know what I mean.”
Shatterstar wasn’t listening. He took a seat next to Molly and crossed one leg over the other. “I’m leaving tonight.” He stated simply.
“What? Why?” Jubilee asked, only half concerned seeing as how she still thought he was kind of an alien ass-hat.
“I have my powers back. And there is little good I could achieve here; cooped up with a bunch of crazy mutants. Not my idea of a cup of coffee.” He sternly explained.
Jubilee covered her mouth to hide a smile and swallowed a fit of giggles before she brought her hand away and controlled herself. “Cup of tea, Ben.” She stated with a nod.
Molly grinned and nodded too, having also attempted to tame a fit laughter of her own.
Benjamin simply rolled his eyes. “Well whatever the metaphor, I do not plan on staying.”
Jubilee huffed and plopped down on her back onto the bed. “Well... I think that’s stupid. I mean you’re here because people need you now. Like, it’s like a sign from God or something that we get our powers back. To protect these people, y’know?”
“That is why we have Teddy and Janet. I do not understand.”
She rolled her eyes and tried to explain. “No... like, we’re their people who finally got a second chance, I mean, you’re not, but still. Second chances always come around for a reason. And I totally think that this is the reason.”
“What are you suggesting, Jubilation?”
“I’m suggesting we all stick around for awhile; see what happens. Maybe even form our own supergroup if we need to!” Jubilee was beginning to get excited.
“Yeah! LA’s got enough crime to spare! Why don’t we form a team?” Molly chimed in, perking up from her place at the desk.
Jubilee walked over to Shatterstar, her hands clasped together with a look of sadness in her eyes. Pity, really. “Please, Bennifer. You’ll be wasting so much of that ninja-y stuff if you leave us now.”
“I do not know.” He stated coldly, crossing his arms as he averted his gaze towards the window.
“Well at least think about it, kay?” Jubilee was beginning to get impatient.
“What about the missing guys from around here? I mean apparently Longshot, Beth Destra, Dee Dee, and Forsythia never came back. And Kyle and Telford disappeared from their rooms, too!” Molly explained.
“And you know Telford isn’t his name.”
“Seriously, Jubes. Let it go.” Said Molly.
“You’re suggesting an investigation, then?” Benjamin spoke, becoming a tad more interested. Being at Haven now that he had his killer instincts and premiere physical abilities back, staying at a shelter didn’t seem like the height of an active life for a person like him.
Both Jubilee and Molly nodded with grins on their faces.
“The only problem is, we’ve gotta find a way to break curfew.”
“Oh, do not worry about that, Jubilee. I am sure I can handle it.”
A bit later, outside Haven...
“S#!+!”
“Shh!”
“Sorry.”
Jubilee, Molly, and Benjamin had managed to climb out of one of the shelter’s windows on the main floor’s bathroom. Jubilee, unfortunately, fell into the bushes on her way down, prompting the other two to clasp their hands over her mouth to muffle the obscenities. After a few moments of stillness from the trio, they took off into the night.
“So... what’s our name going to be?” Molly asked as they made their way along.
“Name?” Came Benjamin’s voice from the side.
“Yeah, our super-group name.” Jubes stated, matter-o-factly, also from the side.
Benjamin shook his head a bit, cracking a smile from the humor of the situation. He’d never met people so energetic and looney after Boom Boom. Maybe that was a reason why he decided to stick around this long. “This is one wild bunch.” He said, mostly to himself.
“That’s it! Benny, you are sex! The Wild Bunch!”
Molly grinned and nodded her head excitedly in agreement; their trail leading them farther and farther down the street.
About a block or two away, they realized they had no idea where the hell they were going.
“So...” Molly started.
“Yeah, I know, Molly.” Jubilee retorted, a bit agitated.
“This could have been thought out a bit more clearly, yes?” Came Benjamin’s voice.
But before Jubes could manage an eyeroll, a colossal explosion ripped through a nearby building that lay further down the Boulevard. It seemed just a tad fishy considering the circumstances, so the group continued towards the fire and the ashy debris that was now raining over the street. Shatterstar halted himself and held arms branched out to stop the other two; his killer instinct now taking effect.
“What is it, ‘star?” Molly asked, eyebrows raised.
“People inside.” He stated simply.
Jubilee rolled up her three quarter sleeves and stalked towards the burning building. “No sweat; let’s do this.” She commanded confidently before she felt the familiar grasp of Benjamin’s grip on the back of her shirt.
“What the hell, Benjie?”
“Do not bother. They are gone.”
“Already!?” Jubilee barked.
“This has to be some sort of set-up.” Molly said from the sidelines. “I mean we’re missing all of the obvious signs. The other Ex-Mutants went missing, I almost get kidnapped, but didn’t because the guy was retarded, and some building explodes down the street to lure us away!”
“What do I look new?” She followed herself up.
Before the group had time to turn around yet another explosion occurred right behind them. It was Haven. The explosion immediately tore the three of them from the current vandalization towards running to the second. Their home. Unfortunately, none of them had abilities that dealt with invulnerability to fire or some sort of water based power. Which sucked.
As they came upon the shelter, they noted that the damage from the explosion was mostly concentrated on the upper part of the building’s levels. What they would later find out is that the main target was the Thirteenth and a Half floor.
Next Ish on Ex-Mutants: A License to Practice!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Ex-Mutants #1: Home Sweet Haven
Prologue...
With the rise of a mutant empire on the horizon, it seemed like nothing would be able to put a damper on the face of the Alliance. Taking control of world conglomerates and becoming self-proclaimed inheritors of the world at large, they even managed to bring down the legendary X-Men. But the backlash of one mutant’s insanity brought a world-wide state of chaos. The Scarlet Witch erased virtually every mutant’s x-gene, pitting friend against friend and turning some enemies into allies. For a group of former mutants, hope is all they have to offer now...
The Coffee Bean, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California...
She swirled at the mug of coffee she was served, sitting beside a window that let warm, Los Angeles sunlight fall onto her face and the hood of her cloaked companion. She’d managed to get herself out of the ragged clothes that she’d been in when the mansion was attacked, and into something that she’d swiped from the Beverly Center Mall across the street. Even security these days was no match for her fast fingers and even faster mouth. But that was about all she had now. No more lights. No more adventures. It was time to face the real world. Only this time, she had no power left to fight it with.
“Whatcha thinkin’ about, kid?” Asked her friend, whose body was shrouded in a green velvet, hooded cape. For the record; crazier fashions had been worn in that area before. So really it was no biggie.
The girl huffed and rested her face against her hand, looking across the table through her sun goggles. She didn’t need them anymore. But as the old saying goes; old habits don’t let friends drive drunk. Or something like that. She continued to stir at her coffee and sighed again. “I’m thinking that I can’t believe you’re going to take me this far and just leave...” Was all she wanted to say for fear of choking up or something equally as embarrassing.
“Jubilee...” The cloak started. “I can’t even be trusted with myself. Dontcha understand? It’s a bleedin’ miracle I haven’t tried rippin’ you to shreds when I don’t have myself in check. I can’t keep you with me. And you sure as hell know that going back to the mansion isn’t an option.”
“I heard talk that they were rebuilding.” Jubilee said, not taking her eyes from the coffee, holding dread in her heart as she knew exactly where this was going.
“Talk is talk. An’ a mutant school ain’t gonna be able t’help a girl who ain’t a mutant no more. I’m doin’ this to protect you, Jubilee.”
“So I heard. You better get going. The shuttle’s going to be here soon to whisk me away for a fun, fabulous rest of my life in a gutted hotel to house losers like me.”
“Y’might get lucky and share a room with Tom Cruise. The guy’s weird enough to pass as un-human.” The cloak smirked under the hood and Jubilee smiled too, reaching over the tabletop to give her companion one last hug before departure. “Y’better not, kid.” Came the gruff voice as the green cloak moved from the booth and made it’s way over to the door. Before leaving, however, the hood was slid back, to reveal the face of a true friend.
“I won’t be a stranger, sugah.” Came the more smooth and tame voice of a truly disturbed true friend. And after the faded emerald glimmer of her left eye disappeared in the form of a farewell wink, she was gone.
Jubilee was alone once again.
Haven, formerly the Le Meridien Hotel on La Cienega Boulevard...
The shuttle puttered to a stop in front of the limestone and gray rock building that was formerly the lush and luxurious Le Meridien. Now it was a mutant shelter. Correction; ex-mutant shelter. Word on the street was that it was a non-profit center that would benefit and protect former mutants from solicitation, harm, and possible death at the hands of today’s predators. It was also rumored that the Alliance had some sort of connection with the place. And if it was one thing Jubilation Lee couldn’t stand, boy was it ever a bad rumor.
Twin, faded red converse sneakers plopped down to the concrete in the front area of Haven. She had no luggage, so that made it easy enough to scout out the front before being ushered in by one of the security guards standing outside of the lobby doors. To the right, against the building, a couple of workers toiled away at cleaning off and repainting a wall that had the words, “Here’s your mutant judgement!” written in some sort of spray paint. Knowing the country they now lived in, the perpetrator was hunted down and executed about a minute or two after he’d emptied the can. So, it wasn’t exactly Mister Roger’s Rail Road Smiley Village, if you know what I mean.
Walking into the place, you wouldn’t have guessed it was for a community of former mutants. The Alliance treated most, if not all depowered mutants as humans or worse. Marble and limestone decor made up the entirety of the foyer area. Large pillars of different hues of earth tones rose up to a concave ceiling that mimicked the carvings of famous Victorian sculptors. Fragile looking rose-glass lamps hid in almost every corner and beside every lounge sofa, creating a genuine ‘hotel’ feel about the shelter. The Alliance knew everything. And if the Alliance knew about this place, it definitely wouldn’t look like this.
“I could get used to this.” Jubilee said under her breath. The luxury was something she grew quite comfortable with as she was raised by rich parents and led the ‘Hilton’ lifestyle up until about age twelve.
Almost immediately, a woman dressed in a black pencil skirt and matching blazer wearing a pair of black stilettos greeted her, her own footsteps clacking through the marble hallway. “Hello there.” She said with a smile. She looked very Beverly Hills.
“Yo.” Jubilee uttered, glancing around at the ceiling which was molded into intricate details and sort of ‘melted’ into the upper portions of the walls. The rest of Haven was designed basically the same way.
“You must be Jubilation Lee.” The receptionist mentioned with a toothy grin.
“And the prize goes to...”
“I’m Marilyn. I’m the resident liaison for Haven and I received a little note saying that you might be arriving today. Can I have someone help you with your bags?” She asked politely.
Jubilee glanced around herself, puzzled by the fact that the woman saw that she had no luggage around her. “If they get too heavy, we’ll talk. Is the rest of this place as nice as the foy-yay?” She asked, smirking slightly as she continued to admire the view.
“I’m sure you’ll find that the establishment will keep you well assured and have a ‘taken care of’ feeling as you wake up to fresh breakfast in bed and complimentary health spa packages.” The woman purred, almost like she’d said this spiel about a dozen times in the last few days.
“Seriously?” Jubilee exclaimed, gazing wide-eyed at the young hotel rep. “The ‘well-taken-care-of’ deal sounds kind of gangster, and not in the hip teen lingo kinda way, but the rest sounds pretty amazing. Why the special treatment?” She asked, arching a brow, thinking that in her short, but physically and emotionally expansive life, she’d never experienced such hospitality from a stranger. Especially not for being a mutant. Oh, well, ex mutant, I guess.
Marilyn laughed as she brought her arm out, branching it towards the elevator. “If you’ll follow me, I can show you to a room, and I’ll be able to explain the purpose of Haven a little better.”
“Cool.”
The Thirteenth and a Half Floor...
Elevator moments with strangers that have entered your life within a span of twenty minutes or less are generally really awkward. Oh look! Here comes one now!
Glancing at the buttons on the elevator, Jubilee noticed that there was no thirteenth floor button. After twelve, it went directly into the number fourteen, which caused Jubes to quirk a brow. “Hey.” She started. “Where’s the button thirteen?”
“Oh, that’s sort of hotel superstition. The thirteenth floor is usually just re-labeled as floor number fourteen.” She stifled a chuckle. “Just in case!” That couldn’t have been too reassuring.
“Oh.”
The elevator opened up into the thirteenth and a half floor, since floor thirteen never had a chance in hell, and since floor fourteen was hogging all the glory, and Marilyn strode out, with the grungy-looking teen following her footsteps out into the freshly carpeted floor of maroon hue. Marilyn continued on her speech of why the hotel functioned the way it did. “Ever since the effects of Miss Maximoff’s genetic assault caused so many poor innocents to lose their powers, this foundation was opened to house those individuals that must have felt so devastated after losing such an important part of themselves.”
Jubilee scoffed and dug her hands into the pockets of her faded yellow sweatshirt. “You say that like you know what it felt like. Were you a mutant?”
“All three of my children were. They all had abilities that made them different from everyone else, so I got to know them as much as any mother would her child.” Her tone turned sour as she brought a hand to the side of her face as the two ladies made their way down the hall. “Two of them didn’t survive the transformation.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You say that like you know what it feels like.”
Jubilee smiled and looked to Marilyn. Marilyn nodded a silent agreement and Jubilee decided that she might not be as fake as she seemed at first glance.
Room 704, the Thirteenth and a Half Floor...
The door clicked open and Jubilee practically poured into the room, giddy as a first day of school child. What she found made her quite extraordinarily happy at the moment. A wide-screen, High Definition, plasma television sat in an oak entertainment center that spanned the space of a normal hotel bed. The rest of the room was equally impressive with lavish sheets, computer with free high-speed internet hook up, a refrigerator, several software systems, a little, but expensive looking kitchen, and a mint on the pillow. A Godiva mint on the pillow. From her open-mouth stare, she quickly composed herself as she turned to Marilyn who was waiting patiently, smiling like she often did.
“Ok, now would be a good time to ask-“ Jubilee started before Marilyn cut her off.
“As I was saying before. Losing a mutant ability is like cutting off a person’s sense. Something they were born with and don’t know how to cope with once they’ve lost it. This place exists to pamper you, to help heal you, and to help protect you. Our founder is quite rich and was more than happy to be able to contribute such a lucrative amount.”
“And who’s the loaded founder?”
“Mr. Warren Worthington the Third. Not only rich, but a handsome man as well.” Marilyn stated, her cheeks flushing at the thought of it.
“Hey, I know him!”
“I figured you might.” Marilyn said with a wink before she went ahead and made herself comfortable on a sofa-stuffed chair by the window. She figured Jubes wouldn’t mind. “The X-Men are world famous! When it came out to the press that a fellow L.A. heiress-“
“Former heiress.” Jubilee corrected quickly, beginning to feel the buzz that was celebrity.
“-was a member of the X-Men, it sent the whole town talking!” She finished with a sign of glee on her face.
Jubilee smiled and fell back into the feather-topped blanketed bed that felt so good to be in after weeks of constant, and unfortunately uncomfortable travel, and stretched out her arms. “I can’t believe you’ve heard of me! Like, no one who recognizes me says that! They’re always like, ‘Hey aren’t you that girl that’s always being held hostage when the X-Men fight’? And so I have to correct ‘em all and say, ‘No, I’m the girl who always, always gets photographed by the newspapers after a battle starts in the street and some creep just puts me in a strong-hold for the duration. It’s so insulting...” She trailed off and glancing over to Marilyn who was already gone; a note left on the table. It said she was sorry, but her beeper went off and that meant she had to attend to a new arrival and that she’d check in with her later. She also gave her the number for the kitchen, the drivers, and the front desk, just in case. It was time to get settled in.
Bedtime on the Thirteenth and a Half Floor...
Dear Wolvie-Slash-Rogue-Or-Whatever,
Looks like you were right about this place. Things seem to actually be genuine around here thanks to the fact that Warren owns it. Seriously, who knew!? Well... You probably did, but that’s only because you’re also Rogue and Rogue knew a lot about him, I think. I... don’t really know.
To tell you the truth, I still haven’t really had time to come to terms with you... um... absorbing Wolverine. Is that the right word??? I know you didn’t mean to, so there’s no hard feelings there, but I figured you oughta know that since you kind of have his essence now, and please read that last part like you would without thinking of an innuendo, then you’re my Wolvie now, too.
Just don’t go making a big deal out of it, or whatever.
Well it looks like I’ve got a lot to do to plan for tomorrow, and the top of the list includes sleep. It also includes shopping and Jake Gyllenhaal in a pirate costume. So I guess I’ll talk to you whenever you open this message which is incredibly unlikely...
So in that case, I drank a pack of your beer over the course of the trip and now you can’t get mad at me! Haha!
P.S. Since you won’t be reading this message anyway... I love you.
Jubilee...
The next morning, Lobby...
“All right everybody, no pushing!” Came the voice of Janet Van Dyne. The Wasp. She and a few other superhumans were helping out at Haven, mostly on the front of security, but also making sure that the depowered mutants were well taken care of and served as councilors for the more troubled crowd. After all, not all of the ex mutants were working for the good guys prior to the Scarlet Witch episode.
The reason for the early morning gathering, besides breakfast, was for official room assignments to be announced. Not everyone was escorted quite so quickly as for young Jubilation. Some arrived within the day and some were simply put on the ‘waiting list’ to make up good pairings.
The group of individuals crowded around the sheet of paper that was tacked to a cork board that was put up specifically for that day in the main lounge area of the sanctuary. Jubilee, however, made it to the gathering at her own pace.
Shuffling out of the elevator, Jubilee made her way to the rambunxious group and turned her attention to the only person she knew at first glance; Shatterstar. She’d met him once or twice when X-Force stayed at the Massachusetts Academy, back when she was with Generation X. They never said hi or anything, but she knew enough about him to introduce herself. “Hey there.” She piped up, shyly. “What’s going on?”
He turned to her and quirked a brow. “Room assignments.” He said simply. By what she gathered, Shatterstar had turned his aggression into art since he’d lost his powers. If you wanna call an entire body covered in tribal tattoos and symbols art, that is. His usually long red hair was chopped short into a very California cut. Obviously, he was crying out for help.
“I’m Jubilee.” She introduced, glancing over to the board and then back to him. “What floor are you on?” She asked, trying to keep up the pace with this guy. Man, could he ever talk a girl’s ear off. You get the sarcasm, right?
“Fourteen. And I know who you are. You are the hostage girl, correct?”
At this comment, Jubilee had two choices. Either she could blow it way out of proportion and cause a scene or she could walk away.
It was f#$%in’ on.
“Actually no. No. I was an X-Man! Jesus, and what are you, huh?! I thought you were an alien or something! I thought only mutants could lose their powers! And if that’s the case, your alien ability must be ‘the ability to tork me off’ you-“
An intervention. And not a moment too soon as Jubilee’s fists were raised and Shatterstar stood unflinching. Rather bored, actually.
“Is there a problem here?” Asked the voice of a tall blonde by the name of Teddy Altman. Hulkling. He was a member of the Young Avengers. Back when there were Young Avengers. Which really wasn’t that long ago in all honesty. But whatever.
She huffed and put her hands down, shaking an imaginary cramp out of her neck before she gave out a nonchalant, “Nah, it’s cool.”
“Good. It’s the first day here for a lot of folks. Wouldn’t want them to get the wrong impression now, would we?” He said with a smile and a wink. What was with all of the winking recently?
“Whatever.” She said with an eyeroll, walking away from the jerky alien-mutant punk and the weird camp-councilor-teen. She strolled over to the board to get a load of who she was going to be ‘dorming’ with on the Thirteenth and a Half Floor.
“What losers am I stuck with for the duration?” She uttered under her breath as she pushed herself through the crowd, uncaring. See, the good part of being a girl and Asian was that you could be rude at any given interval and not get grief about it for fear that you might karate chop someone or pull a Samurai sword out of nowhere and start beheading like mad.
Unless you were rude to another Asian. Then it just an old-fashioned fist fight. And Jubilee learned that lesson in third grade when she attended a Lee family reunion in Bel Air. Courtesy of her father, of course.
“Outta the way! Comin’ through!” She shouted, staying as far away from Wasp as she could, because she’d probably get a tongue lashing seeing as she was one of the younger peers in the household. She drew a finger down the paper and scaled down to the Thirteenth and a Half Floor and saw the list of names. They included Evangeline Whedon, Cynthia Sommers, Shatterstar (barf), Molly Hayes, Longshot (he’s another one, isn’t he?), Kyle Gibney, who it turns out was basically a shut-in after he lost his mutant powers and to this hour hasn’t come out of his hotel suite. Lame-o. And some other people.
Sighing to herself as she realized she knew approximately zero people, she tilted her head to the left and glanced other to see the coolest Anime-looking bunny hat she’d ever seen since she’d visited the Sang-Rio outlet in New York City. Her gaze drifted about a foot down until she met the warm brown eyes of the coolest looking little girl in the entire city. She wore an expression of curiosity and she had some sort of colorful plastic bag gripped tight in her hands. She was chewing something sweet; Jubilee could smell it. Blue Raspberry Bubble-Yum to be precise. It was a habit, ok?
“Want some sweeties?” She asked simply, but with that childish innocence that Dakota Fanning wishes she could pull off. What was it? The burning in her right eye. It kind of annoyed the hell out of her. What was it? Christ.. And it’s wet! Gross... Her eye was leaking. A tear? Yep, it was a tear. Then. It hit! An overwhelming sense of warmth and cuddliness. Jubes wrapped her arms around the young girl immediately and gave her a little squeeze.
“Fffwennnd...” She muffled like the Frankenstein monsters on T.V.
Around noon, the Haven Dining Lodge...
As it turned out, the girl’s name was Molly Hayes. So it’s pretty lucky that the one person she actually thought she could get along with was staying on the Thirteenth and a Half Floor. Also, it turns out that Molly has a candy stash the size of a small fortune underneath the bed in her room. Their conversation was already in progress, so we’ll just pick up... here!
“So starting today, they say we’re gonna bunk, because so many people have showed up, that they don’t know where t’put em all, so we’re all gonna share rooms.” She stated like a hyperactive pre-teen girl. Ah, the golden years. “And I don’t know about you, but it’s really gonna suck!” She emphasized, looking at Jubilee with eyes that looked like she was mourning her bunny or something.
“Oh, please don’t look at me like that again ever. It’s too cute. Gonna barf. Capishe?”
“Capishe.” Molly smiled.
“Well do we get to choose our roommates or what?”
“Dunno. I’m s’pposed’a have ‘Vange with me at all times so I don’t get lost or something. Or kidnapped. What’s gettin’ kidnapped like?” Molly asked, wide-eyed.
Fight it, Jubilee. Fight it!
“Not fun.”
‘Atta girl.
“So where is she now?” Asked Jubilee, shoving in a mouthful of scrambled eggs.
“There you are!” Came the voice of the devil as Evangeline Whedon sped past the tables of other guests and rushed towards Molly with a look of severity burning through the atmosphere. “I know it’s opening day and everything, Molly, but you have to stay where I can see you, all right?”
Molly glanced down at her plate, looking remorseful, and Jubilee looked over to the woman that failed to introduce herself. “I’m Vange Whedon.” She said, sticking out her hand to shake, and Jubilee awkwardly took it and Vange took a seat next to her.
“I’m Jubilee.” She said for the third time that day.
“Pleasure. Have you had time to get acquainted with any of the others today?” She asked, setting her cup of coffee down, which was virtually empty after the bumpy run over to the table.
“Not really. Just Molly here and this other guy that’s staying on the Thirteenth and a Half Floor.”
“Thirteenth and a Half Floor?” Vange repeated, inquisitively.
“Nevermind. Anyway, are you here for mental healing and all that jazz? The place seems to think it’ll do a whole lotta good.”
“Actually, I never really used my mutant powers all that much. And they’re pretty easy to control just as long as I don’t see any blood.” Vange made a gross-out face and continued. “I can basically turn into a pretty angry dragon when I’m upset or see blood. It’s kind of hard to explain, but I was always usually good in temperament considering what I do for a living.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m a lawyer. I actually live about twenty minutes away, and when I heard they were opening this place, I decided to pitch in and now I’m taking care of Molly.” She smiled and looked over to Molly and ruffled a hand through her hair and Molly stuck her tongue out. “We’re slowly creating a bond.” She said wryly which caused Jubilee to snicker.
“So... you don’t miss it or anything?” Jubilee questioned.
“Not really. I mean, like I said, I was never acquainted with my own powers all that much until I lost control. Which wasn’t too often.”
A moment of pause went through the group and it seemed a few of the guests were abandoning their tables to convalesce in the group room. “Incidentally, are you coming to the group meeting?” Vange asked, wiping the sides of her mouth with a napkin.
She made a face and shook her head. “Nah. I don’t really do that kind of thing.”
Molly propped her head up and clasped her hands together. “Oh, please, Jubes! Everyone in there’s gonna be talking about boring stuff and Vange is gonna make me sit there and be quiet the whole time! You have to come!” Evangeline nodded at the statement and half-smirked. “She’s got a point, Ms. Lee.”
“Fine, I’ll go. But you’re forbidden to use your little girl charm while in my presence for the rest of your life, got it? Or... at least until you’re thirteen. Then all you’ll be worried about is boys, make-up, and shopping. So you’ll probably be my best friend.”
Not too much longer in the Group Room...
“Hello. My name is Telford Porter. And I am... was... a teleporter.” Came the voice of the former villain, Vanisher, the rest of the inhabitants of Haven sitting neatly in chairs spread out in rows, each person taking time to come up to the podium and say their peace in order for the group to get more familiar with their co-habitants and to discuss the issues that involved being an ex-mutant in today’s society. What it meant, and what it took to survive were some of the main points that surrounded said issues.
“Yeah right!” A voice called from the back. Jubilee. “Is that your real name? ‘Cuz we’re not superpowered anymore, so it kinda defeats the purpose of having an alias.” She said, matter-o-factly. In the back row sat Jubilee, Vange, Molly, Longshot, and Leech. The doors were barred by The Wasp and Hulkling. I guess so you’d be forced to suffer listening to everyone’s speech.
Vanisher simply looked at the girl from his place at the podium, stunned, and glanced over to Janet towards the back. “Respect, please.” Wasp hushed to Jubilee and Molly’s giggles died down. She tightened her lips, crossed her arms, and dipped down lower in her seat; peeved.
The rest of the session went by, boringly, without a hitch. Hi my name’s Longshot and I’m not so lucky. Hi, I’m Angel and I’m not-so-disgusting anymore. Hi. Me Leech and Me still talk like this... Snoozefest is what I’m saying.
Then it was her turn to give a little something about herself and after a hard shove from Vange, she was out of her seat and walking down the aisle. She felt glares of hatred burning into the back of her head as she made her way to the podium and she thought, “This must be why everyone hates me.” She shrugged and tapped the mic when she became situated.
“Hi, I’m Jubilee.”
“Hi Jubilee!” The crowd roared. A bit too snidely, I must admit.
“Hey.”
She cleared her throat and continued. “I’m a five-foot-two, Chinese-American female. I seek Single-Male-Seeking-Asian-Spitfire. I enjoy long walks on the beach, videogames, sugar, and blowing stuff up. Even without my powers.” The expression on her face was deadpan.
“If this is an issue for you, I recommend a change of residence. Thank you and God bless.” She said as she strode off the stage and sat down back in her seat, again, feeling the burn of annoyance into her scalp as she made the journey. She didn’t care. It was her. And if they liked it or not, it’s who they were going to have to get used to. Get to like, even. Love, actually.
The Beverlywood Galleria Mall, that afternoon…
“Come one, come all! Step right up to witness magic like you’ve never seen it before!” Jubilee was tossing harmless pieces of plasma energy into the air before the crowd, causing a series of ‘oos’ and ‘ahhs’. Living on the street was lame. It was cold at night, all the bums had hogged all the public shelters and blankets, and she was the newbie on their turf. So she’d have to come up with a little spot of her own. She’d have to one up every other person that’d been living on the streets their entire lives, whereas she was doing it for the past month or so. And that’s when the idea hit. Why not the mall? Plenty of nooks and crannies, and plenty of food and anything else you’d need to live there; it was perfect!
Unfortunately, however, there were security guards all over the place! And not your typical, gun-wielding, safe-guarding security guards at that; lame-o, rent-a-cop, mall security guards. You can understand the difference, I’m sure. Although mostly harmless, these guys were a real pain in the neck. Whenever she performed one of her ‘light shows’ in the mall, which everyone raved about, by the way, in under two minutes flat, they’d be there to spoil everyone’s fun.
The energy sparks were wildly glowering in the air before the crowd, everyone laughing or staring motionless at the ‘magic’ young Jubilation was creating.
“Think she’s a mutant?” One kid’s voice came.
“Who cares, barf butt, she’s neat!” Came another shortly after. However, it appeared that the mall cops were putting in some overtime as a group of them continued to charge at her from before she even noticed them.
“Sorry folks!” She quickly yelped as she bolted down the other end of the hallway, zipping past the arcade, the beauty shop, the sports equipment store, and a few other stores in her attempt to lose the tubby jerks. But they were coming at her faster than she would’ve liked. So she thought for a hot second and jumped up onto the guarder railing that overlooked the floor below her. In front of her, however, hung a decorative art piece of large scraps of sanded down metal attached to chains that came from about two floor above her, on the ceiling. She always thought that it was hideous, but this day, she was grateful that it was still around.
Laughing softly to herself, she canted her head back towards the mall security as she was about to jump.
“No!” One of them shouted.
“O, let’er jump. Then we wouldn’t have t’deal with her shenanigans anymore!” The senior, and fattest rent-a-cop exclaimed.
“The name’s Jubilee! Cuz’ with me, every day’s a celebration!”
She jumped.
She swung.
She landed gracefully, thanks to the gymnastics training she’d gone through, basically, since birth. She escaped.
The Beverly Center Mall, that same instant…
“Jubilee? Are you all right?” Came the voice of Vange as her entire world was reformed back into that of reality. A daydream. A daydream that was bittersweet in it’s realness.
She shook her head slightly and cracked a smirk. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just… thinking is all.” She said, looking out at the valley of stores in front of her. Many different levels, not unlike the mall in her dreams, but still; a mall’s a mall.
The Ex-Mutants were sent there with an allowance that was given to them, courtesy, of course, of the Warren Worthington fund. After the Alliance attacked, and they lost their powers, many of them were literally left with nothing. And given that there’s no price on a person’s happiness and the fact that the shelter was set in the pricey land of Los Angeles, each person was given a hefty sum of spending money. Twenty-thousand dollars to be precise! Once again, though, it was the whole bittersweet thing. “I hate money.” Jubilee complained, mournfully as she looked over at each of her companions, who, for this trip, were Vange, Molly, Leech, Cynthia, and Wasp, as their chaperone. Vange wore a face of sympathy for a moment. “You know, Jubes, you don’t have to-“ “OH, I’m gonna spend it.” She retorted before Vange could finish.
“Oh. Ok then.”
Their attention was drawn, then, to a television screen that was droning on in the electronics store beside them. The location, San Francisco scrolled across and since it was relatively close to them, they figured they might as well see what all the fuss was about. The broadcast went a little something like this:
“In most areas around the country, the threat of an uprising, either mutant or otherwise, is virtually at zero probability. But after the events that shook the San Francisco community last night, a growing unappeasement between neighbors alike is starting to doubt those figures. For more on this story, here’s Suzanne Jenkins.” The broadcast switched to San Francisco and what seemed to be smoke in the background until the reporter moved. Behind her stood absolute destruction.
“Thank you, Tom. It’s what San Francisco residents are calling a nightmare; something that has shaken this community to such a severe degree since the great fire. Witnesses claim that around Ten P.M. last night, a bright light filled the sky, and some claim that they saw a person in the midst of the alleged energy. Shortly afterwards, it was like a bomb went off. Chaos ensued in the streets and buildings simply melted away. It’s something unexplainable at this moment, but I’m here to say that the worse is probably still yet to come. I’m Suzanne Jenkins, and back to you, Tom.”
“Thank you, Suzanne.”
Haven... Bedtime on the Thirteenth and a Half Floor...
Jubilee’s face plowed into the pillow and the rest of her body soon followed the plummet to the bed. The entire day, the group had been buying supplies for their rooms and shopping for groceries for the kitchen and the likes of which Paris Hilton had never seen before. With such a large amassment of people coming from Haven to the mall with such a large stack of cash, it was sure to clean them out in another few hours if it hadn’t of closed. Jubilee bought the following:
-Sugar Bombs Cereal
-Economy packs of bubble gum
-Ipod - lime green
-Jeans and t-shirts
-One yellow, leather jacket... for old time’s sake.
As she drifted off to sleep, she once again thought about the fate of Rogue and what would happen to her now that she was staying at another mansion using up someone else’s money. It wasn’t satisfying. It wasn’t going to bring her powers back. And it definitely wasn’t going to bring Wolverine back. And it really, most definitely wasn’t going to make her stop thinking about all of these unpleasant things as she attempted to get some sleep. But somehow or another, the night grew long and she finally gave in. Goodnight, Jubilee.
Epilogue ...
A fluke. Some sort of unexplainable freak of nature. A beam of light. Something whose properties couldn’t be precisely pinpointed. And it was getting closer. No, in fact, it was already there! The Thirteenth and a Half Floor. Everyone was asleep. They didn’t feel a thing. It was an accident. It was an accident...
To be continued in...
Ex-Mutants: The Wild Bunch!
With the rise of a mutant empire on the horizon, it seemed like nothing would be able to put a damper on the face of the Alliance. Taking control of world conglomerates and becoming self-proclaimed inheritors of the world at large, they even managed to bring down the legendary X-Men. But the backlash of one mutant’s insanity brought a world-wide state of chaos. The Scarlet Witch erased virtually every mutant’s x-gene, pitting friend against friend and turning some enemies into allies. For a group of former mutants, hope is all they have to offer now...
The Coffee Bean, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California...
She swirled at the mug of coffee she was served, sitting beside a window that let warm, Los Angeles sunlight fall onto her face and the hood of her cloaked companion. She’d managed to get herself out of the ragged clothes that she’d been in when the mansion was attacked, and into something that she’d swiped from the Beverly Center Mall across the street. Even security these days was no match for her fast fingers and even faster mouth. But that was about all she had now. No more lights. No more adventures. It was time to face the real world. Only this time, she had no power left to fight it with.
“Whatcha thinkin’ about, kid?” Asked her friend, whose body was shrouded in a green velvet, hooded cape. For the record; crazier fashions had been worn in that area before. So really it was no biggie.
The girl huffed and rested her face against her hand, looking across the table through her sun goggles. She didn’t need them anymore. But as the old saying goes; old habits don’t let friends drive drunk. Or something like that. She continued to stir at her coffee and sighed again. “I’m thinking that I can’t believe you’re going to take me this far and just leave...” Was all she wanted to say for fear of choking up or something equally as embarrassing.
“Jubilee...” The cloak started. “I can’t even be trusted with myself. Dontcha understand? It’s a bleedin’ miracle I haven’t tried rippin’ you to shreds when I don’t have myself in check. I can’t keep you with me. And you sure as hell know that going back to the mansion isn’t an option.”
“I heard talk that they were rebuilding.” Jubilee said, not taking her eyes from the coffee, holding dread in her heart as she knew exactly where this was going.
“Talk is talk. An’ a mutant school ain’t gonna be able t’help a girl who ain’t a mutant no more. I’m doin’ this to protect you, Jubilee.”
“So I heard. You better get going. The shuttle’s going to be here soon to whisk me away for a fun, fabulous rest of my life in a gutted hotel to house losers like me.”
“Y’might get lucky and share a room with Tom Cruise. The guy’s weird enough to pass as un-human.” The cloak smirked under the hood and Jubilee smiled too, reaching over the tabletop to give her companion one last hug before departure. “Y’better not, kid.” Came the gruff voice as the green cloak moved from the booth and made it’s way over to the door. Before leaving, however, the hood was slid back, to reveal the face of a true friend.
“I won’t be a stranger, sugah.” Came the more smooth and tame voice of a truly disturbed true friend. And after the faded emerald glimmer of her left eye disappeared in the form of a farewell wink, she was gone.
Jubilee was alone once again.
Haven, formerly the Le Meridien Hotel on La Cienega Boulevard...
The shuttle puttered to a stop in front of the limestone and gray rock building that was formerly the lush and luxurious Le Meridien. Now it was a mutant shelter. Correction; ex-mutant shelter. Word on the street was that it was a non-profit center that would benefit and protect former mutants from solicitation, harm, and possible death at the hands of today’s predators. It was also rumored that the Alliance had some sort of connection with the place. And if it was one thing Jubilation Lee couldn’t stand, boy was it ever a bad rumor.
Twin, faded red converse sneakers plopped down to the concrete in the front area of Haven. She had no luggage, so that made it easy enough to scout out the front before being ushered in by one of the security guards standing outside of the lobby doors. To the right, against the building, a couple of workers toiled away at cleaning off and repainting a wall that had the words, “Here’s your mutant judgement!” written in some sort of spray paint. Knowing the country they now lived in, the perpetrator was hunted down and executed about a minute or two after he’d emptied the can. So, it wasn’t exactly Mister Roger’s Rail Road Smiley Village, if you know what I mean.
Walking into the place, you wouldn’t have guessed it was for a community of former mutants. The Alliance treated most, if not all depowered mutants as humans or worse. Marble and limestone decor made up the entirety of the foyer area. Large pillars of different hues of earth tones rose up to a concave ceiling that mimicked the carvings of famous Victorian sculptors. Fragile looking rose-glass lamps hid in almost every corner and beside every lounge sofa, creating a genuine ‘hotel’ feel about the shelter. The Alliance knew everything. And if the Alliance knew about this place, it definitely wouldn’t look like this.
“I could get used to this.” Jubilee said under her breath. The luxury was something she grew quite comfortable with as she was raised by rich parents and led the ‘Hilton’ lifestyle up until about age twelve.
Almost immediately, a woman dressed in a black pencil skirt and matching blazer wearing a pair of black stilettos greeted her, her own footsteps clacking through the marble hallway. “Hello there.” She said with a smile. She looked very Beverly Hills.
“Yo.” Jubilee uttered, glancing around at the ceiling which was molded into intricate details and sort of ‘melted’ into the upper portions of the walls. The rest of Haven was designed basically the same way.
“You must be Jubilation Lee.” The receptionist mentioned with a toothy grin.
“And the prize goes to...”
“I’m Marilyn. I’m the resident liaison for Haven and I received a little note saying that you might be arriving today. Can I have someone help you with your bags?” She asked politely.
Jubilee glanced around herself, puzzled by the fact that the woman saw that she had no luggage around her. “If they get too heavy, we’ll talk. Is the rest of this place as nice as the foy-yay?” She asked, smirking slightly as she continued to admire the view.
“I’m sure you’ll find that the establishment will keep you well assured and have a ‘taken care of’ feeling as you wake up to fresh breakfast in bed and complimentary health spa packages.” The woman purred, almost like she’d said this spiel about a dozen times in the last few days.
“Seriously?” Jubilee exclaimed, gazing wide-eyed at the young hotel rep. “The ‘well-taken-care-of’ deal sounds kind of gangster, and not in the hip teen lingo kinda way, but the rest sounds pretty amazing. Why the special treatment?” She asked, arching a brow, thinking that in her short, but physically and emotionally expansive life, she’d never experienced such hospitality from a stranger. Especially not for being a mutant. Oh, well, ex mutant, I guess.
Marilyn laughed as she brought her arm out, branching it towards the elevator. “If you’ll follow me, I can show you to a room, and I’ll be able to explain the purpose of Haven a little better.”
“Cool.”
The Thirteenth and a Half Floor...
Elevator moments with strangers that have entered your life within a span of twenty minutes or less are generally really awkward. Oh look! Here comes one now!
Glancing at the buttons on the elevator, Jubilee noticed that there was no thirteenth floor button. After twelve, it went directly into the number fourteen, which caused Jubes to quirk a brow. “Hey.” She started. “Where’s the button thirteen?”
“Oh, that’s sort of hotel superstition. The thirteenth floor is usually just re-labeled as floor number fourteen.” She stifled a chuckle. “Just in case!” That couldn’t have been too reassuring.
“Oh.”
The elevator opened up into the thirteenth and a half floor, since floor thirteen never had a chance in hell, and since floor fourteen was hogging all the glory, and Marilyn strode out, with the grungy-looking teen following her footsteps out into the freshly carpeted floor of maroon hue. Marilyn continued on her speech of why the hotel functioned the way it did. “Ever since the effects of Miss Maximoff’s genetic assault caused so many poor innocents to lose their powers, this foundation was opened to house those individuals that must have felt so devastated after losing such an important part of themselves.”
Jubilee scoffed and dug her hands into the pockets of her faded yellow sweatshirt. “You say that like you know what it felt like. Were you a mutant?”
“All three of my children were. They all had abilities that made them different from everyone else, so I got to know them as much as any mother would her child.” Her tone turned sour as she brought a hand to the side of her face as the two ladies made their way down the hall. “Two of them didn’t survive the transformation.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You say that like you know what it feels like.”
Jubilee smiled and looked to Marilyn. Marilyn nodded a silent agreement and Jubilee decided that she might not be as fake as she seemed at first glance.
Room 704, the Thirteenth and a Half Floor...
The door clicked open and Jubilee practically poured into the room, giddy as a first day of school child. What she found made her quite extraordinarily happy at the moment. A wide-screen, High Definition, plasma television sat in an oak entertainment center that spanned the space of a normal hotel bed. The rest of the room was equally impressive with lavish sheets, computer with free high-speed internet hook up, a refrigerator, several software systems, a little, but expensive looking kitchen, and a mint on the pillow. A Godiva mint on the pillow. From her open-mouth stare, she quickly composed herself as she turned to Marilyn who was waiting patiently, smiling like she often did.
“Ok, now would be a good time to ask-“ Jubilee started before Marilyn cut her off.
“As I was saying before. Losing a mutant ability is like cutting off a person’s sense. Something they were born with and don’t know how to cope with once they’ve lost it. This place exists to pamper you, to help heal you, and to help protect you. Our founder is quite rich and was more than happy to be able to contribute such a lucrative amount.”
“And who’s the loaded founder?”
“Mr. Warren Worthington the Third. Not only rich, but a handsome man as well.” Marilyn stated, her cheeks flushing at the thought of it.
“Hey, I know him!”
“I figured you might.” Marilyn said with a wink before she went ahead and made herself comfortable on a sofa-stuffed chair by the window. She figured Jubes wouldn’t mind. “The X-Men are world famous! When it came out to the press that a fellow L.A. heiress-“
“Former heiress.” Jubilee corrected quickly, beginning to feel the buzz that was celebrity.
“-was a member of the X-Men, it sent the whole town talking!” She finished with a sign of glee on her face.
Jubilee smiled and fell back into the feather-topped blanketed bed that felt so good to be in after weeks of constant, and unfortunately uncomfortable travel, and stretched out her arms. “I can’t believe you’ve heard of me! Like, no one who recognizes me says that! They’re always like, ‘Hey aren’t you that girl that’s always being held hostage when the X-Men fight’? And so I have to correct ‘em all and say, ‘No, I’m the girl who always, always gets photographed by the newspapers after a battle starts in the street and some creep just puts me in a strong-hold for the duration. It’s so insulting...” She trailed off and glancing over to Marilyn who was already gone; a note left on the table. It said she was sorry, but her beeper went off and that meant she had to attend to a new arrival and that she’d check in with her later. She also gave her the number for the kitchen, the drivers, and the front desk, just in case. It was time to get settled in.
Bedtime on the Thirteenth and a Half Floor...
Dear Wolvie-Slash-Rogue-Or-Whatever,
Looks like you were right about this place. Things seem to actually be genuine around here thanks to the fact that Warren owns it. Seriously, who knew!? Well... You probably did, but that’s only because you’re also Rogue and Rogue knew a lot about him, I think. I... don’t really know.
To tell you the truth, I still haven’t really had time to come to terms with you... um... absorbing Wolverine. Is that the right word??? I know you didn’t mean to, so there’s no hard feelings there, but I figured you oughta know that since you kind of have his essence now, and please read that last part like you would without thinking of an innuendo, then you’re my Wolvie now, too.
Just don’t go making a big deal out of it, or whatever.
Well it looks like I’ve got a lot to do to plan for tomorrow, and the top of the list includes sleep. It also includes shopping and Jake Gyllenhaal in a pirate costume. So I guess I’ll talk to you whenever you open this message which is incredibly unlikely...
So in that case, I drank a pack of your beer over the course of the trip and now you can’t get mad at me! Haha!
P.S. Since you won’t be reading this message anyway... I love you.
Jubilee...
The next morning, Lobby...
“All right everybody, no pushing!” Came the voice of Janet Van Dyne. The Wasp. She and a few other superhumans were helping out at Haven, mostly on the front of security, but also making sure that the depowered mutants were well taken care of and served as councilors for the more troubled crowd. After all, not all of the ex mutants were working for the good guys prior to the Scarlet Witch episode.
The reason for the early morning gathering, besides breakfast, was for official room assignments to be announced. Not everyone was escorted quite so quickly as for young Jubilation. Some arrived within the day and some were simply put on the ‘waiting list’ to make up good pairings.
The group of individuals crowded around the sheet of paper that was tacked to a cork board that was put up specifically for that day in the main lounge area of the sanctuary. Jubilee, however, made it to the gathering at her own pace.
Shuffling out of the elevator, Jubilee made her way to the rambunxious group and turned her attention to the only person she knew at first glance; Shatterstar. She’d met him once or twice when X-Force stayed at the Massachusetts Academy, back when she was with Generation X. They never said hi or anything, but she knew enough about him to introduce herself. “Hey there.” She piped up, shyly. “What’s going on?”
He turned to her and quirked a brow. “Room assignments.” He said simply. By what she gathered, Shatterstar had turned his aggression into art since he’d lost his powers. If you wanna call an entire body covered in tribal tattoos and symbols art, that is. His usually long red hair was chopped short into a very California cut. Obviously, he was crying out for help.
“I’m Jubilee.” She introduced, glancing over to the board and then back to him. “What floor are you on?” She asked, trying to keep up the pace with this guy. Man, could he ever talk a girl’s ear off. You get the sarcasm, right?
“Fourteen. And I know who you are. You are the hostage girl, correct?”
At this comment, Jubilee had two choices. Either she could blow it way out of proportion and cause a scene or she could walk away.
It was f#$%in’ on.
“Actually no. No. I was an X-Man! Jesus, and what are you, huh?! I thought you were an alien or something! I thought only mutants could lose their powers! And if that’s the case, your alien ability must be ‘the ability to tork me off’ you-“
An intervention. And not a moment too soon as Jubilee’s fists were raised and Shatterstar stood unflinching. Rather bored, actually.
“Is there a problem here?” Asked the voice of a tall blonde by the name of Teddy Altman. Hulkling. He was a member of the Young Avengers. Back when there were Young Avengers. Which really wasn’t that long ago in all honesty. But whatever.
She huffed and put her hands down, shaking an imaginary cramp out of her neck before she gave out a nonchalant, “Nah, it’s cool.”
“Good. It’s the first day here for a lot of folks. Wouldn’t want them to get the wrong impression now, would we?” He said with a smile and a wink. What was with all of the winking recently?
“Whatever.” She said with an eyeroll, walking away from the jerky alien-mutant punk and the weird camp-councilor-teen. She strolled over to the board to get a load of who she was going to be ‘dorming’ with on the Thirteenth and a Half Floor.
“What losers am I stuck with for the duration?” She uttered under her breath as she pushed herself through the crowd, uncaring. See, the good part of being a girl and Asian was that you could be rude at any given interval and not get grief about it for fear that you might karate chop someone or pull a Samurai sword out of nowhere and start beheading like mad.
Unless you were rude to another Asian. Then it just an old-fashioned fist fight. And Jubilee learned that lesson in third grade when she attended a Lee family reunion in Bel Air. Courtesy of her father, of course.
“Outta the way! Comin’ through!” She shouted, staying as far away from Wasp as she could, because she’d probably get a tongue lashing seeing as she was one of the younger peers in the household. She drew a finger down the paper and scaled down to the Thirteenth and a Half Floor and saw the list of names. They included Evangeline Whedon, Cynthia Sommers, Shatterstar (barf), Molly Hayes, Longshot (he’s another one, isn’t he?), Kyle Gibney, who it turns out was basically a shut-in after he lost his mutant powers and to this hour hasn’t come out of his hotel suite. Lame-o. And some other people.
Sighing to herself as she realized she knew approximately zero people, she tilted her head to the left and glanced other to see the coolest Anime-looking bunny hat she’d ever seen since she’d visited the Sang-Rio outlet in New York City. Her gaze drifted about a foot down until she met the warm brown eyes of the coolest looking little girl in the entire city. She wore an expression of curiosity and she had some sort of colorful plastic bag gripped tight in her hands. She was chewing something sweet; Jubilee could smell it. Blue Raspberry Bubble-Yum to be precise. It was a habit, ok?
“Want some sweeties?” She asked simply, but with that childish innocence that Dakota Fanning wishes she could pull off. What was it? The burning in her right eye. It kind of annoyed the hell out of her. What was it? Christ.. And it’s wet! Gross... Her eye was leaking. A tear? Yep, it was a tear. Then. It hit! An overwhelming sense of warmth and cuddliness. Jubes wrapped her arms around the young girl immediately and gave her a little squeeze.
“Fffwennnd...” She muffled like the Frankenstein monsters on T.V.
Around noon, the Haven Dining Lodge...
As it turned out, the girl’s name was Molly Hayes. So it’s pretty lucky that the one person she actually thought she could get along with was staying on the Thirteenth and a Half Floor. Also, it turns out that Molly has a candy stash the size of a small fortune underneath the bed in her room. Their conversation was already in progress, so we’ll just pick up... here!
“So starting today, they say we’re gonna bunk, because so many people have showed up, that they don’t know where t’put em all, so we’re all gonna share rooms.” She stated like a hyperactive pre-teen girl. Ah, the golden years. “And I don’t know about you, but it’s really gonna suck!” She emphasized, looking at Jubilee with eyes that looked like she was mourning her bunny or something.
“Oh, please don’t look at me like that again ever. It’s too cute. Gonna barf. Capishe?”
“Capishe.” Molly smiled.
“Well do we get to choose our roommates or what?”
“Dunno. I’m s’pposed’a have ‘Vange with me at all times so I don’t get lost or something. Or kidnapped. What’s gettin’ kidnapped like?” Molly asked, wide-eyed.
Fight it, Jubilee. Fight it!
“Not fun.”
‘Atta girl.
“So where is she now?” Asked Jubilee, shoving in a mouthful of scrambled eggs.
“There you are!” Came the voice of the devil as Evangeline Whedon sped past the tables of other guests and rushed towards Molly with a look of severity burning through the atmosphere. “I know it’s opening day and everything, Molly, but you have to stay where I can see you, all right?”
Molly glanced down at her plate, looking remorseful, and Jubilee looked over to the woman that failed to introduce herself. “I’m Vange Whedon.” She said, sticking out her hand to shake, and Jubilee awkwardly took it and Vange took a seat next to her.
“I’m Jubilee.” She said for the third time that day.
“Pleasure. Have you had time to get acquainted with any of the others today?” She asked, setting her cup of coffee down, which was virtually empty after the bumpy run over to the table.
“Not really. Just Molly here and this other guy that’s staying on the Thirteenth and a Half Floor.”
“Thirteenth and a Half Floor?” Vange repeated, inquisitively.
“Nevermind. Anyway, are you here for mental healing and all that jazz? The place seems to think it’ll do a whole lotta good.”
“Actually, I never really used my mutant powers all that much. And they’re pretty easy to control just as long as I don’t see any blood.” Vange made a gross-out face and continued. “I can basically turn into a pretty angry dragon when I’m upset or see blood. It’s kind of hard to explain, but I was always usually good in temperament considering what I do for a living.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m a lawyer. I actually live about twenty minutes away, and when I heard they were opening this place, I decided to pitch in and now I’m taking care of Molly.” She smiled and looked over to Molly and ruffled a hand through her hair and Molly stuck her tongue out. “We’re slowly creating a bond.” She said wryly which caused Jubilee to snicker.
“So... you don’t miss it or anything?” Jubilee questioned.
“Not really. I mean, like I said, I was never acquainted with my own powers all that much until I lost control. Which wasn’t too often.”
A moment of pause went through the group and it seemed a few of the guests were abandoning their tables to convalesce in the group room. “Incidentally, are you coming to the group meeting?” Vange asked, wiping the sides of her mouth with a napkin.
She made a face and shook her head. “Nah. I don’t really do that kind of thing.”
Molly propped her head up and clasped her hands together. “Oh, please, Jubes! Everyone in there’s gonna be talking about boring stuff and Vange is gonna make me sit there and be quiet the whole time! You have to come!” Evangeline nodded at the statement and half-smirked. “She’s got a point, Ms. Lee.”
“Fine, I’ll go. But you’re forbidden to use your little girl charm while in my presence for the rest of your life, got it? Or... at least until you’re thirteen. Then all you’ll be worried about is boys, make-up, and shopping. So you’ll probably be my best friend.”
Not too much longer in the Group Room...
“Hello. My name is Telford Porter. And I am... was... a teleporter.” Came the voice of the former villain, Vanisher, the rest of the inhabitants of Haven sitting neatly in chairs spread out in rows, each person taking time to come up to the podium and say their peace in order for the group to get more familiar with their co-habitants and to discuss the issues that involved being an ex-mutant in today’s society. What it meant, and what it took to survive were some of the main points that surrounded said issues.
“Yeah right!” A voice called from the back. Jubilee. “Is that your real name? ‘Cuz we’re not superpowered anymore, so it kinda defeats the purpose of having an alias.” She said, matter-o-factly. In the back row sat Jubilee, Vange, Molly, Longshot, and Leech. The doors were barred by The Wasp and Hulkling. I guess so you’d be forced to suffer listening to everyone’s speech.
Vanisher simply looked at the girl from his place at the podium, stunned, and glanced over to Janet towards the back. “Respect, please.” Wasp hushed to Jubilee and Molly’s giggles died down. She tightened her lips, crossed her arms, and dipped down lower in her seat; peeved.
The rest of the session went by, boringly, without a hitch. Hi my name’s Longshot and I’m not so lucky. Hi, I’m Angel and I’m not-so-disgusting anymore. Hi. Me Leech and Me still talk like this... Snoozefest is what I’m saying.
Then it was her turn to give a little something about herself and after a hard shove from Vange, she was out of her seat and walking down the aisle. She felt glares of hatred burning into the back of her head as she made her way to the podium and she thought, “This must be why everyone hates me.” She shrugged and tapped the mic when she became situated.
“Hi, I’m Jubilee.”
“Hi Jubilee!” The crowd roared. A bit too snidely, I must admit.
“Hey.”
She cleared her throat and continued. “I’m a five-foot-two, Chinese-American female. I seek Single-Male-Seeking-Asian-Spitfire. I enjoy long walks on the beach, videogames, sugar, and blowing stuff up. Even without my powers.” The expression on her face was deadpan.
“If this is an issue for you, I recommend a change of residence. Thank you and God bless.” She said as she strode off the stage and sat down back in her seat, again, feeling the burn of annoyance into her scalp as she made the journey. She didn’t care. It was her. And if they liked it or not, it’s who they were going to have to get used to. Get to like, even. Love, actually.
The Beverlywood Galleria Mall, that afternoon…
“Come one, come all! Step right up to witness magic like you’ve never seen it before!” Jubilee was tossing harmless pieces of plasma energy into the air before the crowd, causing a series of ‘oos’ and ‘ahhs’. Living on the street was lame. It was cold at night, all the bums had hogged all the public shelters and blankets, and she was the newbie on their turf. So she’d have to come up with a little spot of her own. She’d have to one up every other person that’d been living on the streets their entire lives, whereas she was doing it for the past month or so. And that’s when the idea hit. Why not the mall? Plenty of nooks and crannies, and plenty of food and anything else you’d need to live there; it was perfect!
Unfortunately, however, there were security guards all over the place! And not your typical, gun-wielding, safe-guarding security guards at that; lame-o, rent-a-cop, mall security guards. You can understand the difference, I’m sure. Although mostly harmless, these guys were a real pain in the neck. Whenever she performed one of her ‘light shows’ in the mall, which everyone raved about, by the way, in under two minutes flat, they’d be there to spoil everyone’s fun.
The energy sparks were wildly glowering in the air before the crowd, everyone laughing or staring motionless at the ‘magic’ young Jubilation was creating.
“Think she’s a mutant?” One kid’s voice came.
“Who cares, barf butt, she’s neat!” Came another shortly after. However, it appeared that the mall cops were putting in some overtime as a group of them continued to charge at her from before she even noticed them.
“Sorry folks!” She quickly yelped as she bolted down the other end of the hallway, zipping past the arcade, the beauty shop, the sports equipment store, and a few other stores in her attempt to lose the tubby jerks. But they were coming at her faster than she would’ve liked. So she thought for a hot second and jumped up onto the guarder railing that overlooked the floor below her. In front of her, however, hung a decorative art piece of large scraps of sanded down metal attached to chains that came from about two floor above her, on the ceiling. She always thought that it was hideous, but this day, she was grateful that it was still around.
Laughing softly to herself, she canted her head back towards the mall security as she was about to jump.
“No!” One of them shouted.
“O, let’er jump. Then we wouldn’t have t’deal with her shenanigans anymore!” The senior, and fattest rent-a-cop exclaimed.
“The name’s Jubilee! Cuz’ with me, every day’s a celebration!”
She jumped.
She swung.
She landed gracefully, thanks to the gymnastics training she’d gone through, basically, since birth. She escaped.
The Beverly Center Mall, that same instant…
“Jubilee? Are you all right?” Came the voice of Vange as her entire world was reformed back into that of reality. A daydream. A daydream that was bittersweet in it’s realness.
She shook her head slightly and cracked a smirk. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just… thinking is all.” She said, looking out at the valley of stores in front of her. Many different levels, not unlike the mall in her dreams, but still; a mall’s a mall.
The Ex-Mutants were sent there with an allowance that was given to them, courtesy, of course, of the Warren Worthington fund. After the Alliance attacked, and they lost their powers, many of them were literally left with nothing. And given that there’s no price on a person’s happiness and the fact that the shelter was set in the pricey land of Los Angeles, each person was given a hefty sum of spending money. Twenty-thousand dollars to be precise! Once again, though, it was the whole bittersweet thing. “I hate money.” Jubilee complained, mournfully as she looked over at each of her companions, who, for this trip, were Vange, Molly, Leech, Cynthia, and Wasp, as their chaperone. Vange wore a face of sympathy for a moment. “You know, Jubes, you don’t have to-“ “OH, I’m gonna spend it.” She retorted before Vange could finish.
“Oh. Ok then.”
Their attention was drawn, then, to a television screen that was droning on in the electronics store beside them. The location, San Francisco scrolled across and since it was relatively close to them, they figured they might as well see what all the fuss was about. The broadcast went a little something like this:
“In most areas around the country, the threat of an uprising, either mutant or otherwise, is virtually at zero probability. But after the events that shook the San Francisco community last night, a growing unappeasement between neighbors alike is starting to doubt those figures. For more on this story, here’s Suzanne Jenkins.” The broadcast switched to San Francisco and what seemed to be smoke in the background until the reporter moved. Behind her stood absolute destruction.
“Thank you, Tom. It’s what San Francisco residents are calling a nightmare; something that has shaken this community to such a severe degree since the great fire. Witnesses claim that around Ten P.M. last night, a bright light filled the sky, and some claim that they saw a person in the midst of the alleged energy. Shortly afterwards, it was like a bomb went off. Chaos ensued in the streets and buildings simply melted away. It’s something unexplainable at this moment, but I’m here to say that the worse is probably still yet to come. I’m Suzanne Jenkins, and back to you, Tom.”
“Thank you, Suzanne.”
Haven... Bedtime on the Thirteenth and a Half Floor...
Jubilee’s face plowed into the pillow and the rest of her body soon followed the plummet to the bed. The entire day, the group had been buying supplies for their rooms and shopping for groceries for the kitchen and the likes of which Paris Hilton had never seen before. With such a large amassment of people coming from Haven to the mall with such a large stack of cash, it was sure to clean them out in another few hours if it hadn’t of closed. Jubilee bought the following:
-Sugar Bombs Cereal
-Economy packs of bubble gum
-Ipod - lime green
-Jeans and t-shirts
-One yellow, leather jacket... for old time’s sake.
As she drifted off to sleep, she once again thought about the fate of Rogue and what would happen to her now that she was staying at another mansion using up someone else’s money. It wasn’t satisfying. It wasn’t going to bring her powers back. And it definitely wasn’t going to bring Wolverine back. And it really, most definitely wasn’t going to make her stop thinking about all of these unpleasant things as she attempted to get some sleep. But somehow or another, the night grew long and she finally gave in. Goodnight, Jubilee.
Epilogue ...
A fluke. Some sort of unexplainable freak of nature. A beam of light. Something whose properties couldn’t be precisely pinpointed. And it was getting closer. No, in fact, it was already there! The Thirteenth and a Half Floor. Everyone was asleep. They didn’t feel a thing. It was an accident. It was an accident...
To be continued in...
Ex-Mutants: The Wild Bunch!
Hi there! I haven't blogged in years, so this time I think I'll do it a little diferently,,,
To start off, hello. :) I'm basically here to get feedback from some of my stories. And, yes, give some feedback in return. My fics are almost all generated from the X universe, so if you're rolling your eyes about now, it's totally cool to leave. All of my stories are posted on uncannyxmen.net, but I wanted to go to a different audiance and gain their propective and criticisms. :) Well, that about settles it! Hope you all look forward to ussie number one.
-Roman
-Roman
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