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!
