"So, just why are we going to the mansion when it's been gutted, sir? I mean, is it safe?"
The sun was just rising as the kids all helped out packing the car for the day's coming road trip. The morning was somewhat dismal - the clouds from last night's rain weren't quite cleared, and the sun hadn't quite broken through yet.
Perfect for Halloween, thought Sean. But he had to answer Everett's question.
"Because, Everett, the X-Men are family," Sean said as he packed another cooler in the back, "An sometimes we need tae be reminded of it."
"So, exactly what are we going for? A big dinner for Halloween, and games and costumes and stuff?"
Sean smirked a little. "Aye. And, it's sort of a 'welcome home' for a few old friends."
Everett arched his brow as he hefted one of the boxes. An overnight party at the mansion. Complete with old friends of Mr. Cassidy's. Maybe that would help him get over that funk he'd been in during the past three months. The pair had been packing the Blazer for almost an hour now, while Angelo and Paige packed the second car- a plain, pale blue mini-van.
With the last bag in the Blazer, the two looked over at the backup van. Sean would be driving the Blazer, with Gayle, Jonothon, Jubilee and Everett as passengers, while Angelo would be driving Monet, Paige, and Penance in the van.
"How goes it?" Sean called over, and Angelo and Paige looked up from putting Monet's admittedly weighty overnight bag in the car.
"Almost ready." Angelo called back. "We just gotta get Penance into the back, after we get these bags in place."
Sean nodded, and then looked at Everett, putting a hand on the young man's shoulder. "Thank ye, Everett, ye were a good help. Now go help Angelo and Paige finish with that, will ye, and then we'll head out."
Everett nodded and moved off. Sean watched the boy go, and then looked across the quad. Monet, Jubilee, Jono, and Gayle, who'd all gotten out of packing for one reason or another, were all waiting for the call that they could get in and begin the six-hour drive to Westchester. It wouldn't be that long, but it was long enough that some had grabbed headsets, books, and other little things to entertain them. And, at eight o'clock, when the last bag was put into the van, and Angelo worked at coaxing Penny in behind it, Sean gathered the rest and got them into their respective vehicles. Perhaps it was going to be a long drive, after all.
In the Blazer, Jonothon, Everett, and Jubilee crammed into the back seat while Gayle sat up front. She gazed quietly out the window, as she secured her hair in a ponytail with a pale green scrunchie.
"So, who are the friends that you're going to get to see? Other X-Men?"
"Aye," Sean said as he got the car started up. "Kitty, Kurt, an' Peter. Kurt an' Peter joined the X-Men back when I did, an' Kitty followed sometime later. It'll be nice tae see them an' have them closer now that Excalibur has been disbanded."
Gayle suddenly gave him a sharp look- anyone from England knew about Excalibur and their many exploits. "They disbanded?"
"Aye," replied Sean again, but thought nothing of the pensive look that she turned in to the window. "Ye situated back there?" He called back to the trio crammed in the back.
Muffled replies of "Yeh, yeh," drifted forward in response.
Sean nodded, and then headed out of the driveway, Angelo following in the van close behind. As Jubilee started up her 'driving chatter', the kids settled in for the long drive ahead, and Sean just kept himself occupied with thoughts of a nice, cold beer with Kurt and Peter and some relaxation away from the kids, if just for a moment or two.
Sitting on the porch, Ororo, Kurt, Logan, and Piotr awaited one of the final arrivals. "And there he is," Kurt said softly, his yellow eyes glittering as he watched the two cars pull up in the drive and stop, "So strange to have all of the second genesis here, except for Shiro and John." From the van came a gray-skinned young man that rushed to the back - and threw open the doors - and was almost run over by a streak of red and black which darted for the treeline.
"And it seems that the fourth generation of mutants is just as varied as the rest of the students that Xavier had gathered the first three times," Ororo noted.
Logan nodded quietly, and a smile touched his lips as he saw Jubilee and her companions piling out of the car. However, his nostrils flared and he caught a new scent.
"They've got a new girl in the brood, it seems," he said, as he took in her scent. His eyes darkened. There was something wrong with that girl, and he didn't like it. She carried decay and pain in her scent.
The rest of the kids began to unload the car while Sean got out. Logan pointed out for Piotr and Kurt a gray-skinned youth in particular, with whom Sean was speaking with. "Angelo," he said as the three men looked on, "A good kid."
Logan surmised- headmaster and student were having a few had a few words about the girl who'd just darted for the treeline... and Sean didn't seem to particularly pleased. Angelo went trudging after her as Sean came up the stairs, leading the kids with their overnight bags and their coolers and bags the mansion.
"Madre de dios, Penance"
The first thing that Angelo wanted here was lunch. Lunch, after driving six hours. Oh, and to find a bathroom after imbibing three jolts over the said six hour drive. Not to mention a smoke- Paige and Monet refused to have him drive and smoke at the same time. It's what he got for being packed into a car with three girls- two of which were anal about not smelling like cigarette smoke when they greeted the X-Men. If he could, they certainly could.
What he didn't want to be doing was to be chasing after the most mysterious Generation X-er, who had promptly dashed for the woods after getting out of the van. Honestly, he could understand why- hell, he wanted to run and stretch his legs! Just not out into the middle of the woods.
As he trudged, he did pull out a cigarette and his lighter. Might as well light up now, since McCoy had made the mansion a 'smoke free' environment. So you be could be assaulted by Sentinels, bashed by Zero Tolerance, but lung cancer was out of the question.
Finally, the rustling in the bushes clued him off. There was a quiet sound, and then a brick-red face poked out of the bushes.
He glared down at her, his luminescent blue eyes meeting hers. "Christ, Penny, c'mon back. There's no reason to go running into the woods here. Everything's okay." She crept from the bushes, tilted her face up to his, eyes intent on his expression, then looked toward the mansion and then back at him, that childlike face unreadable.
"Yes, Penny. Back to the mansion."
She didn't move.
Angelo made a low, frustrated sound, and said, "Penny, c'mon, Seņor Cassidy is going to be all over my punk a-- for lettin' you get over here in the first place. You need to come with me."
She still didn't move.
Finally he threw up his hands, and began to stalk back to the mansion. Penance would move when she wanted, and eventually, she'd return. They should have sent Jono or Jubilee after her. After all, she responded far better to either of them then she did to him.
The Latino boy just sighed heavily and stalked off. Maybe if he had noticed the yellow eyes peering back at Penance, he would have realized why she wouldn't move.
"Stupid. But you know, don't you, shadow-child?" rasped the voice that belonged to the yellow eyes. "Yes. You know. Go after the Grayling. Only we true monsters will be out tonight."
Penance did not respond. She simply watched the yellow eyes till they vanished, and then bolted for the mansion, catching up to and then passing Angelo with ease.
And from the woods, Marrow laughed.
Sean was satisfied when he saw Penance dart back to the van, but frowned a little as she scrambled under it and Angelo couldn't coax her back out. With luck, the girl would eventually come out and he idly hoped that her razor sharp spines of hair didn't damage anything in the undercarriage.
"She was all weirded-out, Seņor Cassidy." Angelo said as he walked up to the stairs, dropping his finished cigarette in the drive and crushing it out. "I think someone or something was out on the grounds."
"It was probably Sarah," Ororo said with displeasure. "During the day, she skulks either the lower levels or the forested area at the edge of the grounds." Ororo made a vague sound of disgust. "Were it not for your students and the White Queen's involvement in the initial encounter that alerted us to Gene Nation's presence, we would have sent her to you."
Sean idly thanked every saint he knew of that she hadn't. The last thing he wanted to deal with was a psychotic Morlock. He had enough trouble with autistic geniuses, boys with no faces (but plenty of romantic problems), and girls who feed on their classmates' genetic marrow. "I think we've got our hands full now with our current class, Ororo," Sean offered gently as he watched Penance for a moment. The girl's pale blue eyes shown out from beneath the van, but she wasn't coming out anytime soon.
Angelo looked up to his teacher, saying, "I think she'll come out in her own time. Unless you want me to grab Jono? She always reacts well to him."
"Nae, Angelo, as ye said, she'll come in her own time." He smiled to Ororo thinly, ill-concealed weariness coloring his tone. "But I doubt she'll come intae th' house."
"Which is probably a good thing, considering all the expensive furniture," Angelo drawled as he headed into the mansion. "Lunch on yet?"
"Aye. They're all inside eatin'. Go join them. I'll be inside in a moment." Apparently dismissed, Angelo vanished into the doors of the mansion.
Ororo looked at Sean quietly. There was no deep bond between the African and the Irishman, no camaraderie like there had been between her and Piotr, or she and Kitty. But regardless, she murmured, "Sean? Is all well at the Academy? You seem worn."
He nodded, remaining silent. "Aye. It's not been easy. Being alone with the children an' all."
She moved closer over to him, laying one hand on his shoulder. "If you need assistance, Sean, you know you need but ask."
He gave her a brief smile, and then said, "An' ye know that if the X-Men need us, we're here for ye. Even as teacher and students, we can still do whatever we can for you."
A smile touched her lips, and she turned her cat-like eyes to the mansion. "So, shall we wait for your errant charge to come out from under the van, or shall we trust her to come inside eventually?"
"Penance can take care of herself. I'm sure she'll make herself known when she's ready," Sean looked down at the shadowy form underneath the van, her blue eyes staring blankly across the grass. No, she wouldn't be joining them anytime soon.
Sean offered his arm to Ororo, and the pair walked up into the mansion where lunch- and the chaos that accompanied any gathering of the students of Xavier's dream- awaited them.
Piotr, Kurt, and Kitty all watched with quiet awe as the students began to converge and unpack in the kitchen. "Were we ever that young?" Kitty asked the pair of former Excaliburites as they watched the kids pack.
"Some of us still are, Ms. Shadowcat," Kurt offered with a playful twitch of his tail.
"I'm twenty-one, Kurt!" she retorted. "These are kids. Jubilee's fifteen!"
"And how old were you when you joined us, Kitty?" Kurt again offered. Kitty scoffed and then just leaned back as they watched the chaos unfold.
"Has it been so long? That we can watch them and marvel at their youth and vigor?" Piotr asked quietly, as he looked on at the team.
"Makes you think back, doesnt it?"
Kurt nodded quietly, his dark lips quirking up in a smile. "We'll have to welcome them. After all, all of Second Genesis and what are they? 'Fourth Genesis'?" he asked, arching a brow over one golden eye. "Regardless, we haven't quite welcomed them as they should be."
"If Bobby were here, he'd prank them into oblivion," Kitty observed with a wry grin.
"Ah, I doubt Kurt was thinking anything so crude," Piotr amended. "Were you?"
"Nein, mein freund," Kurt said as he looked over the group. "We'll simply have to make them feel at home. Let them know that they are part of the extended X-Family."
Kitty nodded, a smile crossing her lips. Then she tugged on the arms of both men and said, "C'mon, lets go see Sean. I think I've got an idea that just might work"
Oblivious to their audience, Generation X went on with the chaos around then. Jubilee and Ev unpacked the coolers, putting the stuff for the evening's festivities into the fridge, and then laid out the pre-made sandwiches for all to consume. Monet, Jono, and Gayle skirted the edge of the kitchen- the first refusing to do such menial tasks, the second being moody about his lack of ability to eat, and the third apparently on principle.
Once everything was laid out, the table's chairs were suddenly taken up but all of the students, who proceeded to munch and converse among themselves.
Jubilee watched Gayle as she took up a sandwich and unwrapped it, curiosity showing plainly in her gaze. "Hey, uh, Queenie," she began, "Does food, like, uh do anything for you? I mean, like, does it fill you up, or are you simply a 'Soylent Green' typa girl?"
Gayle fixed her with an odd look, and said, "'Soylent Green'?"
"What Jubilee is trying to ask you, Miss Edgerton," came the cool voice of Monet as she nibbled delicately on her sandwich, "Is if you gain any sustenance or nourishment from anything other then Jonothon's psionic energies." Gayle looked over, and there briefly seemed to be a battle of wills between the haughty Englishwoman and the doubly-haughty Algerian. But in the end, Gayle's eyes flickered away.
"No, I don't. It's a psychological thing, I suppose. I eat because I want to."
Jubilee 'ahh'ed and nodded, going back to stuffing her face messily. Everett rolled his eyes at her antics, and then asked, "So, what are we going to do tonight? Does anyone know what's actually planned?"
<< I plan on avoidin' the 'ole bloody affair. >> Jono muttered inwardly, leaning against the counter sullenly.
"Well, that won't be anything different from what you do at school, Jonothon," offered Paige brusquely from the table. "So it comes as no surprise to anyone that you'll do it here."
"Fangs in, chica," came Angelo's voice before Jono could respond. He had finally made it inside, to the sandwiches, the bathroom, and a nice, cold drink. With everyone half done with their respective sandwiches and clustering around the table, he had to stretch a tendril of skin around them all and lash it around the one marked A. ESPINOSA.
Paige gave him a quiet look, and then shrugged a little. "Just pointing something out."
Angelo let out a low sigh, and Jubilee and Ev exchanged looks across the table. Finally, Jubilee looked away from Ev, gesturing with her sandwich as if it were a pointer. "Dude, Hayseed, we love you and cherish you but we don't want you airin' your dirty laundry and stuff, since you and Yorkshire went splitsville."
<< Wasn't nothin' to go 'splitsville', Jubilee. Just wot was in Paige's bloody imagination. >> Jono retorted, and then stalked off, leaving the kitchen to wander down one of the hallways.
"F---. It's no wonder you two never got on." Gayle said sharply, and then rose from her chair and wandered down the opposite hall.
Angelo looked over a glowering Paige, an aloof Monet, a smug Jubilee, and Everett, who looked like he's rather be just about anywhere but at the table. "Fine. I'll go after him." He growled as he got up from the table and, forgetting his barely touched sandwich behind, headed after Jono.
Ev looked over at Jubilee, Paige, and Monet, and then took a slow breath. "Someone ought to y' know try and make her feel welcome too, you know. Instead of," he dropped his eyes under Paige's glower, "You know, just bickering around her and over her." He rose from the table quietly.
Jubilee reached out and caught his hand. "You sure you wanna do that, Ev? I mean..."
He nodded solemnly. "Yeah. I do. Don't worry. I don't think she's gunna bite 'r anything." He gave a somewhat weak smile, and then began to slip away down the hall.
Paige just sighed. "I think I'm going to go find Sam." She said simply, as she rose from her seat, and headed shortly after Gayle and Everett.
This left Monet, who finished her sandwich nonplussed, and then looked across at Jubilee.
"Hey, if you think I'm gonna either comfort you or fight with you, you gotta 'nother thing comin', M."
Monet shook her hair silently, and rose from the table, cleaning up after herself briefly, and then turned and said, "I don't need your company at all, Jubilation. Good day." And with that, she strode down the hall that Angelo and Jono had vanished down.
Jubilee just sighed softly, and shook her head. "Yeah. Great way to re-present the team to the mansion, Jubes." She muttered to herself as she looked over the now empty table.
"Hey! Amigo! Slow down, man. You're the only one here with longer legs than me!" Angelo called as he stalked after Jono, catching up to the British mutant not shortly after he'd headed into the spacious back yard.
<< S---. Wot do yer want? >>
"Nothin', really. Just makin' sure you're not being all sulky and gothlike while we're under the fierce scrutiny of the X-Men."
Jono glanced back at Angelo, to make sure he was joking. Fortunately, from his expression, he was. So he merely rolled his eyes and stalked to the treeline, where he stopped and dropped into a slouch onto a stump.
"Look, about Paige-"
<< I don't want t' 'ear it, >> Jono snapped irritably. << There was nothin' between us. Nothin'. >>
"I could be a real smart a--, and tell you that you sound like you're trying to convince yourself that, but then, you'd probably just punch me for it."
<< Prob'ly. >>
Angelo gave another beleaguered sigh. "Listen, I'll be straight with you. That's total s---."
Jono turned slowly and regarded his Latino companion with cold eyes. << Oh. Really. Do tell, Dr. Espinosa. >>
Angelo brought out his lighter and slowly lit up- might as well enjoy another cigarette, even if he didn't get to finish his lunch. "Well, s---, we all know Paige had a thing for you. And everyone knew you felt something bad, even if it wasn't 'love', per se," he said between drags.
<< Oh. I see. Any other great bits of wisdom to share wit' me?
"Yeah," Angelo replied in a displeased tone, "Quit being such a lousy f--- over it." Ignoring Jono's warning growl, he continued, "We did not f--- up your relationship. You and Paige did that all on your own." He paused, and then added, "Which, by the way, was a relationship. A rollercoaster one, but one none the less."
<< A lot of relationship advice from someone 'oo 'asn't been involved with a gel in two years, >> Jono said dryly, folding his arms over his chest.
"Not for lack of trying, amigo," Angelo muttered under his breath.
There was a moment of tense silence. Jonothon sat, arms still folded over his chest, glowering at everything he surveryed in general white Angelo simply finished his cigarette.
Then, the harsh laughter started.
Both turned their heads toward the tree, where the finally noticed the lanky, feminine form up in a twisted oak not far from the pair. "What a couple of soft-skinned, ugly f---- you are," she grated, as she leaned forward in her seat, grinning like the cat who ate the canary. "Morlock on the outside, upworlder on the inside. The worst kind of mutant."
Angelo straightened immediately, and Jono also sat up, looking over at the strange (comparatively, anyway) mutant that had made her presence known. "Just look at you," she continued blithely. "Pathetic. Blind. Soft." She sneered at Angelo at that last word.
"Well, at least we're not sociopaths, like some mutants we know, eh, 'Marrow'?" Angelo drawled, as he sent his cigarette butt flipping end over end at her. Her arm blurred - there was a ripping sound, and then a swish- and then the butt fell, sliced in half, as Marrow grinned.
"Wanna try again? I bet I can hit anything you toss at me."
<< This is not 'ow I wanted t' spend the day. Not t'day. >>
"What Halloween some special day to you, Upworlder?" Marrow mock-cooed as she lept from her perch. Jono merely shrugged his shoulders.
<< Maybe. >>
Angelo simply sighed- he felt Jono's mind touch his, and over the private contact, the Latino urged, << Don't let her play with you, hermano. She's a sick, sick f---.>>
<< I think I can 'andle 'er, Ange. 'specially if she's playing nice with the X-Men, >> came Jono's terse reply.
Marrow watched them quietly and saw the glances. "Ah. You're a 'Chuckie', like the red head and the nimbo. Talking quiet-quiet to softskin there." The Morlock said as she circled the pair.
<< Wot's it t' yer, sunshine? >>
She idly flipped a bone blade, the one she'd cut the cigarette in half with, end over end. "Not much. It's really too bad, though. You look like Morlocks. You might even have what it takes to be Morlocks. But you're not. You're soft-skinned, pasty-fleshed, weakling upworlders, playing at being human," she sneered as she eased herself from the branches and came toward them.
<< I'm not playin' at bein' anythin'. >> Jono stated, ignoring Angelo's glower, and continued to reply to the bony Morlock's comments.
"Looked in the mirror lately, 'sunshine'?" Marrow growled in return. "You're nothing but a mask-wearing hypocrite." She shook her head, as she turned and began to walk away. "Better stay inside tonight, boys. This is the monsters' night out- the Morlocks night." She then paused, as an idea struck her. "Unless you want to play at being a Morlock... See how long you last."
Before Angelo could stop him, Jono said, << Yer on. Name the time and place, sunshine. >>
Reaching down that mental link, Angelo practically screamed at Jono as he looked between Morlock and Englishman, shock coloring his features. << ARE YOU NUTS!? Jonothon- she's a psychopath! I've SEEN what she's capable of! >>
Jonothon's answer left the other young man cold. << Angelo, did I ask fer a nursemaid? >>
Marrow grinned widely. "I knew one of you had to have some stones!" she crowed, as she turned fully.
"F--- that. I'm not letting you go with her, Jono. You're outta your head."
Then it was a stare down between the Generation X-ers.
Jonothon turned, his dark brown eyes boring into the strange, luminescent blue of Angelo's, and then he spoke.
"I'm coming with you."
It was the closest to a compromise as they could come. << Cheers, >> was Jono's only reply, and then the both looked at Marrow.
"Outside. Sunset. Alone. No others. They're Upworlders inside and out. Only the Monsters run with me." And with that, she sprinted into the underbrush, leaving the two young men alone.
Part 1, On to Part 2, On to Part 3
