"Stupid bloody plonker, getting all involved with that," CRACK!, "Blonde bint!"
Gayle, in her wanderings, had apparently discovered the game room, surmised Everett as found her. Looking in, she was being rather brutal with the cue stick and chalk, before moving about the table to choose her angle. "Hey."
She didn't look up as she leaned over the table, her eyes zeroing-in on the ball that now apparently represented all of her frustrations. The cue stick lanced across the table, sending it spinning toward the eight ball she'd aimed at. "Can I help you?" She asked, looking up, her voice taut and angry.
"Uh," Everett began quite lamely. This was going to be harder then he expected. He was normally much better at being the supportive, caring one. And here he was floundering and doing about as well at this as Jono had done with Paige.
Of course, with the fact that the woman before him was a genetic draining Emplate, and he'd spent that some time himself as such a detestable creature...
No, she wasn't a creature! No more than he had been.
"You don't have to do this, you know." Gayle said, her lips pressed into a thin line as she straightened, setting the butt of the cue stick on the floor. "I don't expect you to put aside your trauma. But thank you for the effort."
He hadn't expected her coldness. Once before, when he'd talked to Jubilee, just before this trip, she said that Angelo had told her that Gayle was okay. But this razor tongued, cold-hearted woman seemed nothing like the person whom Jubilee described. Of course, he hadn't seen any of these good traits first hand- so how could be sure?
He resolved himself to try and give her a second chance. "Look, I didn't mean to..."
"Mean to what? To come in here and try and ease your fear of me?" she snapped sourly. "To remind me you, and the rest of the class, think of me as an invading monster? That Angelo's the only one who's treated me with any decency?"
"Hey, now, stop it!" Ev snapped back. He didn't often feel his temper rise, but Gayle was getting him riled, and easily so. "I am giving you a second chance. Which is what, as ANY human being does, you deserve. Or are you going to tell you are a monster?"
She looked at him for a moment, her eyes hard. He met her gaze evenly, eyes not judging. Finally, hers dropped. "I'm sorry. This has just been stressful."
Everett just sighed softly. He'd tried. He really had. Hell, he guessed that he couldn't reach just everyone. "I'll leave you to your game."
"Everett?"
He paused in the doorway, looking over his shoulder. Gayle didn't look up at first, but when she did, her expression was that of a kicked puppy. "Yeah?"
"I'm sorry. Maybe, we'll try this again when tensions aren't so high."
He nodded quietly. It wasn't exactly a great start, but at least it was one. He slipped out of the game room, leaving Gayle to contemplate what both had said.
Just where did the boy hide?
Paige had wandered through the length and breadth of the mansion, and still: No Sam Guthrie.
Where had he gone?
After all, Sam had come home from the farm when she had, when Hank and Cecelia had decided to stay to monitor Joelle's condition. She felt bad about making Hank divide his time between his Legacy research and her sister, but... It was her family. She had to do something to help her sister.
"Looking for Samuel, Paige?"
She jumped and whirled and then realized that the door she just passed led up to the loft. So engrossed was she in her search for Sam, she'd missed it opening and Storm stepping out.
"Uh, yes ma'am."
"Unfortunately, he's out shopping with Logan for the celebration tonight."
Paige sighed softly. She wanted some time to talk to him alone, without a lot of watchers. Why? Well, she wanted to tell him about Jono. About Angelo. To ask about Joelle. All of these deeply familial subjects and she wanted to do it without an audience.
"Is there something troubling you, child?"
Her jaw set, and then she looked into the strange, cobalt eyes of the woman before her. And then she said what had been eating at her ever since she talked to Storm on the phone the night she'd called for Dr. McCoy's assistance. "Ma'am, with all due respect? My name is Paige. Please don't call me child." She'd quote her age but she saw little point in it.
Storm arched one delicate brow, and then nodded. "I'm sorry, Paige. I did not mean to offend." She replied coolly, as she looked Paige over a moment.
The Kentucky-born mutant suddenly almost wished she hadn't corrected Storm. The X-Woman's scrutiny made her distinctly uncomfortable.
"You and Samuel seem to have so much in common. Headstrong, intelligent, and a touch proud." Storm offered with an indiscernible smile.
Paige fought back her blush and cleared her throat. "Well, thank you. I think."
Storm moved graciously aside, and motioned down the hall. "Walk with me a moment, Paige?"
"Alright, ma'am." Well, she couldn't actually tell the leader of the X-Men no, now could she?
"Please, Paige. If I am calling you by name, you can most certainly do the same. I am Ororo."
"Alright, Ororo." Paige offered with a smile, sliding her hands into her pockets as she walked along besides the African Goddess.
"How have things been at the school, Paige? How are your studies coming along?" Ororo began easily, moving gracefully beside the young woman.
A smile lighting up her features, Paige began, "Yeah, I'd like to think so. I mean, there's always room for improvement, but we're doing really well." She glance over at Ororo who kept her face forward, a strange, Mona Lisa-esque smile still on her lips.
"Really? Sam says you are quite the ambitious student." Ororo offered after a moment.
"Well, m- Ororo, I'd like to think that I am. I want to go places,to do things" She flushed a little when she realized how lamely vague that sounded. "I'd like to be something to the team."
"The team as in your peers, Generation X? Or another?"
Ororo had her pegged. Of course, she'd kept few secrets from her classmates about her ambitions to not only lead Generation X but one day the X-Men at large. "Both." She finally settled on. "Sam started out leading the New Mutants, then was deputy-leader under Cable- and now he's come to the X-Men. I'd like to be able to do something similar."
She swallowed. What was this?! Some sort of test? An interrogation? Ororo apparently knew of her desires and dreams- was she seeing if she were worthy? Oh God! She was! She had to be!
Paige maintained that cool smile of her own- and tried to banish the tightness in her voice. "Ah- I can understand where they're coming from. Like Angelo. He came from a world of violence in South Central L.A., and I know the last thing he wants to do in enter the violence of the 'X'-world. I'd never want to force him into anything that'd make him stay, if he didn't want to." But then, she couldn't think of almost anyone else who she'd want at her back, either.
Ororo nodded quietly, apparently satisfied with her answer. "Remember, Paige," Ororo said as they reached the stairs, "With leadership comes heavy burdens. Never take on leadership for pride's sake. And make no mistake, sometimes you sow more then you reap and when you reap, the bounty is never solely yours. To lead, there must be someone to follow. Without them, you lead only who you lead everyday. Yourself." Finally, a true smile graced the African's full lips.
"You have much potential, Paige. One day, you may go far. Good luck, and Goddess be with you." With that, Ororo began to stride elegantly down the grand staircase, leaving Paige there, staring after her.
"Ah've never been so damn nervous in mah whole damn life!" she breathed, once the windrider had gone, and then dashed down the stairs to try and find Angelo.
Angelo had tried to talk him out of it three times.
Jono had rebuffed him with 'Sod off', 'F--- off', and 'Bugger off'. Did the British really need that many ways to say the same damn thing?
Jonothon, for his part, was determined to go. He avoided Gayle. Well, to truth be told, he avoided everyone. Everyone, except Angelo. Who would not be avoided. He seemed to have glued himself to Jono's hip, and Jonothon couldn't shake him if his life depended on it.
Dinner went quickly- out door barbecue. Jonothon suffered the glare of one Sam Guthrie- apparently, Paige had told him about the breakup. Ev and Jubilee joined most of the X-Men is a game of Volleyball, Monet remained studiously aloof, and Gayle did likewise, nursing a drink that Jono could sense was alcoholic by riding her senses and tasting the tang of spirits on a tongue he didn't possess.
As the sun began to set, they began to make their way around to the woods.
Marrow was waiting for them at the gate as the pair navigated quickly down the path. They were so glad the X-Men were otherwise occupied!
"It's about time you two showed up," She snarled. "Take long enough?" she demanded, and then just puts a hand, dismissing any replies and turned her gaze out over the access road. "Weve got a long walk ahead of us. So keep quiet till we get to the tunnel entrance."
Angelo just lit up casually as Jono arched a brow. << Tunnel access? >>
"Yeah, Tunnel access." Marrow sneered. "What, you thought the subways came out this far? Nope. Were riding a sewer sweeper down."
Angelo didn't seem too put-off by this idea. Jono, on the other hand, made it clear with the grimace that contorted his already-mangled features that he was not too keen on the idea. <>
And all it served to do was just make Marrow laugh harder.
"What- you think we have a choice? C'mon, Band-aid, Stretch. Time to go trick-or-treating-- Morlock style."
Angelo felt his heart sink. He watched, for a moment as Marrow and Jono stalked off, and then picked up the pace to follow after.
Gayle was the first to notice they were gone. She felt their mutagenic imprints leave the campus, having scanned the grounds.
Jono and Angelo were gone.
However, as they were friends, Gayle thought nothing of their sudden absence. They were probably just slinking off to wander down to Salem and do something Halloween-ish.
Or maybe Jono'd told Angelo about tonight and they'd gone out to do something on their own.
"S---!" She hissed abruptly as she suddenly remembered. Well, since he was gone, this would be a suitable time to do what she'd planned. She ignored the stares of the X-Men and her fellow students as she put her drink aside and rose from her chair.
"Hey, Gayle, where ya goin' so damn fast?" Jubilee asked as she saw Gayle get up and head into the mansion.
"Ah, just remembered something. Someone needs to have a doubly special Halloween." She smiled a moment, and then dashed inside.
Jubilee looked at Ev, and then at Logan, who sat one to each side of her. And then she shrugged. "Whatever cranks her handle, I guess."
The ride on the sewer sweeper was, to say the least, unpleasant. The smells, the dampness, the general miasma of the whole place made it a horrible, wretched place to be.
And Jono despised every minute of it. Just as he couldnt stand hot weather, no could he abide sticky, damp weather. And that's what was down in the tunnels. Moisture clung to everything, getting under his bandages and making his mood plummet from grouchy to naff off yer tosser before I lob yer ead off.
Angelo, on the other hand, was inured to this sort of thing. He just held on, and didnt say anything. Marrow had to respect him for that much. She could see another pair of survivors when she saw one; though Angelo seemed to have fared better then Jonothon had; he wasnt wallowing in misery, nor starting in with guilt and self-flagellation, but merely content with his lot.
But eventually, it rolled to a stop. "Bottom floor! Rats, corpses, and sewage! Everybody off!" Marrow cried with glee as she lept easily from the platform they'd rode on to the narrow walk-way below.
Jono snorted as he and Angelo went down a more conventional route. << So, wot's first on the list fer this monster's 'oliday? >> he asked irritably.
"Well, depends. I've something to do. A ceremony."
They looked at her a moment, and then at each other. Angelo was the first to voice what seemed to be their mutual concern. "This ceremony doesn't include gutting humans and nailing them to walls or nothin, does it?"
She arches one brow, and then, after a moments pause, laughed at them both. "No," She chortled, "But if you want, we can do that later."
<< Why don't I doubt that? >> Angelo thought down his two-way with with Jono.
<< Yer the one oo wanted t play nursemaid. >> Jonothon replied, but even he had to admit, he wasn't pleased with the current turn of events. He switched to a more open projection and spoke to both teammate and Morlock. << So lead on. Well follow, let yer do yer ceremony, an be done wit it. >>
Marrow paused, and gave the two boys something of a look, and then shrugged idly, as she began to head down one of the tunnels, the two young men following behind her.
She didn't get it.
Shed just broken up with Jonothon. He'd occupied her thoughts for days afterwards and it was an effort to drive him from her skull.
But she wasn't thinking of him. She wasn't thinking of him at all. She was thinking about Angelo.
The last few months had given Paige plenty to ponder over, and this was just another thing to add, as she lay in the grass and stared up at the sky.
She sighed softly, her blue eyes troubled. Angelo'd really been there for her, the past few months. Even if he hadn't told her about Gayle being on campus all summer.
And he'd been by her side through it all. Through everything. To be honest, she couldn't say that she had a better friend.
And now she began to really wonder just what she felt about him.
She rubbed her eyes irritably once, and then sighed. No. She couldn't think about that. It'd be a rebound. Yeah. Thats it. A rebound.
She groaned inwardly and forced herself to sit up. There was no use sitting and thinking about it. Maybe maybe she ought to talk to him?
No. She hadn't seen him most of the evening, and it was the general consensus that he and Angelo had probably snuck down to Salem for whatever reason they had. After all, Jono was, what, twenty, twenty-one years old, and though Angelo wasn't even eighteen yet, she didn't worry. He could take care of himself. They could both take care of themselves, right?
Then why was she oddly apprehensive? Must just be the Halloween jitters, she dismissed. Imagine! Getting all worked up over nothing!
"Hey! Hey Hayseed!"
Paige sighed softly and closed her eyes. Jubilee was the last person she wanted to talk to. After all, the campus had noticed the sweet glances that she'd been slipping Everett. While that hadnt been anything new from the past two years of watching it go on, what was new was that Everett was returning them, along with some cute, shy blushes.
Why did they get to have things go right? Why couldn't they crash and burn horribly and suffer like she was right now?
Well, because apparently they were made for each other.
"What, Jubilee?"
Jubilee rambled as she walked up, to lean over the girl on the grass, grinning broadly. "Listen, Paige, I'm never gunna tell ya how to run yer life r nothing-"
"Good."
"But I AM going to tell you to knock it off! Its a party! With the X-Men! And you're sitting out here," and she waved to the lawn, indicating where here was, "and just moping! God, did Jono rub off that much off on ya? Do we gotta de-angst ya r somethin?"
Paige groaned a little. "Thanks, Jubilee, for the sentiment, but I'd rather-"
"Sit here and mope. Yeah. I know." She grinned a little, and reached down to take the hayseed's hands and Paige grudgingly allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. "But ya see, you're in Generation X, while you may suck rocks at romance, ya got friends at least."
"How inspiring." Paige idly wondered if anyone would noticed if she husked into a rock form and beat Jubilees overly cheery skull in.
Jubilee reached out and took Paige's arm, and then looked up at her. Jubilee's bright eyes of sapphire met Paiges moody, sky-colored eyes, and the younger girl said, "Paige, get over it. Thing happen. Sometimes they don't work. You learn to cope. One of the things I learned when I was with the X-Men," and before Paige could open her mouth to gainsay her tirade, she continued, "Was that one of the hardest things to hold onto wasn't love r passion r anything else. It was hope. And Paige, you were so bright and cheery and we all HATED you for being perky. And now we see you and well, we're about ready to wrap you up in bandages and put you down in the basement of the girls dorm. You're not Jono. You you can get over this. He's still stuck. You're not. Right? I mean, Ange adores ya and he's there for ya, we're buds, right, and Ev's your friend-- things'll get better. Right?"
Paige stopped as she listened to Jubilee lay her pearls of wisdom at her feet and then said, very sotfly, as she began to head back to the mansion, "So. What game are we playin next?"
Jubilee's smile brightened her entire face. "We're bobbing for apples-- if Penny hasn't speared em all, anyway." Now, all she had to do was to talk to Everett next, and her night would be complete.
The trip deep underground took time. Jono was not quite aware of its passage, as he did not sleep and as such, had a rather unreliable biological clock. Angelo, on the other hand, did sleep, did have a perfectly working biological clock, and knew it took almost an an hour and a half to get down to where they were headed.
Both of them knew, from class, what this place was. The Morlock Alley stretched and yawned before them, and they could only stand and stare in awe. To think, this placed used to house hundreds of mutants. All freaks and outcasts, just like them.
Then looked at each other, and with Marrow, strode through the inches-thick muck and mire. They could see old bloodstains, the hooks on which the pre-Apocalypse Angel then carefree playboy, Warren Worthington III had been held prisoner and maimed.
Jono could sense the energies of the place. This place was deep beneath the earth, and had an almost primal feel. Angelo himself was not unaware of the feelings this place generated, and crossed himself while walking through. It had been home, meeting place, and in the end, abattoir for hundreds of mutants. And it didn't take Doctor Strange to tell you that their spirits were not at rest.
"S-Sarah?"
All three young mutants whirled at the coarse voice, the labored breathing and saw the broken Callisto, leaning on a crutch for support.
"Light! What are you doing down here, Marrow? And who are they?" The woman demanded, tossing back her wild mane of black hair, one blue eye looking from Jonothon to Angelo.
"I came for the Ceremony of Light, Callisto," Marrow explained as moved quickly over. "You should not be up. The Healer says you still need rest." She moved solicitously to the woman's side but Callisto resisted her aid. "Who are these two?"
"The walking bandage is called Jonothon. The hairless sewer rat is Angelo," Marrow said, pointing her finger at each one in turn. "They are youngling X-Men. Chamber and Skin." Both resisted the impulse to retort some come back as Marrow crudely introduced them.
Callisto's single eye narrowed to a blue slit, and she motioned the two boys over to her nook. They could see the mattress supported by the rusty bed frame, the tattered blankets.
<< ullo, >> Jonothon ventured first, and Angelo followed suit. "Buenos noches, Senora."
Callisto snorted. "Definitely not the wind-rider's brood. Who watches you, boys? Not Ororo. You wouldn't talk to me if she was your caretaker." The womans word with thick with bitterness and pain of both body and soul, as she limped back to her bed and dropped down upon it.
"We study at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in Massachusetts, Senora." Angelo said. "Under Sean Cassidy."
Callisto seemed satisfied with that answer, giving a single, brusque nod. "Why did you bring them here, Sarah?" she asked the younger Morlock, turning her eyes to her now.
"They wanted to play at being Morlocks for a night," Marrow explained, "So I'm showing them the ropes."
That earned all three of them a harsh laugh. "Lets get a look at you two, then." Marrow stepped aside, so Callisto could more easily scrutinize them with her single, cerulean orb. Angelo was somewhat discomfited by the woman's intense stare but Jono strangely used to being so inspected.
"You. With the bandages. Chamber. Why do you wear them? What you got to hide, boy?"
The Brit's brow furrowed. << Wot do yer got under yer eyepatch? >> He asked.
Marrow bristled. "Watch your words, upworlder, or I'll remove your nose along with the rest of your face!"
Callisto put up a hand, the other Morlock ceasing her rant before it'd really begun. "No, he's right. So, missing something, eh?" She looked at him a moment, and then asked, a touch softer. "Take them off. There's no need to hide down here, boy. Youre among your own kind."
Jono paused, blinking once. Angelo and Marrow both expected him to deny her request, but were equally surprised as his hands went to the back of his neck, to the knots at the back of his neck. A few sharp tugs, and they were undone.
Callisto did not gasp, or look on in awe-- there was only the widening of that single, cyclopean orb that indicated that the flickering, blue energy that coruscated where the young man's face used to be had any affect on her.
Then, Callisto's voice echoed through the Alley and in it was the old hints of command and power shed once wielded over the Morlocks in this place. "Don't replace those bandages until you leave this place. Show your true face here. No one will hate you for it. Here, you are home. Do you understand?"
Oddly enough, Jonothon did. << Right. >> He said simply, and then looked back to Angelo a moment, before letting his brown eyes drop to the concrete.
Callistos eyes then turned to Angelo. "Come here, boy." He stepped closer, as she sat up, and then reached out one finger slide over his skin and then slip beneath the chain from which his crucifix hung. "Ahh. A good little Catholic boy, are you?" She asked.
He nodded just once, remaining quiet.
She let it fall to his chest, and then looked up at his eyes. She smirked a bit, and said. "Your eyes. His flame. The same, luminescent blue." Angelo's brow arched, and he turned those self-same eyes to the space of flame where Jono's jaw used to be. Callisto was right. It was the same shade of ethereal blue.
"I guess now I should tell you that when he's upset, the flame is yellow and orange, and when I am, my eyes are red." Angelo quipped lightly, and Callisto chuckled. "Ah. Meant to be, then. Must be a sign. Light be with you both, if you do carry it in your heart or in your eyes."
She looked to Marrow. "Take them. Show them what is was to be a Morlock. And then, go to the Cathedral." She paused a moment, thoughtful. "But, Sarah-- let Chamber light the room."
Marrow blinked once, and then nodded. "As you wish, Callisto." She went to move away, and then paused. "I will be back for you later."
Jono and Angelo were given a dismissive wave of Callisto's hand, and the pair turned to follow quietly after Marrow. They exchanged one sidelong glance at one another, and Angelo smiled as Jono returned the expression as best he could, eyes crinkling at the corners.
<< So wot are we going t do, Sarah? >> Jono asked as he and Angelo followed toward one of the tunnels.
"First, you call me Sarah again and I'll give you another hole." Marrow growled over her shoulder. "Second, we're going to go trick-or-treating."
<< I don't think I like the way she says that. >> Angelo offered, but Jonothon just shrugged.
<< We're stuck wit it. She does anything stupid we'll stop er. >>
Angelo just shrugged his shoulders and fixed his eyes on the Morlock before him as the three of them paced through the sewers toward the upworld.
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