Family Ties
folder
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
51
Views:
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Reviews:
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Category:
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
51
Views:
7,028
Reviews:
30
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own X-Men Evolution, or any of the characters from it. I make no money from from the writing of this story.
24
Family Ties Chapter Twenty Four (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse and Hamster Witch… Blah. President Blah. InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are supergroovy for archiving. J ProPhile gets extra muses to do his bidding
and Ramsey, Tex and Jubilee (who gets even more huggles for a crap day the
other day) get ducks. Lots and lots of
ducks…surly, wet ducks… Because I can’t
do a thing with ‘em. Readers/Reviewers:
First, Thankyouthankyouthankyou!
Second, if you could’ve seen the typo I just made about the ducks, you’d die
laughing…
Jubilee
blew out a tense breath and looked at her surroundings, taking in details
quickly and methodically in a long ingrained manner. Jamie hovered nearby, shifting his weight from foot to foot and
swaying. “Dude, you gotta pee or
something? No? Stop wriggling then!”
Jamie
snorted. “Sorry. This place creeps me out.”
“Tell me
about it.” The hotel loomed in front of
them, a massive turn of the century structure that reminded Jubilee of The
Great Gatsby. “Welcome to West
Egg,” she muttered, ringing the shrill doorbell for a second time.[1] “Who ever heard of a hotel having a
doorbell?”
Jamie
shrugged. “It looks like it used to be
a house. Maybe they just kept it for
the whole quaint charm thing. Or,” he said, gathering steam, “it’s for after
hours or service people…”
“Shhh! Here comes somebody!” Jubilee straightened imperceptibly, elbowing
Jamie lightly in the ribs in her nervousness.
Troy opened the door with a smile. “I wasn’t expecting you…”
The tall
youth shrugged. In a broken accent, he
said, “It is a very informal hotel.
Like a pension almost.”
“Ah…” She exchanged glances with Jamie and said,
“Well, I figured we could all go hang out or something. I could maybe take you and your grandmother
to the museum or zoo or mall or city dump…”
“Or the
airport?” Jamie muttered, earning a glare.
Troy’s face
flashed quickly incredulous before adopting a smile. “That would be wonderful, Jubilation. Come inside and I will get Grandmother…”
Jubilee
slid inside, followed closely by Jamie, and the door shut firmly behind
them. Troy darted past on silent feet,
practically running up the stairs and leaving the two of them alone. “Notice anything fishy?” she breathed to
Jamie.
“Um, it’s
dark?”
“That’s
one.”
“And
hot… The a/c isn’t on.”
“Two.”
“And it
looks shabby…”
“Three.”
“And…and…”
“And?” Jubilee turned slowly and pretended to be
admiring the room. Their whispers were
like the rustle of leaves in the still foyer, the thick carpet absorbing much
of the sound but not all of it. When Jamie did not answer, Jubilee glanced
upwards towards an air vent. Jamie’s
gaze followed hers and he mouthed what.
Her eyes traveled from the vent overhead to one several feet away, then
back again. Notice, she mouthed
back.
Jamie
stared at each vent for a long moment before cehenehension dawned. One vent, the one directly overhead, was
thick with dust and cobwebs. The
other, about a yard away from the first, was not. In fact, he noticed, it seemed brand new. “What…”
“Shh,”
Jubilee hissed. Troy and the old woman
called Grandmother were traipsing down the stairs. Switching fluidly to Mandarin, Jubilee suggested a trip to the museum
in town showing the history of Bayville before going to lunch and then the
shopping center. To Jamie, in English,
she added “Meet me at the arcade at five, right?”
Jamie
nodded. “Um, nice to meet you…” he
muttered to the Lees, who, he felt, were willing him to spontaneously
combust.
“I think he
should come with us,” Troy said with surprising fluency. “Another native guide, perhaps, so that you
and Grandmother can get to know one another
Jubilee
frowned. “No, he has errands to run,
don’t you, Jamie?” Jamie nodded
obediently, a trickle of uncertainty turning into a steady stream.
“I think,”
Troy repeated, “he should come with us.”
Jubilee
glared but forced a smile. “Of
course. That’s a great idea. Isn’t it, Jamie?” Jamie again nodded.
“We’ll take our car.”
“We will
take our rental,” Troy insisted. This
time, Jubilee did not argue.
Hesitantly, she followed Troy, sandwiched between him and Grandmother
with Jamie at her side. “I think,” Troy
said cheerfully, “today will be most productive.”
“Hold
still,” Professor Xavier murmured. “I
can not see the screen through your head…”
Lucas, surprisingly, stopped wiggling.
“Ah…here’s what I was looking for,”
Beast
leaned over and frowned. “That is a
very strange tattoo.”
“Indeed. Especially for a woman of her age.”
“Hmm. Is
that a…no, not a tiger…what is it?”
“Not
entirely sure…” The Professor increased
the resolution of the image and sighed.
“That just made it worse, didn’t it?”
He tapped a few more keys and the picture lost it’s blurred
quality. “I have two PhDs you know.”
“Yes, but
what do psychology and philosophy have to do with computers?” Beast mused,
smiling faintly. “Where did these
pictures come from?”
“The
outside vid pickups. Except,” he added,
“for this one.” A picture of Lilly
popped onto the screen at the touch of a key.
“This is from the security camera in the garage. Did I tell you what Scott told her?”
“Yes. Shall I get your Napoleon hat out now or
wait until the Lees next visit?”[2]
Professor
Xavier smirked and jostled Lucas on his knee.
“Wait. Ah…here it is again!” In a picture of Lilly, captured as she was
turning, a tattoo peeked out from under the hem of her shirt. “It seems to
match the one on her Grandmother.”
“How can
you tell? It’s just a flash…” Beast leaned in closely. “Ow!
That’s my ear!”
“He seems
to have an affinity for ears. I think
he’s going to be an otologist[3].” The Professor gently disengaged Lucas’s
fingers from Beast’s pointed ear. “I’m
going research these images and see what I can turn up…there’s bound to be
information on these tattoos somewhere.”
“Unless,”
Beast pointed out, “Lilly merely got a tattoo that matched her Grandmother’s.”
“Always a
possibility…”
“Professor?” Remy knocked once before sticking his head
around the edge of the door. “Jubilee
say you was helpin’ her find stuff ‘bout her family…”
The Professor
and Beast exchanged glances. “Well,
yes,” the Professor said carefully. “She
did ask if I could possibly find information on them.”
“Well, I
was tinkin’…” He edged further into the
room and made a brief face at Lucas which made the baby giggle. “I was tinkin’ dat mebbe I can help.”
Beast
arched one shaggy brow. “Any particular
reason for this fit of helpfulness, Mister LeBeau?”
Remy sighed deeply. He had no doubt that the two men could
understand the idea of guilt as a driving motivation and Remy most certainly
did feel guilty for making, even inadvertently, Jubilee think he was cheating
on her. Instead, he said, “I jus’ dat
kinda guy.”
“Mmm.” The Professor glanced at the screen again
and said, “Okay. I have your first
task. I need for you to check on these tattoo
designs and get back to me as soon as possible with any information pertaining
to their meanings.”
Remy looked
askance at Beast and moved to look at tcreecreen. “Merde!” he hissed. “I don’ gotta look nothin’ up,” he said
tensely, pointing at the tattoo clearly visible on the back of the old Mrs. Lee’s
neck. “Where’s Jubilation maintenant?”
“I’m not
sure,” the Professor said, closing his eyes and handing Lucas to Beast. After several long moments, he frowned. “I can’t find her. I need to get to Cerebro,” he said, catching Remy’s sense of
urgency.
“What is
it?” Beast asked.
“Yakuza,”
Remy threw over his shoulder, following the Professor from the room.”
Beast glanced
at Lucas in his arms. “You know, I
could’ve been chief of staff at Mount Sinai by now…”
Wanda was
seconds away from kicking the door in when it opened. Fred stared down at her ponderously, but said nothing. “Move it, Blob,” she snarled.
“ ‘kay…” He shuffled to one side, looking slower than
usual. “Mystique ain’t here.”
“I don’t
give a fuck where she is. Where’s
Pietro?” She stalked into the den and
her frown deepened. While still a
deplorable mess, it was nowhere near as bad as when she had left. In fact, she realized, it was as clean as it
could get considering the shabby nature of the furniture and the house itself.
“Pietro’s
busy,” Fred chuckled. “He’s…plannin’.”
“If brains
were gunpowder he wouldn’t have enough to blow his nose,” Wanda muttered. “Where is he?”
“Can’t tell
ya…he said I was to let ‘em be private an’ all.”
Wanda
hissed a breath through clenched teeth and said, “Fred, you really have no idea
half the time, do you?” She pushed past
him again and headed up the stairs, listening intently. Ah…here we are… The tell-tale muffled thumps and voices were
a dead giveaway. “Pietro,” she called, “when
you’re done disappointing whoever that is in there, come out into the hallway.”
Wanda
noticed that, despite the clean nature of the house now, it still smelled like
an old locker room infested with ancient cheese. Pietro had not take long at all to pelt down the stairs, wearing
naught but a pair of jeans and followed at a more decorous pace by someone
Wanda dimly recognized as Tarot. “Where’s
the blonde?”
Tarot
deigned to answer. “She’s no longer
with us…”
Pietro
glared at his sister with all the venom he could muster, the effect somewhat
ruined by the large hickey on his chest and the fact he seemed to be smeared
with lipstick. “What the fuck are you
doin’ here?”
“Tabby’s
missing,” Wanda said shortly. “What’d
you do with her?”
“Why would
I want her?” Pietro asked above Tarot’s uncaring snort.
“Well, I
don’t know…you did knock her up.” Wanda
shrugged.
“So? And I offered to help her get rid of it,
too.” After a long pause, he asked, “Did
she?”
“No. We’re all three happy… Oh, didn’t you know?”
she asked at Pietro’s incredulous look. “I’m fucking Tabby now.” She felt vaguely bad about reducing her
feelings to mere lust, but the words had their desire effect. Pietro blanched even whiter than he already
was and Tarot looked shocked for one flashing moment. Fred was the only one who showed no reaction. “I’m watchin’ you, Pietro. You and this whore here. If I don’t have Tabby back soon, I’m gonna
make you wish you were never born…” She
turned sharply and stormed from the house only to draw up short at the rumbling
voice of Fred.
“That wasn’t
your best insult,” he said.
“It was a
threat.”
“Wasn’t
your best one of those, either…” He was
panting slightly as he spoke and she realized he must of moved as fast as he
could to catch up with her on the front walk.
“Tabby’s really missin’?”
“Yes. What do you know about her? Where is she?” Wanda pinned him with her gaze.
“Nothin’. I ain’t seen her since she left but…” Fred sighed sadly. “I wanna help ya find her.”
“Why?”
“Just do.” He shrugged and glanced at the sky. “I feel like it.”
“Hmm.” Wanda stepped closer and poked him with one
finger. “Meet me here at seven
tonight. I’ll see what I can do.” She jabbed him again, harder. “If you’re
fuckin’ with me…”
“I know, I know…” Fred
smirked faintly. “Seven.”
Wanda
watched him lumber back towards the house and frowned. If I didn’t know better…
[1] West Egg was
the setting of The Great Gatsby. It’s a fictional place in upstate New
York.
[2] You know in
the old cartoons whenever a character is crazy they have a Napoleon hat
on? *sigh * Poor, maligned Napoleon…
[3] ear doctor
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse and Hamster Witch… Blah. President Blah. InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are supergroovy for archiving. J ProPhile gets extra muses to do his bidding
and Ramsey, Tex and Jubilee (who gets even more huggles for a crap day the
other day) get ducks. Lots and lots of
ducks…surly, wet ducks… Because I can’t
do a thing with ‘em. Readers/Reviewers:
First, Thankyouthankyouthankyou!
Second, if you could’ve seen the typo I just made about the ducks, you’d die
laughing…
Jubilee
blew out a tense breath and looked at her surroundings, taking in details
quickly and methodically in a long ingrained manner. Jamie hovered nearby, shifting his weight from foot to foot and
swaying. “Dude, you gotta pee or
something? No? Stop wriggling then!”
Jamie
snorted. “Sorry. This place creeps me out.”
“Tell me
about it.” The hotel loomed in front of
them, a massive turn of the century structure that reminded Jubilee of The
Great Gatsby. “Welcome to West
Egg,” she muttered, ringing the shrill doorbell for a second time.[1] “Who ever heard of a hotel having a
doorbell?”
Jamie
shrugged. “It looks like it used to be
a house. Maybe they just kept it for
the whole quaint charm thing. Or,” he said, gathering steam, “it’s for after
hours or service people…”
“Shhh! Here comes somebody!” Jubilee straightened imperceptibly, elbowing
Jamie lightly in the ribs in her nervousness.
Troy opened the door with a smile. “I wasn’t expecting you…”
The tall
youth shrugged. In a broken accent, he
said, “It is a very informal hotel.
Like a pension almost.”
“Ah…” She exchanged glances with Jamie and said,
“Well, I figured we could all go hang out or something. I could maybe take you and your grandmother
to the museum or zoo or mall or city dump…”
“Or the
airport?” Jamie muttered, earning a glare.
Troy’s face
flashed quickly incredulous before adopting a smile. “That would be wonderful, Jubilation. Come inside and I will get Grandmother…”
Jubilee
slid inside, followed closely by Jamie, and the door shut firmly behind
them. Troy darted past on silent feet,
practically running up the stairs and leaving the two of them alone. “Notice anything fishy?” she breathed to
Jamie.
“Um, it’s
dark?”
“That’s
one.”
“And
hot… The a/c isn’t on.”
“Two.”
“And it
looks shabby…”
“Three.”
“And…and…”
“And?” Jubilee turned slowly and pretended to be
admiring the room. Their whispers were
like the rustle of leaves in the still foyer, the thick carpet absorbing much
of the sound but not all of it. When Jamie did not answer, Jubilee glanced
upwards towards an air vent. Jamie’s
gaze followed hers and he mouthed what.
Her eyes traveled from the vent overhead to one several feet away, then
back again. Notice, she mouthed
back.
Jamie
stared at each vent for a long moment before cehenehension dawned. One vent, the one directly overhead, was
thick with dust and cobwebs. The
other, about a yard away from the first, was not. In fact, he noticed, it seemed brand new. “What…”
“Shh,”
Jubilee hissed. Troy and the old woman
called Grandmother were traipsing down the stairs. Switching fluidly to Mandarin, Jubilee suggested a trip to the museum
in town showing the history of Bayville before going to lunch and then the
shopping center. To Jamie, in English,
she added “Meet me at the arcade at five, right?”
Jamie
nodded. “Um, nice to meet you…” he
muttered to the Lees, who, he felt, were willing him to spontaneously
combust.
“I think he
should come with us,” Troy said with surprising fluency. “Another native guide, perhaps, so that you
and Grandmother can get to know one another
Jubilee
frowned. “No, he has errands to run,
don’t you, Jamie?” Jamie nodded
obediently, a trickle of uncertainty turning into a steady stream.
“I think,”
Troy repeated, “he should come with us.”
Jubilee
glared but forced a smile. “Of
course. That’s a great idea. Isn’t it, Jamie?” Jamie again nodded.
“We’ll take our car.”
“We will
take our rental,” Troy insisted. This
time, Jubilee did not argue.
Hesitantly, she followed Troy, sandwiched between him and Grandmother
with Jamie at her side. “I think,” Troy
said cheerfully, “today will be most productive.”
“Hold
still,” Professor Xavier murmured. “I
can not see the screen through your head…”
Lucas, surprisingly, stopped wiggling.
“Ah…here’s what I was looking for,”
Beast
leaned over and frowned. “That is a
very strange tattoo.”
“Indeed. Especially for a woman of her age.”
“Hmm. Is
that a…no, not a tiger…what is it?”
“Not
entirely sure…” The Professor increased
the resolution of the image and sighed.
“That just made it worse, didn’t it?”
He tapped a few more keys and the picture lost it’s blurred
quality. “I have two PhDs you know.”
“Yes, but
what do psychology and philosophy have to do with computers?” Beast mused,
smiling faintly. “Where did these
pictures come from?”
“The
outside vid pickups. Except,” he added,
“for this one.” A picture of Lilly
popped onto the screen at the touch of a key.
“This is from the security camera in the garage. Did I tell you what Scott told her?”
“Yes. Shall I get your Napoleon hat out now or
wait until the Lees next visit?”[2]
Professor
Xavier smirked and jostled Lucas on his knee.
“Wait. Ah…here it is again!” In a picture of Lilly, captured as she was
turning, a tattoo peeked out from under the hem of her shirt. “It seems to
match the one on her Grandmother.”
“How can
you tell? It’s just a flash…” Beast leaned in closely. “Ow!
That’s my ear!”
“He seems
to have an affinity for ears. I think
he’s going to be an otologist[3].” The Professor gently disengaged Lucas’s
fingers from Beast’s pointed ear. “I’m
going research these images and see what I can turn up…there’s bound to be
information on these tattoos somewhere.”
“Unless,”
Beast pointed out, “Lilly merely got a tattoo that matched her Grandmother’s.”
“Always a
possibility…”
“Professor?” Remy knocked once before sticking his head
around the edge of the door. “Jubilee
say you was helpin’ her find stuff ‘bout her family…”
The Professor
and Beast exchanged glances. “Well,
yes,” the Professor said carefully. “She
did ask if I could possibly find information on them.”
“Well, I
was tinkin’…” He edged further into the
room and made a brief face at Lucas which made the baby giggle. “I was tinkin’ dat mebbe I can help.”
Beast
arched one shaggy brow. “Any particular
reason for this fit of helpfulness, Mister LeBeau?”
Remy sighed deeply. He had no doubt that the two men could
understand the idea of guilt as a driving motivation and Remy most certainly
did feel guilty for making, even inadvertently, Jubilee think he was cheating
on her. Instead, he said, “I jus’ dat
kinda guy.”
“Mmm.” The Professor glanced at the screen again
and said, “Okay. I have your first
task. I need for you to check on these tattoo
designs and get back to me as soon as possible with any information pertaining
to their meanings.”
Remy looked
askance at Beast and moved to look at tcreecreen. “Merde!” he hissed. “I don’ gotta look nothin’ up,” he said
tensely, pointing at the tattoo clearly visible on the back of the old Mrs. Lee’s
neck. “Where’s Jubilation maintenant?”
“I’m not
sure,” the Professor said, closing his eyes and handing Lucas to Beast. After several long moments, he frowned. “I can’t find her. I need to get to Cerebro,” he said, catching Remy’s sense of
urgency.
“What is
it?” Beast asked.
“Yakuza,”
Remy threw over his shoulder, following the Professor from the room.”
Beast glanced
at Lucas in his arms. “You know, I
could’ve been chief of staff at Mount Sinai by now…”
Wanda was
seconds away from kicking the door in when it opened. Fred stared down at her ponderously, but said nothing. “Move it, Blob,” she snarled.
“ ‘kay…” He shuffled to one side, looking slower than
usual. “Mystique ain’t here.”
“I don’t
give a fuck where she is. Where’s
Pietro?” She stalked into the den and
her frown deepened. While still a
deplorable mess, it was nowhere near as bad as when she had left. In fact, she realized, it was as clean as it
could get considering the shabby nature of the furniture and the house itself.
“Pietro’s
busy,” Fred chuckled. “He’s…plannin’.”
“If brains
were gunpowder he wouldn’t have enough to blow his nose,” Wanda muttered. “Where is he?”
“Can’t tell
ya…he said I was to let ‘em be private an’ all.”
Wanda
hissed a breath through clenched teeth and said, “Fred, you really have no idea
half the time, do you?” She pushed past
him again and headed up the stairs, listening intently. Ah…here we are… The tell-tale muffled thumps and voices were
a dead giveaway. “Pietro,” she called, “when
you’re done disappointing whoever that is in there, come out into the hallway.”
Wanda
noticed that, despite the clean nature of the house now, it still smelled like
an old locker room infested with ancient cheese. Pietro had not take long at all to pelt down the stairs, wearing
naught but a pair of jeans and followed at a more decorous pace by someone
Wanda dimly recognized as Tarot. “Where’s
the blonde?”
Tarot
deigned to answer. “She’s no longer
with us…”
Pietro
glared at his sister with all the venom he could muster, the effect somewhat
ruined by the large hickey on his chest and the fact he seemed to be smeared
with lipstick. “What the fuck are you
doin’ here?”
“Tabby’s
missing,” Wanda said shortly. “What’d
you do with her?”
“Why would
I want her?” Pietro asked above Tarot’s uncaring snort.
“Well, I
don’t know…you did knock her up.” Wanda
shrugged.
“So? And I offered to help her get rid of it,
too.” After a long pause, he asked, “Did
she?”
“No. We’re all three happy… Oh, didn’t you know?”
she asked at Pietro’s incredulous look. “I’m fucking Tabby now.” She felt vaguely bad about reducing her
feelings to mere lust, but the words had their desire effect. Pietro blanched even whiter than he already
was and Tarot looked shocked for one flashing moment. Fred was the only one who showed no reaction. “I’m watchin’ you, Pietro. You and this whore here. If I don’t have Tabby back soon, I’m gonna
make you wish you were never born…” She
turned sharply and stormed from the house only to draw up short at the rumbling
voice of Fred.
“That wasn’t
your best insult,” he said.
“It was a
threat.”
“Wasn’t
your best one of those, either…” He was
panting slightly as he spoke and she realized he must of moved as fast as he
could to catch up with her on the front walk.
“Tabby’s really missin’?”
“Yes. What do you know about her? Where is she?” Wanda pinned him with her gaze.
“Nothin’. I ain’t seen her since she left but…” Fred sighed sadly. “I wanna help ya find her.”
“Why?”
“Just do.” He shrugged and glanced at the sky. “I feel like it.”
“Hmm.” Wanda stepped closer and poked him with one
finger. “Meet me here at seven
tonight. I’ll see what I can do.” She jabbed him again, harder. “If you’re
fuckin’ with me…”
“I know, I know…” Fred
smirked faintly. “Seven.”
Wanda
watched him lumber back towards the house and frowned. If I didn’t know better…
[1] West Egg was
the setting of The Great Gatsby. It’s a fictional place in upstate New
York.
[2] You know in
the old cartoons whenever a character is crazy they have a Napoleon hat
on? *sigh * Poor, maligned Napoleon…
[3] ear doctor