Family Ties
folder
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
51
Views:
7,042
Reviews:
30
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
51
Views:
7,042
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.
36
Family Ties Chapter Thirty Six (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse and Hamster Witch… They’re wearing short kilts and
dancing a glittery jig in honor of your passing the exam! InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are lovely
and wonderful for archiving! J ProPhile gets extra muse kibble for his
smutmuseness and Jubilee, Tex and Ramsey get cookies for being helpful. Mind the glitter, though. The ducks aregingging a cabaret again. Readers/Reviewers: *happy dance * Thank
you! And the platypi thank you…they’ve
been able to entrench themselves in the backyard since I’ve been busy
writing…the flat tailed little devils!
“Well, this
sucks out loud,” Jubilee sighed. “How
is it that we keep running into people with access to the perfect place to hide
kidnapped teenagers?”
Remy
groaned softly as he worked his jaw before speaking, a livid bruise marring his
face and one side of his neck. “Mebbe
cause we in a high risk sector o’society…”
Jamie
shrugged. “Or maybe we just need to
meet more people.”
Jubilee
snorted softly, tapping along the walls one more time, checking for a change in
the sound of hingeingers against the cinderblock to indicate a door or opening
of some sort. “Well,” she said finally,
“I’m starting to think that they don’t like us.”
Remy, with
some effort, said, “Dey Yakuza, chere.
Dey Japanese mob…what dey be wantin’ wid you?”
Jubilee
shook her head and sank down to sit next to Jamie, across from Remy. “No idea.
All Lilly would tell me is that it had something to do with my parents,
that they had a debt to be repaid.”
Jamie said,
somewhat shakily, “Why were they missing finger tips?”
Remy and
Jubilee exchanged looks and the Cajun answered, “Sign o’loyalty, homme. And dey ain’t nearly as tattooed as de
Yakuza usually is.”
Jubilee
nodded. “Probably just the mark of
their clan within the organization.
They want to remain inconspicuous…”
She leaned across and gently prodded a seeping cut on Remy’s arm. “That’s going to need stitches, babe.”
“Quit
pokin’ it den!” Remy said, somewhat sharply.
Jubilee
frowned briefly before scooting to sit next to him and lay her head on his
shoulder. “What happened to you?” she
asked softly, knowing he would not tell all the gory details because Jamie was
so near. “Don’t hold it in,” she
murmured, squeezing his hand and wincing with him when her fingers tightened a
little too hard on cracked knuckles.
Remghedghed
again and looked ashamed. “Dey jumped
me…Lilly, she lure me outta de mansion cause I was hopin’ to get her ta tell me
where you was, mais I got stupid.”
“What do
you mean?” Jamie asked. Somewhere, in
the part of him that was still a child, he harbored a severe case of hero
worship for Remy and the idea that the master thief could be taken was alien
and nearly painful. “Did they drug you
or something?”
“Non,” Remy
said, averting his gaze from Jubilee and Jamie. “She std asd askin’ all sorta questions ‘bout us.”
“Us?”
Jubilee asked archly. “What about us?”
Remy
shrugged, glancing quickly at Jamie. “If
we was…good…” He raised a brow meaningfully.
Jubilee’s
frown deepened. “She was looking for an
in. If we were having problems, she
would’ve schmoozed all over you and used it to get at me…” She was on her feet and pacing again,
chewing gently on her lower lip as she thought.
Jamie
shifted uncomfortably, the cold cement floor making his back ache. “I wish I could’ve gotten Remy further away,”
he said glumly.
“It wasn’t
your fault,” Jubilee said before Remy could respond. “We weren’t expecting that…”
Her explosion had created mass confusion in the street outside the
storefront, enabling Troy to get hold of Remy in the chaos. Jamie followed perforce. “It’s my fault, if anything…” She sighed inwardly as no one objected. “Okay, that fucking does it…Stand back!”
Remy opened
his mouth to protest but thought better of it, dragging Jamie to his side and
sheltering them both with the edge of his ubiquitous coat. Jubilee pressed her hands against the
cinderblock wall and they began to glow faintly. “Wait!” Jamie cried. “How do we know what’s on the other
side? What if it’s a gas tank or
something?”
Jubilee
frowned. “I didn’t think of that…”
Remy shook
his head. “Ain’t no way o’knowin’
anythin’ bout where we are…”
Jubilee
groaned and let her hands fall to her side and her head loll back. “Oh, yes there is,” she said softly. “Jamie, gimme a leg up!”
“I can do
it,” Remy protested.
“You’ve got
three broken fingers…how’re you going to pick me up?” she asked, raising a
brow. “Jamie, up!” Jamie struggled to his feet and crossed to
Jubilee. “I need you to help me get up
there!”
Jamie
followed the direction of her pointing finger to see a large air vent. “How?”
“Cup your
hands…yeah, like that. Now hold still!” Jubilee did not protest as Remy moved to
help, steadying her in Jamie’s grasp as he boosted her within reach of the
vent. Carefully, she melted the screws
holding the vent in place and caught it as it fell. “If I’m not back in two hours, raise Hell,” she said, pulling
herself into the vent.
Remy frowned. “I don’ like de sound o’ dat.”
“Want to
follow?”
“Give ‘er
ten minute,” he allowed, sinking to the floor again. “Den I boost you, eh?”
Jubilee did
not have to go far before she came to another large vent set into the
galvanized metal duct. Carefully, she
edged forwards, the confines of the structure almost too narrow even for her
gymnast’s build. The smell of food
wafted up towards her and her stomach rumbled loudly, a reminder that she had
not eaten in about a day. Voices
drifted with the smell and she strained to make out the words, cursing silently
when they turned out to be in Japanese and a smattering of Cantonese. Damn it, why can’t you talk Mandarin at
least? She edged even closer,
trying to peer between the slats of the vent.
Lilly stood just within her line of sight, speaking to one of the other people
in the room using rapid Japanese. That’s
what I couldn’t put my finger on…her accent was too perfect… She frowned and wished she could spit down
on the woman’s dark head. No one
speaks Mandarin so flat. The metal
creaked dangerously beneath her and Jubilee held her breath, willing herself
not to fall through the ceiling. Lilly
moved out of her line of sight but someone else stepped into it, someone oddly
familiar in both voice and mannerisms.
She could not see their face but something about the way they moved was
striking a chord in Jubilee’s subconscious, singing through her brain with a
chorus of “Why don’t you know them?”
The metal creak again, loud enough to be heard below. The person look up and Jubilee stifled a
scream, the blood draining from her face and bile rising in panicked shock. Her mother stared back at her through the slats.
“Dude,
marriage is punishment for shoplifting in some countries.”[1]
“Thanks for
your support, Alex,” Scott ground out between his teeth.
“No, man, I’m
happy for you just…whoa, ya know?” Even
though Scott could not see his brother, he could picture Alex grinning and
shaking his head in disbelief. “So why
didn’t you invite your only brother, dude?”
“It was an
elopement. We only had two witnesses…We
were trying to keep it all a secret but, well, things changed.” Scott sighed and laid back on the bed in the
master bedroom of the boathouse. Even
though Jean was not there and had not been for a few days, he still kept to his
side, the side near the window, unwilling to take up space on his wife’s
abandoned side of the bed.
“It’s not a
secret anymore then?” Alex crunched on
something as he spoke, giving his words a muffled quality.
“Nope. Unfortunately.”
“Unfortunately? Uh-oh. Trouble in Paradise, Favorite
Brother?” Scott sighed and commenced
his rather choppy tale of recent events.
Alex punctuated the narrative with several “whoa”s and one “Dude, that’s
harsh.”
“I think I’ve
got things sorted out now, though. I’m
going to apply for this mechanic training course so I can get certified. I don’t really see myself doing that for
life but it’d be nice to have a trade, I think.”
“What you
need to do,” Alex opined, “is suck up to Jean like there’s no tomorrow for
fucking up royally. Dude, you harshed
on her about going to school. She’s got
her shit together and you were pissy because you were panicking.”
Scott bit
back a harsh retort. “You’re right,” he
sighed. “I just don’t know how to fix
things right.”
Alex
laughed. “Good thing your brother is
Don Juan de Waikiki, Scott!”
“I thought
you were in Mauna Loa.”
“Yeah, but
I’m the Don Juan of Waikiki! Pick me up
at the airport on Monday.”
“What?”
“I’m hangin’
up and bookin’ a flight right now. I’ll
email you with the details tonight. And
get ice.”
“Ice?”
“All
parties need ice, Scott!”
As the line
went dead, Scott sighed to himself. One
more call… He had the number
memorized by this point, he had looked at it so many times. The phone rang twice before a cool, whiskey
voice answered. “Hello?”
“Doctor
Grey?”
“Doctor
Lewis-Grey, yes…”
“I’m Scott
Summers and…well…we need to talk.”
[1] From Wayne’s
World.
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse and Hamster Witch… They’re wearing short kilts and
dancing a glittery jig in honor of your passing the exam! InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are lovely
and wonderful for archiving! J ProPhile gets extra muse kibble for his
smutmuseness and Jubilee, Tex and Ramsey get cookies for being helpful. Mind the glitter, though. The ducks aregingging a cabaret again. Readers/Reviewers: *happy dance * Thank
you! And the platypi thank you…they’ve
been able to entrench themselves in the backyard since I’ve been busy
writing…the flat tailed little devils!
“Well, this
sucks out loud,” Jubilee sighed. “How
is it that we keep running into people with access to the perfect place to hide
kidnapped teenagers?”
Remy
groaned softly as he worked his jaw before speaking, a livid bruise marring his
face and one side of his neck. “Mebbe
cause we in a high risk sector o’society…”
Jamie
shrugged. “Or maybe we just need to
meet more people.”
Jubilee
snorted softly, tapping along the walls one more time, checking for a change in
the sound of hingeingers against the cinderblock to indicate a door or opening
of some sort. “Well,” she said finally,
“I’m starting to think that they don’t like us.”
Remy, with
some effort, said, “Dey Yakuza, chere.
Dey Japanese mob…what dey be wantin’ wid you?”
Jubilee
shook her head and sank down to sit next to Jamie, across from Remy. “No idea.
All Lilly would tell me is that it had something to do with my parents,
that they had a debt to be repaid.”
Jamie said,
somewhat shakily, “Why were they missing finger tips?”
Remy and
Jubilee exchanged looks and the Cajun answered, “Sign o’loyalty, homme. And dey ain’t nearly as tattooed as de
Yakuza usually is.”
Jubilee
nodded. “Probably just the mark of
their clan within the organization.
They want to remain inconspicuous…”
She leaned across and gently prodded a seeping cut on Remy’s arm. “That’s going to need stitches, babe.”
“Quit
pokin’ it den!” Remy said, somewhat sharply.
Jubilee
frowned briefly before scooting to sit next to him and lay her head on his
shoulder. “What happened to you?” she
asked softly, knowing he would not tell all the gory details because Jamie was
so near. “Don’t hold it in,” she
murmured, squeezing his hand and wincing with him when her fingers tightened a
little too hard on cracked knuckles.
Remghedghed
again and looked ashamed. “Dey jumped
me…Lilly, she lure me outta de mansion cause I was hopin’ to get her ta tell me
where you was, mais I got stupid.”
“What do
you mean?” Jamie asked. Somewhere, in
the part of him that was still a child, he harbored a severe case of hero
worship for Remy and the idea that the master thief could be taken was alien
and nearly painful. “Did they drug you
or something?”
“Non,” Remy
said, averting his gaze from Jubilee and Jamie. “She std asd askin’ all sorta questions ‘bout us.”
“Us?”
Jubilee asked archly. “What about us?”
Remy
shrugged, glancing quickly at Jamie. “If
we was…good…” He raised a brow meaningfully.
Jubilee’s
frown deepened. “She was looking for an
in. If we were having problems, she
would’ve schmoozed all over you and used it to get at me…” She was on her feet and pacing again,
chewing gently on her lower lip as she thought.
Jamie
shifted uncomfortably, the cold cement floor making his back ache. “I wish I could’ve gotten Remy further away,”
he said glumly.
“It wasn’t
your fault,” Jubilee said before Remy could respond. “We weren’t expecting that…”
Her explosion had created mass confusion in the street outside the
storefront, enabling Troy to get hold of Remy in the chaos. Jamie followed perforce. “It’s my fault, if anything…” She sighed inwardly as no one objected. “Okay, that fucking does it…Stand back!”
Remy opened
his mouth to protest but thought better of it, dragging Jamie to his side and
sheltering them both with the edge of his ubiquitous coat. Jubilee pressed her hands against the
cinderblock wall and they began to glow faintly. “Wait!” Jamie cried. “How do we know what’s on the other
side? What if it’s a gas tank or
something?”
Jubilee
frowned. “I didn’t think of that…”
Remy shook
his head. “Ain’t no way o’knowin’
anythin’ bout where we are…”
Jubilee
groaned and let her hands fall to her side and her head loll back. “Oh, yes there is,” she said softly. “Jamie, gimme a leg up!”
“I can do
it,” Remy protested.
“You’ve got
three broken fingers…how’re you going to pick me up?” she asked, raising a
brow. “Jamie, up!” Jamie struggled to his feet and crossed to
Jubilee. “I need you to help me get up
there!”
Jamie
followed the direction of her pointing finger to see a large air vent. “How?”
“Cup your
hands…yeah, like that. Now hold still!” Jubilee did not protest as Remy moved to
help, steadying her in Jamie’s grasp as he boosted her within reach of the
vent. Carefully, she melted the screws
holding the vent in place and caught it as it fell. “If I’m not back in two hours, raise Hell,” she said, pulling
herself into the vent.
Remy frowned. “I don’ like de sound o’ dat.”
“Want to
follow?”
“Give ‘er
ten minute,” he allowed, sinking to the floor again. “Den I boost you, eh?”
Jubilee did
not have to go far before she came to another large vent set into the
galvanized metal duct. Carefully, she
edged forwards, the confines of the structure almost too narrow even for her
gymnast’s build. The smell of food
wafted up towards her and her stomach rumbled loudly, a reminder that she had
not eaten in about a day. Voices
drifted with the smell and she strained to make out the words, cursing silently
when they turned out to be in Japanese and a smattering of Cantonese. Damn it, why can’t you talk Mandarin at
least? She edged even closer,
trying to peer between the slats of the vent.
Lilly stood just within her line of sight, speaking to one of the other people
in the room using rapid Japanese. That’s
what I couldn’t put my finger on…her accent was too perfect… She frowned and wished she could spit down
on the woman’s dark head. No one
speaks Mandarin so flat. The metal
creaked dangerously beneath her and Jubilee held her breath, willing herself
not to fall through the ceiling. Lilly
moved out of her line of sight but someone else stepped into it, someone oddly
familiar in both voice and mannerisms.
She could not see their face but something about the way they moved was
striking a chord in Jubilee’s subconscious, singing through her brain with a
chorus of “Why don’t you know them?”
The metal creak again, loud enough to be heard below. The person look up and Jubilee stifled a
scream, the blood draining from her face and bile rising in panicked shock. Her mother stared back at her through the slats.
“Dude,
marriage is punishment for shoplifting in some countries.”[1]
“Thanks for
your support, Alex,” Scott ground out between his teeth.
“No, man, I’m
happy for you just…whoa, ya know?” Even
though Scott could not see his brother, he could picture Alex grinning and
shaking his head in disbelief. “So why
didn’t you invite your only brother, dude?”
“It was an
elopement. We only had two witnesses…We
were trying to keep it all a secret but, well, things changed.” Scott sighed and laid back on the bed in the
master bedroom of the boathouse. Even
though Jean was not there and had not been for a few days, he still kept to his
side, the side near the window, unwilling to take up space on his wife’s
abandoned side of the bed.
“It’s not a
secret anymore then?” Alex crunched on
something as he spoke, giving his words a muffled quality.
“Nope. Unfortunately.”
“Unfortunately? Uh-oh. Trouble in Paradise, Favorite
Brother?” Scott sighed and commenced
his rather choppy tale of recent events.
Alex punctuated the narrative with several “whoa”s and one “Dude, that’s
harsh.”
“I think I’ve
got things sorted out now, though. I’m
going to apply for this mechanic training course so I can get certified. I don’t really see myself doing that for
life but it’d be nice to have a trade, I think.”
“What you
need to do,” Alex opined, “is suck up to Jean like there’s no tomorrow for
fucking up royally. Dude, you harshed
on her about going to school. She’s got
her shit together and you were pissy because you were panicking.”
Scott bit
back a harsh retort. “You’re right,” he
sighed. “I just don’t know how to fix
things right.”
Alex
laughed. “Good thing your brother is
Don Juan de Waikiki, Scott!”
“I thought
you were in Mauna Loa.”
“Yeah, but
I’m the Don Juan of Waikiki! Pick me up
at the airport on Monday.”
“What?”
“I’m hangin’
up and bookin’ a flight right now. I’ll
email you with the details tonight. And
get ice.”
“Ice?”
“All
parties need ice, Scott!”
As the line
went dead, Scott sighed to himself. One
more call… He had the number
memorized by this point, he had looked at it so many times. The phone rang twice before a cool, whiskey
voice answered. “Hello?”
“Doctor
Grey?”
“Doctor
Lewis-Grey, yes…”
“I’m Scott
Summers and…well…we need to talk.”
[1] From Wayne’s
World.