Perfectly Normal
47
xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
Perfectly
Forty Seven
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta…
Greywolf are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting.
devils. Morgan: *stalkpoke * Not as
dirty as it sounds… Readers/Reviewers: Thank you so much for reading and
reviewing as you can! J
Emma
managed to not slam her car door as she crunched to a stop before her childhood
home. She had taken the most circuitous
route possible while still managing to make it to
wondered if she had been followed somehow.
I was never this paranoid until I
decided to help Xavier, she thought with a trace of bitterness, stalking
towards her front door on three inch heels, oblivious to the pea gravel and it’s
inherent dangers. The door, she noted
with no small amount of ire, was not locked properly, the latch merely resting
in place rather than being seated firmly.
“If you’re all dead in there, I am not going to clean it up,” she
announced in a slightly louder than conversational tone, pushing the door open
and stepping into her foyer with the air of one much put upon.
as she had left it save for a chipped piece of marble on the steps.
murmured, “and not this place falling down around my ears.”
“It’s
perfectly sound,” a vaguely familiar, low voice intoned, reverberating through
her very bones with it’s timbre. The
floor vibrated with each step her visitor took, moving closer behind her as
Emma stood, eyes closing, facing the chipped staircase.
“Juggernaut.”
one. “You are not welcome here.”
tight. He was dressed as she had last
seen him, in his strange uniform with his heavy metal helmet, a weight under
which any other person would likely crumple like so much paper.
said, emphasizing the phrase with tightening of her shoulders and arms as if
she were preparing to strike him. She
knew better, though. He was unstoppable,
should he choose to attack her. Even
she, with all of her abilities, could not physically stop Juggernaut.
“I’ve come
looking for someone. And to deliver a
message.” His lips curled in a parody of
a smile, his head tilting to one side as if in curiosity.
night under my feet.” This notion seemed to amuse him greatly as his smile
grew, splitting his face with a rows of teeth and an expression of near
malice.
“And the
use of email or the
States
a brow, straightening her spine.
“My…employer…
wished for this message to have a …personal touch.”
faded a fraction as he swept his gaze over her.
“You look damned frumpy in that, Emma.
Not like the woman who used to run the Hellfire club…”
“My state
of dress,” she cut him off, tugging surreptitiously at the very expensive
blouse currently gracing her slender form, “is not an issue.
“Eager
miss, aren’t you?” he mused, taking another heavy, vibrating step towards
her. Faintly, so faintly as to be almost
unheard, a door opened somewhere in the house.
“Ah, we have an audience…”
Emma
tensed, immediately sending a mental blast of command out across the
grounds. Get back where you came
from. It isn’t safe!
house down around both of us making you.”
“That,” he
mused, “would be a trick.” With a
quickness that surprised Emma, he turned to his right and took three great
steps, stopping just at the entrance to the former servant’s hallway.
reached out and grabbed in the darkness of the narrow space.
jerked his arm back, holding Theresa by the neck, her face already pink and
quickly heading towards purple. “Hello,
dear. You likely don’t remember me as
well as I’d like,” he rumbled in an almost crooning tone.
“Let her
GO!” Emma dropped her shields and sent as much of her energy as she could
towards Juggernaut, focusing on making him feel pain
grunted, wincing and curving inward as if huddling around a ball.
for her to take a deep breath, her eyes going wide, but Juggernaut was quick.
over her mouth so tightly that Emma was sure she heard something crack in the
girl’s jaw. “Stay back!” she screamed,
not caring how shrill she sounded. Sam
was surging forward, body crouched and tensed, ready to plow into Juggernaut
again. Behind him, she could see the
other students trailing out of the basement at the sound of the commotion in
the hall. “EVERYONE BACK!”
her abilities towards her charges, stopping them in place as if with invisible
bands. “Juggernaut…”
“Black Tom
sent for his girl,” he said sharply, tucking Theresa under his arm without ever
losing his grip on her mouth. “Said you’d
best be letting her go or you’d be suffering for it.”
“There is
nothing you can do,” she began, then stopped.
“Juggernaut, let her go.”
“This is
indeed tiring,” he sighed, shaking Theresa slightly.
Tom thanks you for your cooperation and looks forward to working with
you again.” He strode purposefully
forward, pushing Emma aside as if she were nothing, sending her careening into
the wall and cracking her shoulder hard against the old wood paneling.
shoulder as Theresa struggled in his arms.
“I know you’re sending someone after us.
I’ll make it easy on you. Muir
Island.”
name="_ftn1" title="">
"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;
mso-bidi-language:AR-SA'>[1]
helmet, Juggernaut typically is invulnerable to psionic attacks but has some
vulnerability for mystical attacks. Emma’s
powers aren’t quite in the realm of mystical so his reaction to them in this
chapter is purely author’s device based on Juggernaut’s history in Marvel.