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The boat docks hadn't changed since the last time Jubilee had been there. She slipped her shoes and socks off and went to the end of the dock. She sat down and dangled her legs off the edge, barely skimming the water.SECRETS AND SPIES written by Echo
Wolverine leaned against on of the poles jutting out of the water. Jubilee's back was to him but he didn't comment on her distancing herself from him.
"So, Wolvie, what's up?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing."
She used her toes to draw patterns in the water. "Nothin' much."
"Same here."
"Yea, right." She mumbled under her breath fully aware that he could hear her.
He looked at her with interest. "Now why do you say that?"
She turned to face him, growing angry. "Oh come on! Marrows an X-Man and lives here? Hank, Drake and the Hayseed left? Nightcrawlers back along with Peter? Cyclops and Jean left? Don't tell me you're not upset about that!" She turned back to the water. "Not to mention Shadowcat's back here for you to watch out for," she mumbled.
Realization dawned on him. No wonder she'd been acting so oddly lately. Kitty had been a permanent force in his life before Jubilee skyrocketed in. Now she was back. Jubilee was jealous.
"I thought I smelled somethin' odd about you." He replied gruffly.
She lept to her feet in anger. "That's what this is about! You 'smelled' it on me! We didn't even used to do that!" She was babbling in her rush to get the words out. "You could tell what I was thinking! No mutant powers or anything! You just knew!" She threw her hands up in defeat. "It's not the same between us and it's only going to get worse now that Kitty's living here." She stared at the water and spoked more quietly. "I feel like I'm jealous of an older sister who just scored a 1600 on her SAT's. How can I compete with her? Look, Wolv-....Logan, your the only parent i've got and i'm loosing you. I don't want that to happen."
She was crying by now but didn't make any move towards him. Nor did he make any towards her. They just stood across from eachother, facing new territory they'd never crossed before. The next words spoken by them would either break their hearts or bring them closer together.
He took a step towards her and she fell in his arms sobbing. "Shhhh... Jubilation. Your right. We've got to figure this out. I promise you, we'll figure this out."
He didn't notice the silent figure that melted back into the trees. She smiled to herself as she walked silently back to the mansion. Kitty Pryde had been meaning to tell Wolverine that he needed to talk to Jubillee. Kitty had been a student here when she was about Jubilee's age and she knew how hard it must be for her. She also knew what it felt like to leave this place and then try to come back. Silently, she phased through thte wall and back into her room.
Echo made a note of everything she'd observed. The phaser girl would be trouble. If she could sneak up on the furry one that easily and not get noticed she could easily sneak up on a small-priced merc. The furry guy was who she really had to worry the most about though.
It had been easy to get onto the Xavier property. Thanks to her sources it had also been easy to find the school in Snow Valley and trail the cars here.
Echo decided to wait in the trees for her prey instead of confronting him which had been her style of late. Wolverine could kill her a little to quickly for her taste. She stared at the headmaster coming into view through the trees. It would be so easy to simply kill him right there but she wanted him to be alone so she could make sure the job had been dead. Enough mercs had thought they'd offed someone, when in reality their victim was alive and very aware of who had killed them. She was not going to end up like them.
"Better watch your step Banshee, i'd hate for anything to happen to you before I can put a bullet through your head." She smiled but stopped when she saw a motercycle parked in the driveway of the estate. Quickly she jumped throught the trees until she was on the other side of the estate, right next to the garage. The bike had a familier air to it. It had been a custom job, that was for sure. It was just the way he liked his bike's too. As if to confirm her suspisions a couple came out of the house.
The woman had brown hair with a white streak. She was laughing at something the man was saying to her. Echo caught a few words but recognized the accent and the voice instantly. "Gambit?" She whispered softly. In her surprise she leaned to far away from her perch and fell to the ground. She rolled as she hit to avoid injury. When she looked up she panicked, the roll had put her in plain sight to anyone who happend to look over.
Quickly she scrambled behind a car and watched as the couple joined with Banshee's students. The group went back into the house.
With a quick jump, she was back in the tree's. Quickly she hopped over the fence and found the Harly she had stashed their. Looking back over her shoulder she smiled. "I'll be back for you Remy, as soon as I'm finished with Banshee, i'll be back." With a quick start up she was gone down the road, back into town.
A resonating 'Thwap' was all that broke the silence until it was followed by a resounding "Oh Crap!"
Angelo had been aiming at Husk's exposed back when he had thrown out a length of his skin to hook around a tree. What he hadn't anticipated was that while he was getting his skin secure, Paige had moved. So when Angelo jumped off the tree branch instead of making contact with Paige, he ran right into Monet, or more specifically, Monet's fist.
"Thank's Monet, I wasn't sure I was really awake until now, but you could have just pinched me!"
Banshee landed next to him and laughingly helped him up. "Since this entire exercise is supposed to be silent, I guess it's over. Monet got one point for Angelo, anyone else tag an oponent?"
"Paige came out of the bushes followed by a dejected looking Jono. "I tagged Jono!"
"Alright that's two points to the girls. Now where are Everett and Jubilee?" "Right her!" Jubilee's chipper voice came from a grouping of trees, followed by her body and, with a face to match Jono's, Everett.
"Guess who I tagged?"
"Well it looks like the ladies won with four points." Emma declared coming out of hiding.
Banshee recounted the three girls. "Four points? Who am I missing?"
"Me." In a quick move, Emma kicked Banshee's feet out from under him and quickly flipped him over on his stomach as she pulled his right arm around behind his back. "Your tagged." She whispered seductively in his ear befor she laughingly got off of him.
She looked at the three girls and smiled widely. "Let's go wake up Clarice and get ready for dinner."
The three boys stared at their fallen leader. Angelo summed up their feelings with two words. "We suck."
"Now lad," Banshee got up and brushed himself off, "the girls won fair and square. We just underestimated them."
"Just a little," Everett muttered.
Banshee turned the boys in the direction of the mansion. "Go get ready for dinner and we'll demand a re-match for tomorrow." He was about to walk with them when a movement in the tree's caught his eye.
Everett caught his teacher's hesitation and looked at him questioningly. "Mr. Cassidy?"
"Did all of the girls go inside?"
"Yes, I think they did. Why?"
"I thought I saw something..." Banshee answered slowly.
"Maybe it was one of the X-Men." Everett put in helpfully.
"Yes, maybe." He still looked worried. "I'll go check it out, just in case." He walked after his shadow, leaving the boys staring after him.
