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VOL. 1 STORY 3: THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM written by Wraith and Shockwave
***WARNING*** This story contains mature themes and elements (Profanity, Violence, Drug Use, etc.)
Vol. 1 Story 3: The Calm Before The Storm
By Wraith and Shockwave
It was Saturday morning and Jamal Brown was getting his best outfit together.
"Yo, Angel! How does this one look?" He said holding up a neon green tee, navy blue work pant and neon green sneakers.
"¿Que?" Angelo groggily replied.
"My clothes man! How do they look?"
"Oh! Perdon, pero ¿recuerdas fumamos la noche pasada?"
"Oh, I forgot. We did smoke last night didn't we?"
"Si. What time are you guys leaving today?"
"I think about 12:30."
"Shit, I better get dressed huh?"
"If you wanna come I guess so." Jamal then handed Angelo his towel as his roommate headed towards the Boys' Shower Room.
***************
At 12:45 p.m. Jamal took the keys to the school van from Sean, though he was only licensed to drive in Japan and Mexico. One of the first things Xavier did once Jamal confirmed he would be attending the school was to have his licenses validated in the U.S. (which was fortunate, as Jamal was in the market to buy a new motorcycle). By 1:00 Angelo, Monet, Sara, Everett, Paige, Chris, and, of course, Jubilee, met in the garage to leave for Boston, the mall and the movies.
"So Jamal, when did Sean say he wanted us in by?"
"Well Jubes; since it’s a weekend he said we have till 9:30 p.m."
"Cool"
***************
Jonothan Starsmore watched from his window as the van took off for a night of fun and camaraderie. He knew that his being constantly depressed was counter-productive to his relationship with Paige, but he never though she'd leave him. Now Ms. Frost and Sean were in the Ready Room discussing action to be taken against him.
Emma had toyed with the idea of sending him away to stay with Xavier. She felt it would make it easier for Jono to adjust seeing as how Charles was a better "mutant-therapist" than she was. Sean knew, however, from speaking with some of the other kids that despite Jono's attitude problem; they still looked up to him as a natural leader (even if simply because of age). Unless Emma could suggest someone else to fill in the void that would be created by Jono's departure, Sean voted that Jono stay. A stalemate. The only thing the co-headmasters could agree on was that they should wait till the next day to include Jono's imput in their decision.
***************
"¡Madre de Dios!" Angelo gasped at the wad of bills Jamal casually flipped out of his pocket in the parking lot of the mall. "How much scratch did you bring man!?"
"Well, I 'borrowed' about $19,000 from Sandra, my mother, 9 years ago. In that time I used all but 9,000. I brought $200 with me today, Emma deposited the rest of it in the bank for me."
Paige piped up. "By the way Jamal, does Ms. Frost know that you call her Em-- by her first name?
"Does she know? She insisted on it! What? Don't you all call her 'Emma' too?"
The others just stared at Jamal. Angelo's jaw literally hit the floor. "Man if we called her by her first name she's skin us alive!"
"Well Ang, since we're cool, I'll abstain from the obvious wisecrack."
Everett got everyone's attention with his voice. His determination was that of a natural leader. "OK everyone, we have 9 people here, and since the rash of shoplifters and vandals the mall security--"
"Rent-A-Cops."
"Yes Jubilee, 'Rent-A-Cops'. Anyway, they've enacted a new law: No groups of teens larger than 5 may enter stores OR roam around."
Everyone sighed. "Well," Monet began in her usual haughty voice. "We have to split up then don't we? Obviously the best way to expedite the situation would--"
Jamal jumped in. "Two groups, males and females. Quick painless and back here at 5:00 so we can catch the flick."
As Monet started to follow the rest of the girls, Jamal placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey sis, hows about some quality time huh?"
"But what about the others?"
"They're big girls. I think they can handle being without you for a couple of minutes. It's you that I'm worried about."
"Me what do you mean?"
"Well Monet, you have a severe attitude problem, and I wanna know why. I mean I care about you; and I can see that no one, with the exception of Ev and me, see you as a human. Not just some automaton stuck on 'bitch' mode all the time!"
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"
"I'm not sayin you're a bitch by any stretch of the imagination, but did you ever wonder why Paige, Jubilee Angelo, and Jono resent you?"
"Well Jubilation obviously bears some unresolved feelings of ill will towards me because of Everett's feelings towards me. As for Paige--"
"Jesus Christ sis! I can almost hear that switch in the back of your head that sets your defense mechanisms into overdrive! You gotta cut out this holier-than-thou persona you have or you'll lose the few friends you've got!"
Monet was on the teetering on the cusp of either crying or melting Jamal's spine with a punch. Luckily for Jamal she made like Niagara Falls. "Jamal! How could you say such a thing! I thought after all the shit with Marius and Yvette I finally had a normal sibling relationship." She began choking on sobs between her words. "I…thought…that…you were my…friend! "
"I am. Hell I'm more than that I'm your brother and I just feel like it's my duty to tell you that it's okay to be flawed and human like the rest of us. You don’t have to hide behind this wall of thorns keeping all your loved ones out. We'll love you no matter what happens."
Monet stopped crying long enough to see Jamal begin to embrace his older sister. She hugged back and didn't want to stop.
***************
Jubilee was tired of shopping. Even though the thought of stringing the five words "I'm too tired to shop" in that order, without a question mark at the end was enough to make her cringe. She was a California mallrat. The only thing she loved more than malls were Wolvie and beating Monet's prissy little ass at anything. However at 4:30 her feet felt three sizes too big for her shoes. At least she had 3 criminally overpriced outfits and 2 CDs to show for her swollen feet. From the food court below she heard a crowd cheering. Bored as she was, it seemed a good idea to see what was going on. Almost immediately after stepping off the escalator she began rethinking her decision.
In the circular food court were about 50 men and women of all ages, races, creeds, and religions; all united as one. Normally this would've been a good thing. However all theses men and women were united in their hatred of mutantkind. The "Friends of Humanity" had arrived in Massachusetts. As much as she hated the idea of being surrounded by people who hated her, she decided to stay. It was like Angelo always said, "I keep my friend close and my enemies closer."
The man at the center of this maelstrom was standing on (no joke) a soapbox while speaking through a megaphone. He was a rather attractive, 20-something Asian. In fact, if he weren't a dangerously zealous political mouthpiece Jubilee might've been interested in him. However her fear and pride kept her hormones in check.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. I come before you today, not only as a representative of the international branch of the Friends of Humanity, but also as a young man concerned with the state of this world. I come from Japan, where the national Mutant to Human ratio is roughly 2:1! My sister even fell in love with one of those…unfortunate mistakes of nature! "
The crowd began to boo and hiss at this "utter outrage".
"I come before you today as a man with a plan. I helped introduce proposition 909 to your U.S. Congress. This proposition, if made into law, would require all mutants to register with a national board before being moved off into their own living areas. If any mutant escapes or refuses to go," he flashed a sly, sinister smile, "action will be taken."
At this the crowd erupted into applause. Jubilee however had heard enough megalomania for one day and spoke up.
"You mean like internment camps right?"
"Excuse me young lady. You are…"
"What I am is pissed off that an Asian such as yourself could even stomach the idea of such a thing. It sounds too much like the internment camps the U.S. government set up for Asian families during the scapegoating in the wake of the Pearl Harbor bombing. Not to mention the Native American reservations! What do you want? A Trail of DNA?!?"
As usual Jubilee's mouth got her into more trouble than her 101-lb. frame could get her out of. All the members of the crowd turned to face Jubilee and approach her. Meanwhile Mr. Testuo Li tried to calm down his crowd, but even with his megaphone he couldn't be heard over the crowd. She knew that with mall security closing in she wouldn't be seriously injured, and rule #1 at the Academy was "No using your powers in public unless in dire danger or otherwise instructed". Right before Jubilee closed her eyes to the unwavering onslaught of humans approaching her, wishing her harm; she said a prayer to Jesus, God, Buddha, Allah, Krishna, Vishnu, and whoever else would listen. None of them answered however. It was Monet Saint Croix who answered.
Monet was just passing by when she saw Jubilee in trouble. Making sure no one was watching, she ran faster than the human eye could detect and scooped up Jubilee from the jaws of the "gene-ists". Jubilee didn't see who saved her, but when she did she almost wished she were back with the FOH.
"What are YOU doing here? Shouldn't you be off lookin' pretty somewhere?"
"Look Jubilation, we have a lot to talk about. But let me start off like this." Monet stopped the mad dash once the reached the secluded hallway outside of the equally secluded women's bathroom. As she caught her breath she extended her open hand. "Truce?"
Hesitantly Jubilee accepted the hand (half expecting Monet to suddenly laugh in her face and fly off). "Truce."
***************
For the second time in her life 37-year old Sandra Brown was actually scared. The first was when, at 20 years of age (after becoming a "high-priced whore" in Washington DC at age 18) she was raped. The man raping her told her she would become pregnant from HIS seed. HE also told her if she aborted the child HE would personally sew the aborted fetus to her chest as a gruesome, if effective, reminder not to fuck around with HIM. Now this man was back and HE wanted HIS son back. How could she tell HIM that the boy ran away almost a decade ago? No amount of her sizable financial assets could deter HIM. HE was sinister in HIS approach. No promises of money, sex, or power would make HIM stop in his quest for what she owed HIM. And why should they? HE readily took money, sex, and power whenever HE felt the need for any of them. What HE wanted now were HIS children. One of which he left in the care of this DC slut.
"Listen baby, I don't have him, but tell you what. How about a freebie? Just for old times-- OUCH!!!!!"
HE took out an ivory white handkerchief and wiped the whore's blood off of HIS hand. He hated the way humans bleed so easily when you did a tiny thing like, say, knock their mandible bone through their cheek. But then again what else could you expect from a mere Homo Sapian Inferior?
"Don't worry Sandra. I know where our little boy is now. Hell I knew when I came here. I just felt like slapping you around again. 'Just for old time's sake'. By the way, Sandra, you may want to get some medical attention if you fancy surviving the night."
