Hank hung up the phone with a click.
"Well my mono-ocular leader," he said, turning to Scott "it seems that the identity of our young visitors has been ascertained."
"Hoodlums you mean." Scott's left eye twitched nervously behind his ruby quartz glasses as he recalled the loss of his last pizza pop to one of the intruders. He still had nightmares about it, replaying over in his mind those last few seconds. The microwave's beep, the lunge, the slip, the crash into the dishwasher, the failure it brought with it...
"Scott?...Scott?..." {SCOTT} With a mental slap to the face Jean soon brought her husband back to reality, "Beast was telling us about our uh... intruders."
"Yes, that was Banshee on the phone. It seems that a group of six young people appeared on their doorstep this morning with a little help from Gateway."
"Well what took him so long to contact us, it's almost five!" Scott glared at Hank. Unfortunately the full effect of his look was lost on the scientist obscured as it was behind his visor.
Hank cleared his throat a little nervously, "Banshee thought a little practice might be good for the youngsters so he pitted the two groups together in the danger grotto..." He didn't really finish the thought, something about Banshee's rather strangled voice when he had mentioned the biosphere made the furry philosopher not want to ask.
"So what did the hoodlums do? Eat them too?"
{SCOTT!!!!}
Cyclops shook his head a little to allay the slight headache that was beginning to form; his wife's rather pointed reproof had not helped. He continued in a slightly less sarcastic tone.
"How are you so sure that these are our hoodlums...sorry intruders" at a glare from Jean Scott amended his words; he didn't want to sleep on the couch again tonight!
"Well, one of the boys is a mute who is able to communicate telepathically but what appears to have cinched it was the rather detailed description of one of the young ladies which Remy was able to uh.." with an arched eyebrow Beast gave Gambit a rather pointed look "...impart to me following the incident."
"Gambit just glad to help out." With a rather stupid smile on his face the Cajun completely ignored Rogue's elbow digging into his ribs. He hoped that he would get to meet that girl with the mile long legs again soon. What a ...
{Remy, you're broadcasting those thoughts on rather a wide frequency. Would you mind toning them down a little}
Jean was not amused. With both Scott and Remy acting like immature jerks it was time for someone to get some real answers. That mute boy had interesting powers and she wanted to introduce him to the Professor. She wondered if any of the others had powers. Beast obviously had had the same thought.
"Banshee and I agreed that the best thing to do would be to bring the young people here. We know that one of them has powers and Banshee seemed reluctant to discuss the situation over the phone", again Hank frowned to himself a little when he recalled Sean's wild tone and relief at being able to make the six someone else's problem. "He's bringing his charges with him as well", ignoring everyone's rolling eyes, Beast continued "Emma is out of town at the moment and he didn't really want to leave them along. As well, Miss Guthrie hasn't seen her brother in quite some time and insisted on a family visit. Where is our young friend any ways?"
Hank was rather proud of his abrupt change of subject.
"Where else," growled Wolverine (although inside he was quite happy about seeing Jubilee again, not that he would ever let anyone know) "but walking the dog."
*************************************************************************
As the Jeep turned off of the main road, Lexi pushed at the person squishing her. Admittedly it was a little squashed in the vehicle but that was still no excuse for the elbow in her rib.
"Do you _mind_?" she glared at the girl beside her.
Jubilee just glared back. Lexi considered what effect snarling would have on the little twerp when a hand on her shoulder hauled her back.
"What the _hell_ is your problem slacker boy?"
{Oh shit!!!}
Lexi twisted around to look out the window where Lindsey's gaze was transfixed.
"Oh shit!!!" she echoed softly.
***************************************************************************
Skin eased off on the gas a little. Driving behind Banshee had certainly put a damper on his usual automotive skills and he wasn't in the best of moods. Actually, no one really was and the melting mutant was beginning to wonder if the attitudes of the six were starting to rub off on the rest of them. Okay, so maybe Jubilee and Monet never really got on all that well but at least they had never tried to kill each other. With quite a lot of respect he carefully geared down, ensuring that his hand didn't accidentally brush up against the leg of the blonde seated next to him. The first time that it had (and not entirely by accident) had earned Angelo a glower that threatened dire death if he ever did it again. After noting, yet again, the catalogue of bruises and swelling eyes that her teammates (not to mention herself) sported, Skin decided not to push his luck.
Daemon leaned forward from the backseat, with not a little difficulty squished as he was between Paige on one side and a menacing guy on the other side (he thought his name was Jonothan but couldn't quite remember, all he knew was that this guy didn't really like him), and tapped India on the shoulder.
"Yo dude, doesn't that place look a little familiar" Daemon turned around to look at Jonathan and Moe sitting in the back of the minivan, "Jonathan, don't cha agree? Isn't that the place we mfffhh..." his words were strangled off as Moe placed a hand over his mouth and smiled sweetly at the astonished Chamber, Paige and Skin. Her smile soon faded as they continued to stare.
"What the hell are you staring at? Show's over folks!!!"
Jonathan's quick "Shut the fuck up if you know what's good for you" was only heard by Daemon and Paige, whose eyes got even wider than before. It was so exciting being around such dangerous people! She sighed and turned her attention back to trying to subtly brush her leg up against Daemon's.
India, meanwhile, was sinking lower and lower into her seat. Oh Christ', she thought, Oh fuck!!!' Her little incident with that cute Cajun guy had been a spur of the moment kind of thing that she had done because she knew she would never see the guy again in her life. India had gotten used to guys staring at her when she went out in that outfit, but never with quite the look that man (and was he a man!) had given her. That's why she had kissed him, because it was the sort of thing she had always wanted to do but never had because her sensibilities got in the way. And now she had and they were kicking in big time telling her she was now going to have to not only see the guy again but deal with whatever that kiss had promised him (not that she thought it promised much, but not being as experienced as she let on in that field she didn't really have a clue what it had). Well at least she wasn't still in her clubbing gear. Somebody had lent her a pair of jeans and a shirt, and with her fat lip and black eye maybe he would think she was someone else. Yeah, that was it!!
****************************************************************************
Banshee was too relieved to be turning up the main drive of the mansion to notice that Lexi's running commentary of their journey had stopped. Apparently Jubilee had finally met her match, and the two didn't seem to be getting along as well as he'd hoped. The drive had been a stressful one with Lexi and Jubilee scoring points off of each other much to the delight of Monet, Everett and Penance. The mute boy didn't seem too concerned either way and had stayed quiet for most of the trip. Well now they would be somebody else's problem. Hopefully Angelo's journey hadn't been quite so nerve wracking as his, although he did see the van swerve on the road a few times.
"Here we are kids" Sean said with a forced joviality "the Professor's Mansion, home of the X-Men"
"Oh shit" was the only reply he got.
******************************************************************************