The mutants of Xavier’s school have all now left and moved on to college at Notre Dame University, where they live and converse with “normal” humans. Each day, however, the contact between the groups becomes more and more distant as the fear humans have for mutants grows. Congress just passed a law that says every mutant has to wear a metal bracelet around their wrists, inscribed with a number, their name, and their mutant abilities, outing them to all. With nowhere to hide, the mutants are feeling more and more inner turmoil. The number of humans rioting against mutants grows by leaps and bounds. They ask that the entire mutant race be killed. What WILL happen next?
Rogue walked across campus, her books spilling across the grass. A human walked up to pick them up, but she let out a screech as their hands almost met, out of instinct, "No, don't!"
Jubilee was across the quad when she saw Rogue's books hit the dirt. The look on the other mutant's face as the human approached alarmed her; especially considering the way things had been lately, so she hurried over to them. "Need some help?" she asked Rogue easily, trying to disarm the situation.
She nodded fiercly, "Help would be appreciated, we don't need help from a human... mutants stick together..." Rogue said, pulling her books from the ground.
Jubilee knelt down, making sure to keep the human in view, and grabbed the last few books. "Later," she said to him, smirking, then slid her cloth-covered arm through Rogue's and led the other mutant away. "Where're you heading?" she asked. "Back to the dorm?"
She nodded, "Yeah, where else? Not like I can go anywhere else with these damn bracelets on dogging my every move .... You?"
"The same," she replied. "Tried to get some work done at the library, but every time my bracelet flashed I could see people wince. Damned uncomfortable, so I decided to go back to the room."
"I'm not sure where you live, but where we live... its like a cardboard box they set up especially for us and it literally does have rats Jubilee..."
Scott had been watching their situation unravel, and then diffuse. He was alarmed by the mishap. He adjusted his ruby-lensed shades as he stood. He was afraid something might've come of this, so he began to move away from everyone else within the area.
"Hate to tell you this, Rogue," Jubilee said, sighing. "But they moved me into a room right down the hall from you in the middle of the night last night. It was like a police raid, they woke me up at 2am and forced me to pack my stuff. I wanted to blast them so bad, but it would have only made things worse." She rubbed at her eyes, trying not to get upset. "I don't know how much longer we can stay here and be safe."
"I talked to Professor Xavier and he said to just trust him, he was working on it but .... I don't .... know what he can really do about it... It is really bad there... We barely get food and when we go out, we get stared at."
"Great," Jubilee said sarcastically. "Well, at least we're all in one place. If... anything goes down, I mean." She didn't want to come right out and say "If we're attacked" but she was pretty sure Rogue would understand what she was hinting at. The chances of a mob forming and coming after them were becoming more and more likely every day.
"Sometimes I just feel like ripping off my gloves..."
"Now, now! We can't attack these humans, unless we're attacked first. Even then it might not be so good," Scott said as he came up behind them.
"I hear you," Jubilee replied to Rogue, looking down at her own powerful hands. Then, as Scott popped up, she went on. "We know that, Scott. We're not idiots. But how long do you think it's going to be before they do come after us?"
"My guess, not long. It seems the laws get stricter everyday." He said. "We step out of our boundaries, they look at us like crooks. Like we should hang for our wrong doings." He finished.
"Yeah but I bet we'll find them hanging over us killing us in our sleep sooner too."
"I'm with her," Jubilee said. "Ever heard of taking the offensive, Scott? Kill or be killed, you know." She didn't really want to kill humans, but playing the devil's advocate was one of her favorite games.
"I'm not going to die... not just because of their fears of the unknown..." Rogue said, shaking her head.
"Yeah," Scott said. "When the time comes for the offensive, I'm taking it. I won't stand by when our kind is being punished for being. . . different."
"What if we wait too long, wait for them to come after us instead of the other way around, and we all end up dead?" Jubilee questioned. "It's a possibility, you know."
Rogue shuddered, "What if we do as the Professor wants and be the more human of the bunch, the more level headed?
"I don't know," Jubilee replied. "I'm trying to be optimistic, I really am, but getting yanked out of a dead sleep at 2am has brought down my confidence in the sanity of the 'normal' humans."
"Well, with the way things are looking," Scott said, "we're more like prisoners of war. If push comes to shove, we may need to turn the tide. But the last thing we need is a war on our hands."
"Well, I disagree, but whatever," Jubilee replied. "Hey, you guys want to go get something to eat? Somewhere off campus, somewhere away from here. We can cover up our bracelets and see if people can tell we're different. The shades kind of say weirdo, but oh well. What do you think? Like, we can do some human reaction research, or something."
"My shades say weirdo? Where? Should I take them off?" He asked sarcastically.
"Sounds good to me, at least its a plan but my gloves stay on...." she said, putting in the last of her books in the pack.
Jubilee rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Scott, that's a plan. Calm down, there, One Eye. It was a joke. And okay, where do you want to go? What do you feel like, I mean? I could go for some Chinese, but then again, I always can."
Scott fixed his sleeve on his leather jacket to cover his bracelet. "I'm up for anything."
Rogue looked around, "Whatever as long as its food..."
"Well, since it looks like I'm choosing, let's go down to Grand Empire. You know, the big international buffet on West McKinley? It's in walking distance," Jubilee said, yanking at her jacket cuffs to better cover her bracelet, then she led the way off-campus.
"I feel a lot better now," Scott said as he stepped foot off campus.
"Yeah, well, we're not out of the woods yet," Jubilee replied. "There's always a chance they'll have one of those new machines, you know, the ones that detect our bracelets? But I doubt it, they're kind of a poor little place."
Rogue pulled down her sleeves as she walked, "Hopefully it won't detect us.."
"Ugh, I hope I don't run into one of those again," Scott said remembering what happened last time.
"That's just part of the fun," Jubilee said, laughing. "Oh, quiet down. People." As they passed a group of fellow students, she smiled at them and said, "Hey, how's it going?" While they didn't give her an exactly friendly response, they didn't act like they could tell the three were mutants, either. "We might actually pull this off," she said once they were clear.
Rogue faked a pleasant smile as she passed and waved, "Maybe we will."
"Well, I say don't count your chickens before they hatch, but this was a good plan, Jube," Scott said.
They walked a bit farther and finally hit the little Asian buffet. "Just follow my lead, okay?" she said to the other two, then pushed open the door. The hostess came to greet them, and she and Jubilee started conversing in rapid Mandarin. The two chatted and laughed like old friends as the woman led them to a table.
Scott followed Jubilee to the table looking around at everyone in the immediate area. He didn't spot anyone he knew, which was a good thing.
Rogue watched in rapid fasicnation as Jubilee talked to the hostess, not understanding a word that they were saying of course. She listened as they said this and that but couldnt make it out. What were they talking about? They seemed cozy enough.
Taking a seat, Jubilee turned to the other two and informed them, "She wants to know what you want to drink." The waitress said, "Coke drinks?" Meaning that they had any coke product.
"Tea?" Scott asked. "Do you have tea?"
Rolling her eyes again, Jubilee shot off something in the other language, then said, "Rogue?"
"Coke is fine with me ..... please .... tell her please and thank you," she said as an afterthought.
Jubilee finished with the waitress, who bowed to them slightly, then went to get their drinks. "She says to go ahead and get some food," she said, standing up, then going to grab a plate and loading it with some of just about everything.
Scott looked at Jubilee's plate as he was fixing his. "Where do you put all that food?" He asked looking to her body. "Oh." He laughed.
Rogue moved to stack some food on her plate, "So, who is she, Jube?"
"What was that?" she snapped back. "Hey, I'm not the one around here with defective body parts." Jubilee looked pointedly towards his sunglasses, which Ning had found to be pretty odd, him wearing them inside and all. Jubilee had lied and told her that Scott just had eye surgery and had to wear them. Then she looked at Rogue.
"Her name's Ning, she's from the old neighborhood," Jubilee replied, meaning that Ning was from the streets. "I heard she worked here, but wasn't sure. Lucky break though, huh?"
"Whoa! I didn't mean anything by it," he said moving back. "Just a little payback for the weirdo comment. Besides, your body looks great."
Mouth full of food, Jubilee swallowed, then replied sarcastically, "Sure you didn't. And keep your high beams from looking anywhere near my body. Rogue, will you please talk to me so we can ignore the boy?"
She mumbled with food in her mouth, "Sure, what do you want to talk about....? There was that one cute guy ... but I think he might have been a human and besides, everyone knows I can't date .... ever."
"Oh, come on, Rogue," Jubilee said. "You can date, just not so much with the touchy-feely. Besides, you know the Professor is working on that."
"Dating always comes back to the touchy-feely and by the time the Professor gets it fixed, I'll be 90 and almost dead... thanks."
"Oh, honey, don't feel so bad. Jube makes everyone feel bad." He told her.
"Way to bring the party down," she mumbled, chomping on an egg roll. "And I do not!" The last part was louder.
"Calm down, people are staring. And I'm referring to human people, here." Scott said.
"You're the one that started it," she said, but quieted down a bit, slurping on her cherry coke. "Anyway, what else can we talk about? How are everyone's classes going?" Jubilee adopted her mom voice, smooth and sugary sweet. "Well, I hope."
"I love my writing class... You know, I never knew I had a talent for writing!"
"That's cool," Jubilee replied. "Bio 101 still giving you a hard time? The professor in there... horrible little man."
She nodded, "I deTEST biology... the makeup of things, and such I mean, we aren't even like them... they even touch on anatomy and ours isn't even the same exactly! -- Course, I get strange looks."
"I do in mine, too," she said. "Especially when we started talking about DNA. Of course ole Professor Whiskers had to start going on and on about the 'mutant phenomenon'... I wanted to leave. It was horrible. And then, to make matters worse, he asked me what my ability was! Like, I really need to share with the class."
"Someone asked me too and I told them to kiss me and find out...." Rogue said with a smirk.
"I hate when the students in my workshop class want to use me as the laser for soldering," Scott said sadly.
"Niiiice," Jubilee said, grinning back. Sure being a mutant was hard, but she wouldn't be normal for the world. "And dude, how do they know what you can do? You didn't tell them, did you?!"
"Why do you take that then? It isnt mandatory like biology is, is it?"
"No," Scott told her. "It's not madatory. But in class a girl bumped into me and knocked my shades off. Let's say the the project went up in a beam of red light. I've even tried to transfer out to another class, but they won't let me.”
"You've gotta be more careful," Jubilee scolded, unable to stop herself. "You coulda started something much much worse, Scott. What if you'd hit another student instead of just the project or whatever?"
"Trust me, I've thought about that," he said even sadder than before.
"Yeah, they'd fried you on the spot, Scott... seriously..." Rogue said, agreeing with Jubilee.
Suddenly, Ning appeared at their table again, looking worried, and began speaking rapidly to Jubilee. The mutant girl's face got more and more upset, and finally she threw down her napkin and seemingly cursed at her friend. Turning to the other two, she said loudly, "Some humans in here heard us talking. They want us to go. Now. She says we don't have to worry about paying, just get out."
Ning said something again, causing Jubilee to sigh. "And she says that she's sorry. If it were up to her, we could stay, and the other ones would have to leave for being stupid." Jubilee stood up and kissed her friend on the cheek, saying one last thing, then turned to the other two. "Let's get out of here."
"So much for fitting in!" Rogue called out, standing up from the table, in a rush and fury.
Scott simply rose from his chair and moved on out with Jubilee and Rogue.
"Sorry," Jubilee said, leading the way out of the restaurant. "That was my fault. I started talking about our abilities and stuff. Plus it was my idea in the first place."
"Well, it was nice to get away from things. Even if only for a little while. Thanks, Jube." Scott said looking at her sad face.
"No, its the stupid humans faults for being so closeminded and being so .... stupid!" she said, suddenly wishing she had Storm's ability's to control nature.
"Yeah," Jubilee agreed. "But there's nothing we can do about that right this minute. What do you guys want to do? Do you want to just go home?"
"I say.... they want see some mutant abilites... lets show em some?" she said.
"Do we really want to throw the first stone?" Scott asked.
Jubilee looked at Rogue, mouth hanging open. "Are you serious? We could start something today... it would never stop. It would be a war, Rogue. And out of our control."
"Its already out of control, look at what happened in there, we couldnt stay and eat like normal people... and we dont live in normal places because we live with rats because they house us there... They show us off in class like lab rats."
"That's true..." Jubilee said slowly, looking to Scott for back up. "But... what would the Professor say?"
"He's off being a teacher... not in the thick of things like we are...." she said, not like she didn't care about him but .... seriously, he wasn't in the middle of it like they were. Getting the stones thrown at him like they were.
"Well... maybe as long as we don't actually hurt anybody?" Jubilee said, slowly coming around to Rogue's way of thinking.
"Course, not like I want to kill anyone or something .... unless they try to kill me first, of course."
"The Professor would not like that. I think we should just walk away." Scott reasoned.
"Oh Scott, do you do EVERYTHING the Professor says?"
"Duh, of course he does," Jubilee said, scoffing at him.
"I don't always listen to the Professor," Scott said. "But we can't go using our powers in public against humans. They'll fry us for sure."
"We're not going to use them AGAINST the humans," Jubilee said. "We're just going to... show them a few things. I'm sick of being nice and just going along with all of their paranoid bullshit! If they want to be scared, well... at least now they'll have an actual reason!"
Seeing no reasoning with the girls, Scott submitted. "I will not participate in this. My power is far too dangerous. I will only aid you if you get in trouble."
"We're just going to have a little fun is all.... Kiss a little life from a few guys...." she said with a smirk.
"Rogue..." Jubilee said. "He's already freaked out. Why don't I put on a little light show? That way, no one's going to need a hospital afterwards."
She sighed, "Alright, but I was going to so easy on them..... but okay, as long as I get to watch..."
Jubilee was suddenly nervous, and began rubbing her hands together. "Where should I do this? Just out in the middle of the street?" she asked.
"I'll get those guys to come into the alley, over there," she said with a toss of her head, "Kay?"
"So this is going to be a private show, just for them?" Jubilee asked, grinning a little, beginning to get into her old street performer groove. "Interesting."
Rogue nodded, walking over to the two young guys. "Oh boys!" They turned her way with a smile, not noticing her wrist ... for once. "So, wanna see something special?"
They both looked her up and down, "More special than you?"
Her smile grew wider, "Oh yeah...."
They nodded.
"This way..." she said, moving towards the alley ... She turned her head and watched as they followed her.
Jubilee looked at Scott. "Coming?" she asked, then, not waiting for an answer, went into the alley ahead of Rogue and the boys. Globules of light started to form near the tips of her fingers, becoming bigger and multicolored as she debated about how she wanted them to look.
Scott let out a deep breath and moved into the alley with them.
"So.... ready for that surprise?" she said.
"Anytime baby!" they shouted.
As Rogue and the boys hit the entrance to the alley, Jubilee let loose. She remembered one of her old routines, and just threw herself into it. Light and sound filled the alley as stars, circles, hearts, triangles, in all the colors of the rainbow, began flying, streaming through the air. Jubilee threw in a bit of gymnastics, too, just for the fun of it, flipping and twirling as her fireworks surrounded them all.
Trying not to show it to the girls, Scott smiled a little as he stood behind Jubilee.
The boys eyes widened and they looked around for wires, "Where's it coming from?
Rogue just laughed, "It's no trick, I promise you!"
"That's enough," Scott told them.
"Aww, but I was just getting to the good part," Jubilee complained, face partially obscured by whizzing purple stars.
The boys were freaking out, "Your .... Your .... the weirdos, aren't you!?" they yelled, frantic.
"Yeah, that's the technical term," she said, rolling her eyes. "Here, wanna see it a little more up close and personal?" Jubilee held out her hands, shooting big, hot pink hearts towards them, making them spin around the boys' bodies.
"AHHHHHHHH!" one screamed, running the other way. The other fainted dead away.
"Are you two happy now?" Scott asked laughing.
Jubilee started laughing, letting the lights die away. "Look at him, all pathetic on the ground. I'm happy!" she said, almost snorting.
Rogue laughed so hard, she started crying.
"Good," he said looking at the motionless body. "That was a good show, you two. Finally a dose of their own medicine." He was saddened he missed out, but what would he have done?
"Check out the old stick in the mud," Jubilee said, only laughing harder. "Well, I'm glad we got your seal of approval, Mon Capitan! Yabol!" She had watched a little too much Stalag 17 when she was a kid.
"So, what do we do with the passed out dude over there?" Rogue said, pointing to the kid.
Finally beginning to calm down, Jubilee wiped away tears and said, hiccupping, "Leave him. He'll wake up eventually. Besides, it's not our fault he's a big scaredy cat."
"I think we better leave before the one who ran calls the police on us," Scott mentioned.
The sound of sirens echoed through the alley, causing Jubilee to pale visibly. "I think he already did," she said, voice choked. "I can't get in trouble with them again, guys. I'm old enough to go to prison this time."
"Well, so am I, being in college!" she screeched, hitting the pavement as she ran.
"I won't let them take you," he told Jubilee. He turned to rogue. "Or you."
"Well, it's not like either one of you have a record!" Jubilee shouted, sprinting as fast as she could. "Should we split up? Are we even going in the right direction? Damn it! This wasn't supposed to happen!"
"Well, I did warn you. . . But now's not the time for i told you sos!" Scott said.
"I don't kn---" she stopped suddenly when she hit a gate, blocking her path. "Shit! I've nowhere to go!" she shouted.
"Here, give me your foot," Jubilee said, stopping and cupping her hands together. She knew that she could make if over on her own.
"I have a simpler plan," Scott said.
"Oh, god, everyone step back," Jubilee said, waiting for the glasses to come off.
Scott ripped his glasses off after making sure he was in the right direction. Then he opened his eyes, blasting the gate open. He replaced his shades and looked to them.
"Ladies first."
"Wow.... nice," Rogue said, appreciatively.
Jubilee stepped over the now-smoking pile of metal that used to be a gate and looked around. They had hit people's backyards, and she didn't know which way the college was anymore. The sirens were getting louder behind them. "Which way?" she asked.
"Does it matter? We can get our bearings when we've lost the cops!" Scott hurried.
"At this point, I don't care, let's just GO!" she said, walking through the ash that settled.
"Oh sure, that's a plan," Jubilee said, turning to her right. "Let's hope we're not heading straight for them." She took off running again, hopping over kiddie toys and bikes.
Scott followed them through the maze of toys and swings and sand boxes.
"Shit. Shit!" Jubilee said as the siren noise amplified. "Wrong way. Sorry, I'm sorry. Um... any ideas?" They were rapidly reaching the end of backyards, and cover.
"Well, when in Rome. . ." Scott stated looking at the police cars.
"If we get caught, be polite!" she yelled, before closing her mouth and faking a smile, hands raised.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Jubilee snapped at Scott, then tried to calm down and follow Rogue's suggestion. She really didn't want to get in a fight right now, not with the cops.
"I can stop them, if you want to run in a different direction!" He told her.
Ending up in another street, cars surrounded them, uniformed police getting out and crouching down, weapons out, in the ready position. "Mutants," the lead officer snarled through a megaphone. "Show your bracelets slowly. Do not attempt to use your... abilities, or you will be put down. Is that clear?"
Rogue kept smiling, "Of course, officer, we wouldnt dream of it," she said as she slowly put her hands out, her bracelet showing.
Scott clenched his jaw as he heard the police. Then he showed his bracelet.
Jubilee reached up and slowly yanked down her cuff, silvery bracelet flashing in the sun. "Don't do anything stupid, Scott," she said, worried he was thinking about blasting them.
He smiled. "Never crossed my mind, sweetheart."
"Arrest them," the lead officer said, gesturing to one of his subordinates. Three of them stepped up, yanking the mutants’ hands behind their backs and snapping cuffs on them, not bothering to be gentle.
"You're under arrest for disturbing the peace and using your mutation outside authorized parameters," Jubilee's policeman said. "You have the right..." As he went through her Miranda rights, the officers arresting Rogue and Scott informed them that they were being arrested for simply disturbing the peace, then began to read them their rights, as well.
"I wouldn't touch me! You might pull my gloves off!" Rogue yelled.
The officers looked at each other. She was wearing gloves up to her elbows, alright. Her arresting checked her tag, then realized what the problem was. "Be careful with this one," he said. "No touching the skin, boys. Now you three, get to the car." He pushed Rogue in the middle of her back, shoving her towards his cruiser; the others were treated the same.
Rogue let out a gasp as she was shoved into the cruiser. "Oww! I'm not an animal, you know?!" she yelled at the officers.
As an officer tried to push Scott in, his shades almost fell. "Careful! I'd hate to blow up your car!"
"Would you all shut up?!" the lead snarled. "My god, it's not like this is the first time we've arrested a bunch of miscreants. Now, take 'em downtown."
Jubilee was quiet, knowing she was in more trouble than the rest of them, worried about what was going to happen to her. She just went along with the officer, getting into the car as smoothly as possible.
Scott kept quiet as he tried to think of an escape plan that didn't involve hurting anyone. He just looked around the beackseat of the car.
They were in three separate cars, slowly making their way through traffic and down to the police station. When they got there, they were booked, then shoved in a holding cell. Rogue and Jubilee were in one together, the women's cell, while Scott was in one across from them. Blessedly, it had been a slow day, and the cells were empty except for them.
"So," Scott said looking up to them. "Any ideas?"
"Wait until we get our phone call, then one of us suck it up and get a hold of the Professor," Jubilee suggested, sitting on the warped wooden bench stretching across one wall of the cell. Home again, home again, she thought sarcastically.
"Yeah but not me, because it was MY idea... after all," Rogue muttered.
"Well I'm the one that actually did the disturbing, or whatever they’re going to call it," Jubilee pointed out. "So that leaves... the Professor's favorite! I vote for Scott to do it."
"Fine, I'll give him a call," Scott said as he moved to the cell bars.