Jubilee rubbed her
arm absently through the material of her yellow coat, wondering if it was safe
to come out yet. She could hear people walking around looking for her, the
hushed voices and sharp footsteps of the police downstairs, and the drip of the
bathroom faucet ringing its own counterpoint. Everything was different now, and
she wondered with a vague resentfulness how soon the police would leave. She
wanted to grieve, wanted to cry and scream and throw things that her parents
were now lying in a car wreck and not here. That she’d never hear her mother’s
soft cluckings in Chinese as she cooked, or smell her soft perfume warmed by
skin, or even get scolded again for not acting like a lady and rollerblading
through the house. That she’d never feel the gentle, restrained almost
embarrassed tap of her father’s proud hand on her shoulder after one of her
gymnastic displays, never listen to him read the newspaper to her after dinner,
or watch as he showed her how to build a proper box kite, out of bamboo sticks
and rice paper.
Her failed attempt
was carefully hidden away in the shed, awaiting another sunshiny day when the
wind blew steady and her father had some time off. It would fly, one day. But
probably never now. Now he was gone.
Jubilee stuffed her
fist in her mouth and tried very hard not to cry while she waited for the
police to leave. Then she’d decide what to do. But she wanted some time to
figure out what. She was found first, brown eyes flying in startled amazement
to the man who opened the cupboard door.
“Hey, kid, no one’s
going to hurt you,” he said softly. “Come on out, huh? We’ll get you some food
to eat. You like McDonalds?” She nodded slowly and came out of hiding,
uncoiling her limbs from their selfimposed prison and shaking off the pins and
needles.
First she was sent to
an interim caretaker, while they found out who she belonged to. Settled her
parents wills and official things like that. Then Social Services sent her to
Juvenile Hall. Within the first hour, she’d been knocked down and her pockets
rifled, though she’d managed to hang onto her yellow coat like grim death. It
had been one of the last presents she’d gotten from her parents, and no one,
*no one* was getting it off her. The usual intimidation by older children, she
refused to let bother her. She learned to use her gymnastics trained muscles in
a fight, kicking, biting and scratching and fighting dirty as she could.
Everyone else did, so she was forced to learn how quick. The supervisors
creeped her out, especially one of the male ones who somehow managed to watch
the girls as they showered after the physical exercise the state decreed they
get. When one night he turned up at her bed, Jubilee snapped. And something
happened that had never happened before.
Lights erupted from
her fingertips. Sparkling, exploding coloured lights like firecrackers, which
burst in his face and against his skin, leaving burns behind and dazzling his
eyes. She ran, jumped the fence and disappeared into the city’s depths. She stole.
What else could she do? She had no other marketable skills, well, except
herself but after seeing the child prostitutes who lingered after dark, Jubilee
vowed she’d starve before she became one of them. Ditto for doing drugs. It was
just stupid. And the fear she could lose control of her fireworks and really
hurt someone who didn’t deserve it lingered. After a few months of just
stealing to survive, Jubilee decided to use her power to get some money. Use it
for light shows, to entertain people in the mall near where she had her
sleeping spot.
She did so with some
success, dodging the mall security easily and leaving with the same alacrity
when the real police showed up. And so she was found by one Remy LeBeau a year
and a half later. A smart mouthed, streetwise young Asian girl who shot
fireworks from her fingers and committed petty theft in a professional manner,
cynical weariness in her blue eyes and dressed in a bright yellow coat. He
decided she intrigued him, unable to think of a mundane reason for the
fireworks and knowing very well what they both were. Mutants. Why no one had
stirred up a mob against her, he couldn’t understand. She was such a visible
mutant who made no effort to hide it. Or herself.
As she told him later
over a cup of coffee that he bought her, once he’d assured her of her safety
with him and had it verified by a few street dwellers she warily trusted,
“People think I’m harmless. They see me and I’m little, right? So I’m obviously
no danger. There’s a few eunuchs walking around today who could tell ya
otherwise. A firecracker down the shorts isn’t exactly painless castration.” He
chuckled at her reply.
“So, dat’s how y’ve
kept y’self safe, p’tite?”
“More or less.”
Jubilee sipped from her coffee, loaded with sugars to the point that Remy
cringed, blue eyes watching him over the top of her cup.
“Nonetheless, ma
p’tite…Gambit think he would like y’ to come wit’ him. Sooner or later, de
police will be waiting f’r y’, and dey will catch y’. Come avec moi, and Gambit
will teach y’ how t’ be a proper t’ief…”
This was an oft
repeated offer while he tried to gain her trust. He even took her on a few of
the easier outings he planned for himself, to show her what he could teach her.
Blue eyes watched and gave nothing away while he coaxed and charmed her into
trusting him enough to believe his offer was for real. And not some trick.
She’d seen a lot of tricks, and only just escaped from some of them on her
early days on the street.
One day, she decided
it was a real deal.
“Alright, Gumbo. I’ll
come with ya.”
Remy blinked. “Are
you sure, ma p’tite?”
“I’m not your
anything, but I’ll come with you.” Jubilee met Remy’s gaze as the thief smiled
slowly, red on black eyes glinting above the half moons of his shades.
“Y’ won’t regret
this, chere, Gambit promise. And y’ll see, it’ll even be tres amusant, ma
p’tite.”
“Don’t call me that,
Gumbo.”
“Call y’ what, ma
p’tite?”
Jubilee’s response
was a barely audible growl, and Remy laughed softly as he put a tip down on the
table of the café and escorted her out. She learned under his gently protective
aura, while Remy put the word out that Jubilee was not to be interfered with in
any way out on the underground network that connected the Thieves Guild
together. She was his apprentice, and her rapidly growing skill was a constant
source of pride for the N’Awlins thief. Soon, it was clear that if you wanted a
task done that everyone else called impossible, you went and saw Gambit and
Jubilee. And then one night, a security guard nearly shot Jubilee when they
were carefully entering a private residence. Remy blew up afterwards, blaming
himself for the mishap.
“Gumbo, Gambit,
REMY!” Jubilee’s finally shouted exclamation caught his attention and Remy
swung back to face her, red on black eyes snapping with reproachful anger at
himself. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“Gambit should’ve
known it was a trap…he been in de t’ieving business f’r long enough! He should
have known…”
“Dammit, stop
referring to yourself in the third person! It’s not healthy. And it wasn’t your
fault…I should have seen him before he had a chance to get off the shot. You
taught me better then that. I was lazy, and I got what I deserved for being
lazy.”
“Nevertheless,
p’tite, Ah t’ink y’ should take a lil’ bit of time out from de t’ieving business…and
Ah know just t’ place.”
In a few days, that
was how Jubilee found herself looking at the walls to the Xavier’s School for
Gifted Youngsters. Remy gave her a hand up over the walls, before they dropped
to the ground, one in a swirl of yellow and the other in a flurry of brown.
Silently, they ghosted along the ground, dodging motion and heat sensors, video
cameras and laser tripwires. When they reached the house, Gambit pointed up at
a window that still had a light showing, on the top floor near the attic. He
climbed up and Jubilee followed after him, neither of them making a sound as
they scaled the side of the house. As they arrived at the window, Gambit
knocked gently. “Stormy? Open up, it Gambit.”
“Haven’t I told you
not to call me Stormy?” a dignified woman’s voice came from inside, before the
halves of the window swung inwards and Gambit stepped inside. He turned and
gave Jubilee a hand down as well.
“Inside job then?”
Jubilee remarked, looking at the African woman with white hair cascading over
her shoulders with a certain quiet disdain. Remy clicked his tongue and pulled
on her hair gently.
“Behave, ma p’tite.
Dis is an old friend o’ mine…Ororo, dis is de amazing Jubilation Lee. Jubes,
Stormy.” Remy smiled, while Jubilee stared at Storm with frank dislike and
Storm stared coolly back. “Now, Stormy, did y’ talk t’ de professor about
Gambit wanting t’ leave Jubilee here for a while? Get her some proper schooling
and stuff like dat?”
“Rems, I don’t need
it and hell, I don’t want it!” Jubilee hissed at him, blue eyes sparking like a
cat’s in a fury. “I don’t want to stay here, and you’ll see me at one of our
bases quicker then you can pick a lock.”
“Jubilation Lee, you
will be staying here until Ah t’ink it is safe f’r y’ t’ come back t’ de t’ieving
business,” Remy growled, and squeezed her shoulder gently. “It won’t be dat
long, p’tite.”
“Yes, I did talk to
the professor, and he’s quite willing to have Jubilation stay here,” Storm
intervened before Jubilee opened her mouth for an angry retort.
“It’s *Jubilee*,” the
Asian girl spat at Storm, before drawing her shoulders back. “Alright, Rems.
I’ll stay. But I think you’re being stupid and I am going to be so totally
bored…”
“Bien, bien,” Remy
said, a small smile flitting across his face before he followed Storm out of
the room and down the stairs, coat flicking around his ankles as he shoved his
hands deep into his pockets. Jubilee rolled her eyes and trailed along after
the two adults. If Remy trusted them so gosh darn much, then why were his fingers
even now holding a card to throw? Huh. Can’t fool me, Gumbo. You don’t trust
anyone but me, your father and Tante Mattie, and so it seems this Storm. So,
why are you leaving me here? The quiet screaming started again in one corner of
her mind that she firmly ignored, wailing about loneliness, pain and fear.
**Welcome, Miss
Jubilation Lee,** an older man’s voice whispered into her mind and Jubliee’s
head snapped up in shock, sapphire eyes wide. **Do not worry, you will be quite
comfortable here.**
“An’ as always, old
man, y’ can stay out of Gambit’s head, d’accord?” Gambit said calmly to the
thin air and Jubilee felt a laugh ripple through her head before the
indefinable presence was gone. “Ah don’ like it when he do dat, Stormy.
Especially not t’ someone under mah care.”
“The professor is
quite ethical,” Storm said as she led them through the wood panelled hall.
“Ah don’ like people
in mah head, p’tite. Dere are t’ings dere Ah’d rather keep to mahself.”
Surprising people who
throw explosive things is never a good idea. Especially if they’re already on
edge. Logan’s silent prowl up behind the two thieves, followed by him clearing
his throat to speak was met with two dazzling explosions. One yellow, one a red
pink. He went flying backwards while a smooth stick of silvery metal grew in
Gambit’s hand, a glowing pink card in the other, and Jubilee’s hands became
encased in more glowing spheres like the one she had thrown at Logan in her
fright. Storm stepped between the two parties, as Logan got to his feet,
shaking his head and then extending his claws with a snarl.
“Three words, homme.
Back and OFF!” Jubilee growled.
“Please, can everyone
just calm down,” Storm said firmly, looking from Logan to the two thieves.
“Remy. Jubilation-“
“I told ya already,
lady, it’s Jubi-LEE.”
“Logan.” Storm’s lips
tightened. “We were going to see the professor. They are allowed on the
grounds, Logan.”
“How was I supposed
to know that?” Logan said defensively.
“Well, the fact that
she’s escorting us wasn’t enough, hair boy?” Jubilee snapped. Logan’s eyebrows
arched, and then settled back into glower mode. Gambit chuckled quietly and
petted her shoulder after stowing the card back in his pocket.
“An’ who is dis, ma
p’tite Stormy?”
“This is Logan. He’s
a guest of the professor’s,” Storm said. “And on occasion, he also helps teach
the students some self defence.”
“Oh, and here I had
him pegged as the art teacher,” Jubilee said impudently.
“Watch it, short
stuff,” Logan said in a warning voice. Jubilee stuck her tongue out at him, and
then turned to look at Storm.
“Can we get going
now?”
Doors along the
corridor started to open slowly, whispers becoming audible. Jubilee folded her
arms and tapped one foot against the ground as Remy chuckled quietly.
“Ah t’ink y’r bebes
are waking up, p’tite Stormy.” He reached over and tugged gently at Storm’s
hair, and she slapped his hand away lightly.
“Refrain from calling
me that, Gambit, you’re not quite the charmer you think you are.”
“Oh, Gambit know he
de charmer, chere. One of de best, in fact. Maintenant, let’s see de vieux
homme and get mah Firecracker settled in. Ah’ve got t’ get going.”
“Leaving me here all
alone in the freak zoo,” Jubilee muttered. Remy swatted her behind and she
jumped forward, uttering an indignant yelp.
“Jubilation Lee, y’
ain’t too big f’r me t’ take y’ over mah knee and spank de living daylights
outta ya. We don’ say dat word. What would Tante Mattie say, hien?” Remy tsked
and shook his head as the motley group got going to the professor’s office. He
smiled and winked at a girl who was poking her head out around the corner of
her bedroom door, earning himself a blush and a small giggle before Storm
frowned and she disappeared back behind the door. Jubilee made a face.
“Smarmy bastard.”
“Ah prefer charming.”
“Slimer.”
“Gallant.”
“Pain in my *ass*.”
“P’tite!”
“Gumbo.” Jubilee
raised an eyebrow at him before Storm opened a set of doors and they came into
an elegantly appointed office. There was a bald, elderly man sitting behind the
desk, and as he came out from behind it, it was obvious that he was in a
wheelchair. She lifted her head, sticking her hands in the pockets of her coat.
Remy nodded stiffly to Xavier.
“Look after her, or
Ah swear t’ le Bon Dieu...”
“We will take good
care of her, Mr LeBeau,” Xavier said soothingly.
“Alrigh’ den.” Remy
turned, and enfolded Jubilee in a hug, picking her up off the floor and burying
his face in her shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Ah’ll be
coming back f’r y’, p’tite, Ah *swear*. Be good.”
“You better come
back, or I’ll come find you.” Slowly, reluctantly, she let go as he put her
down. “Keep in touch, ok?”
“As much as Ah can.
Au revoir, ma belle Jubilee.” With another quick kiss to her forehead, a kiss
for Storm who looked amused yet surprised at the same time and a half hearted
salute to Xavier, Remy was gone in a swirl of brown cloth. Jubilee shook off
the deep loneliness that came with his exit, and grinned cheekily at the three
X-Men.
“Jubilee in da house.”