CHAPTER 24 - A Different Point of View
Jubilee ran down the hall, gripping her shoulder in an attempt to keep it from getting jostled by her uneven gait.
“Of all the ways to start out a damn vacation...” she muttered.
She’d been really looking forward to going clubbing with the girls this break. She needed a damn distraction from her sleepless nights. She’d been able to convince Kitty easily enough. She was always game for some fun. But Rogue...she’d been a real hard nut to crack. Finally Jubilee had managed a hesitant yes out of the girl and she had this Saturday all set up at a fantastic club downtown.
And now here she was, limping down the hall like the damn Hunchback of Notre Dame and practically bleeding out. And Rogue....well damn, she was back there probably handing out an ass-kicking that would make the Wolverine proud. She groaned inwardly. She was going to have to listen to them go at it again tonight. They always got it on after missions. And while this wasn’t exactly a mission...it probably counted.
She found a hall with phone booth slots and practically jumped in glee. She hobbled over and froze. The phones had been removed. They’d probably taken them since no one uses the disgusting germ-riddled gum-depositories anymore; not with cell phones having made them obsolete.
“Aw, come on, man.” This was just not her day. She couldn’t blame anyone but herself. Hadn’t her daily horoscope told her to put on a few extra strokes of deodorant as it would be a stressful day? She should have stayed home. Exam be damned.
She hobbled away, gritting her teeth at the unbelievable throb in her shoulder. Her fingers were going numb, probably from the noose Rogue had tied around her arm. There were bathrooms down the hall a bit...maybe there’d be phones.
She pushed on, promising herself a bubblebath of epic proportions, maybe with Remy giving her a good back rub. He’d need to be naked, of course. She’d work out the details later. Right now she needed to locate a damn phone.
Some people ran by, wailing and screaming like banshees. She stared after them in horror. If being ‘normal’ meant those were the reactions you had, she was glad she was a damn mutant. She shoved aside the little voice that told her she envied that kind of ignorance.
She heard some crying and hysterical blabbering down near the bathrooms. When she turned the corner, she stopped and stared in utter disgust. Yet another wailing female. This one crying into the pay phone.
“Oh, God. Please, please. Come and get me. Please...they’re shooting guns. I’m covered in blood. I can’t die like this...I haven’t told my boyfriend about the guy I slept with...I haven’t...”
Jubilee flinched and gagged. What a drama queen! She wasn’t going to listen to another word.
“Hey, Lady Macbeth! Need the phone, here.” She stumbled over, feeling the blood loss starting to make her hazy again. Apparently, the girl didn’t hear her. Jubilee was in no mood to be patient.
She grabbed the phone from the girl’s hand and shoved her aside all with her uninjured half. The girl stumbled dramatically and wailed in dismay.
“I’m on the phone with the police! Trying to get help...”
Jubilee slammed the receiver down.
“...What are you doing? Are you crazy? That was the police you just hung up on! Who would you need to call that’s more important than the police?”
Jubes pointed at her wet and stringy hair. In her most sarcastic Valley Girl impersonation she stated, “Obviously...I’m, like, going to have to move up my salon appointment. I can’t go out like this.”
Jubes rolled her eyes and picked up the phone, rifling through her pocket. Pulling out a quarter, she shoved it in the slot. When nothing happened she growled in anger.
Looking at the instructions she balked.
“Thirty-five cents! When did it become thirty-five cents? It used to be a quarter! Who the hell carries around a quarter and a dime?” she grumbled as she dug for more change. She managed to find two nickels and slammed them in.
Finally, a dial tone. She punched in the number.
The girl was crying hysterically again. Jubes sighed and rolled her eyes. Her shoulder was fucking killing her.
At the second ring, the line picked up. Jubilee felt her heart falter in relief.
“Yes?”
Was that...? “Kit Cat?” She felt suddenly like crying.
A pause. Then, “Jubes?”
“Girl, we're in some serious shit over here.” She was panting while she spoke into the phone, her shoulder wound sapping all her energy.
“What's going on?”
The freaking drama queen was blubbering and babbling now, going on about not wanting to die. Jubes ground her teeth.
“We're at the college. We got ambushed. There were a mess of guys waiting for us.” Her voice was shaking. “They’re psychos, Kit. They shot up half the parking lot. I caught one in shoulder but Rogue is good so far.”
“You're hurt?” Jubes heard the panic in Kitty’s voice.
“Not bad, babe. You know me. I get out of everything.”
She heard the automated message come to life. “Please...deposit...twenty-five...cents.”
“Fuck,” Jubes muttered. She turned to the girl, who was now hiccuping in between sobs. “You got a quarter or something?”
The girl blinked stupidly at her. Jubes turned back to the conversation. “We got separated. Rogue's still back there fighting off some shitheads. Made me go find this damn payphone...”
And there it was again. “Please...deposit...twenty-five...cents.”
“I need a damn quarter!” She shouted at the girl who fumbled through her pockets. “Thank fucking God I had some change in my pocket.”
The drama queen held out a trembling hand, and Jubes looked down at the penny in it. Useless dingbat. “Shit.”
“Ok. Listen. Tell me exactly where you are. Quick. We ca...”
“Please...deposit...twenty-five...cents.”
“Damn.” Jube's said. “It keeps asking for more money. I don't have...”
The line went dead.
She gripped the phone and stared at it.
“What’s the matter?” the crying girl hiccuped.
Jubes snapped. She slammed the receiver into the base repeatedly, as hard as she could with her right arm.
“Stupid...fucking...piece of shit...I want...to go...home!”
Energy spent, she looked back at the girl. She was cowering in the corner staring at her as if she’d gone crazy.
Jubilee sneered at her. “Oh, like you’re any better.”
She turned and stormed off with as much grace as she could muster.
XXX
Jubes carefully looked around the corner of the lecture hall. It was quiet. Which could be good...or really really bad.
The man she’d slammed down onto the edge of the table still lay there, blood dripping from his nose. A little further, another man was passed out, his arm twisted in the most disgusting way. Damn, girl.
She stumbled in and looked around. There. Jubes scrambled over debris to the body of the third man. His eyes were open and vacant. Dead. But other than a rather crushed-looking nose, nothing else was wrong with him.
Jubilee’s eyes scanned the room, frantically looking for Rogue. If she’d absorbed that much of him...
“Rogue?” she asked desperately.
“Here.” The pained whisper came from behind some desks. Jubilee clambered over, cursing at the stinging pain in her shoulder. She reached Rogue’s slumped form and knelt down in front of her.
Jubes sucked in a breath through gritted teeth.
“Damn, girl.. What happened to you?”
Her face was bloodied and bruised. There was swelling around her neck. She was still wet from head to toe and shivering. Hair clung to her face in a tangled mess. “Got my ass handed to me,” she said through a grimace.
“And you won?”
Rogue laughed hoarsely. “You should see the other guy...”
Jubes snorted. “I did. Man, just wait ‘til Logan gets a look at you.”
Marie groaned and tried to sit up. “We got to get out of here.”
“You’re pretty messed up, girl. I don’t know if you should move.”
“Those guys might wake up any second,” Rogue stressed. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t have another fight like that in me.”
Jube’s bit her lip and sighed. “There are some restrooms down the hall a bit. We can lock ourselves in there ‘til things calm down some.”
Rogue nodded. “Help me up, Sparky.”
“Now, don’t start that shit. Only Wolvester gets to call me that.” Jubes heaved as best she could with her good hand, helping her get to her shaky feet. “Soon as we get home...shit...soon as Logan gets you on that jet...he’s gonna be expecting you to pull that handy mutation of his. I get to heal the old fashioned way. Have some damn pity.”
“Not likely,” a voice said dryly from the entrance.
Jubes’s head jerked up and she felt her heart sink. Four more men stood at the entrance of the room, guns pointed at them. She felt Rogue stiffen beside her.
A grey-haired man looked down at the three forms on the floor. “I’m impressed Ms. D’Ancanto.”
Rogue glared.
Jubes looked around and brought up her hands, calling up the vibrations of electricity.
She felt a bullet rip through her shoulder again, the sound resonating through the large room. The floor flew up to meet her back, her head thumping on the floor soundly.
“Jubes,” Rogue cried, falling to the floor next to her.
Pain swarmed her as hot liquid pooled down her chest and back. She screamed as much in anger as in pain. “You gotta be kidding me!”
“Oh, God,” Marie said as she frantically held her hand over the wound. Jubes could barely see. The world was fading.
A man came into view above them and pointed a gun at her face. Oh, man.
“No!” Rogue screamed. Holding up a blood soaked hand. “I’ll go with you! I”ll go!”
The man smiled. “No more fighting?”
“No more fighting,” She promised. “Just...leave her here. Let me stop the bleeding and leave her here.”
He grinned down at Jubes. “You’re a lucky girl.”
“Fuck you!” Jubes ground out.
He chuckled and turned to Rogue. “You have sixty seconds.”
Rogue nodded and stumbled over to one of the downed men. Ripping off a chunk of cloth, she rushed back over and began tying a tourniquet. Jubilee grabbed her shaking hands. “Don’t...” Rogue ignored her. “I mean it, Rogue. Don’t. You fight every last one of those jerks.”
Rogue glared at her. “Stop being noble and let me get this bleeding under control.”
Jubes laughed and then coughed. “Who’s the one being all noble, girl? I’m not the one handing myself over.”
Rogue’s lips pressed together. A few seconds of her working furiously and then she stopped and looked at her. “You’re my girl, Jubes. You know that?”
Jubes felt tears cloud her already blurring vision. “Yeah.”
“Do me a favor, huh?” Jubes nodded. “Tell him I love him.”
“Tell him yourself when we come and get you,” Jubes wheezed out. There was no way this was going to stand. She may be down for the count but she knew her man Wolverine.
Rogue smiled tightly and whispered, “I’m countin’ on it.”
Two men dragged her off and left Jubilee in the room alone, clinging to consciousness.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
This was a fun chapter to write as well. Jubilee is just too much fun to write. With some help from the incredible doctorg, I believe she came out sounding pretty cool. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter End Notes:
So much fun. Got a good laugh writing this one. Please, review. I really really enjoyed getting so many reviews last chapter. I hope you all will be so kind this time as well.