Connection

[Juggers]

The best part of eight hours passed in near silence. The women talking between themselves and Python maintaining a strained, ill-tempered silence in the cockpit. For the Juggernaut it was absolutely maddening. He sat, he paced, he attempted volley shots with the empty water bottle, and eventually he tried to sleep. The long period of silent inactivity was against him however and he ended up laying flat on his back staring at the ceiling for an hour.

If they had been anywhere other than in a plane, something would have been broken. Cain was smart enough to behave himself on aircraft however.

By the time Python had contacted Giacomo to tell him of their arrival the Juggernaut had almost become a being of pure nervous energy.

In contrast to the near-frenzy of caged mutant, the soft Italian dawn spread languidly across the horizon as the plane approached Potenza, the misty orange, yellow and eventually white creeping across the Mediterranean landscape. Python gave a small sigh of contentment, relaxing a little as they neared their destination.

Ten minutes later and the hulking craft touched down on the little private airstrip and screeched to a stop.

Dew dappled the morning grass and a fine mist had sprung up in the valleys and dells that surrounded the gentle hillside. It was the kind of scene that is magically captured in holiday postcards but never actually witnessed. The very definition of picturesque.

The access ramp bumped open.

"It's about fuckin' time!!" Cain exclaimed loudly to the countryside.

"I have been goin' out of my bloody mind trapped in there, and it ain't nothin' to do with me gas!"

He jumped the steps and landed with a heavy thud that caused the dew to jump from its grassy moorings.

"I want somethin' to eat, somethin' to drink and I damn well want somethin' to bloody do!"

[Jane]

The next morning, Jane actually woke up at a decent hour - well, late for her, since she usually worked the kind of jobs that had you up at four or five, but still decent by anyone else's standards. The sun was just coming up outside on her (or rather, Giacomo's daughter's - she couldn't start thinking it was hers) balcony, through the big glass doors.

Mornings always made Jane feel good. Though she didn't wake up from naps well at all, waking up in the morning had never been difficult; she was, unfortunately, one of those rare beasts: a morning person.

She had showered, tamed her hair, dressed (i.e. forced herself into one of the too-tight pairs of jeans, not keen on another day in a flowy dress, which eventually sort of fit but rid decidedly low) and even emerged to search for coffee by the time Giacomo tracked her down, explaining that the Brotherhood had rearrived at the airstrip and that she should probably come with to convey them back.

They had no trouble finding a car big enough; apparently Giacomo owned half the motor vehicle population of the country, or so it seemed to Jane, who had been through many places, but had never seen quite so many cars owned by someone who was not a dealer. Selecting an H2 (against which Jane thought she should probably be opposed, since she was half environment anyway) for space requirements, they made their way over the country lanes to the airstrip, the sun coming up outside the tinted windows in a beautiful, postcard-type panorama that Jane could almost swear was digitally altered somehow.

They got to the strip a few minutes after the plane itself arrived, probably because Giacomo had graciously allowed Jane to finish her coffee before they left, and Jane stumbled down out of the nearly-a-tank, the drop to the ground considerable.

Giacomo called out a greeting to those assembled next to the cargo plane and Jane eventually found her way out from behind the side of the enormous vehicle, suddenly feeling very small next to it. She waved a quick hello before ducking into the plane quickly to retrieve her bag, which, though it was ancient and full mostly of gross old clothes, did contain pants that actually fit and didn't leave an uncomfortable space between their beginning and the end of her shirt, the most modest thing Giacomo's daughter owned, a high-necked sweater that still didn't quite meet the jeans.

"Pyro's still up at the house," she said as she reemerged, noting the presence of two new girls, both of them vaguely threatening-looking. "Sleeping his shoulder off. Not literally, I hope."

[Juggers]

The Juggernaut grinned hugely. "Feelin' better already then huh" He turned to the two women who had stepped from the plane. "This is Sehkmet," he introduced. The two women said nothing but muttered a few words between themselves.

"Purple there is Psylocke."

Python appeared in the doorway and gave Jane one of his bright smiles, the effect of which was only slightly spoiled by his fangs. "Good morning my dear," he greeted cheerfully, "I trust Giacomo has been taking good care of you and John-boy?"

Cain stretched and scratched his chin, "don't spose we're too early for breakfast are we?" He asked the smiling Italian, "only I got a real need to eat somethin' better than a mouldy chocolate bar."

Python rolled his eyes, "I've had to live with that all the way back," he griped.

"Well I'm bloody hungry!" Cain protested, "an bored! At least you get to fly the plane, I 'ad to sit on my arse doing nothing all the way 'ere."

He glanced again at Jane, "good look for ya by the way."

[Jane]

"This is Sehkmet. Purple there is Psylocke."

Neither of them said anything to Jane directly, instead staring her down oddly and muttering. For no reason, Jane wondered how she looked and resisted the urge to mess with her hair. She couldn't stand being in female company; it made her paranoid.

Well, girls were weird, after all. She gave both of them a forced smile and went back toward the safety of Giacomo and the car, which were both male - no car that huge and pointless could be female - and therefore safe.

Python burst from the plane in a display of good cheer, a far contrast to the two girls and even to himself two days ago.

"Good morning my dear. I trust Giacomo has been taking good care of you and John-boy?"

At least it wasn't 'Miss' again. "Very good care," she said, grinning at Giacomo briefly. "They even put a full tank in John."

"Don't spose we're too early for breakfast are we? Only I got a real need to eat somethin' better than a mouldy chocolate bar."

"I've had to live with that all the way back," he griped.

"Well I'm bloody hungry! An bored! At least you get to fly the plane, I 'ad to sit on my arse doing nothing all the way 'ere."

Jane smiled at the exchange, feeling more at home. She just wasn't used to class - not that Heinrich was particularly classy, but the house itself had overshadowed his... Heinrich-ness.

"Good look for ya by the way."

...

"No," Jane said. "Just no."

[Juggers]

The Juggernaut shrugged, something akin to a mountain adjusting its flanks. "Suit yerself," he said, "looks alright from where I'm standin' though!" He stomped on over to the Cain-sized vehicle and squashed himself into the back seat. It was marginally more spacious than the back of a van but still not designed for Juggernaut dimensions.

Python descended and crossed to where Jane and Giacomo waited, "are you ladies coming?" He asked somewhat coldly over his shoulder.

There was a muttered response about waiting and a phone rang again. Python shook his head. "They can catch up later," he said to Giacomo with a knowing glance. The Italian gave him a bright smile and hopped into the drivers side.

Python held the door for Jane, "after you my dear," he offered. "I'm sure Cain will be able to shuffle along for you."

The Juggernaut raised an eyebrow, "yeah, I got ya shufflin' right 'ere!" He said with a mischievous grin, but shunted himself along anyway. There was a tense moment as the car rocked violently from side to side before settling down again.

"Good enough for ya?"

[Jane]

"Suit yerself. Looks alright from where I'm standin' though!"

"That," Jane said as he forced himself into the car, which was something like watching the clown trick in reverse but all at once, "would be why no."

Much to Jane's personal satisfaction, the girls did not appear to be coming. She didn't know what kind of company they'd be, but the fact that they were female was off-putting enough, and the others seemed pretty opposed to their existence in general.

"After you, my dear. I'm sure Cain will be able to shuffle along for you."

Jane hauled herself up onto the little step thing that stuck out from the side of the car, ostensibly to assist getting in. Any car that required steps, Jane decided, was too damn big. "Thanks," she said to Python. "How thoughtful of him."

"Yeah, I got ya shufflin' right 'ere!"

Jane made a small, less than graceful noise as she was almost thrown off the car, clinging to a little hook just inside for dear life. When the rocking stopped, she glared fiercely at the Juggernaut (Cain, apparently?), aware that she was not very intimidating.

"Good enough for ya?"

"I am going to kill you one day," Jane said, and plopped into what backseat was left after Cain got done using most of it, holding her bag, with its precious clothing supply, on her lap. "Probably sometime soon."

[Juggers]

Cain grinned back at her, "join the cue darlin'" he said and chuckled. "Ain't nobody can stop the Juggernaut."

Python rolled his eyes and slid into the passenger seat beside Giacomo. "Please," he implored, "don't get him started, he has been going out of his mind on the way over here," he winced as Cain reached out of one of the windows and banged on the roof.

"Lets get rollin'" He yelled.

Giacomo set off from the air-strip, a good natured smile written on his face, even if chaos was about to descend upon his home.

"Trust me," Python said with a conspiratorial wink, "you don't want a bored Juggernaut, it never ends well."

The Italian countryside rolled past in its early morning splendor and it wasn't long before the unlikely group rolled up the long gravel drive to Giacomos' manor.

"Not a bad lookin' place ya got 'ere!" The Juggernaut exclaimed as he jumped from the vehicle. It rocked back and forth a few times and the suspension gave a grateful sigh.

"So, what's for breakfast?"

[Jane]

"Join the cue darlin'. Ain't nobody can stop the Juggernaut."

Not until I feed you to a dahlia, Jane thought, but only smiled a little deviously.

"Please don't get him started, he has been going out of his mind on the way over here."

"Lets get rollin'!"

"What's so crazy-inducing about a plane trip?" Jane asked. Never having been on a proper plane ride (through which she was awake, anyway), she didn't see what was so boring. She'd taken a freighter over from America, and there had been plenty to do.

"Trust me, you don't want a bored Juggernaut, it never ends well."

Jane eyed the hulking man curiously. It kind of made her want to see him bored, just so she could see what happened.

The trip passed quickly (thank the Lord) and Jane hopped down from the H2 as soon as they pulled up into the graceful circle drive, landing more neatly this time since she'd had experience with the fall. Somehow, it didn't seem as high.

"Not a bad lookin' place ya got 'ere! So, what's for breakfast?"

The car rose visibly, and Jane realized that the jump probably hadn't been as high. Poor shocks.

[Pyro]

John had not slept particularly well, but had at least slept for a while. The long sleep he had had following yesterday's blood transfusion had thrown his body clock completely out of synch. Heinrich had called round to the house whilst Giacomo and Jane had gone to the airstrip to extract blood out of him, which struck John as particularly stupid. Why go to all the trouble of pumping the damn stuff IN if all they were going to do was start taking it OUT again.

His iron and sugar levels were all fine and Heinrich re-dressed his wound. "You will have to get the stitches out, do not forget," he said. "In maybe a week's time or so."

That'd be interesting. Genosha wasn't top of the medical services list. He was pretty sure that someone would be able to take out a few stupid stitches, though. He almost grudgingly thanked Heinrich who left, leaving John alone apart from the employees. He ate a hearty breakfast, his appetite not diminished any from the previous night, and drank no less than four cups of coffee before he heard the sound of the vehicle outside.

A pyromaniac on a caffeine high.

Could be interesting.

Could be nothing.

He wandered outside in his too-large jeans and bare feet and grinned at the sight of Python and the Juggernaut. "Hey boys," he said. "Good to see you." He noticed Jane's outfit and his grin got wider. "Morning," he added to her. "Nice outfit."

After a few moments passed and noone else was forthcoming, he quirked an eyebrow. "Sekhmet?" he asked, simply.

[Jane]

John wandered outside as Jane made her way with her bag back up towards the house, not keen on spending any more time in what she'd suddenly decided were Devil Pants, or maybe She-Devil Pants, since everything male with eyes had suddenly started hitting on her. Well, except Giacomo. He was a gentleman. But everything else.

It was a weird feeling; even in the underground, there had always been more generally weird people than real mutants, and physical mutations like hers weren't rare, exactly, but they'd always been in the minority. Except in winter, she'd never been in high demand.

"Hey boys. Good to see you."

At least she still counted as one of the boys in John's head. At least SOMEONE -

"Morning. Nice outfit."

"Continue that train of thought and you die," Jane said simply before disappearing inside the house, wanting to get out of the Devil Jeans as fast as possible.

Not like that. Ew.

Jane switched out quickly in Giacomo's daughter's room, into a baggy pair of her own and a sweatshirt so old the band name had nearly faded off and become one with the fabric, though STYX was still barely (and unfortunately) visible.

Aaah. Much better. No stomach was visible, and even if the sweatshirt actually fit her correctly, it was a sweatshirt, after all - she looked like an androgynous disaffected youth again.

Jane trotted back down to the boys, leaning on a doorframe so she wouldn't be too much in the way.

[Juggers]

Python smiled as John emerged from the house. "There he is," he beamed brightly, "all fixed up and good as new." That wasn't entirely true; Pyro still sported an abundance of bandages and probably wouldn't fully mend for a good many days.

"Ya lookin' better," Cain grinned. He watched with faint amusement as Jane slipped away into the building, only to emerge a few minutes later in a rather more loose fitting outfit. Cain shook his head, "the other one was better!"

"Sekhmet?"

The Juggernaut grunted, "yeah, we got 'er, she's in one hell of a mood though. We let 'er an Psylocke back at the strip, I think they were gonna go into town or somethin'" He shrugged, "somethin' about an important phone call, I dunno."

One of the staff had come out and returned the car to its garage and Giacomo stood at the door, ready to welcome his latest guests.

"Anyway, I'm 'ungry, we've been busy while you've been restin' up. Takes alot out of ya, flyin'"

[Jane]

"The other one was better!"

Jane huffed moodily and rolled her eyes, deciding no longer to dignify Juggernaut's comments with responses. That worked... sometimes. She doubted it would this time, but it took a hell of a lot less effort.

She heard the car roar back off towards the garage, coughing gently once in the exhaust.

"Anyway, I'm 'ungry, we've been busy while you've been restin' up. Takes alot out of ya, flyin'"

"What, you sprout wings and flap yourself here?" Jane asked. It was sitting for eight hours, for Chrissake.

Giacomo made a small, diplomatic murmur and ushered them into a room different from the dining room of last night - a breakfast nook, though there was very little nookish about it. Jane had lived places smaller than the so-called "nook."

"Breakfast will be ready in a few moments," Giacomo said, taking a seat at the head of the table, apparently shaken by nothing. Jane sat down as well, experiencing the same feeling of being less expensive than the chair that she had last night.

"How was New York?" she asked. The last time she'd left it, it had been rat-infested and angry; she wondered if it was still the same metropolitan disaster it had been before.

[Pyro]

"She didn't go to New York, I'm told," said John, in answer to Jane's question.

So Sekhmet had gone directly to Miami, not New York. She had not passed 'Go', she had not collected two hundred dollars. For some reason John wasn't in the least bit surprised by this revelation. In fact, it was probably the best for everyone that she hadn't rolled in with the others, because he was spoiling for a fight.

This may have had something to do with the coffee.

Not for the first time, he regretted drinking four cups of double-strength Espresso that morning. "I've already had my breakfast," he admitted, a little sheepishly. "But you guys go on ahead. I'm just gonna stretch my legs for a bit. All that sleep has left me feeling decidedly hazy around the edges. Plus I want to have a little practise this morning." It was behaviour he'd got used to both under the tutelage of Charles Xavier and latterly Magneto. Practise, practise, practise.

One day, it MIGHT make perfect.

He jiggled from leg to leg.

[Juggers]

Juggernaut watched Pyro hop about, "do you need to pee?" he asked. John looked like he was trying to go in several directions at once and Cain sympathized; he had felt like that for the last eight hours or so. He shrugged, "go burn stuff," he said, "we'll be 'ere," a tray of coffee and toast was being carried from the kitchen, "a while." He finished.

Python helped himself to a coffee and a slice of buttered toast and set about devouring his first meal in nearly a day. "Hard work this Brotherhood business," he said between mouthfuls, "never know when you might get to eat again."

Cain chuckled and helped himself to two cups of coffee and the rest of the toast rack. "Yeah, we were SUPPOSED to go to New York. Ended up in Orlando. These things 'appen." He munched three slices. "Flyin' is still borin' as hell mind, we need in-flight movies or somethin'." Both cups drained.

"Never left the plane, it was 'ot though an they 'ad a blindin' radio show on, there was this bloke who reckoned he'd accidentally sha ... " He became aware of Python making small chopping gestures with his hand, the universal 'NO!' gesture.

"Yesitwasterriblyamusing," he hurriedly filled in as Juggernauts brow furrowed in confusion. "How have you been getting along here my dear? I trust Giacomo has been a good host?"

[Jane]

"She didn't go to New York, I'm told."

Weird. One would think you couldn't get too confused about where New York was. Maybe there was another New York in Texas. They had all the other city names down there.

"I've already had my breakfast, but you guys go on ahead. I'm just gonna stretch my legs for a bit. All that sleep has left me feeling decidedly hazy around the edges. Plus I want to have a little practise this morning."

"If you pull your stitches out I'm not putting you back together," Jane warned him, one of the helpful servants orbiting the table like moons setting a plate full of some sort of Italianized toast - just like real toast, but somehow better - down in front of her.

John seemed a little too full of energy to her, but she wasn't about to get in another fight with him - especially now that he was apparently her boss, wasn't he? Instead, she cast a disapproving glance at his jiggling leg and then looked him in the eye, as if to say 'I know what you did last summer,' and went back to her breakfast.

"Do you need to pee? Go burn stuff, we'll be 'ere."

"Nothing important, mind," Jane clarified, feeling very much like his mother.

"Hard work this Brotherhood business. Never know when you might get to eat again."

"Don't bank raids usually help that sort of thing?" Jane asked, crunching into her toast and heavily milking her coffee.

"Yeah, we were SUPPOSED to go to New York. Ended up in Orlando. These things 'appen. Flyin' is still borin' as hell mind, we need in-flight movies or somethin'."

One of Jane's friends from Manchester, before Liverpool, had flown a lot. She had claimed that, like the universal fruitcake rule, there was only one in-flight movie, and it was always Bio-Dome, no matter where in the world you were going.

"Never left the plane, it was 'ot though an they 'ad a blindin' radio show on, there was this bloke who reckoned he'd accidentally sha ... "

Jane looked up in mild interest, but Cain trailed off, and she glanced confusedly from him to Python before deciding, obviously, it had not been fit for her maidenly ears. Which, of course, made her want to know what it was more.

"Yesitwasterriblyamusing. How have you been getting along here my dear? I trust Giacomo has been a good host?"

"Excellent," she said. "I had a balcony! What was he about to say?"

[Juggers]

Cain grinned hugely, "accidentally sha ... "

"Ved himself in his sleep," Python interrupted, "you wouldn't have thought is was possible would you? I mean, to shave yourself in your sleep? That is some kind of mutant sleep-walking there." He ran out of breath.

The Juggernaut was looking at Python strangely. It might have been the mouth stuffed full of toast, but there was certainly an odd, questioning look on his face.

Giacomos' shoulders were twitching noticeably with suppressed laughter but he hid his face in his own cup of coffee.

"Cain!" Python hissed urgently.

The Juggernaut swallowed his mass of toast, "wot?" He said, clearly perplexed.

Python made peculiar twitching motion with his head that generally indicated Jane.

Cain looked from one face to the other. "Wot?!"

"Some things are not appropriate at the table, not to mention in front of a lady!"

"You were laughin' too!" Cain defended.

"Yes but, that was then," Python parried.

"And this is now."

"Python my friend," Giacomo inserted smoothly, "I had no idea you were such a gentleman."

Python visibly coloured and stared down into his coffee.

[Jane]

"Accidentally sha ... "

"- ved himself in his sleep. You wouldn't have thought is was possible would you? I mean, to shave yourself in your sleep? That is some kind of mutant sleep-walking there."

Jane stared at Python, by this point completely lost. Slowly, she turned towards the Juggernaut, who looked just as confused, though that might have just been the toast.

"Cain!"

"Steve," Jane said, figuring if everyone else was going to start saying names she might as well. That and the 'Steve' thing still amused her.

"Wot?"

Twitching. She was being indicated, none too subtly. Confusion was replaced by boredom and long-sufferingness.

"Wot?!"

"Some things are not appropriate at the table, not to mention in front of a lady!"

"You were laughin' too!"

"Yes but, that was then."

"And this is now."

"You people are bizarre," Jane said, returning to her coffee, which was not confusing in the slightest, and moreover did not refer to her as a 'lady,' which she clearly was not. Ladies wore heels. Jane had been known to eat pork rinds.

"Python my friend, I had no idea you were such a gentleman."

And snort into her coffee. Python was now not the only one blushing in the room, but at least Jane's cheeks only went a deeper shade of green - easier to put off to shadowing than flaming red cheekbones.

Though she'd never actually got an answer as to what had been happening on the radio, had she?

Better to leave it alone, Jane decided, if it resulted in this kind of muddle.

[Juggers]

Cain gave Jane a conciliatory wink, "don't worry," he said between bites, "I'll tell ya, later." Python shook his head and sipped his coffee.

"Why do we keep you around again?" He asked.

"'Cos somebody has to 'old ya hand now Magneto ain't 'ere. Pyro's alright but 'e ain't ready to look after 'imself yet. 'e can take care of the Brotherhood an I'll watch 'is back." He crunched his toast, now somewhat more subdued.

When Magneto fell, Python had scattered along with the rest of the Brotherhood, firmly believing anybody left on Alcatraz was dead. He had been passed on the bridge by the Juggernaut carrying an unconscious Pyro and realising that hope was not entirely lost, tagged along. Now he felt like he owed the kid. He wouldn't abandon him again.

"'sides," Juggernaut continued, "I'm so damn good lookin'!"

[Jane]

"Don't worry. I'll tell ya, later."

Jane smiled, feeling like she was being let in the Man World via backdoor. As long as it didn't mean she had to become a lesbian or learn to enjoy fishing, she was fine with that.

"Why do we keep you around again?"

"'Cos somebody has to 'old ya hand now Magneto ain't 'ere. Pyro's alright but 'e ain't ready to look after 'imself yet. 'e can take care of the Brotherhood an I'll watch 'is back."

"That's surprisingly noble," Jane said, a little impressed. "I mean, considering it's you."

"'Sides, I'm so damn good lookin'!"

The impressed-ness vanished.

"Ew," she said simply, knocking back the rest of her coffee.

[Juggers]

Cain finished off all the food within arms reach and stretched. The chair beneath him gave an audible creak of protest and Giacomo winced. It wasn't as if he couldn't replace the furniture almost instantly, it was the principle of the thing.

"True though," Cain pressed. There was a silence.

"You saw what 'appened at the bank; kids been brought up soft in that mansion, 'e needs someone to look out for 'im until 'e can look after 'imself."

Nobody had ever looked out for the Juggernaut. Not for the right reasons anyway.

"'ow we gonna get the Brotherhood back together if we 'ave to run from a few coppers with guns?" For Cain, life was moving forward, the idea of retreat very rarely occurred to him. Alcatraz Island had been one of those nasty wake-up calls that reminded him of his own mortality. Time and distance had blurred the incident however and he had managed to convince himself since that he could have taken the Grey woman given half a chance. The fact that he had been unconscious on the floor thanks to a tiny slip of a girl had been largely eclipsed. He still remembered the girl though. One day there would be a reckoning.

Python finished his own coffee, "that's pretty sober stuff for you Cain, are you feeling alright?"

The Juggernaut shrugged, "never belonged anywhere before," he stated simply.