Connection

[Jane]

"True though. 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."

How strange. Evidently he wasn't quite as thick as he seemed. Or else he was doing a very good job of pretending to be intelligent, which was, by all reports, much more difficult than pretending to be stupid.

"'ow we gonna get the Brotherhood back together if we 'ave to run from a few coppers with guns?"

"That's pretty sober stuff for you Cain, are you feeling alright?"

"Never belonged anywhere before."

They were a motley crew, perhaps, but Jane realized that she [i[did[/i] feel like she belonged, even if they treated her like a girl and even if she was new. It was a strange feeling.

She should probably try to give something back.

"Maybe," she said, thinking, "we could find someone with the same power - well, not magnetism, maybe, I don't know how many little Magnetos there are, but the same sort of skill set - a telekinetic or someone who could make a force field? Maybe John's not so hot with leadership yet, but I don't think even leadership can stop bullets. He needs help."

[Juggers]

"Or," Cain suggested brightly, "you can all stand behind me!" Giacomo chuckled and even Python smirked, the mood lightening immediately.

"Ya right though, we need to do more advertisin', get more mutants on our side. I bet they're rollin' into that school now, learnin' how to make friends an influence people." Cain snorted in contempt, "ain't no use, we ain't never gonna be accepted."

There was a fiery explosion somewhere outside and a surprised sounding whoop. Python shook his head, "if he hurts himself, I swear ... "

The Juggernaut settled his chair back down. "We need to do somethin' bigger, somethin' that will show 'em that the Brotherhood ain't just gonna lay down, somethin' that'll make people think twice!"

"What's that Cain?" Python asked, intrigued.

The big man shrugged, "I dunno," he replied simply, "do I look like a genius to you?"

[Jane]

Jane smiled at Cain's comic relief. Even if it was a joke, she knew where the hell she was standing when the guns came back.

"Ya right though, we need to do more advertisin', get more mutants on our side. I bet they're rollin' into that school now, learnin' how to make friends an influence people. Ain't no use, we ain't never gonna be accepted."

"We could always see if we can't draw directly from - "

Jane jumped as something exploded outside and, afterwards, someone seemed very happy about it.

"If he hurts himself, I swear ... "

She glanced, concerned, out one of the windows, but not much was visible from their angle.

"We need to do somethin' bigger, somethin' that will show 'em that the Brotherhood ain't just gonna lay down, somethin' that'll make people think twice!"

"What's that Cain?"

"I dunno, do I look like a genius to you?"

Jane grinned. "Well, if you were a mutant sitting around going 'gosh, I wish I had someplace I could go to make a difference,' what would impress you?" she asked the table in general. "Some sort of public statement, obviously, but what would convince you?"

[Juggers]

The big man frowned again, his brows knitting together in obvious concentration. Think big, he told himself; you'd be impressed by rubbing the governments face in it. Like when they had fooled them with Madrox. That had been awesome. But Jamie wasn't here anymore, it would have to be something else.

"Gotta be somethin' without too many guards, don't want anybody gettin' shot again," propped his chin on his hands. He wasn't used to all this thinking.

"Worthington still has operating labs all across America," Python chipped in. "Some of them might still have stuff about the cure, might even have samples."

Worthington himself had had something of a change of heart regarding mutation since his timely rescue and some of the fire had gone out of his zeal. It was still widely documented though that he believed a cure should be available for those mutants that wanted it.

"Yeah?" Cain queried, he thought they'd seen the last of it.

"Yes," agreed Giacomo, "There is a large Worthington operation near Boston," he continued.

"Boston huh?" Cain sniffed, "not gonna be easy gettin' back into the States, I reckon we must be on the most wanted by now."

"Heh," Python grinned, "you are pretty distinctive."

The Juggernaut shrugged again and put his hands behind his head, once again leaning back on the chair, "told ya, it's 'cos I'm so damn good lookin'"

Then the chair collapsed with a crunching of tortured wood.

[Pyro]

"You might be good looking, Juggernaut, but you could stand to lose a couple of pounds," came a voice from the doorway. John stood there, leaning against the frame, looking (he hoped) calm and collected. He'd been standing there for a couple of minutes and had heard Python's comment about the research facility in Boston.

He remembered Boston.

Or at least he remembered the bits of Boston that had consisted of exploding car.

"Had a pretty good session out there," he said, his tone uncharacteristically bright and sunny. "The whole solid flame thing is coming along. This could be a major step forward." He pushed himself off the door frame and entered the room, heading for the coffee machine and a (fifth) coffee.

The little flame almost anxiously hovered mere millimetres behind him.

"I like the concept of taking a trip to Boston," he said, airily. "I reckon as you should get onto your research friends and have them look into a company called NovaTeX - that's a capital 'T', capital 'X'. I was trying to research into them before we left Genosha."

[Jane]

"Gotta be somethin' without too many guards, don't want anybody gettin' shot again."

Well, he was trying, wasn't he?

"Worthington still has operating labs all across America. Some of them might still have stuff about the cure, might even have samples."

"There is a large Worthington operation near Boston."

"Boston huh? Not gonna be easy gettin' back into the States, I reckon we must be on the most wanted by now."

Boston - had she ever been to Boston? No, too ritzy, at least some parts of it. Jersey and Brooklyn, sure, but not Boston, not that they were even in the same state. Jane could probably figure it out. "If we can manage it, it sounds pretty good to me," she said. "We might consider going by sea at least part of the way - they might've tagged the plane, and ports are always worse-guarded than airports."

"You are pretty distinctive."

"Told ya, it's 'cos I'm so damn good lookin'"

Jane laughed outright at the fall, not noticing until he spoke that John had come in behind them, looming and giving off a strange smell of woodsmoke - stronger than usual. How much, she wondered, of Giacomo's land had he torched?

"You might be good looking, Juggernaut, but you could stand to lose a couple of pounds."

"'Least it's a short drop this time," Jane said, remembering the dearly departed fire escape.

"Had a pretty good session out there. The whole solid flame thing is coming along. This could be a major step forward."

Jane almost made a remark about the coffee - almost, until she realized that John had a trailer.

"I like the concept of taking a trip to Boston. I reckon as you should get onto your research friends and have them look into a company called NovaTeX - that's a capital 'T', capital 'X'. I was trying to research into them before we left Genosha."

"John," she said, staring intently at the little flame, "don't look now, but I think you've got a li'l friend."

If he set her on fire, so help her she was going to squish him. She'd find a way.

[Pyro]

"John, don't look now, but I think you've got a li'l friend."

"What?" John furrowed his brow and turned to follow Jane's eyeline.

There are moments of comedy and then there are sheer moments of comedy. To the casual bystander, the events that ensued were most definitely, without question, very firmly in the latter category.

The little flame moved with him as he turned, so that it was always over his shoulder and out of his eyeline, until he had turned a full 360-degrees back to where he had started. "OK," he said, mildly, "I'll bite. What the hell are you talking about, a 'li'l friend'?"

Once he was standing still again, the little flame settled back just over his left shoulder. Inasmuch as a flame could radiate smugness, it was radiating.

[Jane]

"What?"

Strangely - and almost predictably, considering the amount of Three Stooges Jane had seen in her life, the flame ducked behind John even as he turned, popping here and there out of sight every time he tried to catch it. Of course, there was a reason it was a device reused so often; it was still hilarious every time, and this was no different. Jane began giggling into her hand and was all-out laughing by the time John finally threw up his hands, a stitch burning in her side and starved for air, but it was so worth it.

"OK, I'll bite. What the hell are you talking about, a 'li'l friend'?"

"It's right there, I swear," Jane said, pointing over his left shoulder and still giggling. "It's like a little - like a little pilot light! Screw this, who has a mirror?"

Jane was... not fond of mirrors.

[Pyro]

John's eyes widened.

"Again? That happened back on Genosha...here, hang on."

He held up his hand and the little flame curled into his palm lovingly. "I thought I turned you all off," he murmured, sounding for all the world like he was chastising it. "Off you go, now." He closed his hand into a fist and the flame vanished.

"That's kinda weird," he observed, vaguely. "Almost like a residual effect of my power. But hey! I managed to manipulate the flames so much more today - tangibility. It's so damn HARD to achieve, but I can do it. More practise and I'll be creating solid flame constructs."

He was so excited it was hard not to be caught in his boundless enthusiasm.

[Jane]

"Again? That happened back on Genosha...here, hang on."

Much to Jane's relief, John finally caught the little flame. Maybe he'd freaking put it OUT before something went up.

Unless he was going to sit there and pet it. Kinda weird. Kinda really weird, but he did eventually close his hand over it, extinguishing the little light.

"That's kinda weird. Almost like a residual effect of my power. But hey! I managed to manipulate the flames so much more today - tangibility. It's so damn HARD to achieve, but I can do it. More practise and I'll be creating solid flame constructs."

"That's great," Jane said. "Are they solid enough to stop bullets? Because we've kind of been thinking that would be a good thing."

[Juggers]

The Juggernaut stood and dusted himself down, shedding a few pieces of mangled chair on the way. Giacomo sighed; now he would have to make a new one. Cain grinned at him a little ruefully.

"Sorry, 'bout that," he said, "'appens alot."

He looked over in time to see John do his little flame dance and gave a chuckle.

"Missed it," he pointed out helpfully, "missed it again."

Pyro finally caught the little flame and extinguished it.

"Are they solid enough to stop bullets?"

"Yeah," Cain piped in, "we was just talkin' about that, don't wanna go through the whole gettin' shot experience again." John didn't look like he much wanted to go through the experience again anyway, but it was always good to point these things out.

"So," the Juggernaut summed up, "ditch our cash 'ere so Giacomo can do 'is thing," he paused, "whatever it is. Then we head on back to Genosha an sort the base out." And it needed some serious sorting out.

"Then, we mooch on over to Boston on a boat, an bust up Worthingtons lab," he paused again, running a hand over his shaved scalp, "an see if we can find somethin' out about this NovaTeX place."

Cain finished and beamed happily, looking immensely pleased with himself.

[Pyro]

"Couldn't have done a better summary myself," said John. The comment about shielding from bullets had both quieted him down again and irritated him. It wasn't exactly like he needed reminding that he'd been shot, after all: the dull ache in his shoulder certainly made that obvious.

"I don't know about bullets," he said, doubtfully. "Maybe we should try it out back at the base. I have a feeling that the best fire could achieve is to delay the inevitable - but I don't know by how much."

He finally made it to the coffee machine and topped up. The blood levels in his caffeine stream were starting to get dangerously high.

[Juggers]

"Lets do it then," Cain said, and without further ado emptied the contents of his pockets onto the table. A pile of variously crushed and mangled notes emerged, followed by half a dozen squished looking and unnaturally large poppy pods.

"Huh, forgot they were in there," Cain shrugged.

Satisfied that everything was now in readiness he stomped off towards the door.

"Thanks for the breakfast," he called over his shoulder, "we'll eat 'ere again!"

Python shook his head and dragged the sports bag from under that table that was at least as stuffed as Cains' pockets.

"There is a fair bit here Giacomo, you going to be able to take care of it?"

Giacomo gave them all a bright smile, "trust Giacomo to take care of it, your cash is as good as cleaned," he said and snapped something in Italian that brought a couple of servants. The money was quickly and efficiently whisked away to who-knew-where.

"Well then," Python said happily, "I guess we'll get out of your hair."

[Juggers]

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