Chapter 15
Jamie smiled to himself as he kicked a random pebble on the ground, sending it flying into the air, and eventually back to the ground. It wasn't that he didn't like school- it was just a whole heck of a lot nicer to be out of it, then in.
He knew he should be getting back to the mansion- but it always felt like he was the 'little one' there. He knew it was stupid, but he always felt so useless being the only one with seemingly useless powers in a mansion full of super heroes.
That was when he felt the rush of wind, a loud blaring sound of a car rushing past. It was a bright red convertible, and as young as Jamie was, he knew a nice car when he saw it. And this one was gorgeous.
It wasn't a long way off that they had to stop for a red light. In fact, it was close enough that he could see the driver and his passenger. It was Pyro- he knew that insane Aussie laugh, and bright red hair like he knew the back of his hand. Impossible to forget.
And the passenger… he had seen that boy before… wasn't he the kid everybody was trying to get to join the X-Men?
Were Magneto and his gang trying to recruit him as well?
Of course, there was always the possibility that he was just imagining things. The car was gone in seconds after the light turned green, and Jamie knew it was possible… well, whenever he told Scott about the sounds coming out of his closet at night, they said he was just dreaming. Whenever he mentioned that he might be useful on a mission, they said he was too young.
Whenever he tried to point out that something might be a danger, they told him he was imagining things. So maybe he was just imagining this… and even if he wasn't, nobody would believe him.
He was just Jamie after all.
Shrugging his shoulders, he found the rock he had kicked, and kicked it again. Whistling away, that was how he made his way down the street. No worries, no cares. Things, he knew, would turn out however they were supposed to. They tended to do rather well, even if he had nothing to do with it…
Lance rifled through his wallet, an angry sneer on his face that seemed to never come off nowadays. He had never really picked up on how expensive gas was- but then, he had never had to worry about where his next dollar was coming from.
Mystique paid the bills around the Boarding House, sure. She bought enough food that they could get on rather comfortably, even though they were living in the same house as the infamous Blob. She even bought cable, as a once in a life time gift during Christmas a few years ago.
But there was no way in hell she was going to pay for his cars gas, or insurance. Not that he bothered with insurance, but now he had to wonder just how on Earth anybody could afford to pay for both.
He considered getting a job- once. Throwing away the thought with the logic that, if he had a job, he would have to drive there and waste most of his pay on gas to get to the stupid job. Instead he stumbled down the stairs, wondering what in hells name Pietro was doing up at four in the morning anyway, and kicked the television off."
"What-the-hell-is-your-problem?" Pietro mouthed off, too quick for Lance to actually catch, "You're not going to the corner store now, are you?" he asked, "It's four! In the morning!"
"I need smokes," Lance replied with a mumble and a yawn, "Shit dreams, you know. And the headache to end all. I need some cash."
"Don't look at me," Pietro replied, turning back to the television, "I got nothin'. Went on three dates last night, and it tapped me out."
"Well maybe if you didn't have to take out three girls at fuckin' once-"
"Maybe if you didn't smoke away all your cash." Pietro replied snidely, "Get a job, if your going to bitch about it. Or go steal something."
"Tried that," Lance admitted lowly, as he flopped onto the couch beside his friend, "I only managed one book bag and a wallet before I was caught- and neither had anything worth anything in it."
Pietro shook his head, not quite mocking Lance, but close. "I tried as well- managed five wallets and two bags, and none of them had anything."
"How did Toad do this?" Lance asked rhetorically, "I mean, seriously. The whole thing of picking out your marks- he always got the best stuff, first try. I always figured, you know, all those rich pricks must all carry around cartloads of stuff. But no, people only carry like ten bucks on them at any given time. Toad could always pick out the rare ones."
"And I'm a billion times faster then he ever was," Pietro continued, "Yet I get caught, and he doesn't."
"Not true," Lance replied, "He got caught all the time. He just managed to get away, too. Least now we know why he always came home so beat up."
Lance and Pietro both sat there for a full minute, before finally Lance stood up. "Where ya' goin'?" Pietro asked, "Bed?"
"Nah," Lance replied, shaking his head negatory, "I gotta' get some smokes."
"Thought you said you don't have any cash on you," Pietro muttered. "Weren't just trying to hop some cash off me, were you? 'Cause seriously-"
"Nah," Lance muttered as he grabbed his coat. "I got no cash- but there are still ways to get smokes."
Pietro shook his head sadly, finally beginning to miss their little green friend, before finally realizing what Lance was up to. Jumping to do the door, he stuck his head out of it and began to yell, "You're a crap thief, you know that?"
The only reply was the jeep revving up.
"You're going to get caught!" Pietro yelled out again.
And Lance was gone- Pietro thought about running to stop him, but decided… no. If Lance needed the damned smokes that badly, let him have them. Hell, maybe he would even share.
Okay, maybe not. But he could be black mailed.
'Ah,' Pietro thought to himself as he fell back onto the couch, 'The life of a criminal.'
It was five in the morning when Todd woke up from his good nights sleep- though to be quite honest, he could have easily rolled over and went right back into slumber land.
Stumbling out of bed, he turned on the radio loudly, and jumped into the shower- the bathroom door open, so that he could hear the morning news. Blah blah, endangered eagle nest found, blah blah, weather was nice as it always was, blah blah, robbery at a local corner store, blah blah, mutants are evil, blah blah, back to the eagle nest and how incredibly it was.
Nothing major.
Drying himself off with a random towel, Todd looked at himself in the mirror. Hair clean, body pail, no particular odour (even the natural forest smell had went away after a few days). He was ready and willing to start the day.
Grabbing a book from his shelf, he held it in front of him as he wandered to the mess hall and stuck some pop-tarts into one of the toasters. It was an interesting book- one that Sabertooth had actually given to him.
Rare, Dangerous Cats and Other Animals
Just the kind of thing he could invision the 'tooth reading- though honestly, he wouldn't have imagined him reading anything only a month ago.
Pop-tart shoved into his mouth and book in front of him, he wandered out of the building and began his trek to the gym. It was the same, every morning. Go there, clean some equipment, and stand around looking tough while girls wandered by to see some of the working out clientele. Easy enough.
Him and some of the other guys would work out as well, when they had a spare minute, then shower and go out for coffee before school started.
It was amazing just how much could be doing between five and eight in the morning, while everybody else was still in bed trying to shove in those last five minutes of shut-eye. Idly he wondered just what time the X-Men got up, and decided he didn't care.
Thinking of X-Men…
Wolverine was walking down the street, close enough that if he called out Wolverine would definatly turn around and see him. Not that he would call out to the crazy, maniac Canadian of course- far too dangerous a pass time to be messing around with.
Instead he turned around, and went back to the coffee shop.
…It was so nice to have a life that didn't involve death and destruction for once, and he was going to keep this up as long as possible.