Scott 'Cyclops' Summers, Jean 'Phoenix' Gray/Summers, Ororo 'Storm' Monroe, Hank 'Beast' McCoy, Bobby 'Iceman' Drake, Warren 'Angel' Worthington 111, Peter 'Wolverine' Logan, Betsy 'Psylock' Bradock, Rogue, and Jubilation 'Jubilee' Lee, X-men, Children of the Atom, mutants one and all. They fight a fight of freedom, to be recognized as the people they are. They fight for equality. It's another civil war, but even the generals have to take a break every so often, to remind themselves that they are still human.
Right now they are doing just that.
"Ain't ya'll glade I found out 'bout this? It's really awesome, famous Country singers playing for free!" Rogue chirped for the tenth time since they arrived at Ojibiwa Island. Jubilee rolls her eyes mimicking her, "Yah, yah, we heard ya the first Four times."
The small island is covered with people, many on blankets in front of the stage, some milling around the cars on display for the auto show, others looking at the items for sale among the flea market style tents set up along the parameter of the grounds. A few people are just milling around greeting friends, there are even a few groups of grungy looking teens with baggy clothes, multiple piercings and odd haircuts, hanging out near the drive way using the curb for skateboard stunts and playing hacky-sack. There are people of all races crowding the space enjoying themselves.
Logan, Hank, and Bobby focus on a far vending tent advertising all you can eat B-B-Q ribs. "I believe my comrades here and myself are going to ... mingle." Hank states with a toothy grin as he follows the other two. "Better hurry Hank before Logan closes them out!"
Scott shakes his head slightly watching them go as he glances at the others, "What's everyone else going to do?" Betsy and Rogue glance at the merchandise tents and in unison state, "I'll be over there!" They glance at each other for a moment and grin slightly, Betsy wraps her arm around Warren smiling sweetly, "Come on honey, and don't forget your wallet."
Jean laughs as the women drag away a rather reluctant Warren, "I say we find a spot and get comfortable love." Scott nods slightly and looks to the only two remaining member of his team. "I will accompany you my friends." Ororo says softly. Jubilee looks between them then glances at the teen agers, "I'm gunna go wandering."
As Jubilee approaches the group she scans over them soaking in their appearances. There are three girls all around her age (15-16), one of them stands about 5'6" with shoulder length Lt. brown hair that is shaved halfway up the left side of her head to just above her right ear. She is wearing tight black jeans, a black tank top with a green and blue flannel unbuttoned over it, an over sized blue jean jacket covered in writing, and a silver banded ring on each finger. She is sitting against a tree smoking a cigarette talking to one of the other girls who is around 5'4" with dark brown shoulder length hair that has the underside shaved, a pair of blue jeans, white tank top, a two-tone blue flannel, eight piercings in her right ear and three in her left, and a silver banded ring on each finger, she also has a cigarette. The girl sitting on the ground watches Jubilee approach warily as the other girl runs over the the third who is about the same height as the second only she has short stop light red hair and baggy clothes on. Jubilee notices with humor that none of the three are wearing shoes.
She stops about ten feet away from the group as she looks over the seven guys ranging in ages from 15-19. Three of them are in a circle hacking, two of them are wrestling while the other two watch, apparently waiting for their turn at the winner. Suddenly the shorter dark hair girl almost literally pops up in front of her "Hey! 'Sup?" Jubilee just stares at her taken aback by her peppy forwardness and sudden appearance as the others glance at her briefly before returning to their activities, "I'm Jen, everyone calls me Lil' Runaway or J-Flirt. Who are you?"
"Jube." She says regaining herself.
"Oh..... That's Krisi" she nods her head in the direction of the girl sitting by the tree, Krisi nods slightly in greeting, "but everyone calls her Alley Kat, and that's Freedom" she points over to the red head who has weaseled her way into the wrestling match and appears to be winning against both of the guys. "That really is her name can you believe it? Anyway, that's TJ she's got in a headlock, and AJax that just got kicked in the balls." Jubilee grins as TJ, a hillbilly looking guy waves weakly as Freedom whips him around by the head trying to hit AJax again. While he on the other hand is rolling as far away from the little spitfire as he can get. Jen continues the introductions after a moment. "Kriz or WildSide is the tall Indian looking guy who's bullshittin' with Joe or D-Rock. And the morons abusing the poor little ball are Jare, Budda, and Mud" She grins wildly as the last glares at her dropping the hack. "Really we call him Pud but me and Kat like to tease him." Budda tips the brim of his black cowboy hat at her in acknowledgment and Jare grins goofily waving. "Their all freaks" she whispers with a grin.
Jubilee follows her over to Alley Kat and sits down actually beginning to relax and feel like a kid again. "You guys know each other a while huh?" she asks after awhile of watching the guys act up. Alley nods slightly, "Known Jen, Jare, Wild, Budda, an' Mud ever since we hit the streets a couple years ago. Free's been 'round for 'bout a year, D for a few months more than Free, and Teej (TEE-juh) has only been 'round for the last couple months, and Jax is my cousin." She raises a brow slightly at Jube's surprised expression, slipping on a pair of black John Lennon glasses, "Oh Jen didn't tell you? I'm surprised.. We're called the Hamilton Street Homeless Komunity with a 'K'. No big shit, it's all good. Fun, games, sex, drugs, music." She smirks slightly in sarcasm. Jen smiles brightly nudging Jube, "Don't mind her, she's always a bitch!" she looks at Kat sharply stressing the last word. "Oh bite my ass." Standing Alley motions to the group, "I'm heading for coffee, meet ya'll in The Pit if y'ain't coming."
As the group slowly disperses Jubilee realizes that she has been hanging out with them for most of the day, quickly she searches out the X-Men, and glances at Free and Wild who are the only two left, "Hold up I'll check in and tag along if y'don't mind." Freedom grins bouncing from one foot to the other, "Kwel shit chica!"
Scott's brows shoot up over his glasses as Jubilee runs up to them breathlessly, "I know where we're staying, I made some friends they're going over to a coffee place just on the other side of the bridge, I won't stay out all night I promise, can I pppplllllllleeeeeeaaaaasssssseeeeee go?" instantly she drops to her knees grabbing Scott's leg as he stares at her stupidly, "Please, please, please, I'll be good for a month when we get back home I promise. Please Scott." Without realizing exactly what he's doing he kind of nods and she jumps to her feet dashing away before any of the others can say anything. "Thanks Cyke! You are awesome!"
Scott looks dumbfoundedly at Jean, "What just happened?" The other X-Men start laughing at the way Jubilee just manhandled and conned they're fearless leader. "My good man. You have been had." Hank says slapping Scott on the shoulder as they watch Jubilee grab a little red head by the arm and they both take off running for the bridge.
The two girls don't stop running until they burst through the doors of the Red Eye Coffee House on Hamilton Street between Hancock and Ames in the middle of Olde Towne Saginaw. "Who the hell was the board?" Freedom chokes out breathlessly.
"The huh?"
"The dude with the specs an' the stick up his ass...." Jubilee bursts out laughing at Freedom's description of Scott. "Oh that's Scott, I live with those guys, they're kind of like my gardians and shit."
"Ah, ick." With that Free bounces away to greet the others in the Eye which, as Jubilee glances around she realizes is full of freaks, and most not of the mutant variety. The majority of the crowd are completely Gothed out, while others looked totally street punk, and four or five kind of preppy looking. Surprisingly there were even some very obvious mutants in the mix as well. *Haven't seen anything like this since I was streeting it.* Instantly the image of Scott walking in here looking for her causes her to bubble with laughter.
Before she even realizes it time has slipped away and it's almost ten pm. Glancing at the street rats she has befriended she sighs slightly, "Hey you guys, I gotta run, they're expectin' me back and I don't want them to freak. Probably going back to New York tomorrow so I doubt I'll get to say bye." Free smiles slightly, "'Round here we don't say bye. Saying that means you're going to go die an' there ain't a chance we'll ever see ya 'gain. So we say "Flip Side".. means you should remember us when ever you see an underdog. Or we say "Catch ya on the Wild Side" and that means we'll see ya on the street or anywhere life's a bitch, 'cause where things are the toughest is where we'll be."
Jubilee smiles slightly as the others nod, "Then I'll catch ya on the Wild Side" as she turns to leave she remembers that she had kind of lied to Scott when she said she knew where the motel was and stops. "You guys know where Curry's is?"
Laughing they all nod, "Yeah" Alley speaks up, "What's up?"
"I gotta get there." Alley and Jen glance at each other quickly as Freedom pipes up, "Girl, that's damn near an hour walk from here, other side of town out State Street. You gunna hoof it?"
Jube shrugs slightly, "Okay, so maybe I ain't leaven' yet. You guys got a place I can crash for the night?" Alley nods slightly, "Know a few" Standing up she motions to D-Rock, "What's up at your place Yo?" D-Rock shakes his head slightly, "Me, Jen, Budda, Mud, Wild, and Jare are crashing out in the Newp. Jen's got the trunk with Mud, the rest of us are in the front, no room and it's got a flat and no go-go juice." Alley glances at Freedom then back to Jube, "Well you can slum with us." Jube nods slightly. *Back to the streets, been awhile but it's like riding a bike...*
As it nears ten-thirty the group begins making their way out to the parking lot across the street known as The Pit where they take up residency on the hood of a huge red and white Newport with a flat driver's side front tire. "Jube, meet the Newp." Jen says bouncing on the hood. D glares at her for a moment, "It's my car", pride evident in his voice "and this is The Pit" Alley rolls her eyes as she hooks her arm through Jubilee's, "Come on, we gotta run our rounds before it gets to late, see if we can scratch up some chow." Freedom nods slightly, much calmer then earlier Jubilee notes, *It always did get harder at night, not as many people, more time to think.* she smiles at them and nods. "Cool shit Yo." Glancing back at her friends Alley waves, "Flip Side Yo!"
Silently the three girls slip under the Court Street bridge, Alley nods to the two guys who are already there passing a joint between the two of them. Freedom holds onto Jube's arm making her hang back near the steps as Alley strolls up to them. One looks around 16-19 and tall, almost 6 ft, with long, dirty, stringy hair down to his lower back, a jean jacket and black jeans hang from his thin frame, and scuffed combat boots cover his feet. The other seems younger more like her age and he is shorter, maybe an inch taller than Jube herself, he looks kind of stocky though thin from lack of food. His hair is a shoulder length and very greasy looking grayish-blonde, he's wearing a pair of baggy blue jeans and a torn gas station style work shirt. *Difinant trash treasures.* Jubilee thinks warily. The taller glances at them and she realizes he's wearing a pair of extremely dark cheep plastic shades. Freedom whispers quietly, wariness making her voice harsh, "You don't want to mix up with them, We may be Street Rats and that's all good. But those two there are pure through and through Gutter Rats, and some seriously bad news."
Jubilee racks her brain for a moment as the terms come back to her, *Street Rats are Runners, they got or had a home and family, and they either ran away or their family became homeless. Gutter Rats are the ones that have lived their entire lives on the street, have never had a home and don't know their families and they are normally the hardest of the hard.* She shudders slightly at the thought of never knowing where you came from as she whispers back, her eyes never leaving the two as Alley starts talking to them quietly, "Why they talking to her? Last I knew Gutter don't deal with none but their own..." Freedom nods slightly, "'Round here Alley's the go between. This is her hood and she keeps track of what's goin' on in it. These two showed up about two weeks ago, haven't talked to them myself, but Alley says they're hard core."
At that moment the taller one spoke up so that all could hear him, "So, de lil' Alley cat wanna play wit' de big dogs?" her smirks arrogantly letting his glasses slide down his nose revealing demonic crimson and black swirling eyes. The other boy barks a laugh and flicks Alley's cheek with his forked tongue. In an instant Freedom and Jubilee appear at her sides and quicker than humanly possible Alley snatches his tongue from the air and jerks his face to hers, "Listen you little piece a shit..." The girl hisses between her teeth at the startled guy, "Y'ever try a stunt like that 'gain an' I'll have no problem ripping this thing out of your head and shoving it up you ass." She jerks his tongue roughly for emphasis and releases it, letting it snap back into his mouth. Savagely she turns on the other guy, her finger inches from his nose, "Back the fuck off Ferret. I don't care who you are in your gutter, but these are my streets, so you best just check it or check out."
Ferret smirks slightly and nods glancing at Jube and Freedom, "Je es' a'right chere... no harm done." A slow grin spreads across Alley's lips and she nods slightly, "Free, Jube, this Ferret and Kid." her eyes never leave Ferret's as she speaks, "They're Gutter Rats visitin' our streets from down south. Seems they're also having a delima, folks don't work here like they do in the Big Easy. Basically the manhole to their sewer done got locked and they can't find the back door." She takes on a cocky stance glancing full at Free who also is grinning rather sarcastically, "You sayin' these big Shit Munchers are coming to us lowly little meece for help?" She bursts out laughing at Alley's nod as the Gutter Rats glare at them but say nothing.
Kid turned to Ferret sharply, more than just his pride hurt, "Come on man, I don' deal no shit talkin' street trash.", "Alley's eyes narrow slightly as she snarls, mimicking their accent perfectly, "An' I don' deal no cum guzzlin' Gutter Slut. But den I wasn' talkin' t'you at all. Now was I?"
Ferret's brows shoot up at her gutsy words and Free covers her mouth chuckling, "Oh burn" All color drains from Kid's face for a moment before he turns scarlet. He opens his mouth with a retort but Ferret interrups him, "No big shit chere. We gunna talk all night or deal?" Alley nods curtly crossing her arms over her chest, "What y'got?"
"Little gell, some sugar, an' 'bout a pound."
Alley glances at Free, "What's your flavor?"
"Pink Fluff an' Cloud Nine"
"I'll do that. Free, sugar's your depo."
Freedom's eyes narrow slightly as she looks Ferret over, "What's the cut?"
"Dunno, didn' mix it." She shakes her head slightly, "None of my people are keelin' over 'cause of bad cut. So sorry." He nods slightly as Alley continues, "D might take care of the pound if it's good."
After almost three minutes of strained silence Jube speaks up, "All of yah are mutants." She gets four sets of sharp eyes on her immediately at the statement. She nods slightly, "It's cool, me too. What's your skill?" Alley snorts slightly, "They don't call me Kat for nothing, and Free, half the time we call her Free Bird with good reason" Jube grins at them, *One animalistic and one flyer.* .. "That's cool, I do fireworks. Pretty wild most of the time, but it's got it's upsides." Ferret studies her for a moment, "T'ought I knew ya. One of dem X-Men right." It's Jubilee's turn to be surprised for a moment. "Y-yeah." She stutters, he grins nodding and she realizes that he is actually quiet good-looking if you can get past the dirt. Alley's sharp eyes don't miss a think and she cuts in, "Ya'll got a crash zone?" Ferret sobers up immediately, "Been hoofin' 'roun for de mos' part." Alley nods, "I know a place y'can crash, headin' there ourselves, I don't care if you're in the middle or by the curb, a rat's a rat." Ferret nods thoughtfully, obviously impressed by this little whip of an alley cat.
End Part One