Disclaimer: All the recognizable characters belong to Image Comics. They aren't being used to get money, just being borrowed for a little entertainment. They story belong to me, Magik, the author, and anyone who wants the thugs can have `em.

    Roxanne Spaulding rollerbladed down the back alleyway in La Jolla, California. She skated at a speed hastened by anger. Anger at her life, her friends, the family she had never known, but most of all, she was angry at Grunge.

    Percivial Edmund Chung aka, the world's ultimate slacker, Grunge. He was brash and insensitive, crude and foul, a pig-headed moron, but she loved him anyway. And what a couple they would make if they ever got together. It would be a disaster! A war-zone. Besides, he was completely clueless.

    Roxy sighed and pushed a hand through her hair. No one could deny that the purpled eyed, sixteen year old was original. The majority of her hair was dyed dark purple while her bangs were dyed bright pink. Her belly button was pierced and she bladed without a helmet or padded protection.

    "Men are such pigs!" she complained as she turned a corner. The first thought that flashed through her mind was that she must have been going too fast when she hit the turn. Her second thought was that the road was slick. However, the last thought that crossed her mind was the chance that it might have been intentional.

    Instinctively she rolled with the impact of her sudden crash. Just like Mr. Lynch taught me, she thought.

    "Maybe you should watch where you're going, girl. Less likely to get in trouble that way," a voice snarled above her .

    Roxy untangled herself from the empty trashcans she had rolled into and looked up. A group of rough looking guys, about five of them, stepped out of the shadows.

    "I wouldn't trip if people didn't stick their feet out in the road where I can trip over them," she snapped.

    "Little girls shouldn't skate down dark alleyways all alone," one of the gang said smiling a greasy smile.

    "Okay. I get your drift. Bye boys," she said as she pushed herself to her feet and started to skate away.

    "Nuh uh, chica. This is our turf. You don jus sneak in and then sneak out again. You pay the price," another man said. A shiny switchblade knife was in his hand.

    "I'm sorry, dude. If I'd known this was your turf, I'd have stayed out. Can I go now?" Roxy stammered. These thugs were beginning to make her nervous. They had already backed her into a corner of the alley.

    "Sorry, girl, but no one leaves without paying the price," the first guy hissed. A rag was forced over her nose and mouth. Within seconds the world had faded away into a black puddle.

    "Where is she?" Caitlin Fairchild inquired. She was standing in the living room of the beachouse that was home to Gen 13. Sitting on couches and chairs around her were the other members of the team.

    Sarah Rainmaker sat on the couch, her chin propped up with a hand. Her deep brown eyes were lazy with boredom and her black hair was left lose down her back. Bobby sat on the other side of the couch, watching her. His blue eyes staring dreamily as a hand brushed ideally through his blond hair.

    Grunge was loafing on a chair, pigging out on potato chips and microwave burritos. He looked the least concerned, which was not surprising because he was Grunge.

    "I know you made her mad, Grunge, but it's been three hours. Where could she be?" as she asked this, Kat ran a hand through her red hair.

    "It's Rox, Kat, she'll be back before you know it," Grunge remarked. He was trying to keep this act of nonchalance up but it was hard. It was hard to pretend that he wasn't worried about Roxy.

    She had become a part of his life. A part that hurt when it was taken away. But he could make it. He had to make it.

    "What did you say to her this time, Grunge?" Sarah asked with a hint of disgust in her voice. He looked up to find those cool, dark eyes boring holes into him.

    "Nothing!"

    "Right," came Sarah's reply.

    "No, Grunge's telling the truth. He didn't say anything," Bobby proclaimed putting the emphasis on `say.'

    "Okay. What did he do?" Caitlin questioned.

    "I didn't do anything!" Grunge protested.

    "Yeah you did, buddy..." Bobby started. Just then Mr. Lynch walked in and the room fell silent.

    "I'm afraid I have some bad news," he began. "It seems Roxanne is in the hospital. She's comatose. A group of thugs is believe responsible for her beating.

    The room became dead silent and the first crack appeared in Grunge's mask.

    Grunge shifted in his seat and then flipped through yet another out-of-date magazine. The waiting was getting ridiculous. They had been there for three hours and the hospital still hadn't told them anything.

    In fact, the only thing they knew was that Roxy had been brought in with a multitude of very serious injuries and was still in surgery. Other than that the doctors had been very tight lipped about the whole deal.

    Mr. Lynch was drinking his fourth cup of coffee while he talked on the phone with Anna. Sarah and Booby had fallen asleep on the couch with the plastic padding and Caitlin was pacing up and down the hall. Everyone had found something to do, something to keep their minds off of the crisis at hand, everyone except Grunge.

    Grunge just sat there blankly staring at the pages of last years People while inside his head all he could think about was Roxy. He had convinced himself in the last few hours that it was all his fault. That, if he hadn't made her mad this day and that hour, she wouldn't be here. She would have been at home, safe. And this realization was killing him inside.

    A nurse in a white nurse uniform walked into the waiting room and stood there for a minute just staring at the clipboard in front of her. Then she looked up and said, "Who here is with Roxanne Spaulding?"

    Lynch had just hung up the phone so he walked over to the woman. "We are."

    "And you are her legal guardian?"

    "Yes."

    "Who are you?"

    "Lynch. John Lynch. Roxy's..."

    "Uncle. He's her uncle," Caitlin broke in quickly.

    The nurse arched one brown eyebrow and jotted something down on her clipboard. "Mm," she muttered and then turned to leave.

    "Wait! Where are you going?" Lynch questioned.

    "Back to the nurse's station."

    "Isn't there any news about Roxy?" Kat inquired.

    "Oh no. Not yet. I just needed some information. I'll let you know when she's out of surgery, though," she told them, checked her watch and then walked out the door.

    Lynch rubbed his temples and sighed.

    Roxy had been out of surgery an hour ago but there was no way she'd know that because she was still in an anesthesia induced sleep. A very deep sleep. One that the doctors were having trouble waking her from. As she continued to slip further and further away from the grasp of the waking world, the doctors began to be move and more concerned.

    "She's been out of surgery for over an hour now. She should be awake," an older woman doctor fretted.

    "Sometimes it takes a while for the anesthesia to get out of their systems, Martha. I wouldn't worry about it," a younger male doctor replied.

    "I know, Jason, but...something seems wrong about this one," Martha muttered.

    Back out in the waiting room, Kat stopped pacing. "There's something wrong with Roxy!" she cried.

    Mr. Lynch stared at he for a minute and then bit his lip. "This is no time for your delusional mind-links, Fairchild."

    "I'm not delusional," she protested. "There really is something wrong with Roxy." Lynch shot her a deadly glare and then walked back over to the phone. Kat's voice dropped to a whisper as she said, "But there really is something wrong."

    Grunge looked up from the magazina he was staring at, gazed at Kat's tear filled eyes and then turned to Mr. Lynch. "Um...maybe we should listen to her, Mr. L. I mean, Kat's been right about Roxy being in trouble before."

    Lynch looked at Grunge, sighed, and hung up the phone. Then he walked over to the nurse's station. "I demand to know what is going on with me niece!" he yelled and banged his fist on the desk.

    "Please sir, just calm down...," a nurse said.

    While Lynch created the distraction, Grunge and Kat snuck down the hall. They finally found the door that had the chart for Spaulding, Roxanne on it. They were just about to open the door when they heard voices coming from inside.

    "Is she ever going to woke up?"

    "She came out of the surgery fine. Maybe she lost the will to live."

    Grunge's heart dropped into his stomach and a tear welled up in his eye.