Paradigm Shift

PARADIGM SHIFT CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply


A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies and BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE (tm), the kitchen is covered in coconut. This can't be good. InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are fluffybunnies in a good way for archiving. :) ProPhile gets cookies for the plotbunny. :) Readers/Reviewers: Yay! You're alive!

Jubilee lay flat on her back, staring at the clouds drifting overhead. _Well, this sucks. _ Her wrists were digging into her back and the metal was cold and biting. "Hey, can I get up now?"
"Be quiet, miss," the officer said firmly, murmuring an aside to his partner. "Sit up."
Jubilee knew the drill. She had done this a few times before and it was never pleasant. Mainly boring, but never pleasant. "Where you taking me? City jail?"
There was a lengthy pause as the younger of the two officers helped her to her feet. "No, mam..."
_Shit. Federal? No fucking way! _ "Oh?" she said as calmly as possible, all the while thinking _I'm gonna kill Remy for this 'let's split up and go around either side' shit... _
"I'd like to remind you of your right to remain silent," the older officer said wearily. Jubilee took the hint and cooperated as they led her down the fire escape from the roof to the grass-bare side yard bordering the facility. She winced as her bare foot (_Where did my boot go? _) came into contact with jagged paving stones as she was taken along the length of the gray stone building and away from the empty parking garage where she and Remy had first entered the building. The motorcycle was somewhin tin the woods, miles from there, she knew, and felt a little better about her chances of being released without having to invoke the Institute. She limped along in growing discomfort but silent, her shod foot taking the brunt of her weight as they reached the end of the building and continued past it, heading across an expanse of bare earth towards what looked like a guard shack. _Remy, damn it, you need to be out of there by now. It's been an hour. Don't wait for me... _ Jubilee did her best to look contrite as the guards studiously ignored her brief gasp of pain when a cut on her foot opened wider, admitting dirt into the wound and blood onto the ground. _Well, at least Logan can find me now if he has to. _ She had a very annoying feeling in the pit of her stomach that this was not a normal arrest. Her first clue had been that they did not seem quite sure how to use the handcuffs, fumbling a bit until she had been tempted to ask if they needed help. The second inkling had been when they made her lie on her back rather than face down. _It's too easy to fight back that way...What kind of cops are these? Cops with big guns... _ She chanced a peek at the officer nearest her, the one holding her elbow, and slid her gaze down his side to the holster at his side. _Well. That's not right. Laser sights...Oh, this is going to be fun. _ "Wait, please!" she cried, pretending to stumble and going to her knees.
"Get up," the one at her side snarled, losing his façade of calm.
"I think I turned my ankle! Please...can I take off my other boot?" _They didn't search me either...geez, what the fuck? _ She was almost disappointed in them. _I've been arrested by better. _
The one who had been walking ahead sighed and nodded curtly. "Take it off her. We've got to get going..."
Jubilee sat back on the ground and offered her booted foot up, smiling sweetly at the man, who in turned favored her with a look so dark it would have made lesser people quail. She continued smiling and curled her toes inside her shoe, making it difficult to remove. The man swore and undid the laces further, making Jubilee silently thankful she wore her combat boots for this little trip. She sighed loudly, pretending fatigue, and lay back on the ground, wincing honestly as the man jerked her foot hard, trying to pull the boot off again. He glared at his superior and knelt before Jubilee, resting her foot against his chest as he struggled with the boot some more. _Oh, how perfect can this be? _ She bit the inside of her cheeks to keep from smiling as she willed her shoulders to relax. _Wait for it... _ The older man turned away, looking towards the guard house, as the younger man bit out a curse and tugged harder on her boot. _Now's good. _ Quick as she could, she jerked her foot out of the man's grasp and laid it on one side of his neck, her injured foot coming up to the opposite side. Arching her back, she clamped her legs around his neck and tightened as hard as she could.1 He clawed at her legs, pulling at her jeans as she squeezed harder, his breath coming in short gasps. _Idiot won't even reach for his gun. He must be new at this. _ It took almost a minute for the other man to notice anything was wrong, so enraptured did he seem of staring off into the distance, waiting. _Most inept guards ever...2 _
"Hey!"
"Hey yourself," she said back, slightly out of breath. She knew she was going to have to let go and get out of the way toute de suite but realized a flaw in her plan. _As soon as I let go, he'll shoot me. If I don't let go, the other one will shoot me. Either way, this sucks. And my hands are behind my back. Damn it, why can't I have double jointed shoulders? _ Her breath was knocked out of her in a whoosh as the older guard threw himself on her and began to pull her away from the man she was choking. "Lemme go!" she said futilely, panic taking over for a moment before she began struggling in vain. She was rolled onto her stomach, one hip popping painfully as it was wrenched, nearly from the socket. Jubilee tasted dirt and the blood spurting from her bitten tongue as one of them drove his knee into her back.
"Tie her legs!" she heard, and then the sound of a belt being pulled from it's loops.
_My karma is so good today... _ She wiggled her fingers experimentally and felt them brush against a very potentially painful area. _Hello sparklies... _A ball of glowing plasma filled her hands, yellow and shifting and cool to the touch. With a slight flex of her wrist, she shoved the plasma upwards and closed her eyes as it erupted into millions of sparkles, a howl of pain piercing the sky and sending an itinerant flock of grackles screaming from the trees. She rolled onto her back, panting, as the man fell off her, clutching his groin and whimpering. "Stay back!" she snapped at the other man. "I'll do it to you, too, freak! You're not a real cop! I can't get busted for assaulting an officer! He did not answer her, but rather gasped and pitched forward, unconscious. _Damn...what did I say? _
"Cherie?"
"Remy! Fucking hell! What are you doing out here? Fuck it...get me out of here! We're in the wide open!"
Remy leaned over her, his face coming into view. "What de hell you be doin' out here?"
"Remy! Handcuffs! Hello! Help?"
He shook his head and pocketed a handful of cards. "I can't be leavin' you alone for a minute, can I, petite?" He sounded more worried than chastising, though, so she did not respond. He knelt before her and pulled the belt off the one leg it had been attached to and rolled her over. "No key?"
"No key."
"You gonna hafta sit tight wid 'em on, d'accord? We gotta get outta here fore dey figger out which be dere ass and which be a hole in de ground, eh?" He scooped her up deftly and headed straight towards the guard shack.
"Where are we going?"
"Don't ask so many questions," Remy said, sounding different to Jubilee's hearing.
"Gumbo, what's wrong with your voice?"
"Not a thing, child."
Jubilee felt the flesh and bones shift beneath her and willed herself to look. _Blue. Fanfuckingtastic. Blue. _ "Mystique, don't you have any other hobbies?"
"Aside from saving your ass I enjoy macramé and failed attempts at world domination. Shut up."
Jubilee sighed wearily and let her head drop tonce nce off Mystique's back. _Remy, I am so kicking your ass when I get home. _

Kurt was in agony. Kitty did not seem to know what had happened so early that morning and if she did, she was not mentioning it. _Torture. Pure torture. I don't know which is worse, knowing even a little what she feels like, knowing what she sounds like when I touch her... _ He let his head fall to the table before him and sighed. _Knowing what she smells like...that's the worst. She's on my skin, lingering... _ Even after two showers and a long, hard brushing, Kurt fancied that he could still detect her scent on him. She was sitting across from him at the kitchen table, picking at a grapefruit and trying to have a normal conversation with Rogue, who in turn was staring solemnly at a cup of tea which had long ago cooled. "You okay?" Kitty asked around a mouthful of citrus.
"Ja, just fine..." _I'm not fine. I'll never be fine again. Lance violates you in my world, I violate you here. I want you so much it has to be damnable. _
"You're not eating," she said pointedly. "Eat your toast at least. Preferably, as much as I hate to say it, your sausage too. You need the calories." At Kurt's baleful expression, Kitty flushed. "I'm sorry. I'm nagging, aren't I?"
"Nein," he sighed, "you're right..." He picked up a sausage link and took a bite, feeling it turn to sawdust in his mouth as he chewed, wondering if he would be able to swallow the seemingly growing bolus.
Rogue spoke lethargically, as if it were a tremendous effort to form words, "The Professor and Warren came back early this mornin'. I saw 'em come in. They looked real pissed."
"Warren?" Kurt queried, seeking to divert Kitty's attention from his lack of appetite. _I can leave soon. I'll go. I'll leave and they can get back to normal. _
Kitty mouthed "Angel" to him and made flapping motions with her hands to indicate wings. "Are you going to go see him?" she asked Rogue.
The Goth sighed and pushed the tea away. "I have to. Todd's making me."
"Someone say my name, yo?" the aforementioned teenager said with a brightness too pronounced to be true.
Rogue looked desperate for a flashing moment and clung to Todd's arm as he walked by her to get to the box of cereal on the counter. Rather than protest, he sighed and took the seat next to her, sliding an arm around her waist and leaning against her as she drew the tea back to her and sipped it, cold though it was. Kurt was disconcerted by this, seeing his half sister so depressed and washed out. He wondered if somehow he was responsible for that, too. "Kitty, I'm not feeling well, I'm going to go lay down for a while..."
"I'll come with you. I need to get that box and put it back in my room anyway," she said, taking up her plate and dumping the remains of the grapefruit in the trash. She glanced at Kurt's mostly full plate and sighed. "You need to eat more."
He wrapped a piece of toast around a link of sausage and shoved it in his mouth, not caring how uncouth it looked. "Better?"
"Much," she said making a face. "Rogue, you going to be okay for now? Need help changing?"
Todd answered for her. "She'll be fine. I'm taking her to see the Professor in a little bit. Right, sugar?" Rogue nodded and Todd sighed. "She'll be fine." Kitty was not sure if that was meant for her or to reassure himself.
Kitty held tight to Kurt's hand as she led him from the kitchen. Once in the rec room and out of earshot of Todd and Rogue, she asked urgently, "What is it? Even if you're not my Kurt, I know when something is bothering you." In truth, she had noticed he was rapidly regressing how he acted when she first came to the Institute, when she was dating Lance. That worried her more than almost anything else could have at that moment.
"Nothing is bothering me," he said sadly, reaching for her tentatively and drawing back at the last moment. "I just...I need to go."
"Go where?"
"Just...be alone for a while."
She nodded cautiously. "I can understand that."
They were interrupted by a subdued Remy, slinking into the rec room from the stairs. "S'il vous plait, have you seen Jubilee? I thought she would have come back here last night..."
Kurt looked up sharply. "Was? She didn't come back with you?"
Kitty's eyes went wide. "What did you do?" she demanded of Remy, her voice cracking.
"Rien! I jus'...we had an agreement, oui? Don' wait, don' jeopardize... she know dese tings an' she didn' come back here..." His eyes were red-rimmed and bleary as he passed a hand through his hair. Kurt was mute, staring, his jaw working soundlessly.
Kitty's lips were pressed into a thin line and she strode forward, grabbing Remy's wrist. "The Professor, now."
Kurt finally found his voice. "Nein, Katzchen...this is my fault! I'll fix it!"
"Don' be stupid, eh?" Remy said. "It's my fault! I didn' stay wid her dere an' she got caught, prolly. I'll go back for her."
"Nein!" Kurt snapped. "I'll go!"
Kitty threw up her hands helplessly. "Go where? What's going on?" she cried.
"Nothing," both males practically shouted, staring each other down.
"I'll go," Kurt growled. "You both went for me, it's my fault, I'll go!"
"Non! Dis place ain't what it seems! Forge be tinkin' it some research place mais I found dis," he produced a flat plastic card from his pocket. "Dis ain't right!"
Kitty plucked the card from Remy's hand before Kurt could. "Mutant Identification Number 406-B-12, Darkholme, Raven." She looked up at the Cajun and said, "The Hell?"
" 'zactly." He reached for the card but Kitty phased, making his hand pass through hers easily. "Kitty!"
"I'm taking this to the Professor!"
Kurt bit his tongue, glad for once that Kitty had seemingly forgotten him as she dashed towards the stairs and the Professor's private study. "We both go," he said to Remy under his breath.
"Fine. Be ready in dix minute, d'accord?"
Kurt nodded. "I'll meet you in the garage in five."
1 Ever see GoldenEye? Famke Jansen played the evil woman (typical of all Bond movies) and she would strangle people with her thighs. That's just funny... And a vague X Men reference in a very round about way because of Famke Jansen
2 Heh. Simpson's Comic Book Store Guy moment. Worst...episode...ever!