Blueshift

Blueshift Chapter Nineteen (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… *bouncy* Box is in the mail! InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting. :) ProPhile: Catch up yet? ;) Morgan: *glomp * Readers/Reviewers: No word from the Killer Kitties™… hope they’re alive… Other than that, thanks for reading and reviewing as you can. :)


Jubilee frowned and glared at the book in her hand then the books on the shelves. “I don’t care what he said, I am *not* putting Everything you always wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask on the same shelf as Lies Our Parents Told Us. “
“Why not?” Rahne laughed. “It’s funny!”
“He was being serious,” Jubilee snapped. “Damn it!” She dropped the book onto the pile at her feet and abandoned her duties for the time being. “This is insane. Why do we need a librarian anyway? We can find books just fine on our own! And what the Hell is THAT thing?” she added, pointing to a cage like bookshelf on the far side of the room, next to a newly installed desk.
“Books we can look at but not touch,” Rahne responded primly before yawning widely. “He said they were there for reference—supervised reference.” She stood and wandered over to the case, peering between the wide set bars, just enough space between them to reach in and touch the covers. “They’re all in Latin and Welsh and stuff anyway. No one but Amara can read most of them.” She shrugged and turned to face Jubilee. “So why are you in here anyway? Should you and Remy be off doing… things?” She wiggled her brows meaningfully, trying not to think of Jamie and how upset she still was with him.
“Yeah, well,” Jubilee shrugged. “Long story short, don’t throw a sandwich at the librarian.” She stared balefully at the books at her feet. “I’ve been doing this for three hours and I’m supposed to come back and help him every day this week,” she sighed. “Hey, what’s the deal with Jamie being Mister Science all of a sudden?” she asked in a whiplash inducing change of topic. “He’s been all about that telescope and Doctor whoever all day…”
Rahne groaned and shook her head. “Don’t ask. I don’t know. He’s ignoring me in favor of his little meteor… I know I should be happy for him but it still hurts to be rejected, you know?” She raked her fingers through her curls, setting her pigtails askew but not caring. She frowned and cocked her head to one side, looking for all the world as if her ears should be perking up. “I heard something.”
“Yeah, that was my brain rotting from boredom,” Jubilee sighed, sitting down on top of the tallest stack of books. “Don’t do that… it kind of creeps me out!”
“Wuff,” Rahne replied, smirking faintly. “Now hush… I thought I heard something.” She blinked and winced a moment later. “Rogue.”
“No, Jubilee,” the other girl said slowly, patting her chest. “Jubilation, even…”
“No, Rogue’s freaking out…can’t you hear her?” She pointed up to the air conditioning vent over her head. She winced again and shuddered. “Screaming…” She shook her head again and winced.
“It’s under control,” a low, familiar voice rumbled from the open door way. “She’s just not feelin’ very well…” Logan filled the doorway, looking far worse for wear. He seemed drawn, in need of a shower and a nap and possibly painkillers. “Jubilee, where’s Remy?”
The two girls stared, flabbergasted. “Logan?” Jubilee finally choked. “Oh my God…” She was across the room in a few large steps, flinging herself into Logan’s surprised embrace. “Where the Hell have you been?” she demanded, hugging him fiercely. Rahne had come towards them, stopping short and continuing to stare. “Rahne! It’s really Logan!”
Logan laughed under his breath and set Jubilee down. “I just came in…haven’t even gone to my room yet…” He wanted to ask about Kitty but there were more pressing issues to deal with. “I’ll catch you up on it later, when you tell me what the Hell is going on in here. But right now, I need Remy. Where is he?”
Rahne found her voice. “Upstairs, with Solange. He’s trying to teach her something in French…” She blinked and smiled. “Hey,” she said quietly. “Glad you’re not dead.”
“Me too,” Logan sighed. “Me too…”

“So the Wolverine has returned,” Magneto said quietly, his lips curling with the hint of a smile. “Interesting… Thank you, Viktor,”
Sabretooth winced. He hated being called Viktor. It sounded so…human. He grunted and sniffed, trying to appear disaffected. “Well,” he finally muttered, “you said get him back to Bayville…”
Magneto raised a brow and opened the door to the lab behind him, exposing Tarot within but leaving her to her work. “Yes, I did. But don’t try to pass this off as your doing. He did not come back with you nor did he come back of his own free will. The others from Xavier’s stable went to get him. I’m…disappointed.” As if on cue, Mystique appeared from the narrow side hall leading to the bowels of the mansion. “Go with her. She has a task for you, Viktor.” He ignored Mystique’s glare and turned his back on the pair. “Tarot, how is the serum coming along?”
“This would be faster if Incubus had not been such a…” she trailed off and cleared her throat. “It’s coming along quite well,” she amended. “Forge is most useful in this task and once I find where I put the protein base.”
Magneto frowned. “It’s not like you to misplace things, Tarot. I’m disappointed.” He peered at the lab table where she had laid out an array of odd instruments and vials. He did not understand chemistry as well as he would have liked but he could fake it, nodding and making the appropriate noises, which he did as she used a pipette to move a small amount of some clear fluid into a beaker of something virulently yellow-tinged. She did not respond to his comment about being disappointed so he left her, shutting the door quietly behind him.
“Prick,” she muttered as soon as he was gone. Without taking her eyes from the beaker, which was beginning to grow warm, she reached for the thermometer she had left exactly six inches from the rack of test tubes to her right. It was not there. She frowned and patted the table, feeling furtively. “Damn it,” she breathed, setting the beaker down carefully and looking over the table. It was gone. It was not in her lab coat pocket, it was not under the table and no one had touched the table but her. “Damn it, damn it, damn it!” She strode to the cabinet and retrieved the extra thermometer, returning to the lab table to find the beaker moved to the very edge, precariously close to falling. “Incubus?” she queried tersely. “Show yourself, you whore of a demon…” There was no reply. “Touch one more thing and I’m turning you over to the Jesuits!” Glaring around herself one more time, she returned to the serum, now dangerously close to being too hot to use. She did not look up until she heard the door click shut softly. “Incubus?” She looked up sharply and frowned.
“I don’t use doors, dear,” the presence in question replied. “That was a whole new problem…”