Fractals

Fractals Chapter Forty Eight (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… the Paige is doing better. Pissed, but better. InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting. :) ProPhile is behind so he won’t notice until too late… *poke* Morgan: *glomp* Thanks for the submissions to the zine. Readers/Reviewers: *poke poke* They’re dead, Jim… hmmm. Well, if you’re still out there, thanks for reading/reviewing. *GLOMP*

Amara narrowed her eyes and wished that her powers included the ability to make other people burst into flames. Jean was getting on her nerves. “I do not say this often,” the Nova Roman sighed, “but *please* shut up.”
Jean shifted and turned in her seat, her eyes wide and mouth set in lines of annoyance. “Unless you’re going to say something useful, I suggest you take your own advice.”
“Hey!” Paige snapped, clapping her hands over her ears. “Would you *both* shut up? Neither one of you is saying anything helpful!” She did not look at Jean or Amara but she could feel their eyes on her. Jean was shocked, Amara angry. “None of us,” she added, glancing sideways at Jean and noting the narrowed eyes and high color in her cheeks, “know what’s going on. No one has a good theory and until that Jimmy guy is done with the cops, we aren’t going to have a decent basis for our information.”
Amara muttered something under her breath that would have been insulting if Paige spoke more Latin. “What makes you think that he’ll tell the police officers anything useful? Do you honestly think that he’ll tell them the truth about why he’s here?” She shook her head in a condescending manner and continued, “And what makes you think that they will tell you what he said? They’re going to arrest him, yes? They’ll take him from here, put him in jail and that’s the end of it. We will not know any more about the situation than we already do.”
Paige crossed her ankles primly and frowned. “Being a bitch isn’t helping.”
Kurt growled, silencing them all. “Stop it! All of you! We’re sitting here like chickens, clucking our heads off, and K..people are missing!” His tail lashed angrily and a fine dusting of blue fur marred the carpet at his feet, evidence of his agitation. The door to the study opened and he whipped around, hiding his tail from the police officers who stepped out with Jimmy Olsen in handcuffs. His holo still active, the blue fur on the floor and his clothes seemed out of place.
“We’re taking him in… you sure you want to press charges?” the officer who seemed to be in charge asked Jean.
Jean, who had been pegged as the oldest and most responsible when the police arrived, glanced to where Beast stood in the shadows and nodded. “Yes, I’m sure. We’ve caught him on the grounds before and he’s harassed some of our residents in public. We’re pressing charges.”
Jimmy paled to the color of milk, making his freckles a violent orange. “But…I didn’t hurt anyone!” he yelped. “Don’t let them arrest me!”
Kurt was seething. “You’re trying to drag our names through the mud! You’re trying to make us the target of hate crimes! How is that not hurting us?”
The officer holding Jimmy’s elbow raised a brow. “I thought this place sounded familiar. Now it makes sense. You guys are the ones the tabloids keep pegging as mutants, huh?”
“Um, yes, officer. It’s all a bad joke, it seems,” Jean said in her best PTA-mom voice. “Someone doesn’t like us and came up with this ridiculous story…” She shook her head and sighed. “It’s making our lives a living Hell.”
“Right,” the officer muttered. “Living Hell. Well, come on, Jimmy boy. Time to see scenic downtown Bayville.”
There was a general muttering shuffle and uncertain goodbyes as the officers and Jimmy left. Paige stood from her spot on the bench by the door and glared at Amara. “Not one word.”
Amara shrugged. “I have better things to do with my life than point out how wrong you are.” She paused, her expression shifting to something indefinable. “Peasant.”
Paige reeled around to face Amara and closed the distance between them in three long steps. “What did you just call me, you imperious bitch?”
“Peasant,” Amara pronounced the word carefully. “As in, not worthy of my attention.” She did not flinch in the face of Paige’s anger but rather stood very still, almost like a statue. The small group in the front hall, those that had not been sent back to their rooms by Beast when the police arrived, stared, seemingly holding their breaths.
“I don’t have time for this,” Paige muttered. “I ain’t gonna get into this with you when our friends are in danger.”
Amara shrugged as Paige turned away. The Nova Roman princess tossed her hair over her shoulder and turned to face Lance. “Are you going with them?”
Lance sighed. “Yes.” Amara had flipped into some mode of her personality that he knew she would not leave easily. It was almost self defense, this snobbish attitude, a way to keep others out of her life at least for the time being. “So are you.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she did not get the chance to respond. Beast stepped forward and began ordering them into groups, telling them to put on their uniforms. “Someone check on Rogue, now,” he added, looking at Kurt.
Kurt nodded and vanished, reappearing in the medlab next to the exam table where Rogue was just stirring. “Hey,” he murmured, “how’re you feeling?”
“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t ask me that,” she breathed, her eyes tightly closed. “I wanna die.”
“Shhhh,” he soothed, patting her gloved hand for a lack of anything else to do. “Rogue, I don’t want to rush you but…what did you see?”
“First off,” she groaned, “I ain’t no psychic. Next time, you get Jean’s ass outta bed for soemthin’ like this. Second off, Jimmy doesn’t know where they went. Magneto sent him the holo he used… he didn’t’ see him but I know it was him cause who else would know about it? And he’s talked to Mystique, but she looked like Principal Darkholme…” She rubbed her eyes weakly, adding, “we don’t know a guy in blue tights, do we?”
“Uh, no… not usually,” he frowned. “You sure you’re going to be okay?”
Rogue nodded. “But I got my doubts about the rest of you.”

a/n next chapter, progress!