New Alliances: Chapter 4

An X-Men Evolution Fanfic

Scott was flipping through news channels, searching for any sign of his friends when the phone rang. Jean dropped the newspaper she was reading and looked up at him.

“Should we answer it?” He asked.

She glanced at it nervously. “I don’t know.”

He wished Mrs. Masters was home, but she had left an hour ago to pick up some things she thought they would need, and with Alex and Mr. Masters at school and work, there was no one else to answer it.

They waited too long, and the ringing stopped.

Hesitantly, Jean started reading the newspaper again, and Scott reached for the remote.

Riiiing, riiiing

They jumped.

Scott turned down the volume on the tv, and went into the kitchen to answer it. “This is the Master’s residence.”

“Slim.” The voice sounded more relieved than he had ever heard it. He clutched the phone.

“Logan?” The newspaper rustled as Jean dropped it and ran into the kitchen.

“Yeah. Red with you?”

“Yeah, yeah, she’s here. We weren’t sure where else to go. Did the others—“

“You did good, kid,” Logan assured him. “You’ll be safe there, so just lay low for a while, okay? I’ll be in contact.”

Scott sagged against the counter, relieved. He’d been so worried he was messing everything up by leaving. “Okay, we can do that. But the others, did they—are they okay?”

“They got away. Most of them are in the safe place. I’m still looking for Half-pint and a few of the Brotherhood kids, but I’ll find them.”

“Yeah, okay. That’s—that’s good.” Jean reached over and squeezed his hand.

“Take care of each other,” was the last thing Logan said before the line went dead.

When Kitty first moved to the Institute, it had taken some time to adjust to living with so many new people, so she expected the same thing when they started living in Craig’s house. What she hadn’t expected were all the rules.

Usually, she liked having rules to tell her how to act, but none of these rules made sense, and no one could explain them. She’d tried asking Todd what about them, but he just looked confused and said Craig didn’t give them many rules.

The strangest part was that even Lance seemed to somehow just know them. Not all of them, but certainly more than her. Rules like when and how they were allowed to use things around the house and what you could or couldn’t talk about. It reminded her of how Kurt described living in a new country as relearning a language he thought he already knew.

She wondered what it said about Lance that he seemed to speak this language fluently.

She stared at the couch. Specifically, Lance sitting on one end, and Tara on the other, somehow taking up all the rest of the room. When Tara noticed her watching, she raised her eyebrows as if to say, “what are you looking at?”

It should have been easy to ask her to move, but somehow every conversation with Tara turned into a minefield. The other girl loved to point out just how little Kitty fit in among them, and she never knew what word or move might set her off.

She glanced down at the floor, where Danny and Todd sat on a blanket, taking apart the radio. Apparently it had a habit of breaking as it had today, and Todd was teaching Danny to fix it. She could join them.

Instead she walked around to Lance’s side of the couch, and perched on the arm. Tara snorted and turned back to watch Danny and Todd. Kitty ignored her and slid her hand into Lance’s.

He startled at the touch, but his face softened into a smile when he saw her. She frowned. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine. Why?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but stopped when she heard a sound outside the door, and then the rattle of keys. She heard a sharp intake of breath from the others when they noticed. Before she knew what was happening, Danny and Todd had rolled up the blanket with all the radio parts and stuffed it under the couch, and Tara had turned on the tv.

Lance tugged on her hand, and she half slid, half fell into his lap. She looked up at him, startled. This wasn’t the first time Craig’s arrival had heralded this sudden flurry of activity, but Lance didn’t usually do anything like this.

He wasn’t looking at her, though. Instead he appeared to be focused on the tv. She knew better than that, but she settled against his chest and pretended to be watching it as well as Craig stumbled through the door and into his room. Even when the bedroom door slammed, though, no one moved.

“Turn it down!” He shouted, and Tara grabbed the remote, turning it down a few notches.

He came back a few minutes later, a bottle clutched in one hand. He pointed at Tara, Todd, and Kitty. “I want you three ready to go out tonight.”

She felt Lance stiffen, and Todd’s head whipped around to look at her. He had been very insistent that she had to say no to the first job Craig tried to send her on, though she still didn’t totally understand why.

“Oh, okay.” She was suddenly glad for all the times she had made excuses for Kurt when his image-inducer stopped working at school. It meant she knew exactly what tone to use to make adults trust her. “But I should warn you, I’m, like, horrible with lock picks.”

Craig stared at her like she was crazy. Or maybe he really didn’t understand what she was saying. “You don’t need lock picks.”

“Not always,” she agreed, “but I would tonight. I can’t do it very often.”

Tara’s eyes narrowed, and she tilted her head. “Can’t do what?”

Craig ignored her. “When can you go?”

Kitty shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure. It’ll probably be a few days.”

Craig muttered something under his breath, then pointed at Lance. “You. Can you handle a jewelry store?” Tara sucked in a sharp breath.

Lance nodded. “Sure.”

“Good. Be ready to go tonight.” Craig turned around to leave the room.

Tara shot up and followed him out. “You can’t be serious! Did you forget about last time?”

As they kept arguing, Lance turned to Todd. “I can handle this place, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Todd said, completely unconcerned. “Last time we nearly got caught because we couldn’t crack the safe, but you’ll have no problem.”

Lance gave a sharp nod, then turned back to Kitty, grinning. He leaned close to her ear and murmured, “you could get away with murder, you know that?”

She couldn’t quite hold back a matching grin. “Well I don’t get in trouble all the time, like some people, so people actually believe me.”

He laughed, and she relaxed, leaning into him. “You’ll be okay, tonight, right?”

“Hey, I can take care of myself,” he promised.

“I know.” She leaned her head against his shoulder and ran her fingers though his hair. “Just be careful.”

“You too.”

“There!” Evan dropped several boxes of cereal into the buggy. “Think that’s enough for everybody?”

“Slow down,” Rogue complained as she added numbers on her notepad. “Did you check the prices?”

“Umm . . . I’ll be right back.”

She rolled her eyes and turned back to her tally. After staying at S.H.I.E.L.D. for the past two days, they were almost out of food, as well as desperately in need of more clothes, so when Director Fury gave them some money, she made everyone make a list of everything they needed. She just needed to make sure they could fit everything on their list into the budget.

Evan came back and rattled off some numbers that she added to her list. He was the only one who had volunteered to come with her. Kurt was too recognizable without his image inducer, and Fred had been too nervous to come. To her surprise, Tabby had decided to stay with both of them.

“Okay,” she said. “What’s next on the list?”

Evan scanned it. “Looks like that’s it.”

“Really?” She double-checked her math. They still had some money left over. “C’mere.”

Evan followed her further into the store, over to the game aisle. She gestured to the card games on the shelves. “Pick out a couple you think the others will like.”

His eyes lit up. “Really? Thanks, man!” He ran down the aisle, picking up one game after another to read the package. Rogue couldn’t help but smile. This would be good for all of them. They needed something else to do besides watch tv and annoy each other.

While he searched, Rogue wandered over to the next aisle, full of cheap paperbacks. She scanned a few titles, then tossed in a murder mystery and a romance into her buggy. When Evan joined her with a few card games, they made their way back to the front of the store.

Rogue tugged her hat further over her hair as they reached the checkout line, and she and Evan loaded all their things onto the conveyor belt. As they waited for the cashier to check everything out, Rogue spotted a cookbook tucked between magazines. She grabbed it and put in on the conveyor belt. Evan raised his eyebrows.

She shrugged. “For Fred.” He’d spent all of the day before looking through the kitchen, delighted by all the brand-new dishes in the cabinets and describing all the tasty treats he could make with them.

After she paid, they managed to split the bags between them. She guessed she should be grateful to all the Danger Room sessions for giving her the strength to carry so many. Complaining was easier, though.

“He couldn’t possibly send us with a car,” she grumbled. “No, we’ll just carry these all the way back.”

“Do you think he has a normal-looking car, though?” Evan asked curiously. “Or do you think all the vehicles are like the X-Van?”

Rogue frowned. “They’ve gotta have something normal, don’t they? I can’t imagine the director drives home every day in an armored van.”

“That’s true.”

A few blocks away from the grocery store, Evan’s steps started to lag, and Rogue slowed down as well, wondering if he was getting tired. He stopped and glanced back at the phone booth.

“Logan said he would call Auntie O,” he said slowly. “You think that means it’s safe to call my parents? Just for a minute?”

Rogue shrugged. “I guess. Just don’t say where we are or anything, just in case someone’s listening in.”

He nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

She watched him run over to the phone booth, set down the grocery bags, and dial the phone number. She pushed away the wave of jealousy that he actually had someone to call. She hadn’t seen Irene since the night her powers activated, and when she tried calling home, no one had answered. She had no idea if that meant Irene had left, or if all the extra memories in her head had made her mix up the phone number.

“Thanks,” Evan said when he ran back over.

“No problem.” She turned away and let her hair fall over her face. “What did they say?”

“Just that they’re glad we’re safe and asked if I’ve heard from, uh—“ He looked away and scratched the back of his neck, sending several grocery bags sliding down his arm. “Anyone else.”

She frowned at the evasion, but decided not to push. “Have they heard from Ororo?”

He perked up. “Yeah! She told them everyone at the mansion is fine.”

That was a relief. To know the, when all this was over, at least they would still have a home to return to.

Lance was very used to his life sucking. If something could go wrong, it usually did, and this time it had gone wrong in a particularly spectacular way. But, if everything else in his life fell apart, he thought he could probably live with it, if only Kitty would keep kissing him like this.

She stretched up on her toes to reach him better, and her hands slid along his back before bunching up the material of his shirt. He wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him, and burying his other hand in her curls.

“Come back,” she whispered when she finally pulled away. “Both of you.”

“We will,” he promised. She bit her lip, but nodded and reluctantly let go. He didn’t step back immediately, so he saw how her eyes widened and she shrank back when her gaze drifted over his shoulder.

He turned back and saw Tara glaring at them. Maybe it was a good thing Kitty wouldn’t be going with them.

“Ready to go?” Todd asked. Lance nodded and followed him and Tara outside. He waited until he heard the lock click behind them to continue down the street.

The jewelry store was much further than he thought it would be, though he guessed it made sense that they wouldn’t want to hit somewhere too close by. When they reached it, Todd pulled out his lock picks and set to work on the front door. Lance watched him, shifting from one foot to the other, anxious to keep moving.

“So what does this place look like on the inside?” He asked.

“Last time we were here, it was just cameras and the safe,” Tara said.

Lance nodded. “Fine. Todd, you can take out the cameras, right?” They really didn’t need another reason for anyone to be looking for them.

“You say it like it’s hard,” Todd chuckled.

“Simple is good,” Lance reminded him. “You do that, and I’ll take care of the safe.”

Tara folded her arms. “You better. That thing’s uncrackable. Believe me, Todd and I both tried it. Craig seems pretty confident you can handle it, but if you get caught, you’re on your own.”

“I’ve got it,” Lance said firmly. “You just keep a lookout and make sure no one gets too close.” He didn’t trust her one bit, and he sure didn’t want her knowing he was a mutant. Not if he could help it.

She looked like she wanted to argue, but Todd interrupted, swinging the door open and saying, “Todd’s Rare Jewels is open for business!” They all waited a moment, but no alarm sounded. Todd nodded at the empty store, and the two boys walked in.

Todd shot slime at the two cameras, then led Lance further into the store and pointed at the safe. Lance nodded and shooed him over to the door before turning back to the safe and taking a deep breath.

This would be much more precise than anything he had tried before. At least, if he didn’t want to broadcast his presence. He held out his hand and slowly clenched it into a fist. The ground trembled beneath his feet, but as he squeezed his eyes closed and gritted his teeth, he managed to keep most of the shaking concentrated on the safe. The metal split open, and an alarm sounded.

“Come on!” He shouted. They had no need for quiet now. Todd and Tara ran over and each scooped up several pieces of jewelry, shoving them into the bag Tara carried. They all darted out onto the street. When they got a few blocks away, they slowed, trying to look casual.

“What was that?” Tara asked. “I didn’t think it could break open like that.”

“I told you I could handle it.”

“Clearly.” She sounded impressed, but her approval somehow made him more nervous than her resentment.

The professor steepled his hands, serene as a statue of a saint, not a man who had been fighting with the media and authorities for days. “I have good news. The school has allowed you to come back today.”

That didn’t sound like “good news” to Amara. Not with the news stories on every channel. She sank further in her chair.

“Today?” Ray asked, leaning his elbows on the table. “But not tomorrow?”

“That remains to be decided,” the professor continued. “The board is having a meeting tonight to decide whether mutants will be allowed to attend the school.”

Roberto muttered something in Portuguese. Amara blushed and shook her head when Bobby looked at her with raised eyebrows. There was no way she was translating that.

The professor pretended not to notice. “I’d like you all to attend the meeting.” He held up a newspaper to display the headline: Monsters Living Among Us? “These parents need a reminder that you all are children too. I want them to have to look you in the eyes when they vote.”

Roberto shoved his chair back, letting it squeak against the floor. Amara winced as he walked away, grumbling to himself about monsters and “self-righteous pigs”. He jerked open the door.

“Roberto.” The professor’s calm voice stopped him in his tracks. “Is there something you’d like to share with the rest of us?”

Roberto glanced over his shoulder, flashing a sharp smile. “If I wanted to share it, I would have said it in English.” He slammed the door behind him.

Sam shot up, racing after him. “Roberto, wait!” The professor sighed and shook his head. Amara glanced at the other boys, wondering if they could slip away after the other two.

“You’d best get ready to leave,” the professor said, and they all eagerly got up and headed out of the room. “Oh, Amara?”

Amara froze, halfway through the doorway. “Yes?”

“Come here a moment. I’d like to speak to you.”

She walked back over to the table, but didn’t sit down. As little as she wanted to go to school, he couldn’t keep her long, or she would be late.

He smiled, but somehow the expression made her nervous. “I’d like to ask you to speak at the meeting tonight.”

“Me?” Her voice came out squeakier than she wanted it to. “But—but I don’t think—I mean . . .” She trailed off, unsure how to continue.

“I think it would be best to let them listen to a student’s perspective. Let them see your point of view.”

“I—“ She stepped back. “I don’t know if I can.”

His mouth pursed in disappointment, making her stomach twist in guilt. “I understand. But please, consider it.”

She ducked, letting her hair fall in her face. “I—I’ll think about it. But I have to go.”

“Of course. I’ll see you tonight.”

She stopped to grab her backpack and raced outside, where Ray was already waiting to pull out of the driveway. She hopped into the car, sliding in beside Sam.

“What did he want?” He asked.

Her hands tightened around the backpack straps. “He wants me to give a speech tonight.”

“A speech?” Bobby asked. “Like, ‘let us come back to school pretty please with a cherry on top’?”

Amara couldn’t help but laugh at that. “I don’t think that’s quite what he has in mind.”

“I could give a speech,” he continued. “No one would forget mine.”

Ray laughed. “That’s probably why he asked Amara.”

“No, it isn’t,” Roberto grumbled. “Well, part of it, maybe, but he could have asked Sam or you.” Sam’s eyebrows drew together.

“What do you mean?” Jamie asked, leaning closer to Amara’s seat to hear better.

“I mean, if Amara says no, he’ll probably ask you.”

Her mouth fell open as she realized what Roberto was implying. But that—that wasn’t true, right? But why had the professor asked her? Ray was better at giving speeches, and Sam was better at talking people around to his side, so he really should have asked one of them—

“Me?” Jamie asked. “But why?”

Roberto opened his mouth to say something, but Sam interrupted. “Don’t.”

“Am I wrong?” Roberto asked. Sam said nothing. Blood rushed in her ears.

“Wrong about what?” Jamie asked.

“I’ll do it,” Amara blurted out. Everyone stared at her.

Ray glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “Are you sure?”

“I—“ she glanced back at Jamie.

“Hey,” Sam said gently, touching her arm. “If you don’t want to, I’ll talk to him, tell him I can do it.”

She shook her head and stared down at her hands. “He asked me. I can do it.”

“Would you like me to stand up there with you?”

She looked up, and he smiled gently. “Yes. That would . . . be nice.”

Roberto studied her for a second, then turned back to the window. “I’ll go too.”

“Me too!” Jamie chirped from the backseat.

“We’ll all be there,” Ray promised.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Bobby said.

She smiled, relieved to have her friends by her side.

Craig knocked back the last bit of whiskey in his glass, then clapped it against the table. Before he could call for the bartender, a hooded figure slid into the seat next to him.

“Another for the man here,” the stranger said.

Craig frowned. “Who’re you?”

“I’m looking for someone who can help me find something.” The stranger’s words were smooth, hypnotic almost. It would be . . . nice to keep listening.

“You . . . you lost something?” Craig asked. His words slurred together. How much had he drunk?

“In a sense.” The strange pushed back his hood, revealing strange tattoos covering is face. He smiled. “And I think you’re just the person I need.”

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