"Hey!"
Jayden shouted to the others, "Anyone want to go inside for some hot chocolate?"
Jeremy slid to a stop at the bottom of the hill. He wasn't quite sure who had won the race, but he stopped in time for Jayden to mention hot chocolate. His hand shot up in an instance. "Yes please," he said, feeling the cold biting into his body, "It's a bit cold out."
On the way back to the school for hot chocolate, and the large variety of Christmas goodies that the twins, no doubt, had prepared in advance, a mist suddenly rolled in, surrounding the students. Strange, yet enticing music began playing from the mist, orbs of light swirled around in intricate patterns within the mist. Suddenly, there was a FLASH of light and a sultry shadowy figure appeared, dancing amongst the lights. Her hands flowed through the mist, first one, then two, followed by a third and fourth. The mist moved with her, obeying her motions like a snake does its charmer. Tendrils of the mist encircled each of the young observers lazily. The woman brought her six arms back to her voluminous chest and the tendrils suddenly snapped tight around the children and their robot. A smile crossed her shadowy face, piercing through the darkness, and in an intoxicating sensual voice, she said "It's Showtime..."
Mojo's X-Mas X-travaganza
A portal tore in the grounds, levitating in mid-air a little from the floor. It wasn't a major drop, enough that would surprise a person when they came out the other side, but not enough to hurt a person. Jeremy was new to this after all.
Strawberry popped out of the portal expecting to step onto solid ground. Instead she fell unceremoniousl
y onto the ground. "Son of a -" she stopped once she got a look around at the grounds and the mansion. "Oh yea, I think I'm going to like it here."
Moments later and one by one the others were spat out of the portal Jeremy had created. In the case of Waya being supported by Jayden and Junior carrying Maribel, they came out in pairs.
Penelope fell on her ass, but wasn't hurt too bad. As everyone fell through the portal, including Spiral and the portal closed, she suddenly grew worried for her comrade, Yalala. "Wait!" she said and got to her feet. "We need to go back for Yalala!"
Waya leaned heavily on Jayden, most of the energy Junior had given her was gone. "Yalala knew what she was doing..." Waya said. "We couldn't wait for her... You saw the security on the arena floor..."
"What?!" Penelope spun around and glared at her, "You knew we were going to leave her there the whole time, you little cunt?!"
"Woah woah-" Jaden approached her with his arms in front of him, making sure no fights broke out between the two girls.
"Get away from me! We need to go back!" Penelope said louder this time, looking to Veronica and Berry, hoping for some support from the other deadly dancers.
"She told me..." Waya said, letting Jaden defend her. As she was now she couldn't fight a drowned cat and win. "I'm telepathic... I might have been able to teleport her to the control room, but she told me to leave her. seconds later... they caught her in..." she paused, looking for the word for what she'd seen. "A tear harness..."
Penelope's black eyes went wide. Something like that meant that Yalala was torn to shreds by her own momentum. She felt the pit of her stomach rise into her throat and her heart begin to beat like wild. Although they argued a lot, Yalala had been her closest friend since her capture. Like a sister. To hear that she was just... gone without a goodbye... just like that... Penelope felt she may go into a panic attack.
"Hey... hey easy." Junior said, Maribel still in her arms. "Someone, catch her if she falls..." He had his hands full and Penelope looked as if she were about to have some kind of fit.
"I'm sorry." Waya told Penelope, but didn't offer up any more consolation than that.
"There was no way she could even think she would be able to return after causing that much destruction down below." Eliza said, shaking her head and thinking about Yalala. She looked unsettled herself, then said "If there's a chance she's still alive, we could bargain for her." She looked over at Jeremy, who was still in Spiral's body. Mojo was nothing without Spiral.
Jeremy groaned, clutching his stomach. He felt like throwing up. Spiral's body was starting to rebel even more. New place, away from Mojo, the body was almost panicking by itself. She needed to get a collar on or something quickly, before Spiral kicked him out and left.
George just watched, cradling the head of a former team mate apparently, and waiting for people to tell him where to put Kale.
"A tear harness..." Veronica said softly, her own breathing picking up. No one deserved to go that way, especially not Yalala... She reached over and placed her hand on Penelope's shoulder.
Rhydian looked at Waya and suddenly wanted very bad to go to her. To shove Jayden aside and be the one to hold her. He looked at Jeremy when he groaned. "You alright Jer?"
"L-losing... control..." Jeremy whimpered, half unable to move on the floor, half resisting Spiral's urge to portal out of here.
"Let her go." Waya told him. "We don't have any way to keep her here and Mojo won't come for us after a defeat like this. S.H.I.E.L.D. won't take her ether, she's too hard to contain. Just let her go. She can go back to the Mojoverse on her own."
There was a loud "UGH!" noise just as Jeremy left Spiral's body. He did NOT like doing that. It made him feel sick deep inside. He shuddered, moving over to his own body. It was like going home after a long time in prison. Which they were.
Spiral felt as if he had nearly ripped her apart when he left her and it was to the sound of a bitter dry scream as he left. She dropped to her knees, vomited, and staggered ungracefully away from them. "Dogs!" She snarled and spat, clearing her mouth of the taste of vomit. "You'll regret this... All of you... Mojo will have you!"
"I'd like to see him try..." Waya growled and stretched her hand forward, still leaning on Jayden. Spiral's shadow opened into a black pit of darkness beneath Spiral and a bead of sweat ran down Waya's face. She was too weak to be drawing shadows. "I could drop you in so much darkness your mind would snap inside a day..." She threatened and it wouldn't take much to ensure Mojo could never kidnap anyone ever again. Spiral was the key to his operation... what was a little cold blooded murder over saving countless lives from his torment?
George placed a gentle man on Waya's shoulder. "Waya..." he said gently "You are no killer." He paused, then looked at Spiral "I will kill her if people desire me to." He wasn't kidding. They all knew that.
George was wrong. He didn't know Waya like Junior, Rhydian, Liz and the Twins did. They'd never outright seen Waya kill anyone before, but with everything that had happened this year, Asteroid-M, Rex... things she'd learned since then... Junior loved her like a sister and on some days more, but he'd been waiting for her to snap for a while now.
Penelope crumpled to the ground and began sobbing. It was so unfair. Yalala had been there longer than any of them. Why was she the one to get left behind?! She ignored the drama with Spiral, not caring about the woman any longer.
"Waya-" Jayden said beside her, his voice firm and serious, which was a bit rare considering. "She isn't worth it." Much like their Mother, Jayden and Jaden were very against the taking of lives. Even if it was Spiral.
Rhydian reached out with his powers and made Spiral's belt tighten drastically, her helmet spun around violently atop her head, and a nearby rock suddenly sped itself closer to her face. "Waya's not the only one who can kill you in a heartbeat, Spiral. You are so not our favorite person right now. The pacifists can't hold us all back." His face was stern and emotionless as he spoke his threat to her. No one likes killing, but sometimes it has to be done.
Veronica growled menacingly and moved from Pen's side, stalking over to Spiral and flexing her arm a little. In single form, she had more than enough strength to snap the woman's neck with a single punch. "The way I see it, we Dancers ought to blame you for Yalala's fate."
It was Jayden's voice that really got to her. Waya dropped her hand, panting with exertion. "Let her go..." She told them. "Let Mojo think she failed... He'll do more to her than we could."
"You sure, Waya?" Rhydian asked her, the rock orbiting the woman's head leisurely. "It would be so easy..." He said softly. He was shocked by his own statement, by his desire to actually kill the woman. Her helmet ceased spinning, facing backward, and her belt loosened again.
"God Rhydian..." Junior said. "Fuck man, stop. Just... just put the rock down."
While the others debated, Veronica surged forward and slammed her fist into the woman's chest. She smiled as she heard and felt the ribs crack beneath her hand. "That was for Yalala."
Spiral staggered back, metal twisting in her chest the shape of Veronica's fist. She dropped to one knee, unable to respond
"I suggest you all leave, you must sort out this situation," George said calmly, still gazing down at Spiral "She is incapable of hurting people now. Do not worry."
"Rhydian... stop." Eliza said gently to him, not angry, just... as if she was trying to coax him back from the edge of something. She hated it when he got like this... hated him when he got like this.
"Everyone stop it!" Waya shouted, blaming herself for the party of threats visited on Spiral now. "Go." She shouted at Spiral. "Get out of here before you get worse that what you've gotten..."
Spiral wasn't stupid, she did the best she could and with the most uncoordinated dance managed to open another portal. she left without a word, more intent on seeking medical attention than arguing with a pack of wolves.
Rhydian dropped the rock and reached up to scratch his head. He was really ready to kill her...where the heck did that come from?
Veronica couldn't help but pout a little when Spiral actually left. "Dangit, that was just getting good..."
Penelope wiped her eyes as best she could, trying to get ahold of herself. She would mourn Yalala for a long time, but first- "Where in bloody christ are we?"she asked, seeing a giant mansion behind her.
"Our house." Jeremy coughed from his body, hissing and grabbing his broken nose. Shit this hurt. "The mansion. It was the first place I could think of bringing us."
"You mean... we're.... back on Earth?" Penelope asked, wanting to make sure this wasn't some other dimension or even a dream. She wanted to hear it said aloud.
"We are back on earth." Eliza said with a nod "From all signs, we are back home. I'm not sure how long it's been though... dimension travel is always difficult to track time."
They were back alright, but the snow had melted since they were gone, leaving it a mystery as to how long they'd been away. Waya slipped a little against Jayden's shoulder. "I don't think I can stand up any more..." She confessed. "And it's fuckin cold out here..." She wasn't often suitable to the cold but they were all still clad in Mojo's skimpy little outfits.
"Come on." Junior said now that Spiral was gone. "Let's get the girls inside before they freeze to death."
"I need a phone." Penelope said, hurrying to the school.
Jayden adjusted his grip on Waya, trying not to let her fall in the snow. Jaden came over and touched his brother's shoulder. Waya felt light as a feather and hovered cradled in the air above them as they too headed for the school.
Waya looped her other arm around Jaden's shoulder. "Thank you..." She sighed and hovered between them as they took her inside.
Junior followed, carrying Maribel in his arms. He didn't like how quiet she was being, but the twins had hypnotized her to not feel pain and he wondered if it was more than pain she wasn't feeling.
Maribel was still in a drunken daze, needing Jaden to take her out of the hypnosis to be right again. With her arm gently in her lap, she rested her head against Junior's shoulder, very content in being there.
"We should go set her arm, and... do... something for him." George said, carefully looking down at the head he had in a bag. This felt very strange. He walked along side Maribel and Junior "We should head on down to the place below."
Rhydian clenched his hands into fists as he watched the twins carry Waya away. He hated seeing them do that...he couldn't really explain why though. He turned and looked at Veronica, he was glad she was back. Glad they all had made it back for that matter. "Can't believe you were on my side for killing her."
Veronica smiled and took a great breath through her nose. It was so very wonderful to finally be home. She turned to look at Rhydian and had a wide grin on her face. "Of course I'm on your side, Rhyd. Did you really think that at least one of us Dancers weren't going to try? I'm just surprised that Pen wasn't the one who beat me to it."
"Yeah...she's a bit of a spitfire isn't she?" Rhydian said with a smirk. The girl seemed to have taken the news about Yalala a bit too hard to actually react to Spiral though.
"Yes, yes she is." Veronica said with a smirk and a nod. "But don't hold that against her, alright?" She then leaned in close to him and added, "And don't tell her I said that, got it?"
Rhydian let out a chuckle and nodded. "Gotcha. Let's head in, I'm sure you've gotta be getting a bit chilly out here." He said, not looking down from her face, judging by the reddish tint to his face though, it was clearly obvious that he had glanced at least once so far.
Eliza had her hands over herself as she walked back towards the mansion. Good, she was back. She wished they'd kept Spiral for a bit longer, the ability to create portals would have been immensely helpful in her research to find their parents. Not that anyone but her believed she could ever do it.
Penelope was in the head of the group, hoping the door she was staring at would be unlocked. This place sure looked an awful lot like some sort of psych ward or institution....but she didn't question it for now. She expected it full of staff and people to assist and welcome her return. After she opened the doors, she found it barren, cold and riddled with cobwebs. Penelope was frozen in the doorway for a moment, perplexed at the situation they were in. "What..." she muttered under her breath, not really able to make sense of this.
In the open area of the garden, a large double helicopter touched ground. It looked military and was navy with Britain's flag painted on the sides. Before the blades could slow, it had kicked away most of the snow in that area, dusting it all around and against the school wall.
Penelope ran out from the entrance hall and waved her arms frantically at the copter as it's blades slowed to a stop. She was just wearing some clothes that Maribel let her borrow and came out without a winter jacket.
A tall women in a skin coat with fur at her collar and sleeves hurried off of the plane. She didn't wait for the stairs to be lowered and just dropped into the snow. "PENELOPE!" She shouted and snapped her cell phone shut. After shoving it into her pocket, she ran to Penelope, arms open. They collided into an embrace and knelt down into the snow, sobbing. "MY BABY!"
Eliza arrived after them, letting out a small chuckle and shaking her head as the two women collided. She let out a small sigh, smiling at the sight of the two together. She stepped forward, wondering if someone else would emerge to talk to her, or if she would have to wait until after they were done hugging.
Strawberry came out into the yard in time to see Penelope hugging some wealthy looking woman. "Must be her mom." She said aloud. Penelope had talked about her a few times back at Mojo's.
The business-looking woman flooded Penelope with kisses and hugs. "My darling... are you hurt? Are you alright?! We were all so worried!" she sniffled. A gentleman in black stepped out of the helicopter and waited there behind her. "When we found out you were lost in Mojo's world, we did everything we could to reach you... but the technology here is just too immature. I'm so sorry honey."
"I'm fine, I'm fine! Penelope assured her, wiping her tears from her own cheek. "I'm so sorry I worried you. We were trapped and couldn't escape. They had us on some pop idol fighting show."
"We? Us?" asked her mother.
"They kidnapped several other mutants and aliens for their stupid TV network... and most recently, the x-men. Without their help I don't think we would have gotten out of there." Penelope admitted.
Eliza waved a hand, making herself known. She must look a little worn out though, since she didn't really get much of a chance to tidy herself up. She was there to represent the X-men it seemed. A young girl with odd coloured hair and an exhausted look on her face.
Penelope exclaimed, "Jeeves!" when she saw the man in black near the helicopter. She left her mother's side, ran and gave him a hearty hug around his shoulders.
"My dear it's great to have you back! We've all missed you so much." he said, hugging back.
Meanwhile, the woman stood up and brushed herself off. Facing Eliza and Strawberry, she walked over to them and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Her hair was straight, jet black and tied up in a tight, flawless bun. As she approached, it was noteable that her eyes looked dead and colorless. She had pupils and iris, but both were a light grey color. They stared blindly ahead, but the woman addressed them nonetheless, "Did you two help my daughter?"
"It's what we do." Eliza said with a little nod, before looking around at Strawberry and saying "Well... The X-men. This girl here was trapped with your daughter for a much longer period. She probably helped her through more. We just got her out."
She tried not to cry again and hugged the two immediately, "Thank you. Thank you so much. We were so worried. I'm glad you all got back to Earth safely. But... the X-men...I thought they all vanished."
Strawberry was going to comment on how Penelope probably saved her more tmes then she saved Penelope, but was cut off by the hug. "You're welcome." She said as the hug was broken.
"Our... parents did. But we're still here. Fighting the good fight." Eliza said, in a tired voice, that sounded as if it had answered that question one too many times.
"Wait... you're... you're here? All by yourselves?" she inquired, sounding concerned all of a sudden.
"It's not as bad as you'd think." Eliza said with a half shrug "There's quite a few of us. We're doing fine looking after ourselves."
That didn't seem to put here at ease on the situation, but she nodded politely, "May I meet the rest of you dears?" she asked in a crisp accent.
"They're inside. Most of them. A few are busy, or tired. It took quite a bit to get back from another dimension." Eliza said, waving a hand towards the mansion.
Penelope walked over, wiping her eyes and looking rather exhausted and happy to see her family. "Hey guys- you think I can introduce Mom to everyone?"
"Don't see why not... I think Jeremy's still asleep though." Eliza said with a small shrug "And... careful of Waya, she's most likely a little grouchy because you cut her legs off."
The woman looked shocked and appauled, "YOU WHAT?!" she asked loudly at her daughter.
Penelope jumped back and waved her hands at her Mom, "H-hey! They grew back!"
"In her defense, it was planned as part of the escape." Strawberry said quickly in Penelope's honor, "She's got them back now."
"She's got them back? Okay... I would like to go inside now." Penelope's mother said, somewhat sternly.
"Sorry, didn't mean to." Eliza said to Penelope, a small blush on her cheeks from getting her in trouble. She nodded to Penelope's mother, turning and leading them back towards the front door. "May I ask your name for introductions? I'm Eliza." she said with a small nod to the woman.
"Of course dear, I'm sorry. My name is Isabelle Carrington." she said politely and despite being blind, she had no trouble following the girls back inside.
Some time laterJunior Came out, being dragged by Penelope. "Uh, the twins dad and Liz' mom were Dad's brother and sister. I'm cloned from their genetic material... Genocia thought they could make the perfect mutant... they got me."
"And are you perfect?" Penelope asked, glancing over her shoulder, sounding a little flirtatious. Nothing harmful though.
"No." Junior said, sounding very sure of himself.
Penelope smiled at him anyway. As they approached, the Jeeves and some movers approached. She asked where her things had been packed from her beside table. After being directed, she walked onto the plane with Junior. Pen had let go of his wrist now and opened up a box. It didn't take long for her to find it. "Here it is." she declared and straightened out the bent corner before handing him the photo. "I'm not sure where my complexion came from...but at least I have his eyes."
Junior took the photo and frowned. "Very funny." He said, trying to hand it back.
Penelope seemed upset and offended, "W-what? What's funny about him?" she asked in defense.
"This is your mom's..." Junior said, handing her back the frame. He didn't know why a blind woman would have a photo any way.
"No, it's mine." Pen said. "When I was a kid, I asked why I didn't have a Dad like everyone else and she told me what happened... and gave me this picture. You don't have to be an ass, Junior."
"I'm not." Junior said. Tapping the picture with his finger he said, "This is my father."
"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?"
Penelope asked, a hand on her hip.
"This..." Junior said, "Is the man who raised me. Wiliam Relman. He's not my biological father, but he raised me. The same man we just got done talking about being in love with your m..." He stopped suddenly. "In... in love with your mother..." He suddenly sat back in the snow, looking at the picture of his father smiling.
Her black eyes shot wide. "W-what... I-I'm...he... oh my god..." Her hands started trembling, though she didn't know why. Then came her knees and she looked like she may faint.
Junior was covering his mouth, almost shaking. "How sure are you that your mother was telling the truth?" He asked. He looked dazed and sounded shocked.
"Why would I have questioned anything... I...." Penelope was so flooded with emotion that she began to cry, falling to her knees, "He... he was alive all this time... and here!?" All these years... and her father was a plane trip away? She could have had a happy relationship with him and instead... her mother kept her from this secret...why?! It didn't make sense.
Junior could see her going onto meltdown. "Ok, ok calm down..." He said, going to her. His legs weren't really built for standing on his knees but he tried and did what he thought she needed. He hugged her. "Calm down... easy, just breath..." He had a sister... well, a sister/niece... something. Sister, he decided on sister. "It's ok... breath..."
That thought hadn't even occurred to her yet. "No." Pen said firmly. "I will NOT calm down." she pulled away from Junior, "This is BULLSHIT! What was my Mum thinking?! No no no...we're comforting this right now."
"You want to go tear your mom a new one, that's fine by me." Junior told her. "But... fuck, Penelope... Do you realize this means I'm basically your brother?"
"Really...?" Penelope asked. Going with Junior being William's son... and Will was her father, yes, they were siblings. "....Holy shit."
Junior smiled at her realization, not really sure why he it made him happy. Perhaps because he'd grown up the freak of freaks and despite her not being a clone, he had family again. Real family. "Come on." He said, wanting to get off his knees before he got a cramp. "It's cold and we didn't bring coats."
"Oh my god... this changes everything." Penelope said, running a hand through her white hair. "I wonder if it's why our skin colors are similar...c'mere you." she said and wrapped her arms around him. "Wait- whose older?"
"I don't know." He said. "I just turned eighteen a couple months ago. I'm the youngest other than Waya, but I... I was developmentally older when Dad brought me home."
"No way! Me too. What month?" Pen asked. "November 1st."
"Considering I was grown and not born, we always just celebrated the day Dad brought me home." Junior said. "September 17th... Which means... Dad and Isabelle got together around March of that year... As far as I knew she wasn't even here at the time... It sounds like a one night stand to me..."
"Maybe that's why my Mom wasn't honest about it... well... not completely honest." Pen wondered aloud.
"Look, it's cold out here and I don't exactly do shoes." It was hard to wear shoes when you had paws. Junior took her hand, intending to draw he back to the school. "Come on, before I freeze my tail off."
Penelope nodded and followed, bringing the photo under her arm with her. "This is nuts." she added and brushed off her bum from the snow.
"You're telling me..." Junior said. Now that she was coming he let go of her hand.
"There's no way I can go back to England now... I need to get to know my baby brother!" Pen said excitedly.
Junior blushed, his cheeks fading white. "I'm older." He told her. "By two months almost."
"Ah right. September." Penelope said, but she didn't care.
Junior opened the door for her to the school entrance hall
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