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The Long Way Home - Kelly's Version Pt I

Gambit was asleep. Gambit is always asleep in the daytime, Jean thought. She bundled a bag into the back of the Mercedes S600 and slammed the door.
"I was awake" came Gambit's voice from the passenger seat, stifling a yawn as he spoke.
Jean gracefully slipped into the driving seat of the car and gently turning the key began to gently rev the engine as a precursor to the long drive ahead of them.
"You really wanted to find them didn't you?" Gambit asked.
"I did". Reserved, Jean looked through the missile proof glass at the heavy clouds and the heavy atmosphere of Austin.
"Looks like rain Miss." Gambit offered.
"Yes. We don't have much time."
As the car seemed to drive itself through the strets awash with messages of redemption, church after church Jean never took her eyes off the sidewalks, search and hoping that something or someone might appear.
"Down there, Miss," urged Gambit "allez Mademoiselle! Allez!"
"Yes, Gambit, I feel it too." Jean's voice had an edge of excitement. "Where are you?" She offered mostly to the GPRS map currently pinpointing the exact location of whatever was lost, in her head.
"Arret!" Announced Gambit and Jean responded with a determined pump of the brakes.
***
She licked her lips as though they were sugared, making the obligatory mmmm sounds as she finished chewing. She looked happy, as happy as someone who had been living alone on the streets for a couple of years could look.
Jasmin Carofolo, look at you now! The prom queen and most popular of class of '03 was looking less like a supermodel. Her once stockinged legs were scratched and scarred with the bitterness of being thrown out of Austin's finest eateries. Her hors d'oevres that were once creme de riz a la Polonaise were now discarded tins of cream corn hanging on for dear shelf life.
She caught a glimpse of herself through the tainted and part rusting reflection of a sheet metal offcut. She didn't like what she saw. Her once long auburn locks were nothing more than rats tails. Much like the rats tail that she held in her hand. Jasmin Carofolo had just dined on a rat as the Mercedes S600 pulled into the alley hideout gently and without threat.
The engine went dead first, then a pause, then a door opened. Jean emerged from the car much like she'd entered it: with grace and the slightest hint of cat-like zen. "Jasmin." She spoke quietly so as not to upset the stranger.
"Don't move one step closer Dr. Grey." Said Jasmin.
The passenger door opened and Gambit climbed out. "Need some secour, bonne Doctor?"
"Don't move Gambit."
"Uh?" He froze with anticipation more than fear.
Jean whispered, "she's been waiting for us. She knows who we are."
"Your cerebral cortex might be just to my taste Dr Grey." Jasmin chuckled only slightly that you could hear the bitterness of her voice.
"Qu'est-ce que c'est?" Asked Gambit, still unsure of what was going on.
"She assimilates."
"Ass-what-now?" Gambit wasn't the sharpest tool in the tin when it came to English words of made up of more than five letters. Gambit would never win Scrabble.
"Assimilates, she becomes whatever you are. So let's imagine that Scott was here-"
"She would shoot them stupid ass lasers outta her?"
"Optic lasers, yes, Gambit, that's it. Though as it is just you and I, it's-"
"Moving stuff and groundbreaking?"
Jean nodded as the girl rose to her feet. "Dilettante. Is that your-"
"Mutant name?" She turned to Jean, almost agressively. "Yes, though I haven't used it in a while."
"Wow chere, you ain't done a deal in a while; lookin' at yo' visage right there."
"He said-"
"It's okay, I assimilate language and mutation" she began in Cajun, "Madam, mah mind ain't as rat-infested as this here rue, connaitre?" She paused, taking in the intense situation that could end in a murder or even a spree.
"Jasmin, are you okay?"
Pointing to each mutant in turn, in an eenie-meenie-minee-mo style, she assessed and asserted her position and authority in the standoff.
"Will you win chere?" Asked Gambit.
"Gambit, no, please!" Urged Jean as she did before. Her hands leveled at her temples, concentrating hard, staring at Jasmin before orderin Gambit "GET IN THE CAR!"
The girl, a mere child really looked at Gambit with a new purpose as he raced to the car.
"Whoa!" As Jasmin looked at him, he began to levitate, just atouch, only enough for him to know and feel and for Jean to lose control of him. "I'm coming with you, Dr Grey."
"Jasmin, please, not like this."
"Until you say yes, Dr Grey, The Cajun stays."
"Waaaaey! Quite a feisty one Jean, huh? 'Reminds me of my Anna-Marie."
The impasse held, for as long as it could.
"There are no mutants here are there Jasmin."
"No." She shook her head, her hair followed the shake dreadlock by blonde dreadlock.
Floating at six feet above the ground, Gambit fell, with a thud!
"Do you want to talk about it Jasmin? It might help"
"Haven't I said enough?"
***

1 Comments


Well more. i want to read more get on with it.

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