pphillips914Some of the students at Professor Xavier s school have learned too well from their teachers . So when a problem pops up , they decide to solve it . Title : It was just after three in the morning and the school was dead silent . I glanced around my room , double - checking everything . I had my jacket , backpack , and wallet . The backpack was loaded with everything that I would need for a couple of days on my own . The letter for Miss Munroe was on my desk . In it , I tried to explain why I was leaving - - without giving away too many details . Sometimes , things just don 't make sense . I was kicking , screaming , bitching , and whining all at once when Mr . Logan and Miss Munroe dragged me from Boston and threw me into the school . And now that I had to leave , I felt terrible . I carefully pulled on my jacket , hefted the pack over my shoulder , and quietly left the room . Neither of my roomies woke . I 've gotten pretty good at moving quietly over the last couple of years . Much to my surprise , Mike was waiting for me in the hallway . He was the only person I 'd told what I was going to do . He was dressed and was also carrying a backpack . I gave Mike a long , hard look . He 's a year younger than me - - he just turned fifteen last week . Some folks think he 's mentally retarded , but he isn 't . And he can be stubborn as all hell when he wants to be . Like I said , Mike can be stubborn . I shook my head disgustedly . But , truth to tell , it would be good to have someone with me . And having Mike along might come in handy . I put my arm around my best friend 's shoulder . The nature of the light around us shifted . Invisible , we walked out of the school together . Jim and I hiked to town , neither of us saying much to one another . It was a beautiful night . Cold as all heck , but a beautiful night . The school is far enough from any big town that there 's not much in the way of city lights to hide the stars . " Her name is Donna . She comes from the same neighborhood I grew up in . She and my sister have been friends ever since grade school . She worked at the . . . same place that my sister used to work . " " As near as we can tell , about a week , " replied Jim . " Donna 's folks are really worried . And it 's not like her to just take off . That 's why my sister hit the panic button and asked me for help . " Ororo can be very proper when it comes to formalities . For example , she never enters my office without knocking . And in front of the students , she never addresses me as anything other than " Professor Xavier " . At the moment , I was in a hotel room in Washington D . C . The next two days would be spent attending a series of meetings with various government officials . I was hoping to calm a few nerves concerning the " mutant crisis " . So when Ororo broke her self - imposed rule that she never called me when I was on an important trip , I knew that she was deeply upset . " Ororo , please calm down , " I interrupted quietly . I hate being rude , but Ororo is fiercely defensive concerning the students . I couldn 't have her acting without thinking . " They 've both come so far in just the last year , Charles , " she said worriedly . " I . . . don 't want to lose them . Especially Michael . He was talking about attending college . About becoming a teacher . " Unspoken was the fact that I simply couldn 't leave Washington . It had taken months to set up this series of meetings . So I wouldn 't be able to return to the school and use Cerebro to track down James and Michael . We would have to find those two via other methods . Jean gave me a long look that put me on notice the I owed her an explanation . Yeah , as if I would ever be able to deny her anything . Then she nodded and looked at Marie , " Marie , you 'll have a make - up assignment sent to your room . " Marie grabbed her books and bailed out of the room . The classroom was buzzing with a lot of " what 's up ? " chatter as the door shut behind her . Inside , I could hear Jean trying to get everyone 's attention . Mr . Logan looked serious and Marie looked pissed . I was racking my brains . I 'd talked to Jim just last night and both Mr . Logan and Marie were hoping that I knew something useful . From what I hear , Marie and Mr . Logan work real well together . And I know that what they do is important . But I have to admit that it bothers me to see them together like that . It 's tough enough competing with Mr . Logan as is , but when they go on a mission , it 's like Marie completely changes and I stop existing as her sort - of boyfriend . Mr . Logan shrugged , " Yeah . Last I heard , she was going back to school . The plan was to get a degree so she could stop making a living by taking her clothes off in public . " " Look , kid , forget it , " I said . " There 's no way that you 're coming along with us . First , you 're a student , not an X - Man . And second , the Professor called the mission and he picked me and Marie . " off look and stomped away . That works every time with Jubes . It took me a while , but I 'm getting fairly good at playing with the kids ' heads when I have to . It feels better to get what I want that way instead of by threatening them . Not , mind you , that the occasional hint of possible bloodshed doesn 't have it 's place . Marie shook her head , " It 's not a boyfriend - girlfriend sort of thing . It 's more like brother - sister . Jubes doesn 't make friends easy . But she hangs onto the ones that she 's got really tight . " " The thing I don 't get about this is Mike , " said Marie with a sigh . " Jim tends to substitute testosterone for brain cells , but Mike isn 't like that . I just can 't see him running away . " " I 've been thinking about that , " I said with a nod . " According to that letter Jim left for ' Ro , somebody Jim knows is in trouble . Enough trouble that Jim thought he had to run away from school to solve it . And as for Mike . . . well , the last time Mike sat back and let the experts handle things , we ended up having to tell him that his brother was dead . I figure that he went with Jim because he figured that this was something that he didn 't dare let Jim handle alone . " " She used to babysit for me every now and then . And like I said , she and my sister are real tight . She 's real pretty . Nice , too . " " So , you like her , huh ? " I asked . He shifted uncomfortably , " Yeah . Well , maybe I had a crush on her once . Pretty dumb , I guess . She 's six years older than me . " Jubes walked into our room without a word , threw a jacket on , stuffed some money into her pants pocket , and headed for the door . She wasn 't saying anything - - which is a bad sign for a motor - mouth like her . And her body language could best be summarized as , " The Entire Universe Can Kiss My Ass " . " No way , " I said , shaking my head . Now I was getting worried , too . I 've tutored Mike almost since the day he got here and I think it 's fair to say that I know him pretty well . He gives people the impression that he 's not too bright , but he 's got a lot of common sense and he knows right from wrong . Interestingly , those were two characteristics that Jim sometimes lacked . Actually , it sort of made sense that Mike and Jim were friends . They filled gaps in each other 's character . But no matter what people may think , Mike wasn 't dumb and definitely didn 't let Jim - - or anyone else - - do his thinking for him . Jubes ground to a halt . I 've never asked what happened between her and Mike . I figured that it wasn 't any of my business . But the result was pretty clear : they were very close friends . " You 're going to get in trouble if you go after them , " I said . Yes , that was obvious . But I felt that it had to be said . Jubes has never been big on rules . Sometimes she forgets that they exist . Jubes opened her mouth to object - - and then hesitated . Reaching for my own jacket , I realized that I knew why Mike had gone with Jim . It was the same reason I was going with Jubes . I wasn 't going to let her get into trouble on her own . So I sat back and watched Marie talk with the guys at the ticket counter . Long ago , she and I had figured out that a lot of people will bust their asses to help her in a way that they won 't for someone like me . Marie was getting pretty good at using that to our advantage when we were on a mission . I nodded . We had figured as much after talking to Bobby . But this confirmed it . And now we knew where to start tracking them when we got to Boston . When I 'm intangible , I don 't have any scent . So Mr . Logan couldn 't notice me that way . Otherwise , I disguised myself by bundling up in a bunch of old clothes that Marie had never seen . A big scarf kept most of my face covered . The weather was cold enough that I didn 't look out of place . I was careful to keep out of everyone 's way . It wouldn 't do to have someone accidentally walk right through me . Meanwhile , I watched Mr . Logan and Marie . I managed to eavesdrop on Marie 's conversation with the guys at the ticket counter . Once Marie finished talking to them , she and Mr . Logan got into one of the school cars and drove off . They definitely got out at the Boston train station . Logan caught their scent and followed it out to a bus stop . I dug out the pictures of Mike and Jim and began asking questions . It took about twenty minutes , but I finally found a security guard who remembered seeing them . By cross - referencing the time they got onto the bus with the bus schedule , we managed to figure out that they were headed uptown . It was snowing by the time we got to Boston . The only lead that made sense was Jim 's family , but as you might guess , there are a zillion and one Flanagans in the Boston phone book . A quick cell - A cab ride got me and Kitty out to where Jim 's mom and sister lived . The house was in a part of town that had seen better days . I 'd seen Jim 's mom and sister more than once . They regularly come to visit Jim at the school . But I 'd never talked to either of them . I don 't mix much with the other kids ' parents . " Jubilation Lee . And Kitty Pryde , " she finished for me in a thoughtful tone . She carefully looked me and Kitty over from top to bottom . Yeah , she was worried about something . " Come inside , " she said , holding the door wide . We didn 't hesitate . Not only did we have to talk to her , but it was pretty damn cold outside . Within a minute , we were all in the kitchen . Without asking , Jenny poured us cups of coffee , which we immediately and gratefully took . There were a bunch of school books on the kitchen table . Statistics , as near as I could tell . We must have interrupted her in the middle of doing her homework . I found myself actually feeling a little bad about that . " So what 's up with Jim ? " I asked Jenny . Kitty gave me a look that could be translated as , " Oh , for Pete 's sake ! " Like a lot of real smart people , Kitty is sometimes too in love with subtlety . We killed most of the early afternoon walking around the neighborhood , getting a feel for it . Now we were in a convenience store just across the street from the bar that my sister used to dance in . The bar had just opened . Mike and I sat at a dirty table and chowed down on chili - dogs and potato chips , watching through the store window as the first few customers drifted into the bar . " So why does your sister figure that place has something to do with Donna disappearing ? " Mike asked me , keeping his voice low . The store clerk seemed to be keeping an eye on us . From his point of view , a couple of young guys out and about on a school day were probably trouble waiting to happen . " Other dancers have turned up missing over the years . That isn 't too unusual - - the girls tend to come and go . But when Donna disappeared , Jenny suddenly figured out that some of the girls that vanished looked a lot alike . Dark hair , eyes , and complexion . Slim build . All about the same age . " Mike nodded , saying nothing . I didn 't tell him that a pattern of missing women with a common appearance just about screamed " serial killer " . I didn 't want to upset him . When we got back out onto the sidewalk , I was invisible . Mike broke trail on the snow - covered sidewalk . I stayed about ten feet behind him , stepping into the footprints that he left in the snow . Someone watching close might have seen that something odd was going on - - there was a moving gap in the snowfall behind Mike and every now and then I didn 't nail a footprint exactly . But it wasn 't likely that anyone was looking for something like that . Mike walked past the front to the bar and I separated from him and got under the overhang that protected the entrance . Mike kept on walking . He would wait for me in a coffee shop on the next block . Naturally enough , as soon as I got into position , there was a pause in the customers going into the bar . I fidgeted and shivered for about ten minutes before someone showed up . Still invisible , I ducked through the doorway right behind him . It 's a pretty embarrassing story . My sister was working here for a while - - which was dumb on her part . But I got pissed about that and did something that was even dumber . I used my invisibility to become the best snatch - and - grab artist Boston 's ever seen . The idea was that I 'd make so much money that Jenny wouldn 't have to dance for a living . I used to sneak into the bar regularly to drop money into her clothes bag . All I can say is that it made sense at the time . Want to know why I don 't like it when people make fun of Mike and call him dumb ? It 's because I know he 'd never be stupid enough to do something like what I did . There were three stages in the bar , but it was the slow part of the day and only one had a dancer on it - - a girl that I remembered from back when Jenny worked there . She was dancing to some canned rock and roll . Looking her over , I couldn 't help but notice that she 'd put on a little weight . It had been a year since I 'd last been in that place . And the more I saw of the bar , the more I found myself thinking that something was different - - and that the difference wasn 't an improvement . The place seemed run down . The music was dull . The laughter was forced . The girls looked tired and bored . The customers seemed to be uninterested . I shrugged that off . There were more important things to worry about . I worked my way towards the back of the bar . The manager who ran this place had been working here for three years . According to Jenny , the first girl vanished just after he started here . Jenny tried to get the police interested in him after Donna vanished and Jenny started seeing a scary pattern . His office was way in the back of the bar , isolated from everything else . I tested the door . It was unlocked . After carefully checking to make sure that no - one was looking , I cracked open the door and hurriedly snuck inside , quickly shutting the door after me . One of the desk drawers was half - open . I had barely managed to drop the papers I was holding back into the drawer and step back against a wall before the door finished opening . I didn 't have time to actually close the drawer . I froze . I was still invisible , but this was an enclosed space . Just about any movement on my part would be detected by senses so subtle that most people don 't even realize that they have them . Chris walked into office , absent - mindedly flipping through the paperwork he had been working on out in the bar . He was a big , burly guy who 'd once been covered with muscle . But now there was more gray than black in his hair and the muscle was running to fat . The story I 'd heard from Jenny was that he was once in a biker gang . After doing some time for meth trafficking , he got out of the biker scene . But even though Chris was no longer in his prime , he was still someone I definitely wouldn 't like to tangle with . He must have outweighed me by a hundred and fifty pounds . " Bill , it 's Chris here . I got your message . Let 's make it midnight at the " Far Isle " instead . I 've gotta lota stuff to take care of here . " I slumped against the wall in relief . I couldn 't be positive . But it sure looked like the meeting planned for tonight was something to work with . So far , I didn 't have anything else . " Uh , Jim , that seems kinda . . . I don 't know , non - specific ? For all we know , the ' old man ' bought a car from this Chris guy . " Jim shrugged , " Yeah . But it just doesn 't sound like it 's something legit . And we don 't have anything else to work with right now . " Looking out the window , Marie gave the strip - joint a long , disapproving look . Then she turned and gave me a long , disapproving look . Apparently I was now standing in for the entire male half of the population . " Dunno , " I shrugged . " But a couple of things fit . Jim and Mike are in town because of Jenny . Jenny used to work here . And I definitely caught their scent near the building . They 've been here . " I don 't know much about bars . But the " Far Isle " sure looked like a dump . And from what I could see through the big window in front , the people inside fit the bar . Invisible again , I snuck into the bar . I found myself an isolated corner where I could get an eye on the door . Through the big glass window in front of the bar , I could see Mike hanging around outside . He only occasionally glanced inside the bar . A middle - aged guy wearing biker leathers ambled over to the table . He slapped Chris on the shoulder and then sat down . I drifted over so I could overhear the conversation . The leather guy seemed surprised , but shrugged it off , " Your business . The old man told me he likes the product that you 're providing . It looks like little Donna has a new home . He 'll be picking her up in a couple of days . " Chris shook his head disgustedly , " Hey , business is business . I 'm not doing this because I like the guy . And speaking of business , do you know anyone else who 's interested in doing a deal ? " Leather guy nodded , " As a matter of fact , yeah . What 've you got in the way of Chinese ? We 're talking fifty k in it for you if you can find one the client likes . " " No Chinese , " said Chris thoughtfully . " But there 's a girl who 's half - Korean and half - Japanese who dances every week or so at the bar . Maybe that 's close enough ? " I got so involved in what those two assholes were saying that I forgot to pay attention to anything else . Right then a guy that I hadn 't seen coming walked right into me . He wasn 't moving too fast , but he was a hell of a lot bigger than me . I was knocked square onto my ass . In all of the surprise , I lost control of my power and turned visible . " Hey , kid ! Get out of here ! " yelled the bartender at me . He hadn 't seen the ruckus that was starting near the front of his bar . Instead , he was worried about an underage kid . Chris was on his feet and had a hold of Jim by the arm . The biker was also standing . The guy who 'd knocked Jim down was backing away from the scene , his eyes wide and scared . While everyone was distracted , Jim tried to wiggle away . He almost made it . But Chris reacted pretty quick and punched Jim hard with his free hand . Jim grunted and collapsed to his knees . " Dammit , they came this way , " growled Logan with quiet certainty . " But the snow 's covering most of their scent . I can 't get a solid trail . " The snow had stopped coming down , but there was an inch or two on the ground . It wasn 't much , but it was enough to be a problem . We 'd been over this neighborhood a dozen times . I looked down the crowded street . This part of Boston was full of bars , clubs , and other nightspots . It was a Friday night , so the snow - covered sidewalk was crowded and the street was full of cars . Suddenly , a large , leather - clad man smashed through the plate glass window fronting a nearby bar and landed on the snow - covered sidewalk in a shower of shattered glass . Everyone on the sidewalk instantly cleared out of the man 's way as he staggered to his feet . Howling curses and bleeding , he began pulling a pistol from his jacket . There was a flood of people pouring out of the bar . Logan broke a path for us through them and we walked inside . I noticed the name of the bar . It was the " Far Isle " . Inside , the place was a wreck . Mike had been the wrecking crew . Mike and Jim where the only people standing on their own two feet . A fat guy was lying unconscious on the floor between them . The splintered remains of a table and some chairs were scattered all over . The fat guy looked like he 'd been hit by a truck . Mike had a cut on his cheek . Both boys saw us coming as we walked in . And for a brief moment I could see something new in their eyes that I 'd never seen before . Something wild and dangerous and not inclined to take any shit off of anyone . Then it was gone and I was looking at two kids again . Both trying to do what they thought was the right thing , and knowing deep down inside that they were probably screwing up . I 'd always known that those two were both gonna be damn good men someday . We just had to make sure we pointed them in the right direction . That wasn 't good enough for Marie . Her cold anger suddenly went hot . She had fire in her eyes as she stalked towards Jim and Mike . Both boys knew Marie pretty well , which meant that they both suddenly looked even more nervous . " ' Don 't run away ! ' You told us , ' Don 't run away ! ' If we ever even thought about it , we were supposed to talk to you first ! " Marie looked up at Mike . " Michael . . . " she growled and then took a determined step towards him . Mike gulped and looked around for a place to hide . Marie stopped . She was breathing hard and still angry . But she had always found it hard to be mad at Mike . She figured that Jim needed more than a little abuse in order to keep him in line . But Mike was different . Thanks to that first kick Marie gave me , I 'd probably never get a hard - on again . Walking to the car had been a nightmare - - Mike actually had to help me . So what does Marie do once we got back into their car ? She dug out a first - aid kit and began cleaning that itsy - bitsy cut on Mike 's face while asking him over and over if he 's all right . " . . . so that 's it , " I finished through clenched teeth , trying to ignore the pain . " They kidnapped Donna and some guy bought her . The biker - guy who 's now underneath the jukebox was the go - between - - he contacted the customers and told Chris what kind of girls to get . " Logan nodded thoughtfully , " You know , that 's not a bad set - up . A lot of dancers are just passing through . So if they vanish , it 's not too surprising , and everyone just assumes that they 've found another job in some other town - - especially if the manager of the bar their working at can provide some general cover story . Chris screwed up by grabbing a local girl . " Marie was leaning over the front seat in order to fit a bandage onto Mike 's cheek . Finished , she tilted Mike 's head forward and gave him a quick kiss on the top of his head . Mike sat back with this sappy smile on his face . Dear God , I thought , life is not fair . time pull with Logan . If she thought we had to do something , then Logan would probably go for it . Which meant that Donna was half - way home already . OK , I was embarrassed . I shouldn 't have lost my temper . I shouldn 't have kicked the snot out of Jim . Not that I was EVER going to apologize to him , the hard - headed little toad . The important thing was that Mike and Jim seemed to be OK . Mike just had that cut and Jim . . . Uh , well , I guess I was the cause of the only injuries Jim had suffered . I tried to watch what was going on with Logan and Chris via the passenger - side mirror . Logan dragged Chris out of the trunk and deeper into the alleyway in which we had the car parked . I couldn 't see very clearly because of the darkness , but they seemed to be talking . At one point , there was a loud scream that made all of us jump . Then more conversation . Something landed in my lap . It was a small package that Logan had tossed there . I opened it up . It had money in it . Lots of money . We 're talking thousands of dollars . Logan started the car , " If he 's smart , Chris will be visiting the nearest emergency room . After that , he 's the cop 's problem . Right now , we 're going to go get your friend Donna out of trouble . " " Yeah , we found ' em . Hey ! Guess what ! Marie and I have been doing ' good - cop / bad - cop ' with them and I 'm the good cop ! " Mr . Logan stopped the car a couple of blocks away the building Chris had told him about . It looked like we were in a warehouse district . But a lot of the older buildings were being replaced with new offices . We could see the building clearly because it was pretty isolated . A lot of the buildings that once surrounded it had been torn down . It was two stories tall and looked like just another one of those modern glass - and - steel boxes . The streetlights around here were spotty , but there were a lot of lights near the building . " There 's enough . I 'm gonna take a look . You keep an eye out for anyone coming or going from the building , " said Mr . Logan . Marie was scanning the area with a set of small binoculars . After a minute or so , she suddenly leaned forward . Then she dropped the binoculars and reached for her radio . She started clicking a button on the radio . Obviously , she was trying to get ahold of Mr . Logan . Jim looked at me and shrugged - - and then nodded towards Marie . It was a fair bet that Marie 's reaction to a question from Jim would be a suggestion that he shut up . But she would be more reasonable with me . Then the building we were concentrating on exploded . A flare of light blew out all of the windows on one side of the building . The light left everyone dazzled . I was moving slowly , depending mostly on the darkness to hide me . The ground around the building in which we thought Donna was being held was pretty open . But the cover was decent up until about a block away from that building . I figured that I would take my time , pick the best route , and then try to sneak into the building . The front of the building blasted open with an earth - shaking roar like the end of the world . Shattered glass flew everywhere . The light was pure white frosted with red . I was knocked flat and blinded . I could feel the sting of a dozen cuts - - some of them pretty ugly . Bleeding , ears ringing , unable to see , and working entirely by feel and memory , I scrambled under a nearby parked truck . There I frantically scrubbed at my eyes with a handful of snow , trying to clear them . My healing factor kicked in . Within seconds , I could see light and shapes . The ringing in my ears decreased to a manageable level . The cuts in my skin healed themselves . Finally , I got something to work with . I could hear a woman - - no , a girl - - sobbing somewhere down the block . Keeping low , I scrambled down the sidewalk , crunching through the mixture of snow and broken glass , heading for that sound . She was the one who blew out the front of the building . She 'd never done anything this big before . And it had knocked her for a loop . " She went inside to help someone get out of that building . She phoned me and told me that she 'd found a couple of prisoners . She also said that they 'd been spotted and a bunch of guys were chasing her . Then I saw her leave the building with two girls . I figured that I 'd give her a distraction . " There was no question about it - - that explosion was Jubes ' . I 've never seen her do anything that big before . But it was definitely all hers . I hadn 't been looking down the street when the fireworks kicked off . So the blast didn 't effect me as much as it did Jim and Marie . " I 'm checking it out , " I said to them . Both Jim and Marie were curled up with their hands over their eyes - - temporarily blinded by the light show . Marie half - waved her hand , which could have meant anything . I decided that it meant it was OK for me to go . Ditching Marie and Jim like that didn 't set very well with me , but I had to see if Jubes was OK . More and more , it seemed that doing grown - up stuff meant having to choose between two bad things . All of a sudden , growing up didn 't look so good . There were two other girls in alley with Kitty . They didn 't have any clothes on , but they were huddled together trying to share a coat . Kitty 's coat . We held one another in a tight hug . Kitty was scared , cold , and tired . She was glad to see me . But it wasn 't the type of glad that I 'd always hoped to someday find in her . I guess the thing that I should have figured out a long time ago finally hit me right then . I wasn 't ever going to replace Peter . By the time Marie and I caught up to Mike , he had found Kitty and two girls curled up in the mouth of an alleyway . Mike had taken off his jacket and wrapped it around one of the girls . Kitty had already given the other girl her coat . Both girls were barefoot and barelegged and shivering so hard that I was amazed they didn 't shake apart . I had the impression that they weren 't wearing much of anything underneath their borrowed jackets . I had no clue how Kitty had got to Boston , or how she had ended up in that alleyway , or why Donna and the other girl were with her . But right now wasn 't the time for questions . We had to find Logan and Jubes and get the hell out of there before the cops showed up . Kitty looked at me , " Up the street about two blocks . She was hiding behind a dumpster on the north side of the street . She was going to cover me if I ran into trouble getting Donna out of that building " We stayed out of sight as much as possible , keeping to the darker parts of the street . I tried not to get impatient as Marie took things slowly and carefully . Marie 's really smart about that sort of thing , and I trusted her . So it took awhile , but eventually we found Mr . Logan and Jubes . They were across the street from the wrecked building . He was sitting down on the ground with his back against a dumpster . Jubes was next to him . She was shaking and holding onto Mr . Logan while he stroked her hair . For a second , seeing how Jubes looked , it felt like something inside of me had been torn loose . Then Mr . Logan gave me a long look and handed Jubes over to me . To my relief , I could see that she wasn 't hurt . " Get her out of here , " he told me . I nodded and helped Jubes to her feet . She grabbed me and held on like I was the only thing keeping her from drowning . We started back to the car . Jubes was staggering , but I steadied her . She must have thrown everything she had into that big blast that wrecked the building . We had to move fast and get out before the cops , the firemen , and anyone else in this kidnapping gang showed up . I mostly just wanted to make sure that there wasn 't anyone else in the building who needed help . On the other hand , it wouldn 't bother me if we found something that gave us a better idea of what the hell was going on . There were three guys in a stairwell between the first and second floor . They were gunslingers , but they weren 't in any shape to put up a fight or answer any questions . All of them were burned , cut up , and broken . But as near as I could tell , they were going to end up in the hospital rather than the morgue . The four guys with guns came out of nowhere . One second I was helping Kitty , Donna , and the other girl into the car . The next there was the muzzle of a shotgun pointed at my face and my hands were in the air . " Uh , nobody , " I improvised . " I was driving by and I saw this explosion . I found these girls wandering down the street . They looked like they needed help . " Shotgun Guy shook his head , " Wrong answer , kid . Two of the girls in your car are valuable pieces of property . I want to know why you have them . " I pushed Jubes up against the wall and let her go . Still looking weak , she crouched down . The guys surrounding the car were looking all around themselves - - confused by Jim 's disappearance . We were safe for the moment . But I was getting tired . Real soon , I wouldn 't be able to keep myself or the other girls desolid . The guy with the shotgun began fumbling with the door to the car . I felt my stomach turn over . It would only be a matter of a few seconds until I would no longer be able to keep us all safe . The other three guys didn 't have a clue what was going on . Two were already beginning to edge away . But one of them was either braver or stupider than the others . He pointed a pistol in Mike 's direction . We were heading back to the car and the rest of the guys , when they drove up and met us half - way . Jim was driving . Mike was in the front passenger seat . Kitty , Jubes , and the two girls that Kitty had rescued were all in the back . I did some math in my head . Chris and the guy in the bar . Three guys in that building . Four more at the car . Logan and I exchanged a glance . There were a lot of people involved in this gang , it was getting bigger by the moment . We call that the " Logan Voice " . When he does that , it 's a good idea to cooperate . After a brief pause , Jubes spoke up . " We took off to find Mike and Jim . We . . . uh . . . followed them to Boston . We stopped to see Jim 's sister Jenny . She told us what she suspected . " She hesitated , and Kitty took over , " We went to the strip - club that Donna and Jenny worked at . Then we . . . " Kitty stopped and glanced at Jubes . " We took the chance to scope the place out . After we left , I snuck in through the back wall . I checked out the manager 's office . He had a laptop with a lot of interesting stuff in it . He had the files hidden , password protected , and encrypted - - but I managed to crack them . They told us just about everything . " " Do either of you have anywhere that you can hide out ? We 're going to have to put all the evidence together into a package that the Boston Police Department can deal with . Until then , you 're in trouble . You can 't just go home . " It was a hectic night . I spent most of it on the radio with the Professor and Ororo as we sorted out how to break this to the cops . Meanwhile , Mrs . Flanagan and Jenny made sure that everyone got a hot meal , clothes if they needed them , and a place to sleep . Old habits die hard . I found myself checking Donna out . She was definitely a cutey . Short , curly , black hair . Dark skin . Warm , brown eyes . Athletic grace to all her movements . And you didn 't have to talk to her for very long before you realized that she was a pretty sharp gal . We were in the kitchen . Donna looked over at the living room while she sipped her coffee . Mike and Jim were asleep on the living room floor . Kitty and Jubes were bunking with Jenny . The guest room was reserved for Donna and the other girl - - whose name I still hadn 't heard . Marie was alone on the living room couch , on the far side of the living room and well away from Mike and Jim . I know it has to be that way , but the sight of her alone like that bothered me . It always does . She bit her lip for a second and looked back at me , her hands restlessly turning her coffee cup around and around , " I didn 't say that right . I guess I expected something different from kids who could do what they can do . Which is sort of silly . After all , I 've known Jim for years . But when you get down to it , they 're all so damn . . . normal . " Donna continued , her voice a bit distant , " Jim and Mike are opposite ends of the teenage boy spectrum . Jim tries too hard - - he undresses me with his eyes every times he sees me and always has a smart - ass thing to say that he thinks is clever . Meanwhile , Mike can 't look me in the eye and stutters every time I try to talk to him . The girls . . . well , talking with them was like being back at a high school slumber party . Chatter , chatter , chatter about boys and music and boys and makeup and boys and clothes - - and then some more about boys . Jubes is your typical tomboy . Kitty is a brain . Marie . . . " Donna stopped , sipped from her coffee cup again , and then looked me straight in the eye for the first time , " Can the people at that school help Marie with her problem ? Her power ? Or whatever the hell you call the thing with her skin ? " Donna looked a bit embarrassed , " I talked with her . I explained a few things that she could do with a boy while they were both wearing clothes . Uhm , maybe I shouldn 't have done that . " " A kid at school . About Marie 's age . He 's been good to her . He 's also in big trouble if he ever treats her wrong , " I said with a smile . " You know , they shouldn 't have to put up with all this . Being mutants . Being different . Having to hide . It 's not fair , " she finally said .