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It's another hot but otherwise bucolic day in upstate New York. The skies are blue and scudded with bright clouds; the sun is shining down from nearly directly above. Then, Sam Guthrie arrives.
For once, though, the southerner isn't disturbing the peaceful scenery. He's just walking along the roadway toward Xavier's school, wearing a five-day start on a beard and the same clothes he was had on the day Jean blasted his brain at several thousand feet: tee shirt, jeans, bomber jacket. For a hobo, he's relatively clean and good-smelling, at least. Any Guthrie worthy of the name knows how to live in the woods, and there are plenty of cool streams and lakes in the vicinity where an enterprising young man can catch fish while he waits for his clothes to dry out.
*
Jubilee is arriving back to the grounds herself. She has her trenchcoat but it isn't on. Instead, it's wrapped around a thing roughly the size of a breadbox. Wrapped up tight, and held at arm's length from her. Getting this thing back home was harder than it seemed. Apparently it's not easy to travel carrying a robotic monster.
*
The young redheaded woman who calls herself Scarlett for lack of any proper name crosses the grounds of the mansion carrying a box, filled by various bric-a-brac under a colourful blanket patterned with a decidedly ethnic pattern. Celtic, maybe, given the twisting black print visible against the striated green background. It could weigh a thousand pounds and she really wouldn't see much difference to her posture. Her elbow length gloves are a sea of buckles climbing up to her elbows, and she wordlessly carries on past the other students without making eye contact the moment, a purpose driving her past the pond.
*
As Sam comes around the corner and spots Jubilee, his eyebrows creep together and upward. "Jubi?" he calls out in his characteristic drawl. "Is that… did you catch a rabbit, or somethin'?" Even as the question leaves his lips, he knows it's a silly one: the young girl doesn't exactly seem the type to go chasing varmints around the grounds. He picks up his pace to a jog, hoping to join her before she reaches the front gate. Scarlett, he hasn't spotted yet.
*
Rogue has left.
*
Jubilee gestures for Sam to come on, as best she can carrying the thing. "I caught something. I don't know what it is, that's why I've brought it here. Don't touch. These um, these robot scorpions were attacking a civil rights protest in the city. I caught one that was trying to bite me, and I'm bringing it back for analysis."
*
"Robot… scorpions," Sam echoes, the addition of some unkempt scruff making him look even more bewildered than he can normally manage. He hovers just outside Jubilee's reach, peering at the wriggling bag with bright blue eyes and lifting his hands, then hesitating. "D'you need help with that, maybe?" he asks as they enter the school grounds.
*
Jubilee bobs her head, arms working to hold that thing. "I do need help," she smiles. "But uh, depends. Do you read weird languages? It has some writing on it but I have no idea what it is. It's no letters I recognize."
*
"Ah ain't much of a reader, no. Can't even translate most of what Ah say myself into English," Sam jokes with a hesitant grin. He keeps his hands just outside Jubilee's, ready to jump in and take a hold of the bag if she starts to slip or drop it. "Dang. Ah left for a few days and y'all got attacked by robot scorpions? This place ain't boring, that's for sure."
*
Jubilee snickers as she slowly makes her way to the building itself, looking at Sam. "So where have you even been? I've had plans that might involve you."
*
"Well… Ah had a bit of a… situation with Jean the other day," Sam admits, baring his teeth in a wince. "Really put my head in a spin. Felt like Ah needed some time out in the country to be by myself for a while. Ah always liked to go campin' when Ah needed to clear my head." He looks down at his grubby clothes, then laughs. "'Course, normally Ah do a lot more preparin' first. This trip was a bit of a surprise."
Suddenly remembering to keep his eyes on the struggling robot, he lifts his hands again. "What kinda plans are we talkin' about, here? More robot fightin'?" A lopsided smile crosses his face. "Ah bet Ah'd be good at robot fightin'."
*
Jubilee blinks. "With Jean? I thought you only had problems with Orientals and Negroes, Sam." she winks, snickering. "Sorry. I coudln't resist. But yeah. Uh. My plans involve those kids at the park. Kurt says that incident didn't ruin their day, but I feel like a fireworks show would be nice for them."
*
"It ain't that kind of problem!" Sam protests weakly. "We were gettin' along fine, Ah didn't do anythin'. It's just, somethin' startled her and she… well, she did somethin' with her powers. It weren't pretty." Consciously keeping his gaze on the wriggling trenchcoat, he can't hide his expression of anxiety. "Truth be told, Ah don't know what to think about the whole thing. Maybe Ah should focus on fun stuff like fireworks. What were you thinkin' I could do to help?"
He pauses, about to kick open the front door, and then narrows his eyes. "We sure we want to take this thing inside the school? If it gets free, it could make a real mess of things."
*
Jubilee shakes her head, still being very careful about the thing. Once they're inside, she calls out "Stay back, dnagerous robot, don't bump into me." Then she shrugs to Sam "It's not that terrible. When it bit me I blasted it a few times, knocked some of its legs off. It's crippled, and I wrapped it in my coat a few times, so it really would have a hard time moving unless I dropped it and unwrapped it." Still walking carefully though. "But what I could use your help with is promoting the eventto the neighborhood kids. Making signs and things to invite them back to the park."
*
"You took out a scorpion robot all by yourself?" Sam says, grinning with approval. "Sounds like a bad situation, but I guess you handled yourself OK."
Given that a homeless person and a go-go dancer just crowded through the front door, the students would probably be smart enough to give them a wide berth even if they didn't know them well enough to take the warning seriously. Their path isn't impeded; Sam starts to lead the way toward the elevator and the sub-basement. "Maybe we can stash this thing in the Danger Room?" he suggests. "Ain't much of an artist, but Ah'd be happy to help you out with the signs, Ah suppose."
*
Jubilee snickers. "You make it sounds so impressive. I was on a building, trying to send a message to the crowd to spread out before people got hurt in a panic. I don't think it worked. But while I was trying, this thing BIT me." And she really emphasizes the word BIT. "So I jumped back and just started blasting, since while it bit me I Was already making good sized pops in the sky. So he got three big fireworks in his face, and it blew his legs off. Danger room seems like a good idea, if we warn people somehow. At least until we find someone who can read what's on it. Maybe Darwin."
*
"Now who, Ah wanna ask, would put teeth on a robot?" Sam asks, sounding resentful — as though he'd like to give this roboticist's credentials a thorough check. He punches in the code for the subbasement and the lift starts to move. "Don't seem like the best idea Ah ever heard, and it ain't like Ah'm some sort of highfalutin' engineer or nothin'. But you don't even know where the robots came from?"
*
Jubilee takes a deep breath. "Considering that these things attacked a protest for mutants and other oppressed people, that's a very good question. I hope someone can figure it out after I went to all the trouble to capture this thing."
*
"Aw, don't worry," Sam says as the doors slide open onto the reinforced subbasement corridor. "The school's full of smart folks. They'll figure out what those words mean, for sure. And heck — maybe the whole thing was just an accident. Sometimes machines don't work right." He backs out ahead of Jubilee, keeping an eye out for anyone who might collide with them, and then a few seconds later has turned to get the Danger Room open and wave her inside. He's half scared, half excited to see what the robot looks like unwrapped.
*
Jubilee wans't necessarily planning to unwrap it though. She gets into the danger room, letting Sam lead the way. Walking to the middle of the room, she carefully squats down, and lowers the bundled thing. "This jacket is so ruined." she laughs, while setting it down carefully so the creatures can't unwrap itself, or crawl around at all. "I'm sure someone will, yeah."
*
Doing his best not to show his disappointment, Sam holds the door open so that Jubilee can scamper back into the observation room, if she so chooses. "It was smart of you to catch it, anyway. Now at least we've got somethin' to go on," he says with a smile. "So, who all was there? Was anybody hurt?"
*
Jubilee does make sure the thing isn't going to move, before heading into the observation room with Sam. She takes a seat, and sighs heavily, her arms sagging as she finally gets a rest. "Oh it's good to put that thing down. I've been carrying it for a longtrip," she whines. "I didn't see specific people. IT was a huge protest and I was on a roof over it."
*
"Well, Ah could've taken it for you!" Sam says, letting the heavy door slam shut and going to the window to stare out at the little parcel of mechanical death. Yeah, he's probably hoping that the robot will suddenly stab through it with knife arms and go crazy, scratching at the insides of the reinforced walls. He's a teenage boy. "Y'should've said somethin'. Ah would've been happy to take over. It's the gentlemanly thing to do."
*
Jubilee laughs weakly, slumping back, getting comfortable in her observation seat. "Oh thank you but I'm talking about getting it her from the city. That was a bigger thing than getting it into the Danger Room from outside."
*
"Well Ah wasn't there, then," Sam says with a slight frown. "Maybe Ah should have been." The teenager is starting to have some second thoughts about his choice to take some time off and clear his head. He had thought they could take care of themselves while he went on walkabout — or that the teachers and staff could take care of them. Instead, it's becoming obvious that his friends needed him back at the school, and he wasn't there. "Ah'm sorry about that," he says, slumping into a seat next to Jubilee and watching the little yellow object sitting in the next room.
*
Jubilee kicks back further and grunts, putting up her feet someplace she probably shoudln't put up her feet. This lets her lean her head and look. "I hope it didn't damage my boots though, but I noticed it pretty fast. Those metal claws are real." She then hums. "Don't know if you being there would have helped. That protest was looking ready to explode. We needed more peace there, not more war."
*
"Wha— Ah'm peaceable!" Sam protests, leaning forward over his knees with slack-jawed indignance on his face. "Ah mean, it's not like Ah go around startin' fights with… well…" The southerner makes a face. "Well, Ah mean, it can't be helped if some folks misunderstand me. But Ah get along just fine with most everyone in the school, right? There ain't anyone who — oh, wait, Ah guess." Sam's jaw is shut now, working back and forth as he tries to think of a believable way to frame himself as a diplomat. "Ah'm peaceable," he finally repeats more weakly, crossing his arms and flopping back into the chair.
*
Jubilee busts up snickering. "Sam. I don't think you mean badly, but you probably would have said something that wouldn't have helped. It was sticky and miserable on that street. Wasn't much better on the roof."