Shedding Light on the Shadows ch 2

“I’m not going,” Kit snarled, eyeing the map still. “I wanna stay here.”

The argument broke out again, everyone trying to put their two cents in.

“Enough!” Race finally bellowed. “You will all listen to Benton and you won’t give us anymore hassle about this!”

Mutterings went swiftly around the room, people obviously displeased. Race’s nasty gaze quickly followed the voices, and soon they were silent.

“We’re going to leave with the agents,” Benton said softly, “And you’re going to stay here. When we’ve figured out what we’re going to do we’ll call you.” He turned and looked at Jonny, “You and Hadji start working on Questworld, see if you can use the technology Agent Dane gave you to find anything similar to the DNA she also gave us in the cats’ make-up.” He turned to the cats, eyeing each of them. “You three be good and help Jonny and Hadji, and obey Mrs. Evans. Jessie will go with us to visit her mother, and we’ll call you as soon as we get there. We’ll be back shortly.” Benton again eyed each child, then he and the other two travelers went to pack.

“Glad I don’t gotta go,” Kit muttered, heading out the back door.

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“Dana, are you ready to go?? We’re gonna be late for school!” Jonny called from the bottom of the stairs. He looked around, sighing impatiently. Jessie and their parents had left for Egypt two days ago, leaving Jonny, Hadji and the cats alone. Doc T called at night to make sure everything was okay, and Mrs. Evans was there in the afternoons, so they weren’t really alone, but getting Dana to leave in the morning was a lot harder without Race there to growl at her and rattle his car keys.

“DANA!”

She stepped out of the bathroom, sighing heavily.

“Have you eaten breakfast yet?” Hadji asked, handing her a bagel from the kitchen. She shook her head and pushed it away.

“I’m not really hungry, thanks.”

Jonny frowned. “But--”

“Feb’s here!” Kit called, bounding out of the basement and running on all fours to the door.

Jonny and Hadji exchanged glances, then they all headed out the door.

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Jessie put her head in her hands, holding her aching temples together so they didn’t fly apart, as she was sure they would do if her parents didn’t stop fighting.

“Guys!” she snapped, looking up, “I’m only going to be here until tomorrow. Could you at least *pretend* like you don’t hate each other until then?”

Race bent down to wrap his big arms around her, kissing her red hair. “I’m sorry Ponchita.”

“Me too,” her mother said, brushing Jessie’s hair out of her face. Both parents shot each other nasty looks over the girl’s head, and Jessie threw up her hands and stormed out of the tent. Outside agent Madrox and Benton stood, holding a map of the Egyptian desserts in front of them, trying to figure out where the best place for an underground lab would be. Benton said they’d probably taken over some long-forgotten or buried tomb, Madrox was just wondering where, and how big. Agent Sinclair--a new addition--stood a little way off, sniffing the wind. Her chin-length red hair blew slightly in the small breeze, and her tiny pug nose was pointed as she scented the air.

“Hey,” Jessie said to her, walking quietly up.

“Top o’ the mornin’ ta ye, lass,” the young woman said, smiling. “Havin’ trouble wi’ ye parents?”

Jessie laughed slightly and bent to run her fingers through the hot sand. “They like to fight. Neither one of them thinks the other takes good enough care of me, and they’re always fighting over it. They fight over me, over clothes, work, food, you name it, they fight.”

The agent nodded and crouched down next to Jess, green eyes searching out green eyes. “But at least ye ken they both love ye.”

A smile touched Jessie’s lips, but she didn’t quite meet the agent’s eyes. “What about you?” she asked, looking up. “Aren’t you a little young to be an agent of whatever?”

Sinclair smiled. “Aye, A suppose A am. A’m here as a favor ta me friend, Jamie,” she nodded toward Madrox, “because A’m one o’ the best trackers around.” She blushed suddenly as she heard what she’d said, and looked at Jessie. “A dinnae mean ta sound conceited, or boastful--A just meant--”

Jessie laughed and put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “It’s okay, I understand.”

Sinclair smiled. “Thank ye.”

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, each of them with their own thoughts. “How old are you?” Jessie asked after a bit.

“A’m seventeen. An’ ye?”

Jessie thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head. This . . . this uberbabe--as Jonny would say--was seventeen?? Sure, she wasn’t as built as Agent Dane was, but still! “You’re seventeen?” she finally choked out.

“Aye. A’ll be eighteen in a few more months. Me lady Moira--me foster mum--is goin’ ta be throwin’ me a party.” She smiled happily.

“But you look so old!”

Sinclair laughed. “Nae, compared ta the other agents, A look like a wee bairn.”

Jessie was about to say something else, but Madrox ran up just then, slipping and sliding through the sand. “Rahne! Come quick! I just saw a sand witch!”

The young agent--Rahne--laughed and shook her head. “Ye’re incorrigible, Jamie!”

“No, really! Come on!” he cried, grabbing her arm and pulling her to her feet. “It had a long nose and a big ol’ wart!” he told the Scottish woman as pulled her away. Jessie laughed and headed back to the tent to see if her parents were still fighting.

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“What?” Jonny shouted into the phone, turning it up as loud as he could. This connection was horrible. Using a celphone didn’t help any, either. Even if it was Quest created and made. “You coming home tomorrow, Jess?”

More static, but he could make out her “yes.”

Hadji shook his head, smiling as he helped a freshman with homework. Jonny talked for a bit longer, then hung up with disgust. “This thing is worthless,” he griped, glaring at it as though it were alive.

Blue walked up, loaded down with school books. “You guys let Dana out of the house like that?” he asked as he dropped his backpack on the ground with a thump.

“Like what? When I saw her she was wearing Race’s trenchcoat again,” Jonny said, rooting through his lunch to see what he’d grabbed. It didn’t look like anything edible. Apples, a banana, a ham sandwich. Nothing he wanted to eat. He eyed the cafeteria. Anything better there?

“Dang, that’s not what I saw her in,” Tommy said, sitting down on the grass. he adjusted his backpack so that he could lean back against it, looking up at Jonny and Hadji.

“What was she wearing?” Hadji asked, frowning as the freshman walked away to join his own friends.

“Pants. A vest.” Blue said, looking apprehensive.

“A vest is okay. And I’d rather prefer she wear pants,” Jonny commented dryly.

“No, no, you don’t understand. She was wearing *only* pants and a vest. And yeah, the vest is buttoned, but it’s open to like,” he pointed to the middle of the bottom half of his ribcage, “like here.”

Colin was there in an instant, Hadji and Jonny both at attention. “When’d you see her?” Jonny snapped, looking around.

“Last period. I take it you didn’t know about that?”

Hadji glanced down at Blue. “Do you really think we’d have let her out of the house if we did?”

Tommy chuckled. “Come on, I’ll help you find her,” he said, standing up. The four boys--Colin, Jonny, Hadji and Blue--took off in different directions, scouring the campus for a sign of the erstwhile ladycat. Colin was the first to find her, as she stood with a group of drooling boys.

“This is Bobby,” one of them said, introducing his friend, “and--”

“Hi. I’m the overprotective older brother. We’ll be leaving now,” Colin said, grinning ferally as he wrapped his arm around his baby sister and led her, arguing, away.

By the time they got back to the hang out Dana was wearing Colin’s jacket, buttoned to her chin, and her face was streaked with humiliated tears. “How could you do that?” she snarled, her image inducer keeping her small fangs from showing. “It’s not like I was doing anything you said I couldn’t!”

Jonny and Hadji cleared a space for her on the bench, putting her between the two large boys. “What were you thinking?” Jonny snapped, horrified that she would walk around in--what he considered--nothing.

“You wouldn’t object if January wore something like this!” Dana cried, her hands like claws at her sides.

Jonny and Hadji looked at each other. True. “That’s not the point,” Hadji said finally, shaking his head. “You’re not January.”

Dana stood up, her face red with anger. “You think that just because I’m not human you can boss me around!”

Jonny and Hadji both leaped to their feet, glancing around quickly to see if anyone had caught that remark. Only Tommy, who stood looking at them quizzically. “New insult,” Jonny said quickly.

“Dana, that’s not what we mean,” Hadji said, putting his arm around her shoulders, “It’s just that you’re so pretty already!”

She glared at him.

“Okay, then, let’s try this. No more wearing things like that. Clear?” Jonny said in his best Race voice.

Dana pulled away from the boys, turning her back and folding her arms across her chest. “Clear,” she snapped before walking away.

Jonny watched her go and sighed. “We never had these problems with Jessie,” he muttered.

Blue grinned and chomped on his grass blade from where he lay once again on his backpack and the lawn. “She’s not Jess.”

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“So they think that the people have set up camp in this one underground buried tomb we found using the satellites,” Jessie explained later the next night as the kids all sat around the television. “Dr. Quest and dad are going to go check it out today, and we’ll see what happens from there.” She ate another handful of popcorn, then while she chewed added “we should go up there in a week or so to help, if everything goes right.”

“Where’s Egypt?” Colin asked, taking the globe from Kit, who had been twirling it, and giving it to Hadji. Hadji turned it until he found the colored spot near Africa, then pointed it out.

“There.”

“Is it hot?” Colin asked, leaning on the chair.

“Very,” Hadji said, nodding.

“So I should bring my swimming trunks?”

Jonny chuckled.

“No,” Hadji said, grinning, “it’s very dry, and there’s no where to swim.”

Colin frowned. “I think I’ll go look it up on the Internet,” he said after a minute.

Jonny nodded. “You do that.” He laughed as he watched the cat walk away, knowing that Egypt was just an excuse to go online. The cat had figured it out, and now spent as much time as he could reading facts on anything he could find on there. Kit had tried, but had gotten bored.

Jessie frowned as she grabbed some more popcorn, looking around. “Where’s Dana?”

Jonny and Hadji groaned in unison. “You wouldn’t believe the time we had with her today. She was wearing nothing but a vest and pants! We’re lucky she didn’t get thrown off campus!” Jonny cried, shaking his head.

Jessie giggled and pushed herself up off the floor. “I think I’ll go talk to her.”

“Here,” Kit said, handing over the popcorn, “take this up to her. I don’ think she’s eaten all day.”

Jessie frowned. “Why not?”

Kit shrugged. Jessie sighed and headed upstairs. “Day?” she called outside the door, knocking softly. “Hey, kiddo. You didn’t come to pick me up at the airport.”

The door opened suddenly, raven black hair tucked behind her black leather golf-like-hat. “That new?” Jessie asked, coming in.

“Yeah. I got it earlier.” Dana smiled and closed the door, then returned to putting posters on her walls.

Jessie looked around curiously. “Wow. You’ve done some remodeling since I left--what? Three days ago?”

Dana grinned sheepishly. “Well, January said that I have to be able to talk to kids about the stuff they like too, not just the stuff I like. So I thought maybe, if I got some posters and things then I could Ômember the names of bands and stuff. Like, I know this guy is . . . um . . . Gavin, that’s it. And he’s a member of, uh, No Doubt? Or is it Bush? Yeah, that’s it. Bush. I got some CD’s too. But now I need a CD player. Do you think Jonny would mind if I borrowed his?”

Jessie just looked at the girl for a minute, then smiled. “You can have mine. I don’t listen to it all that much anyway. Tapes are cheaper.”

Dana nodded, “Yeah, but all the cool kids listen to CDs.”

Jessie nodded again. “That’s true. You really want to be a cool kid, huh?”

Dana blushed--something that on her own furred body wouldn’t have shown, but she’d taken to wearing her image inducer at home too. “Well, I want to at least have friends . . . .”

Jessie frowned. “What about us? We aren’t your friends?”

Dana sighed and flopped down on the bed, bouncing the popcorn. “You are, but I want some other friends too. No one likes me. I know, I know, Jonny says I shouldn’t worry about them. But I do--I want them to like me too.” She scowled, then took off the backwards hat so her head could lay on the bed easier. “They kept saying I was a geek, cuz I got A’s in the upper division honors classes, in a grade higher then my own. I don’t want to be a geek. But today,” her eyes lit up and she smiled, “today they liked me. And they let me talk to them for a little bit. It was great.”

Jessie cocked an eyebrow sardonically. “Didn’t I hear you wore almost nothing today?”

Dana rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. “Yeah, right. Jonny over-reacted.”

Jessie nodded, being able to picture that. There was a long pause, as Jessie digested this information, then Dana broke the silence.

“Can I ask you something?”

Jessie nodded.

“There’s a party tomorrow night at a friend’s house. You think I could go?”

Jessie frowned slightly. “I dunno. It is a school night, after all. How late is it?”

Dana hesitated. “I could be home by weekend curfew.”

“Tomorrow’s not the weekend, so weekend curfew doesn’t apply,” Jessie said, suddenly getting suspicious.

Dana fidgeted. “It’s not like I’m going to miss school or something. It’s just a party.”

Jessie looked down at Dana, shaking her head. “Who’s throwing this party?”

Dana bit her lip and her gaze slid away. “January’s gonna be there.”

“January, as much as I love her, goes to some places she shouldn’t.” January was a daredevil, always figuring that she could get out of any situation she put herself in. Then again, after having her parents murdered in front of her, her sister supposedly dead, herself gone insane for a short time and her sister brought back to life, leaving out all the medical experiments and implants she’d gone through while hostage, Jessie didn’t figure that January saw a late night party in a bad area as any big deal.

“Come on! It’s just this once! I swear I’ll do fine in my classes!” Dana pleaded.

Jessie scowled. “No, Dana. I don’t think it’s a very good idea. Wait until Dad gets home and plead your case before doing anything like late night parties, okay?”

Dana flipped over on the bed, turning her back on Jessie.

“Day?”

No answer.

Jessie sighed and left the room, heading downstairs.

“D’you two have your “talk”?” Jonny asked from his stretched-out spot on the couch.

“Yeah. She’s sulking. Didn’t go very well. Who’s having a party late tomorrow night?”

Jonny looked up at the ceiling, trying to remember what he’d heard. “Adam. Adam Maxwell. His parents are out of town and he says he’s going to slip some sleeping pills into his gran’ma’s pill box. Nice guy, huh?” Jonny said sarcastically, turning back over to watch TV.

“Great.” Jessie sat down, shoving Jonny’s feet off the couch. “Maybe Dana’s doing hormones or something,” she said after a minute. Jonny chuckled.

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“Oh dear,” came the whisper from the comm unit. They’d found an underground base and, somehow, Rahne Sinclair had managed to get inside. Benton and Race were still trying to puzzle that out, but the only answer they’d gotten from Agent Dane was “it was a simple matter of moving the earth so that Agent Sinclair could get in, then putting it back undetected.” Benton still didn’t see how moving enough earth to uncover a buried tomb then putting it all back--undetected--in one night was simple. He’d have to be there next time.

“What is it, Sinclair?” Dane said into the other end, pushing green hair out of her eyes.

“Polaris, we’ve got more trouble then we thought.” A hesitation. “They have more’n one here, an’ they’re breedin’ many, many more. Ach, Lorna, this’ll nae be a snatch an’ grab mission.”

Jamie frowned, leaning closer. “Are they cloning?”

“Aye, they are. Far more then they should be. Jamie--A . . . A think yuir . . . brother . . . has been tellin’ Ôem secrets. Aboot technology.”

“Can you get to any computers?” Benton asked, leaning over the unit that was placed in the center of a card table.

“Aye, A c’n. Jist gimme a minute here . . .” There was silence as Rahne Sinclair looked through computer banks, her own slight doctorate training while helping her foster mother kicking in and allowing her to understand the screens of what appeared to be code. “Oooh, this is bad. Ver’ ver’ bad. Lorna, they have advanced human weaponry an’ mutations--some that have already been created. Th’ cat children, back at the Quest’s, they were from this. As were two girls--twins. Fiztgerald, January an’ February. An’ Mr. Bannon, they’ve files on ye and one o’ yuir partners--Daisy? Risk?”

“Yeah, she was in the government program. And I was, unbeknownst to me,” Race muttered.

“Well, they’ve got all th’ government files tucked away here. They’re tryin’ ta create a super-human, and from what A see here, Polaris, they’re close. Even if we take away Jamie’s brother now, they’ll be able ta get ther’ on their own.”

Lorna scowled, then nodded sharply. “All right then. We get every free “test” subject we can find to safety, and we take down these people. Let’s get you out of there, Rahne.”

“A’ll right, A’ll meet ye back wher we were.” The was a pause, as if a sharp intake of breath. “Oh, Jamie. A’m sorry. A dinnae think we’ll be able ta save them all.”

Jamie Madrox smiled slightly. “It’s okay, Rahne. Come on out.”

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Anyone who does not belong to me does not belong to me, and I’m making no money off this. January, February, Kit, Dana, Colin and Blue are all copyright to Jenna B. McDonald 1997, so don’t use them without permission, please.

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