"Can we have those!?" Leech yelled, pointing.

"What are they?"

"Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs!"

"Sure sweetie, you can have those." Audrey rubbed her sleep filled eyes, trying to wake up. These kids were so chipper. "But hurry up, we have to leave in an hour."

"Where are we going?" Franklin asked, pouring the cereal into a bowl as he stood on the kitchen chair.

"To the court house. I want you to tell the nice judge everything you told me. Okay?"

"Okay!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Judge Irked sat in his office, looking at the first thing he had today. Child abuse. He looked at the offender, then narrowed his eyes. That was Cyclops, one of the X-MEN. He hated mutants. No doubt he was guilty. They didn't even need a hearing.

"Sir, the little ones are here to talk to you about abuse." His secretary announced.

"Send them in." Poor little things. Having to live with a mutant.

Leech walked in first, followed by Artie and Franklin. Audrey shut the door behind them.

"Well hullo there, boys. Why don't you sit down in that chair--no, no, not all of you. You can spread out some. Ah, there you go. Now, tell your uncle Irked all about it." He looked at them closely, laughing when he saw the pink and green face paint of the two. "Looks like you two have been having some fun!"

The littleuns exchanged worried glances. Maybe this guy was weird.

"Now, lets hear it." He shuffled his papers and looked down at the cuties, shaking his head sadly at the thought of them trying to live with a mutant. Poor things.

"Well," Franklin said hesitantly, "It all started when Mr. Cassidy left for the Baha-ha-llamas."

"You mean the Bahamas."

"Yeah. The Bahamas. Anyway, he and Miss Frost went together,"

"And who is Miss Frost?"

"Our other headmaster. They like each other. They were always in each other's office. you could hear all sorts of weird noises. But whenever they were around us they fought. They're silly."

"Yes, they sound very silly."

"They were. So they went away together,"

"They left you alone?"

"No, the other people came."

"Oh. All right."

"Bishop had this really cool huge gun!"

"And he was always shooting at things!"

"Was he now?"

"Oh yes! And Mr. Scott made pancakes, and then he put Artie in the hospital."

"How did he do that?"

"I don't know. But poor Artie was very yucky. Weren't you Artie?"

Artie nodded solemnly.

"And Scott wouldn't let us sleep with him like Mr. Sean did."

"You slept with Sean?"

"Oh, yes. All the time." Memories of nightmares flooded through Leech's head, then Banshee letting them share his small bed so that they wouldn't be afraid.

Something else entirely flooded through Judge Irk's head.

"Is there much more that you'd like to tell me?"

"Oh yes. Much, much more!"

The judge settled in for a long morning.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What do you mean I can't bail him out!?!?!" Jean asked as she stood at the receptionists desk.

"I'm sorry miss. He's being held for treatment."

"What sort of treatment?!?!?"

"Well," The receptionist started to sweat, "Psychological treatment for the child abuse."

"We don't even have children!"

"Um," she dug through the files on her desk, looking for the right one. "Artie, Leech and Franklin all testified that they were being abused."

"Why those little . . . when I get my hands on them--" she looked at the receptionist, smiled and finished. "Give those poor children a great big hug. Who knew?"

"They're still in court on whether or not to send them back with you."

"Great. I hope the professor doesn't find out about this." Jean sighed and sat down. Should she tell the Prof. that her husband had been arrested, or save Scott's pride and not? If Scott stayed here there wouldn't be anyone to be so anal. She wouldn't have to worry about training sessions, or the right food. She could relax for a bit. Maybe she'd save his pride. A smile spread slowly across her face.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Jean!" the three children ran into her arms, glad to be back after all.

"How are you guys? I hear you had quite the two days."

"Oh, we have so much to tell you!"

Jean smiled and looked interested as they walked out to the car, going home.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Open your mouth!" Skin reminded Artie as he lay on the ground. The pink mouth opened wider. Brown liquid flowed from the can and poured down onto the little face, splashing all over. Skin stopped pouring.

"Did you get some this time?"

Artie nodded.

"That's good. That's all though, I don't want to waste all of my soda on you." Artie stood up, dripping some sort of indefinable sugary substance. Happily he walked away, going to join Leech and Franklin in their quest for Jubilee's Cheese Puffs.

"She shoots!--She scores!" The orange thing leaped from J's hand, into Franklin's open mouth.

"Leech wants some more!" Leech called.

"Okay, open up!" Leech opened his mouth wide, and had a Cheeto-like thing bounce off his forehead.

Artie jumped up and down, trying to get Jubilee to give him some.

"Roll over Artie!" He obeyed quickly, and was rewarded with a cheese snack.

"Sit Franklin!" He did and got soda.

"What is going on in here?" Bishop walked into the room, looking frantic. Lack of discipline, lack of discipline . . . . NOBODY HAD ANY DISCIPLINE.

"We were just feeding our pets." Everett told him. Leech barked.

"Those children are not pets. They are human beings."

"Actually, they're human KIDNEY beans, but who's looking?" Jubilee countered.

"You shouldn't make them--GET OFF THE FLOOR!" This was unacceptable! Skin had poured some crackers on the carpet, and the three boys ate them from all fours.

"Well, we can't feed dogs on the table now can we?" Jubilee rolled her eyes, giving Ev a "what do grownups know" look.

"They aren't dogs!"

"Yes they are. Aren't you guys?" Franklin barked and panted, smiling when she patted his head. "They're good dogs too. Even potty trained." Skin snickered.

"Stop it! STOP IT RIGHT NOW! They are not dogs and you shouldn't treat them that way!"

"Oh, lighten up. It's not like we're going to make them sleep on the floor. They can stay on the couch."

"NO!"

"Okay, fine. They can sleep on the floor."

"JUBILEE . . ."

"FINE! Fine! We'll leave them outside!"

"They will sleep in their own beds!"

"We don't HAVE doggie beds."

"Do you guys want a doggie biscuit?" Skin asked. All three nodded happily and followed him out into the kitchen, where he proceeded to give them dog food.

"Angelo! Don't you feed them that!" Bishop was on the edge of a breakdown.

"Amigo, it's just . . . stuff."

"I said--" a cheese puff bounced off the back of his head, putting an end to his tirade. He slowly turned around as three more bounced off his ear, forehead and chest. "Stop." They ignored him and continued. "I SAID--" One landed smack in his mouth, and he almost choked. "IF YOU THROW ONE MORE PIECE, SO HELP ME I'LL--" he never finished the sentence as the entire bag of cheese puffs was thrown, and he finally snapped and ran out of the room, laughter behind him.

He ran upstairs and hid in the corner of his bedroom, shaking uncontrollably.

"We finally broke one of them!" Jubilee cackled happily. "It won't be long now." The lights dimmed as sinister music started to play . .

Twenty-three days left...

Back to the X-Mansion
Back to the living room