Week in the Life: Jubilee and Forge

[x-jubilee.livejournal.com]

Forge discovers a surprise visitor in the early hours of the morning.



Forge loved the dark hours of the night - not because of any somber or melancholy aspect of them, but because he could sit out on the flyer's platform and enjoy the quiet. On clear nights like this, he could see almost all the way to Salem Center, and if he relaxed and 'saw' with his power instead of his eyes, he could sense the limits of what he called the 'technosphere', the mechanical and technological background noise generated anywhere there was an abundance of machinery.

Usually the everyday activity in the mansion drowned everything out, like trying to listen for a specific note in a symphony. But at this time of night, there was just the background hum of electricity from the generators, and the quiet buzz of the security systems ---- he sensed the breach at the same time the automated system sent a signal to the embedded receiver in his left arm, relaying a tactile signal in Braille to his fingertips, pointing him immediately to where the mansion's passive defenses had just gone active.

Single intruder, snare location alpha-five triggered, subject immobilized Forge smiled as he slid down the ladder to the ground, walking around the corner to the lower set of exhaust vents that led from the garage. He'd intentionally made a false layer of security over the obvious entry point, designed to deploy a series of adhesive, magnetic, and generally nonlethal restraints when triggered. As they now seemed to be. And given the last breach of the mansion's security by such means, Forge finally had his comeuppance.

Folding his arms, he smugly walked to the struggling figure on the ground. "Oh, how do they say it in French? Le jeux est finit, the game is up, Remy. Now I got - you are not Remy LeBeau."

"No duh." Jubilee replied, glaring up at him in irritation from where she lay immobilized. "Just what the shit is this stuff, Forge?"

She had thought, considering the months of training she'd been receiving, that the mansion would be a simple test of her skills, show her how far she'd progressed. It would seem that things had changed since she was a student here, when she'd made a habit of sneaking out at night.

"Thermally-reactive myomer, so I wouldn't suggest trying to blast through it," Forge said, his surprise fading and his air of confident superiority returning. "Let me guess, you found the infrared sensors and maneuvered past them, and picked up on the false-front access panel. Just like Remy would have taught you. But you, Jubilation, are not the only one who's been learning security from Remy LeBeau."

He placed his palm against the metallic webbing, triggering a signal to let the restraints retract and the system to reset itself and file an automatic report. He held his hand out to Jubilee. "So, practice or purpose?"

Jubilee took his hand, allowing him to pull her up and onto her feet. "A bit of both, I suppose. Practice, because I need it and this is one of the few places that has the level of security I need, and enough friendlies that if I got caught, I wouldn't get killed. And well, purpose since I figured I'd drop in and say hello. So...hello."

Forge shrugged, walking with Jubilee around to the front of the garage. He snapped his fingers and listened to the comforting hum of the automatic doors sliding open. "I could always try and kill you if you think it'd help."

"Nah, not as exciting when I know it's coming. I'd miss out on all that fun adrenalin." Jubilee noted, following Forge into the garage. "So, how's things? You've been pretty quiet of late, no weird late night calls or anything. Who else am I going to talk about the perfect combination of pizza toppings at 2am in the morning with?"

Forge just shrugged halfheartedly, walking among the vehicles. "I've been working on some things. Plans, theories, analysis...it's just..." He gestured at his head. "It's a mess. I'm a- I'm trying to cope, that's all."

"You don't seem to be doing that well at it" Jubilee replied, her tone neutral.

"Can't all be battle-hardened," Forge snapped back bitterly, resting his forehead against the cool metal of the Jeep's hood. "I just... I think I'm not cut out for field work. Maybe I've been pushing myself in the wrong direction, you know?"

Jubilee hesitated for a moment, and then reached out to place a hand gently against his shoulder, allowing it to rest there. "Maybe, but I wouldn't make that decision alone. Look at me, hey? I ended up thousands of miles from home, doin' stuff that I never thought I would in a million years to get by. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sorry I did any of it, and I know I'd do it again given a similar situation. Just saying, it might have been better if I could have accepted help. Talk to people, Forge. You've got Crystal, you've got friends. You don't have to do all this alone. What are you really afraid of?"

Forge looked up, eyes flickering from side to side. "You see," he said, "I stand here? Everything in this room is something I can feel, I can know, I can understand. That car right there," he pointed at his black RX-8, "Scott wrapped it around a tree until it looked like a crushed can. I turned it into a masterpiece. That truck of Jay's would have thrown a rod in the next fifty miles if I hadn't tuned it ahead of time. I rebuilt this Jeep from a pile of worthless scrap. And if someone screws up and demolishes any of them, I can put them back together better than ever."

He paced away, then turned to point at Jubilee. "The thing I can't understand is the human element, and when that breaks, I can't just fix it. There's no diagnostic for the human mind, no tuneup that'll give you the courage you need to do what people need, no turbocharger for competence. They need me to be some kind of hero and I can't build that."

"Then don't." Jubilee replied, leaning back against the jeep he'd abandoned. "We can't be everything. It's why we surround ourselves with people who compliment our failings. You say you can't understand the human element, so trust in the people who can, ask them when you don't know. You see everything about technology and think the world should be the same way, and get frustrated when you don't have the same amount of insight everywhere. I mean, how often have you ever relied on someone else? Really relied on them, not just had to but chose to?"

Forge flinched as if he'd been struck. Hunching his shoulders, he looked away. "I trust people," he insisted unconvincingly. "They're my teammates. I can rely on any of them."

"You know, if I believed you, I think Remy's guild friends would stick me on bread and water for a week for being so gullible." Jubilee said, a touch of humour flashing in her eyes. "They're people you work with, and sure, you'll trust them in a pinch, cause you have to. But just cause you're meant to be able to rely on them, doesn't mean you do, least not outside of a field exercise or a job. This life though, Forge. What we do. You gotta find people you can rely on, and not just for the job at hand. Like I said, ya can't do it all alone, no one can."

His conversations with Nathan and Catseye echoed in his brain as Jubilee's words sunk in. He had his teammates, and yes, he had his friends. But in the past few months - was it that they hadn't been there for him, or was it him that had been pushing them away?

"You're right," Forge said quietly, then glanced up with a smirk. "And if you tell anyone I said that, I will have someone big who owes me a favor twist you into a pretzel. And speaking of..." He reached out to grab a set of keys off the pegboard. "You were saying something about 2am pizza toppings? I happen to know a place near campus that does this great fusion cuisine. Give you a ride back to the brownstone?"

"You're on." Jubilee said, pushing herself away from the jeep and waiting for Forge to chose a car. "I make no promises that I won't choose the hottest item on the menu though. I'm trying to train my palate to beat Doug and Cain, an it's gonna take practice...possibly also medical bills."