Day Zero - Refuge

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Jubilee finds Mark at Silver where it's become his job to take care of some of Apocalypse's victims.


The scene that had greeted Mark earlier in the day was not one he had expected, even in this chaos. In fact, he'd been shocked to find Silver open at all, much less the gathering place for half of his fellow co-workers and a dozen regulars. It was chilling, in a way, that they were so terrified that they went to Manhattan's biggest mutant club as a safe haven against a psychotic mutant threat and now were begging him for sanctuary. It had taken a while to calm down everyone, and though tensions remained high all morning, at least they were becoming functional again. Beds were set up, doors and windows were secured, and food was gathered.

The bang at the front door made him jump and he immediately reached into his pocket to turn on his iPhone. His free hand illuminated with green energy, but Tom, a bouncer and low level psychometrist, visibly relaxed when he touched the door and discovered who was on the other side. The energy dissipated, and Mark and Tom pulled open the door to let in Jubilee before quickly slamming it shut again.

Jubilee glanced around at the frightened faces, wondering why they weren't headed off the island like the veritable sea of humanity she'd just managed to wade through to get here. She finally found Mark in the crowd and smiled, couldn't help herself, to see that he was unharmed.

"Mark!" she exclaimed, moving forward to give him a bear hug, and then used the gesture to whisper in his ear. "Is it safe to talk here?"

Mark returned the hug just as tightly. It was a tremendous relief to see that she was unharmed. "Yeah, but let's go to the back office. Quieter in there, and I want to hear what you've got to say before anyone else knows." He led her across the dance floor to an unmarked door in the back, which took them down a cramped hallway to the manager's office. "Tell me everything. Since that Apocalypse shit spoke, I haven't been able to call anyone or send any texts or even get online. We're all kinda blind and deaf here."

"Nutjob has a big ass building right in the middle of Manhattan," Jubilee replied, leaning against the Manager's desk as she spoke. While she didn't feel tired, you took what rest you could, when you could or you'd burn out quickly. She reached into a pocket in her leather jacket and pulled out a small bag of memory cards, throwing it to Mark. "Those are all the pictures I could get, tried to get as close as I could but there's all sorts of chaos going on down there. Thought it better to get back here and get that out then go in and maybe get myself killed. You seen Yana around, or any of the others?"

"She's popped in and out a couple times," Mark said as he took a seat at the desk. He took out a small adapter device from his pocket and put it into his phone, and then loaded one of the memory cards and downloaded the pictures. "Remy's on his way, and I think she's gonna meet him and help him with . . . whatever it is Remy does. Are people actually hanging around Ground Zero now?"

"Don't really know, I couldn't get that close. There's a whole hell of a lot of humanity out there running for the hills." Jubilee noted with a grimace. "I had to head up over the roofs just to stop from getting tagged by some well meaning schmo in Emergency Services. Anyone heading inwards is getting the 'You're a crazy person, aren't you?' treatment at the moment."

"So it's Cloverfield out there, huh?" Mark swore under his breath and took the next memory card. "Angie and JP are supposed to be on their way here, but I haven't heard from either of them yet. Although once they get here . . . I don't know what we'll do. Too many people here, I can't just leave them."

"Yeah, it really is, and I gotta feeling it's going to get way worse. There's no way in hell that they're going to be able to move every human out of here in the time he's giving." Jubilee noted, running a hand through her already messy hair. "I think he knew that too, he's just wanting the appearance of benevolence so he doesn't have to deal with the mutant population thinking he's a crazy psycho clown. You seen Sarah at all? She used to live under Manhattan, yeah? Could be we can ferry some people down there, keep 'em safe."

"I thought about that," Mark said, although his tone was hopeless. "I don't think we can. Lots of folk were hurt on the way here. Some by stampedes, some were even attacked. They didn't know who, if it was humans pissed off and scared or Apocalypse goonies. Some people just aren't fit to travel, and at this point I doubt there's a way they could get out, anyway. Too many people, like you said. I don't suppose you've heard any from the X-Men, have you?"

"Nothing at all, so far. Not surprising though, since far as I know any form of communication we might have had off the island is completely cut. No idea how they've managed it so thoroughly, and you can bet that any hacker worth his salt has been trying to break it since." Jubilee said, shoulders slumping slightly, and she reached into another pocket to pull out a protein bar, ripping off the top of the packet. "Haven't heard boo of anyone succeeding yet. Might want to ask Marie-Ange when she gets here if she's heard from Doug at all, maybe he can get something out to Forge."

"If we could just get Clarice here, everyone could probably be OK." He shook his head and handed the memory cards back to Jubilee. "I think we're gonna have to go send some people to Duane Reade to get some food. We don't have much here, and we oughtta stock up now 'cuz who knows how long we'll be stuck here. Jesus fuck." The photos sent a chill down Mark's spine, and simply the sight of the destruction (not even counting that huge black building that grew out of the ground like a Satanic lightning rod) was enough to make him nauseous. "I guess we should consider ourselves lucky it's Saturday morning and not Friday night. Think of how many more people could've been killed."

"Don't go there, you'll only freak yourself out." Jubilee noted, reaching forward to grip his shoulder in a comforting gesture anyhow. "I think there was a school trip or something into New York today, so the X-men may already be on their way in anyhow. Whatever the Government says, they're not going to stick around and wait if the kids are in danger. If I see any of them, I'll send them this way. I hate to drop off bad news and run, but I gotta get back out there. Remy's gonna need recon when he gets here, and I figure finding out what's happening in the other parts of the city is probably a good idea."

She was absolutely right, so he got back to his feet and hugged her again. "Yeah, no, I know. Take care of yourself, Jubes. When you find Remy, let him know I made it here safely. Angie should be around shortly. And if anyone's lost or hurt or whatever, send 'em here. We'll take care of them."