Julian and Inez: Outlaws

[x-desperado.livejournal.com]

Late Monday night, Julian finally comes to Inez to try and mend fences, and a bit of confession happens.



With the flying lessons out of his system and his conversation with Nathan looming over him, Julian decided it was fence mending season. There was one relationship he'd been avoiding and it was time for that to change. He and Inez really did have a lot in common- from the fact they both came from families who wanted nothing to do with them, to the fact they were both outsiders in their own ways. Today, she would find out about another connection they shared and with any luck, forgive him for nearly getting her killed by Arcade- and for making the choice to pursue something with Angel.

Julian made his way to her suite and knocked, with any luck she'd be home, but if not, he'd have to seek her out. "Inez, it's Julian, we need to talk!" he shouted through the door, knocking again.

The door swung open and Inez stood glaring at Julian, her hair obviously ruffled and the large headphones still around her neck acting as a testimony to how hard she'd been trying to shut the world out lately.

She spent a few seconds staring Julian down and trying to keep herself from gouging fingermarks into the doorframe. Finally she just settled on a tired response of "What do you want, Julian?".

Empathy or telepathy weren't necessary to feel the anger rolling off her. "I want to sit down and talk with you for a few minutes, can I come in?" Julian waited patiently at the door, not smiling since that would probably only serve to anger her more. She would let him in, because if she didn't, he would just wait outside until she did.

Grudgingly, Inez sidestepped and motioned to the empty chair by her desk. Flopping down bonelessly onto her unmade bed, she laid a hand on the cover of the book she'd been reading, trying to project an air of nonchalance. "Win any more contests lately?" she asked in a bored tone.

Julian chuckled, "I've kept my promise not to play anymore flash games since that day...not so much to not watch reality TV though." He took the seat and leaned forward a little before beginning with, "I wanted to talk about why you're so upset with me." Before she could start into it, he held up a hand, "Don't give me anything about the Murderworld stuff, it's been universally accepted that I'm not to blame, except by you and I don't think you really blame me either."

Inez shrugged. "Almost got killed. Gotta blame someone, right?" She blew a lock of hair out of her face and folded her arms. "Why do you think I'm mad at you? Not saying, y'know, that I am or anything. Whatever."

"Yeah, you almost got killed, so did everyone else- including me," he straightened up a little. "I think we both know the why of it, but I want to hear you say it."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the "You first" game, Inez let out a sigh and slumped against the wall. No real use keeping up appearances at this point.

"I told you about my dad," she said haltingly, "back in December, with the cocoa and the..." she motioned between the two of them with a vague gesture. "I mean, it's not something I expect you'd know anything about, but we had to move a whole lot when I was growing up. I never got to finish a year at the same school I started it in, even. I never made a lot of friends, and especially no one who'd... well, yeah."

She brushed her hair back self-consciously and wrapped her arms around her knees, looking away from Julian. "I just thought things were going to be different here. That you'd be... but never mind. Like I said, you wouldn't know anything about it."

A sudden urge to run away hit Julian, but he pushed it down and remained silent for a moment. 'Well, you knew she had a good reason to hate you, Keller. Now deal with it.' "You're right, I don't know what it was like to grow up that way. But I do know how it is though to feel like you don't fit in." Even though she wouldn't see it, he smiled- weak as it was- "We do have a lot in common, you know. And I do want to be your friend, Inez."

He paused for a moment, wondering if what he was about to ask would have any effect on her feelings. "If I told you about something no one else around here knows about-not even Angel- something that we sorta have in common...would that help any?"

Inez's eyebrows raised in curiosity as she tried - and completely failed - to look uninterested. "That... that depends," she admitted quietly.

It was obvious she was already on the hook, "It has to do with my criminal past. But...if you're not interested..." Julian stood up and shrugged, then started toward the door.

"Wait wait wait!" Inez blurted, reaching an arm out across the doorframe. This was something new, and if he wasn't just bullshitting her, suddenly the resident rich kid had just become a lot more interesting. "Your what now? I know I didn't hear that right."

"I suppose that depends," Julian smirked for a moment before turning and heading back to the chair. "I have been arrested...and no, before you ask, it wasn't for some stupid prank or for tax fraud or something. It was for assaulting an officer and a whole bunch of other stuff...do you really wanna hear about this?" Julian looked her in the eye, selling the story to start with was half the battle. If Inez wanted to hear about his past, he had a chance of making-up with her.

Inez thought for a moment. Julian didn't seem like the type to go assaulting a cop, but he also didn't seem like the kind of person who'd lie to try and get into her good graces. Whatever she might think of him, the one thing she had to admit was that he never had lied to her about anything. Besides, as far as she was considered, laying a couple of punches into the cops was good points in her book.

"This have to do with that rumor I heard about your parents wanting to send you to military school before you wound up here?" Inez responded noncommitally. "Sure, yeah. I'm interested. Spill."

Julian shook his head, "My dad thought military school might drill the mutant out of me, so he was talking about that a loooong time before any of this." He leaned forward, his smile gone, "It all started a long time ago...well, actually it was only like last summer, but it feels like longer than that. You know how I sometimes have some trouble with controlling my telekinesis when I sleep. See, that's what started everything...my parents, they hated the fact I'm a mutant. They didn't let me use my powers, if I got caught doing anything with them I got cut off for a while and then they'd relent, but mostly, after I manifested, they pretty much ignored me.

"Because I was suppressing my powers they had to come out somewhere and so," he made a connecting gesture, "gremlins. They used to be a lot worse and after one particularly bad night, where I happened to flip every car, truck and SUV in the neighborhood over, my dad was going to ship me away so he'd never have to see me again. My mom convinced him that counseling was a better idea and sent me off to that. That's where I met Dean." Julian's eyes got distant for a moment.

"Dean?" Inez asked, motioning for Julian to continue. Despite having wanted to punch his face in for several weeks, the sudden confession struck a chord in Inez. She knew what it was like to have to hide, to not be allowed to really be herself. She wouldn't have thought Julian would understand - and his situation didn't sound the same, but she still felt compelled to hear him out.

"Yeah, Dean Alwin, scrawny little guy who didn't really belong in the group. Oh, I skipped that, the counselor I went to saw how much my parent's disapproval affected me, so he put me in a support group for that instead of trying to "cure" me. But Dean," he paused for effect, "he was there for different reasons.

"Dean could astral project and he said it freaked out his parents, but never wanted to talk about it. One day he started talking to me and we kinda became group buddies- not that any of us knew each others last names, but we knew each other. So, one day he starts talking about this group that he's involved in, and he says that they're basically a bunch of people who are going to become super-heroes...you know, like in the comics. He invites me over to one of their meetings and I bite. I mean, this is exactly the sort of thing I think I needed, to put my powers to use for good, to show my parents that they're not something that needs to be hidden."

With a shake of his head Julian continued, "I'm a little embarrassed to say that I joined up, after that first meeting, with The Lords of Justice." He winced a little at the name, sighed.

"The. Lords. Of. Justice."

Inez repeated it slowly, as if Julian had suddenly spoken another language. "The Lords of Justice. No, hold on, I think I got it this time. The Lords of Justice," she intoned, trying very hard to Pronounce The Capitals. "Okay, what the fuck, yo? Explain that."

A hint of blush shown on his cheek as he waved his hand dismissively. "I know how it sounds, Inez, but I was young...and dumb- well, dumber than I am now. To a sixteen-year-old, that sounds fairly legit. Anyway, I joined up almost right away because I wanted to do some good with my abilities. The group was run by this guy named Gordon, who could augment powers- like, make you stronger and tougher. Me, I got a huge boost on my TK and was actually able to control it- but in order to keep it like that, we needed to get a jolt from Gordon every day.

"So I started sneaking off after school to see him and to get missions...yeah, not so much saving people, but we'll get to that. There was this other guy, Simon, he was a tank- strongest guy I've ever seen. He could have probably stood his own against you." Julian smiled, it had been a joke, but he was sure Simon at least had a chance. "Anyway, he and I got to be friends and I started doing powers training in his backyard, lifting weights with my mind and stuff. He was from the South Side, poor family, not much of a future...but we got along. We would watch each other's backs while we were out in the field, taking out what we thought were drug dealers and cleaning up the streets." He sighed and shook his head.

Inez just stared at Julian. "You were playing superhero and something went wrong, didn't it?" Instinctively, she leaned forward and put her hand on top of Julian's. "What happened?"

"Not quite," Julian said, his smile fading away. The feel of her hand on his was a little surprising, but he tried not to let it show. "Simon figured it out first. We were going out on a daily basis, maybe twice-a-day on weekends, knocking out meth makers and opium dens. Simon and I, we were just muscle- we'd go in, break 'em and then the support team would step in and mop them up while we waited around. Thing was, nothing got any better. There was never any news story about the streets getting cleaner and no record of any of the criminals in jail." His eyes met hers in an attempt to convey the seriousness of the statement. "Simon confronted Gordon about it- at least that's what he told me.

"We had a pyrokinetic working with us, real bastard named Aaron. This guy, he'd gotten out of juvie a few months before we started things up, after being in for ten years- burnt down the orphanage he was in, is what I heard. Aaron threatened to barbecue him and his family alive if he exposed what they were doing. So, he backed off and kept doing Gordon's dirty work."

Inez cocked her head. "I don't get it. If you guys were busting up these drug dealers, why wasn't anything changing?" She was reminded of her father's tirades about the kind of scum that would put drugs in the hands of kids - even when he was shipping guns across the border that probably were ending up arming the very drug dealers he despised. The memory almost made her smile with the irony.

"The dealers weren't going to jail. They were going to a shallow grave out in the desert, Simon and I were weakening them up enough for the others to finish them off. Then their product, their operations, their clients, all became Gordon McPhearson's product, operations and clients. He was using us to take over the LA drug syndicates or whatever they're called. Don't get me wrong, these guys we were fighting...they deserved to get their asses kicked- but they didn't deserve to die."


"I... I know what that's like," Inez said quietly, squeezing Julian's hand lightly. "Things can get out of control really fast."

Julian's eyes met the floor as her hand squeezed his, "Thanks...but it was all under Gordon's control. His power was like a drug...after a while, you'd get anxious if you didn't get a fix. Life at home was getting better, my parents thought counseling was helping me be more human. The gremlins were all but gone because of Gordon's help, so I never questioned the mission. Hell, my parents even started treating me a little like they used to." He was not going to let her see the tears starting to form in his eyes. "I never, uh, killed anyone myself, but I feel like I might as well have."

Julian paused for a long moment before continuing, "But, this is about how I got arrested. One day, we went on a mission...not like the others. This time, there was no illusion of being a hero, it was just crime. I was told we'd gotten a tip that this group was going to rob a bank...that meant cameras and publicity. It meant my parents, my family and friends, would know what I'd been doing. I didn't realize something was wrong until Simon punched his way into an armored truck and started making off with money. I stopped him from getting the loot, but the cops showed up. We tried to run, but Simon and I weren't fast enough.

"I tried to slow the cops down by pinning them to a wall. When I did...well, most of them just fell back." His mouth was getting a little dry, "Um, there was this one guy, Officer Roberts...he hit the wall, but I used too much force. Every bone up and down both of his arms broke." He needed a second before he could go on.

Inez didn't say anything. She remembered how she'd laughed when people were talking about Julian's lack of control over his power. How he'd rearrange furniture in his sleep, or about having no fine control. She'd laughed, but every time she remembered how it had been for her, trying to adjust to her new strength. So many doors broken, plates smashed, she'd been so lucky to never have hurt anyone, especially with her temper. But with a power like Julian's...

Julian sniffled and collected himself, he was not going to be a wuss in front of Inez. "So, yeah, Simon ran, but I tried to help him. I got tackled, arrested, processed and interrogated. They knew someone was taking over drug distribution in the city, but not who. I didn't tell them anything at first. My lawyer worked with them for a plea agreement and my dad paid to keep my name out of the papers and news. I had to testify against Gordon McPhearson and the rest of the Lords. They never found him though."

Julian smiled, "The only person I didn't give up was Simon, but I never saw him again. Everything went back to normal and I didn't serve any time...not even a night, but my parents had to buy a new fleet of police cruisers for three or four precincts and all was forgotten."

"So you went and played hero, for what?" Inez asked. "To try and prove something to your parents? And you got in over your head. I get that, I really do. I just..."

Then it hit her that Julian wasn't telling her this to impress her or even explain himself. He was opening up to her. Being vulnerable.

Quietly, she shifted around to lean against him. "Thank you," she said quietly. "I get it."

She was leaning against him...that was interesting. Julian didn't want to ruin the moment by putting his arm around her, but part of him really wanted to. He played out a scene in his mind in which Angel entered the room and awkwardness ensued...or maybe it wouldn't be awkward at all...in fact.... He snapped himself back to reality, "I haven't told anyone about this...not even, Doreen. I can understand if you still hate me, but...please don't tell anyone I was involved in all this."

Inez gritted her teeth, suddenly brought back to reality. She stood up and walked over to the doorframe, leaning against it and glancing back over her shoulder at Julian. "I don't... hate you, Julian. I just... argh. I'm mad at myself for misreading things. You were just, y'know, this great guy who was being so nice and that was what made me think that hey, staying here for a while wouldn't be so bad."

She tried not to crack her knuckles in frustration, and she swore she would not tear up and get all emo with him right there. "And then I realized that the flirting and the being nice and great and sweet isn't... it wasn't anything to do with me, it's just how you are, and I felt stupid for thinking it was something more and I'm babbling like some stupid emo whiny brat here." Steeling herself, she turned around to look at Julian, and practically forced herself to say what was on her mind.

"Do you think... and I'm not trying to like, poach from Angel or anything, but... do you even like me? Not like, whoa-girlfriend-material like, but just... do you even like me?"

Julian got up from the chair and took a few steps toward her, keeping his smile in check. She didn't hate him and that was a big step. "I won't deny I can be charming- I'm trying to be careful with that," 'well that made you sound like an ass.' He stopped with a couple feet between them. "Inez, of course I like you, I always have. You're sassy and determined, your powers are awesome and to be honest, you're hot." He shrugged, "I want to be your friend, I never didn't."

Inez sniffed a little and took a step towards Julian. "Damn right I'm hot," she said with a small smile. "I can live with friends, yo. I'm kind of getting used to that. Can I smack you around if you get too smarmy, though?"

No longer holding it back, Julian beamed at her and offered a hug. "I wouldn't have it any other way...yo."

Inez arched an eyebrow but hugged Julian anyway. "Dude, you are way too Southern California preppie to be making with the tough talk. Stick to cocoa, babe." She punctuated the advice with a quick squeeze of Julian's rear, then grinned. "Friends totally reserve the right for occasional butt-grabbing privileges, I declare it to be so."

The grab made Julian jump, "I'm not gunna fight you on that. You'd kick my ass if I did." He paused, happy that he'd been able to bridge that gap. Beneath his happy exterior, he was busy stuffing his memories of what happened last summer back into the genie's bottle, lest one of the mansion's telepaths gleaned it from him. Of course, there was no certainty that the Cuckoos hadn't been listening in the whole time, but they generally kept his secrets for some reason. "Speaking of cocoa...want to go catch up over a cup? My treat."

"You're on, Jules," Inez agreed. "And I happened to see some cheesecake in the fridge as well. A girl has needs."