xp_logs | Artie and Annalee, Monday Morning in the Morlock Tunnels

The boy glanced around carefully before jumping off the end of the subway platform and hurrying along the tunnel beside the tracks and quickly vanishing from sight. He really didn't want to get busted for cutting school and trespassing at the same time.

Artie pulled out a small LED torch when he was out of sight of the station, flicking it on and off as he walked, moving quickly from the subway tracks to an maintenance access hatch and, after a couple of minutes walk, he arrived at the corner of disused storm drains that Annalee called home. He'd visited her half a dozen times in the last few weeks, always when he was meant to be at his school in the city. Wasn't like he was missing anything important there or anything. He waved and dropped to a crouch on a flattened cardboard box, letting his backpack drop to the ground next to him.

Her face lit up as she saw him, her broad smile revealing where several teeth had either dropped or were knocked out. "Artie!" she crowed, dropping the ragged blanket she had been putting into one of her many plastic bags, all stuffed with possessions, 'treasures' she had found on the street or in the garbage. "My boy came back again! It is so good to have you home!" She came over, holding out her stick-thin arms for a hug.

He hugged her back. "Course I did!" Artie said indignantly, projecting the words against the wall. "I brought some stuff," he added, riffling through his backpack and pulling out a half dozen glow sticks and a tiny solid fuel stove and a bag of assorted first aid equipment, all stolen from either the X-Men's supplies or the medlab. Lastly, he handed over a bundle of crumpled $10 notes.

"Such a good boy, to look after me," Annalee crooned, patting his cheek. "Good boys take care of their mothers, yes they do."

He nodded, dropping into a squat and leaning against the wall. "How are you? Is there anything else you need?"

"Just your company, Artie. I get so lonely sometimes. It's not like it was in the tunnels, always someone to talk to or to ask for help. Now it's just me, a silly old lady begging for scraps." She was going through the things Artie had brought, turning them over in her thin hands. "And how are you? You must be happy, living in that big house."

He shrugged. "It's good. We um... We got haunted by these ghosts, right? Wanted us to get them back stuff from their past lives and things. They were pretty annoying, really." He was quietly glad that he only had that quietly benign news to relay this time. "So we uh, got their stuff back and then they went away. And we had school and things. You know. Stuff."

She looked up at him, frowning a little. "You don't seem happy, though. And it isn't just the ghosts."

He projected the text against the wall, like usual, a series of short phrases flicking in and out of existence. "I don't know... I mean, they're going to figure out how much school I'm cutting to visit and make sure you've got enough money and things." Because that's what living with telepaths and roommates who could smell the Tunnels on you meant and that was ignoring the problem of trouble he'd be in if they found out where he was getting the money from. "I don't know, okay. It's nice, and all but it's not like anyone there actually gives a damn about anything other than the X-Men or anything, really. And I figure that sooner or later, someone is going to come down on us because the X-Men are there and they'll take the rest of us out trying to get to them."

"You're... not safe there? Even now?" Annalee dropped the first aid kit and came over to him, crouching in front of him. "I want you to be safe, Artie. Safe and happy. I don't want you to be hurt."

Artie gave a silent, bitter laugh and began ticking the names off on his fingers. "Stryker. Arcade. Gangsters. Our teachers, when they got crazy on us. Honest-to-God Demons. Killer dinosaurs. Other students going all energy vampire on people. And that's not even all of it, you know?"

"I'm so sorry, Artie. I thought I was doing the right thing..." A tear trickled down one wrinkled cheek, cutting a track through the dirt. "I should never have listened to the others. I should have kept you with me, in the tunnels, where it was safe."

"You don't know that it was safe here. I mean, everyone got killed." He shivered, remembering.

"Because we got careless. We started thinking about going Upworld and drew attention to ourselves. It's different now." She patted his shoulder soothingly. "And I'd keep you safe, just like I did then. I won't let anyone hurt my boy."

Artie reached up and touched her hand briefly. "I know that, mama."