Saturday Afternoon at the Angels Clinic

[x-artie.livejournal.com]

Artie introduces his mother Annalee to Nico during a quiet moment at the Angels Clinic working bee on Saturday afternoon. The conversation gets a little ...odd.



"Hey, Nico!" Artie said, projecting the words in front of the girl's face. "You got a minute? My ah. My mom wants to ask you a question." He fiddled with the hem of his hoodie, Annalee standing behind him, a hand on one shoulder.

Nico blinked in confusion at the words appearing in front of her. Artie could have just waved his hand, for all she knew. "...sure? Hello?", said as she looked to the woman. "Nice to meet you?"

"It's very nice to meet you too, dear." Annalee stepped forward and held out a hand for Nico to shake, still keeping her other on Artie's shoulder. "My boy has told me so much about his friends, it's almost like I know you all already."

Nico bit the witty retort about shaking hands in the sewers her brain was coming up with and extended her hand, a dim smile on her face. "It's nice to meet you too." Once again she bit back the urge to mimic her answer by telling her just how much had Artie spoke about her...which was pretty much nothing that she remembered.

Artie nodded and then said, "You know, Annalee's kind of worried about us all. She thinks that the X-Men aren't doing enough of a job to look after us. I mean, look at what happened to you earlier this year..."

Annalee's grip on Nico's hand lingered a little, as if the homeless woman craved human contact. "Artie's told me such stories about the school and what has happened to him and his friends. It's quite upsetting, to know you're not safe there."

"Ah, well, considering who we are and what we can do..." She tried to keep the smile, but Annalee was creepy, creepy, creepy. She didn't let go though, considering it was Artie's mom and everything. It was also that her words...were having an effect on her. "Although yeah, it's pretty dangerous up there..." That wouldn't stop Amanda though, but Nico shook her head; that didn't matter. It mattered to be safe, right? She felt safe there. Nico wasn't too sure of what to believe anymore, but the need of removing her hand seemed to decrease at every passing second.

"Being a mutant is difficult enough. You shouldn't be hunted or kidnapped or forced to do something you don't want to." Annalee's tone was motherly, but emphatic, a mama bear growling at the hint of a threat to her cubs. "I know what it is like to be afraid, but I have my family now, and a safe place to be. We look after each other, the same way you and your friends look after each other.

Artie nodded. "the morlocks really do look after each other. they had a whole world down there and they're starting it over again. its going to work. Annalee'd like us to come and join them, since she knows how dangerous things are for mutants up here." He ran the text through the air, forgetting the capital letters and punctuation in his haste.

"Only if you want to," Annalee hastened to add. "I know you have families and friends you might not want to leave. I don't want to break up any relationships you might have."

Family. Break up. Annalee's words struck a nerve, because her grip suddenly got a lot tighter as she remembered Julian and her parents; she loved the three of them in different ways...but they had hurt her so much. No, she couldn't go back. She didn't want to go back. Nico's eyes went black as the magic energy suddenly flowed, cracks appearing from the corner of her eyes, and she felt Annalee...and whatever she was doing to her, but it was too late. Her power crashed with hers, and Nico's mind was shocked and left numb. Nico's grip suddenly loosened, eyes still dark and cracked, but otherwise stoic as if she had suddenly...lost her emotions.

The old woman gasped as Nico's emotions hit her full force. Her empathy had always been such a minor thing but the girl had opened the floodgates, pounding Annalee with loss, fear, betrayal... Instinctively, Annalee pushed back, trying to comfort the girl the same way she would comfort Artie as a small boy with night terrors. "It'll be all right," she soothed, holding Nico's hand between hers. "I'll take care of you. I'll make sure nothing ever happens to you again. We'll be safe, all of us."

Artie nodded. He felt safe. For the first time in forever, he felt completely, absolutely safe, rather than just safer with a side of responsible for Annalee, as he had before. "We have to get the others. They've got to come too," he said. "Or someone will hurt them."


Later, having gathered the rest of the kids together during a tea break in the midst of their working bee at the Angels Clinic, Artie and the rest of the New Mutants have a chat and come to a decision.



Artie looked around at the others and felt the anxiety of the past few weeks well up. "So, my mom Annalee has been talking to me and stuff. And you all know it's not safe up here, right? Even in District X. There's too many flatscans. Annalee said that we could stay with her, so that they don't kill us or anything since me, Megan and Dori are visible mutants." He looked over his shoulder carefully. Everyone involved with the Angels clinic was currently on tea break and no-one was watching the group of kids over near the door.

"And you know for sure we'll be safe with her too?" Doreen said, holding on to her tail. It was more of an argument just to put on some show of being a somewhat responsible older kid, her mind was already made up.

Sarah crossed her arms around herself, hands resting on either shoulder and squeezing them a little. "It doesn't feel safe here, I know. I mean... what's the harm in checking it out? it can't be any worse down there, it could only be better." She looked around at the rest of them, wondering if they all felt the same way. It seemed to make sense to her at the moment at any rate.

Artie nodded and typed, "Exactly. You know it's not safe up here. There's just too much... Stuff. And it's pretty cool down there, too, in sections." Other sections of the tunnels sucked ass but, whatever. It wasn't like he was going to go live in the areas that the junkies camped out in.

"So it's like the Batcave?" Molly said excitedly. The lady Artie talked about sounded nice AND she lived underground like Batman. That was so cool! They got to live there too, and get protected against the bad guys.

Meggan almost shivered because of how bad things were feeling up here. Artie was right, there was no other option for them. “If it keeps everyone from getting attacked, I think it’s the only way. We’ll start over down there, where we won’t be hurt by anything.” If it was more than one section, then they wouldn’t be too cramped. Then again, cramped was better than any of them getting wounded or killed. At Molly’s comment, she corrected with a small smile, “Yes, Molly…but minus the computers and butler.”

Pixie felt convinced by the group's arguments and nodded. "We'll stick together," she said. She had strong confidence in Nico, and a growing admiration for Artie.

It was bothering her, something at the back of her head, like an invisible finger poking her neck over and over and over again, but Nico considered it was part of the uneasiness the whole place was giving her. Going to the tunnels...the idea sounded great, but then again, running away was something Nico had conflicting feelings about. She couldn't just let everyone go on their own though, what with her being one of the older, not to mention perhaps the more powerful of the group. "We could take a look...", ventured, although she could tell how things would evolve from there. Very well, she would have to contact Amanda or something if it seemed like they would stay down there, but there would be a time for that.

Matt wasn't sure how much he liked this idea, but everyone else was going...and he could always break away later, right? He knew New York and he wasn't supposed to leave the group. He was trying so hard not to violate his probation. He did not want to go back to juvie or anything, "I'm in," he stated.

Artie nodded. "Even a look's good. You'll see how good the place is once you're there. Srsly. It's safe," he added. Klara rolled a seed around between her fingers nervously. One part of her really didn't like the idea of living down there. She liked sunlight. Her plants needed it to live. But they wouldn't be down there forever, right? Maybe it would just be a few months. They would stay together and keep each other safe, and perhaps it wouldn't be that bad. She had lived without luxuries before, and that was without her powers.

"If we stay, I can keep us well fed," she offered. "I would like to at least look."

Artie nodded. "Good. It's nice. You'll see," he said.

As the talk died down, Annalee came back over to them. She didn't need to ask what they'd decided - she could see it in their faces.

"Oh, my dear ones," she said with a beaming, motherly smile as she opened her arms to them. "Welcome home."