X-Factor Casefile: The Sting: Bye Bye apartment

[x-invisiblegirl.livejournal.com]

In the city Julian and Sue come under attack by unknwon assailants, a place of not so safety is sought.

"Thank you for coming, Miss Ashida," Julian shook the reporters hand as she prepared to leave. Under different circumstances, he would have been angling for a more intimate chat, she was a beautiful woman, but it was too soon...Tandy. He forced a smile and continued, "I do hope Miss Storm wasn't too technical with her description of the project. Please call the Applied Mechanics offices if you have any further questions." He closed the door and took a moment before turning to his companion, "I think that went well.""I only caught about a quarter of it, and I took several semesters of physics," Julian laughed and sat down at the large leather chair at his desk...his desk, that still took getting used to. "Don't bother trying to explain it again, I'm just happy I could convince the board to open up the funds and security clearances to do a joint project like this." In truth, it hadn't been difficult at all; his mother had been on board from word one about Sue's involvement and apparently had some leverage over the board since the vote was unanimous without any discussion, or public dissent.

"Poor Julian," Sue sympathized, "Looks like both you and Miss Ashida need to take Miss Storm's super special Physics refresher class," she teased her friend. "Honestly, I'm surprised that the board didn't try to get a representative or two to just 'wander in' during the interview. In this climate it's a success, and any success is something that's got to be trumpeted from the rooftops."

It was odd, but..."Duke and Kelly are down in our Georgia facility today to review something I don't have access to, then Humbart, Coolidge, and Ross all send proxies to the meetings anyway, and none of those poor souls would want to cross me- apparently." Julian thought for a moment, then looked up at Sue, concern crossing his brow, "Am I really so threatening?"

Sue pursed her lips and cocked her head to look at Julian, a mischevious glint in her eye, "No not at all Mr Keller, sir. You're not threatening, you're a teddy bear...unless you want to be. Then you're hte most terrifying thing ever!" the blonde grinned and stuck her tongue out at Julian. "You're not really that terrifying yet, lets be honest, the board are probably afraid of your mum and don't want to mess with you incase she finds out. Hell, even I'm nervous around your mum."

That didn't sound like the mother he remembered, but things had changed. Julian leaned forward, pressing the intercom button built into his desk that led directly to, "Fiona, please schedule me a flight home at my earliest opening please?" After a moment of silence, a positive remark put him at departing soon after the start of the next month. With a smile, Julian stood, "Well, I'm famished- what would you say to joining me for lunch? Can your lab spare you?"

"I dunno, last time I left them alone for more than 30 minutes I came back to find everyone running around like headless chickens, I am pretty indispensable you know," she said demurely, although the grin on her face gave the lie to her statement, "I'm sure you could twist my arm to continue lighting up your life with my presence. Besides, I'm kinda trying to avoid our board members right now," she admitted.

"Consider it twisted then," he said standing. "I, apparently, have a standing reservation at a few places around town." He pressed the intercom again and had Fiona send for a car to meet them downstairs. Then offered his arm to Sue after shrugging his coat on. "Shall we?"

"We should," she replied linking her arm through Julian's and practically pulling him to the stairs. "You know", she started as they approached the side door, "maybe we can go somewhere off the beaten track? Everyone always wants to go to the usual places, but I'd kinda like to try somewhere smaller, you know authentic."

Not for the first time, Julian began wishing that Deli-CAT-essen was still around in this new world. It was this longing, and his suppressing the desire for Catseye's food, that made him miss things as they stepped out the steel door toward their waiting car. At the end of the alleyway, a black van started toward them. The driver of their car gave a startled shout and began to run in the other direction, the door he had been holding left open, once he saw a masked man with a handgun leaning out the passenger side window of the van.

The door shut behind them with a resounding clack of a metal lock finding its home. Brought into the moment, Julian grabbed Sue's hand and hurried down the steps as the first shots were fired. "Get inside!" he shouted, putting up a nearly invisible barrier against the volley of small arms fire- which abruptly stopped as the van was almost upon them.

Diving through the still open door Sue scrambled into the front seat turning the key in the ignition and glancing back at Julian, "Get in!" Barely waiting forher friend to clear the door hte blonde floor the gas the car lurching forward onto the road as the Van jerked into motion on their tail.

"Never a dull moment," Julian said as the gunfire resumed, shattering the back window of the car. He put up a barrier to keep the bullets from doing any further damage, but found it difficult to concentrate with the maneuvering Sue was doing from the driver's seat. "Where the hell did you learn to drive?!" he shouted from the floor of the back-seat.

"Defensive driving school," came the offhand reply as Sue focused on weaving hte car through the ever-present New York traffic, "you knwo how it is, you get kidnapped once and your dad decides you need to learn how to run away from people before he buys you a car. I can flip someone over my shoulder too," she said with a hint of pride.

Julian managed to get hold of the passenger seat and level himself upright with a scoff- this Sue was so different than the one he knew before. "Head to your place-" he looked around at the throngs who crowded the side-walks, now turning their attention to the car chase. "I'll take care of them," Julian reached out with his ability and found the van- then discarded the thought of simply slamming their engine block through their vehicle. Opting for subtlety, he found one of their tires and squeezed- feeling it give in a satisfying pop. Watching from the back seat, he saw the van collide with a moving van's rear-end, taking them out of the chase.

"Well that's one way to take car of them," Sue commented as the van disgorging it's angry crew disappeared from teh rear-view mirror, "so why are there crazed masked thugs waiting for you. Who did you manage to piss off this time?" she teased, "you can't tell me this is normal."

"I didn't do anything!" Julian protested, climbing forward into the passenger seat just in time to see a squad car head the opposite way. He sighed as his seat-belt clicked into place,"Let's just get to your place and we'll figure it out."

***

Shortly thereafter, Julian stepped off the elevator into the hallway that he was supposed to be familiar with. Apparently, he'd been here many times before, since Sue- his best friend- lived here. "I know I keep saying it, but damn that was awesome driving."

"Nah that was just driving," Sue waved her hand dismissively, "now blowing out the truck's wheel while it was chasing us, that was awesome. Have you been practicing or something? Cause that was seriously cool."

Apparently the Julian she'd grown up with hadn't been quite as in control of his powers- he had to remember that. "Yeah, something like that," he sighed as she fidgeted with her keys, remembering the old Sue for a moment before pushing the memories away because Tandy kept sliding back into his mind through them. "We can call the cops inside, and lay low here until," his phone- one of them- started ringing, checking the mansion one he found that it was his business line. "Shit, it's my mom."

"Ohhh, someone's in trouble now," Sue offered Julian a sympathetic squeeze of his shoulder, "she probably just heard about the shooting and wants to check in with you and make sure you're ok. Or you know, she's developed ESP, I'd say either case is as likely as the other. Tell her I say hi..or maybe not...I can't ever tell if she likes me or not." The blonde offered Julian a wry grin as she pulled out her keys. "I'll let you talk," she mouthed with a grin.

With a sigh, Julian hit the button to answer the call, "Hey mom, yeah- no, everything is fine." As the door opened he wasn't paying attention, talking to his semi-hysterical mother who was assuring him that his driver had been summarily fired. He didn't notice until Sue ran into him that she was quickly backing out of the room.

The blonde made a desperate cutting motion with her hand gesturing at Julian's phone with a pleading look in her eyes. "I think maybe ...Umm there is maybe..." Sue gestured at her apartment, obviously flustered.

Looking past her, Julian noticed that Sue's apartment was a mess- though he had never known her to be one to abide such a state. Slowly the realization dawned on him, "Mother, it's not me they were after- call Sue's father, I'm taking her to a safe house." He hung up the phone immediately and stepped past his friend, putting up a faint shield just in case the vandals were still here. The place was trashed, whoever this was had been thorough. "Well, that's new- any idea what they were looking for?"

"I..a..no." The blonde's eyes flicked all over the apartment, "Do you think it was thieves? But why would they come after my apartment here. I mean I have some stuff in my apartment, but all the good stuff's under lock and key. Unless..." Sue bolted into her apartment stopping short at the remains of her computer strewn across the floor. "They were after something from work, but I never bring it home.." she noted, shock evident in her voice.

Julian mulled the thought over in his mind before firming it into decision and grabbing his non-personal phone- the one with the big 'X' on the cover. Sending a pulse of telekinetic energy through the apartment, he didn't sense anything that felt human, but he wasn't going to take any chances. "Okay, grab anything you need to get away for a few days," he dialed Scott's number and was relieved when he answered on the first ring. "Mister Summers, I'm bringing Susan Storm in- we were attacked by...someone in the city, I'll brief you when I get in." After a moment's response, he continued, "About an hour out without using my TeeKay." He looked at Sue, "Will do, see you soon, boss." Julian hung up the phone, "Let's get going."

"I what you then wait what?!" Sue was struggling to get a handle on what was happening but something seemed odd, who exactly can you jsut call saying my friend's apartment has been ransacked and we were shot at we'll be there in an hour. "What's going on? Where're we going?"

"Upstate," Julian peaked into the hallway, wondering if someone could be watching from behind one of the doors. "Do you need anything before we go?" He could see the uncertainty in her face, the unfamiliarity with someone she thought she had known. "Sue, it's going to be fine- but I need you to trust me. I'm going to take you to the safest place on the planet," he paused, a fleeting thought of if that was really true anymore crossing into his mind before he continued. "I need you to trust me, I don't want to say anything else here in case they bugged the place, and any safe houses your family has, or mine, might be compromised since they knew one of our schedules." He made a mental note to look into Fiona's loyalty.

"O...ok," Sue shook her head trying to get her wits back together. This was Julian, she'd known him since forever, if he thought it was a safe place then well she had to trust someone and it's not like her apartment was really a great place to be. "Ok..." the blonde nodded, "I...I can always come back later and pick up what I need, or well.." she looked at the remnants of her wardrobe, "maybe I can buy anything I need for the next few days." She didn't really wanna have to sort through the entire mess now.

"It will be taken care of," Julian sighed slightly and held the door open for her. "I can have people come get anything you need from here until this all gets sorted out." He paused, "It will get sorted out, Sue- I promise."