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King's Highway
Topic Started: Oct 16 2011, 08:27 AM (222 Views)
Surge
Unregistered

September 19th
Midday
A Park Near the Worthington Building
JP, Surge and Jay




New York City felt different these days. The world had felt different these days. And with reason.

Years ago mother nature, evolution, had robbed her of what could have been called a normal life. Her body had changed, in a matter of weeks, into a conduit for electricity, a living battery. Thinking about it that way made her feel less-than human. Two and a half years ago, Apocalypse had stolen her family from her, or most of it, her only living blood on the other side of the world fifty weeks a year, on the other side of the country for the other two. And just under three weeks ago, hatred, fear, and bigotry had taken her home out from under her, or dropped it on top of her, it was all semantics, and like that, the family she’d found at Xavier’s began to split up, to scatter. Some she’d see again, and that was comforting, others she wouldn’t. That was not. And still others Noriko Ashida wasn’t sure if she’d want to see again.

She was waiting for one of those last ones now. Joshua Guthrie, called Jay. She’d known him for a long time, shared fond memories of the past with him. He’d been her friend, he’d followed her around the world to help save someone who shouldn’t have even mattered to him. Noriko’s spent tears worrying when he’d gone missing, and now that he was back, she felt oddly muted, oddly numb to it. She wondered if she cared, wondered if that puzzled outlook made her a bad friend, or a bad person.

The weather was cold as she sat in a park not far off from the Worthington Complex, a hooded sweatshirt hiding most of her bulky metal gauntlets from the world, tufts of electric blue fading out to black undyed roots shooting out from under her Xavier’s Cap. That had had become full of sentiments now. It had been in the pocket of her cargos when everything came crashing down. It was all she had left of her home.

He came from a large family, a family that at times it was very easy to get looked over and forgotten at times. He was the third oldest of many children, and while he spent a good portion of his early life trying to be unique, nature had something else in mind and he took on the visage of an angel with a voice to match, only unlike his eldest siblings who were already mutated, he did not find joy in this uniqueness. By far he hated it. Until he was able to fly for that first time, everything just changed when he flew in the air. He was free from the responsibility of family, a job, age old feuds, every trouble life ever gave him just disappeared and washed off his back the moment he took off into the sky. Until a month and a half ago when the sky was stolen from him, and he thought he was going to lose more than just his wings.

When he realized he was not going to die, he found himself in a place of sin that had been nurturing him back to health for weeks back from what very well could have been his death bed. However they had a reason to fix him, and they gave him an offer. Wings to once again soar into the sky, a chance at justice, all in exchange for servitude… while he made the decision quickly it was not without thought, so he got his wings, he was garunteed a chance against those that did this to him and all the other mutants that suffered because of their bigoted views. Then roughly a week after the wings were placed into him, the school, his friends, his family were attacked. Lives lost, precious material possessions destroyed, and innocent hands now had blood on them. Was that the justice he wanted?

He spent two weeks with his family back home in Kentucky, knowing that when he got back he would have to start paying back his debt working for the Black King. Jay went shopping to keep his mind off things, and more importantly attempt to get some distance from people while he tried to figure out what he was going to tell them. He felt guilty about not talking to the friends that were still in New York, other than Cessily… and he was not going to tell people about that conversation. He did not blame the metal girl though. Stepping off a bus, holding two bags in one hand wearing a black jacket he started walking towards the Complex following the cement path along a park. The X on the cap caught his eye and then the girl wearing it. Did she see him? Should he just act normal? Things felt awkward. “Hey Noriko.”

There he was. She looked up, hands unclenching the bench beneath her. “Jay…” She said, not looking him in the eye. “Figured you’d be back soon…” Her words kept trailing, as if she wanted to say more but wouldn’t. She stepped forward and gave him a hug, eyes screwing as she noticed the lack of what once was his most defining features.

“So…yeah..” She said, awkwardly. “When are you heading out to the blue-blood club?” It was so hard for her not to yell. She thought back a few months, to a bus stop a block away from Harry’s.

He dropped the bags, to return her hug with both arms. That wasn’t so hard. “I wasn’t realizing anyone was waiting for me, would have brought lunch.” He said lightheartedly, trying to recapture some semblance of some jokes he used to make. Then things felt all the more awkward when she brought the ‘blue-blood club’.

“Thursday…” He said softly. He wasn’t sure who told her cause he didn’t really say much about it. Because quite honestly, Jay really wanted to avoid serious conversations as of late, he wanted to get laughs and joy back in the fucking depressing world that they all lived in. “Nori…it’s not what you think.” He responded to the fading blue haired girl.

“I’m not much of one for lunch today.” She said, sitting back down. She’d actually had Sushi and Yakitori brought up from room service, a taste of home that she didn’t often times partake of. She’d eaten it, yeah, but it gave her a stomach ache. It had taken nearly a week for things to settle on her shoulders. The day after the explosion she’d pretty much blocked it out. It had all come crashing down before long, however.

“A lot of things aren’t what I thought they were, at least that’s what I’m finding out.” That dam in her mind was cracked, trickles of anger starting to wear away at her resolve. “Why aren’t you staying here? Going to Uto-…with the others? Why leave?” She still hadn’t looked at him yet, not in the face.

“Can you really see me running around in the Savage Land, Noriko?” Jay asked her picking up his bags and deciding to sit next to her on the park bench. He watched the people walking around in the park, some heavy set man walking his dog in a bright yellow jumpsuit particularly caught his attention for some reason.


“I owe them my life Nori.” Jay said simply. “I’m…not going to go in the details but when my wings were taken, well my immune system was messed up and shit. They kept me alive, they gave me new wings, and a job so I can pay for school and send money back to my mom for her to help pay for things.” Jay explained, hoping that’d be good enough for her, though he knew it wasn’t.

“Yeah, because Xavier’s didn’t foster you for years or anything. Because nobody else you know would be out there with you if you went. Because you think you owe something to bad people.” Her eyes stayed focused on an obnoxious crack in the cement that held the bench to the ground. “Because you know, it’s not like you have anyone that you’re gonna be hurting even more by leaving and not saying goodbye.” She turned her head towards him, looked him in the eye for the first time in who knew how long. “Think about Rahne, Jay. Tommy? Josh? Laurie? What about them. And you know what, the people you’re going with, they won’t always be on our side, only when they have something to gain from it.” She gesticulated with her hand, motioning around in the air wildly. “What happens if we ever have something they want, Jay. We got lucky, at the school. They had a conscience. Once. Big whup.”

“I did think about them Nori. I thought about everyone every waking moment I was locked up, prayed ever single second not for myself, but for all of you to be okay.” He responded to her. This is precisely what he wanted to avoid. For all the good he did listening to people’s problems, he sucked with talking about things that involved himself. “You act like I go over there and I’ll never be able to talk to anyone ever again. I’ll still be in New York, it’ll be easier seeing me than it would be doing god knows what to get to wherever the heck the others are.” He tried reassuring her that it wasn’t like he’d never be able to see anyone ever again.

However the comment about the Club not always agreeing with the X-Men, the risk of opposing each other, that was something he hadn’t been to figure out himself. “Can you just… trust me, Noriko? Things will be fine.”

“Trust you? Visit You?!” She snapped.“Yeah, things will be fine Jay.” She stood up. “Rrgh!” She turned around. “And don’t you dare try to flip it around on me here!” That dam was gone. Broken. “Why don’t you just stay here? Come with us? Go to Utopia, what are they gonna do, come and take you? I dare them.” She shook her finger at him. “Get out of here with the martyr crap, Jay. We tried finding you. Jean tried finding you. You were worried about us…” She felt like she should understand it more, but she didn’t, and with everything building up, with all the gravity of everything that happened, she didn’t want to. “You think that them saving your life automatically means you have to go with them? If that was the case, think of how many people would be with the X-Men. How many people would be on the Police Department, or the Fire department. It doesn’t work like that, Jay.”

“Fine! You’re right, it’s more than they just saved my life, they gave me fucking wings again!” He snapped back, emotion filled his voice. “Because for once in my life, I wanted to be selfish, because I didn’t want to be powerless.” His voice lowered in volume. “The Purifiers took a part of me away, I… I just… I wanted something to feel like myself again, I just wanted to be able to fly again, is that so wrong?” Jay felt his eyes start to hurt, pain in his stomach, he knew what this conversation was feeling like and he didn’t want it to go that way.

As she listened to him, she felt something in her mind shifting around, his words pelting her ears and moving things around that should have stayed put. Her eyes screwed into a scowling glare. “Because your friends couldn’t help you get by that.” She kept spewing reasons at him, unable to reach out for anything else. “Josh could have healed you, he’s got his powers back. Hell, Dr. McCoy could have come up with something, Jeffries at X-Factor?!. Warren’s got metal wings, I’m sure you could have gotten something. ..but no, Jay. It’s obvious that being with your friends isn’t worth waiting for a new set of wings.”

She looked down the street, towards Worthington’s complex. “You’ve no idea how much this sucks Jay. No idea.”

Was she being selfish? Worse, did she care? She wanted to make a break for the Complex, wanted to leave this before she blew a gasket.


The angrier she looked, the worse he felt. He did not want her to be angry, god he wanted anything but for her to be angry or upset. But what could he do? What should he do? He didn’t know the answer, and once again things were just feeling hopeless and out of control. “What’s obvious Noriko is that I got tired of being a burden to everyone I care about. When the X-Corp building was attacked… I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t help anyone, hell I couldn’t even run away. It’s not the first time that has happened. I’m not cut from the same cloth that you and Josh or even my brother Sam are…” He said softly. “The only thing I have, the only thing I can do is fly. That was taken from me, and when someone was dangling the chance to be in the sky again in front of me, and a job that can really help my mom out? You’re damn right I’m taking it.” Despite what he said, he felt like he was trembling, he was upset naturally, and just like her, he was angry with himself. He just wasn’t sure why.

“What else do you want me to say, Nori?” He asked her softly.

She shook her head. She wanted to reach out and grab him and shake him or hit him or something, anything to knock sense into him. “I’m sure your mom is gonna be thrilled when she gets her first check Jay. Just don’t tell her who it came from.” Like she’d know. Like he’d tell her. She balled up her firsts. “You don’t have to say anything, Jay. You’ve said enough already…I’m going ho-…I’m just going.”

She took a few steps backwards, arms spread wide. “Hope it’s worth it Jay.” She said, voice tinted with equal parts ire and gloom. “You get what you want, it’s just not something I want to be involved with.”

Surge turned around, following the concrete path that led out of the little patch of green. She didn’t cry, so much as she wanted to. She was done wasting tears on things she couldn’t do anything about. Maybe she wasn’t being fair. Maybe this wasn’t what she made it out to be, but for once the past three weeks, she wanted to be right about something, certain about something, and so she made her mind up, damn all else or otherwise.
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