The last few days prior to the winter break were pretty peaceful. I almost wished something would have happened so that I could have tried to finagle something to get out of having to take my calculus exam. But alas, nothing.
Every student leaving for the break said their goodbyes and went their separate ways, myself included. This time, Laura wasn't coming home with me. Instead, she and Mister Logan were going to try some bonding time.
A curious part of me kind of wanted to hang around to see what that would look like.
This time, however, one of my other female teammates would accompany me. Hisako would be with me for the cross-country flight to the west coast. The arrangement was that she would hang out with me for a day, then catch a connecting flight to Japan. She'd get there a few days before Christmas.
We settled into our seats on the plane and got comfortable for what was going to be a 6 hour trip, "I can't believe you actually agreed to this when I floated it out there. You know you're going to be stuck with me until your next flight takes off."
Hisako settled in next to me, getting herself situated before the person in the same row as us would eventually arrive, "I don't care. I did the whole trip in one go last time," She hugged herself upon remembering the seemingly unpleasant experience, "Ugh. 16 straight hours, all alone. Never again. I'd rather split it up and hang around with you in the meantime."
"Aww..." I teased.
"Shut up," Hisako shoved me half-heartedly, "Are you sure I can have the aisle seat?"
"I'm sure you have a better chance of going to go to the bathroom than me, so yes," I told her, "I guarantee once this plane takes off, I'm not getting up," I gestured my head to the empty seat on my other side, "Don't need the window seat either since I don't sleep."
Hisako feigned amazement, "Ooh, you're such a tough guy."
I smirked and played into her attempt at sarcasm, "That's what my mommy says. Speaking of which, my parents better not ask anything stupid, like if I'm dating you. That shit was annoying when Laura came to stay."
Bringing up Laura, Hisako took a moment to think to herself, "Wait. Bel, do your parents even know you have a new girlfriend?" I didn't answer, instead turning my eyes away from her. My silence spoke volumes, even as the announcement that we were about to take off rang out, "...They don't. You've got to be kidding me. You've been dating for weeks."
I was quick to defend myself, "That's not that long!" Still, Hisako didn't stop glaring at me, "It never came up!"
Hisako's glare turned slightly to a look of disbelief as we buckled up, "How did it never come up? You talk to them at least once a week. You're telling me none of the talks you had wound up like, 'Yeah, mom and dad, my grades are good. Oh, and do you remember that girl with claws from last summer? Yeah, she's really great. I've been sticking it to her since the middle of November.'"
I held up a hand to stop her, "First of all, never say 'sticking it to' in that context again," It just didn't sound right coming from her. She wasn't supposed to talk like that, "Second of all, catching them up on the last time I almost died seemed a more pressing update since it happens every week," Hisako frowned, but nodded, conceding that point, "That, and I know my dad's gonna eat when it comes to making fun of me when he finds out."
He was going to think it was hilarious. The old man thought it was weird that nothing was going on between us back then. My mom though, she was never entirely convinced that there hadn't been something going on between Laura and me.
If I had to explain to her that I hadn't been cheating on Megan with Laura to my own mom the way I had to explain to classmates... Jesus, how awkward would that be?
Hisako had no sympathy for my potential parental plight, "Well, that's what you get for being a man-whore."
"I am not a man-whore," I argued, "I've only been with two girls all year."
"Two in six months, actually," Hisako corrected, getting a dig in her side from my elbow for her troubles, "What's the magic number to make you a man-whore then?"
"I dunno. Definitely more than two," I started doing math in my head as we took off, using my fingers to count and utilizing reasonable estimations to actually come up with a formula, "I guess if we're going by six months as the timeframe, I'd say four. And that's if real relationships and sleeping with them is the criteria we're using. What do you think?" I looked up when I didn't receive a reaction for what even I considered an idiotic statement, "Hisako?"
She was still next to me, but wasn't moving. It was like she was frozen in time. In fact, it wasn't just her.
In the time it took me to do my asinine math, our ascent had gone smoothly and we could now move freely around the cabin, but no one was. I looked around to see that everyone on the plane seemed to be frozen the exact same way - passengers and attendants alike. Even the Federal Air Marshal put on the flight to watch us, because mutants, wasn't moving.
Actually, I was wrong. Someone was moving around. Footsteps fell and eventually I saw pink hair in a slicked-back mohawk and a 'please-punch-me' smirk.
Quentin goddamn Quire.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I muttered to myself and started headbutting the back of the seat in front of me, "How. Are. You. Not. At. School."
Quire chuckled smugly and gestured arms wide, "Hey, I'm a student. I'm entitled to a vacation too, Marcher."
"You tried to start a race riot on campus last year," I snapped back, "You're a criminal."
I hated how cool he was trying to play this. He wasn't cool. He was an antagonistic pain, a habitual line-stepper, and he got off on pushing people's buttons. It was a trait that it seemed a lot of psychics shared. I guess it was an easy adrenaline rush when you could literally read someone's mind to see what would needle them the most, then use it against them.
"Never had a single charge filed against me," Quire said, still grinning as widely as ever, "Just being a pain for the faculty isn't enough to call me a criminal."
They'd somehow managed to get jurisdiction after Quire's riot back in the day. I'm guessing it was because the only person who was killed in it was a student, so authorities didn't waste their time with it. We were only mutants, after all. That, and because Quire had wound up as primordial ooze afterwards until recently.
"Yeah, I bet the Cuckoos think so too," I felt a sense of satisfaction at wiping the smile off of his face with my own words, reminding him of his most costly failure.
"Watch your mouth, Marcher," Quire warned with a glare.
The plane shook and suddenly dipped. I death-gripped my seat until just as quickly, everything leveled out. Being the only one in the moment, I was the only one who reacted. Quire didn't seem surprised at all, "What was that?"
"A warning," He said, "You see, I could have this plane drop out of the sky whenever I want, with you on it."
I didn't bother mentioning that he was also on it, as he probably figured he could get himself out cleanly, "-But?"
Quire feigned confusion, "But what? What if this is just how I plan on killing you?"
I gave him a dry look, "I would say you had like a thousand ways to do it less complex than getting on the same flight as me and telepathically highjacking it. What do you want?"
"I say this for now. I'll let this plane go on its way nice and easy," Quire squeezed past me and plopped down in the window seat on my other side, reclining his seat all the way back, "I'll let you have your lame little winter break in peace. I just need a day or two of your time."
I still wasn't sure if I could beat him, and in the middle of a crowded plane mid-flight wasn't the place to test my might. Knowing when to fight was just as important as anything else, and I could try to play ball for a while until I got an opening.
...I'd hoped I hadn't thought that too loudly. Though, he probably didn't need to be able to read my mind to know where my head was.
"Fine," I said, agreeing to go along with the program without a fuss, "Now, what do you want?"
Quire's smarmy expression returned, but I didn't pay it any mind. Not in lieu of the words that followed, "We're going to pay a visit to the greatest mutant ever. You and I are going to see Magneto."
Wait. Wasn't that guy dead?