KnightofTempest
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Chapter 48
🕑 Added 2025-03-08 04:14:42 +0000 UTCI met with Jubilee at a coffee shop in Los Angeles. It was way too hot for me to be wearing much in the way of my usual gear, but fortunately, I didn't have to now that I had a spell that effectively let me equip myself in the field like I was a magical girl or something. Instead, I wound up wearing civvies. A white open button-down shirt over a white tanktop, black slacks, white sneakers, and a pair of sunglasses to round out the look. For some reason, Jubilee wound up going for the same civvie-style clothes as I was. She was wearing a yellow tanktop, jean shorts, and with pink sunglasses pushed up on her head as a makeshift bandanna holding her, now longer, hair in place.
"Hey, you're not wearing your stuff?" She questioned with a nod.
"I can summon my gear easily with a spell. What about you?" I queried.
"I don't exactly wanna stand out here. The whole Government-Sanctioned thing might be over, but that doesn't mean Mutants are suddenly super in-fashion right now, either." Shrugged Jubilee.
"Smart. Don't want to go representing the X-Teams if you don't need to. Besides, it's not like this is an X-Team Matter, to begin with." I agreed.
"You'd be surprised. I actually had to sneak away to stop some of the team from tagging along." Smirked Jubilee.
"Angelo and Page?" I asked.
"You're not gonna believe this, but Monet actually wanted to come." Chuckled Jubilee.
"From what I know of Monet, she doesn't seem like the type." I pointed out.
"I guess she wanted to see you again. Seems like she's got a major crush on you since you got the twins to release her from Penance." Relayed Jubilee.
"Yeah, that wouldn't exactly work out. Besides, I'm taken." I pointed out.
"Oh yeah? I want detes. Spill." Grinned Jubilee.
"You know She-Hulk?" I questioned.
"No way! You know she's got a reputation, right?" Queried Jubilee, loudly.
"So?" I asked.
"So if you're taken, you're not gonna be that way for long." Pointed out Jubilee.
"Yeah, but what a ride while it lasts." I insisted.
"I guess. If you like big chicks." Huffed Jubilee.
"Don't make that face. You're cute, too." I teased.
"So not why I mentioned it." Bit out Jubilee.
Of course, the blush on her face said otherwise. I had to wonder just what was going on with that. She-Hulk, I got. Jen was a serial dater, at least till that semi-long-term thing with Jack of Hearts kicked off, anyway. It wasn't exactly a mystery that she'd want to try me out, she'd done a lot worse for herself, after all. Jubilee and Monet, though? They weren't exactly cut from the same cloth, and while Jubilee could be impulsive, she'd never really been that way with guys, from what I could remember. Monet, meanwhile, was downright opposed to such actions. She was basically a Mini Emma Frost in a lot of ways, especially when it came to being pompous and aloof. Maybe it had something to do with the Cave Bear Totem? I knew Spidey seemed to pull a bunch of chicks that were out of his league on the regular, and he had the Spider Totem. Animal Magnetism, maybe? Regardless, a change of topic was in order.
"So, you wanted to meet? I'm guessing you looked into Hunter Brawn?" I questioned, switching the subject.
"Yeah. I did some digging. Turns out you were right. My Dad's bank was dealing with him before my folks died, and there were a bunch of weird things going on with the books. Turns out, Hunter Brawn was laundering money through my Dad's Bank, and my Dad went to confront him about it. I guess he threatened to turn the cops on Hunter Brawn and the scumbag had my folks murdered 'cause of it." Frowned Jubilee.
"I did tell you." I nodded.
"Yeah, but get this, he does this sort of thing all the time! The Creepoid's like, super-rich 'cause of it! Rich enough to hire a Superhuman Bodyguard. You ever hear of a guy called Legault?" Questioned Jubilee.
"I know of him. He's a Superpowered Mercenary. He has the power to make energy constructs, shields, weapons, that sort of thing. He's not super-creative with it, though. If I had his powers, there'd be no limits to the sort of things I'd be able to do with them." I scoffed.
"How so?" Queried Jubilee.
"Well, from what I know, he mostly makes weapons or shields with them. No armor, nothing for utility, nothing. The Guy wears actual armor, the kind that he buys with his salary from other people, and not even good armor like Tony makes. Regular platemail and stuff. If I had his powers, I'd be making powered armor, vehicles, the works." I remarked.
"Huh, you know that makes a lot of sense." Mused Jubilee.
"It does, doesn't it?" I asked, nodding.
"Yeah, if he's willing to work for a major creepoid like Hunter Brawn, then its no wonder he's not creative with it. The guy could've gone to the big leagues if he used it like that." Concurred Jubilee.
"No shit. So, I assume you have a plan and location? You wouldn't have called me out here without one." I prompted.
"Yeah. Hunter Brawn's got a house in Malibu, and he's there now." Confirmed Jubilee.
"For how long?" I questioned.
"At least a week. He seems to be planning another money-laundering scheme." Answered Jubilee.
"Security systems?" I queried.
"You mean aside from Legault?" Asked Jubilee.
"Yeah." I nodded.
"High tech stuff. Miss Frost managed to pull the building schematics. Turns out the guy who misfiled them with the city for cash was willing to hand them over for more cash. Go figure, scumbag's gonna scumbag, I guess." Smirked Jubilee.
"So what are we looking at?" I questioned.
"Aside from the Alarms, we've got a whole mess of things to deal with. I don't know how, but he managed to get carbonadium alloy blast doors, plus laser turets that fold outta the ceiling and poison gas in the ventilation systems. If that fails, he has Legault and probably a few henchmen on retainer, too." Laid out Jubilee.
"Not henchmen. Henchmen actually believe in the cause. The word you're looking for is goons. Goons are just there for the paycheck." I corrected, paraphrasing a certain Man Without Fear. If I ever meet Matt Murdock, I'll apologize for stealing his line, then.
"Fine, so not the point." Grumbled Jubilee.
"I'm just saying. Anyway, none of that should be a problem. It's the cops I'm worried about." I intoned.
"Why? The guy's a scumbag with like, a graveyard's worth of dead bodies behind him. Will the cops even care?" Queried Jubilee.
"He's rich, Jubilee. What do you think?" I pointed out.
"Fair point. So how do we avoid having to deal with LA's finest?" Asked Jubilee.
"I can ask for a favor with Tony. He's got some pull with the LAPD from his West Coast Avenger and Force Works days. I'm sure he can think of something." I hedged.
"You're willing to go into favor debt with Tony Stark for this?" Questioned Jubilee.
"Why not? We're friends, right?" I queried.
"Sure. Friends. Definitely." Nodded Jubilee a little too quickly.
I frowned at that. If it was the totem giving me some sort of Animal Magnetism, then I was definitely going to need to figure out how to tamp down on that going forward. Not that Jubilee wasn't a perfectly nice girl or anything, nor was she unattractive, but I was with Jen right now. If this was some sort of extra totem power like Jessica Drew's Pheromones or something, then I definitely needed to figure out how to tamp down on it before it completely fucked my relationships or worse. This was Six-one-six Marvel, after all. I wouldn't put it past this universe to, like, give me a stalker with a crush and superpowers or something. Accidentally having someone like Madame Hydra or Mystique become infatuated with me is exactly the sort of shenanigans I'd expect to happen from this if it really was something like that. I'd perform another Spirit Quest to talk to the Den Guardian Aspect of Cave Bear once I finished up here. At least, I would if nothing world-shattering occurred before I could.
"Anyway, give me till tonight to work that out, then we can hit Hunter Brawn's Place. What's the address?" I asked.
"Ten-Eight-Eighty-Four Malibu Point in Malibu." Answered Jubilee, which caused me to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Questioned Jubilee.
"That's in Tony's Neighborhood! It's literally four properties away from his Malibu home!" I laughed.
"Then he should be willing to do us a solid to avoid police attention." Huffed Jubilee.
"Oh yeah. As soon as we're done here, I'll give him a call." I smirked.
"Killer." Grinned Jubilee.
"Right. Well, I ought to jet. I'll see you tonight." I opined.
"Right. You're busy. Probably got Avengers stuff to do." Sighed Jubilee.
All right, this was getting dumb. Time to be an adult about this and have a difficult conversation with the chick who can split atoms with her powers. The sooner I could figure out what was going on here, the better. For now, trying to have this conversation was the best I could do.
"Look, Jubilee. . .I can see you have a bit of a crush yourself. I'm not saying we shouldn't go out in the future, but I'm with Jen right now. It wouldn't be fair to her, and I'm not that kind of guy. Even if this relationship won't last long, I'm the kind of guy to see it through to the end, you know?" I tried.
"Was it that obvious?" Queried Jubilee.
"Kinda, yeah. Look, is this about you needing a rebound after the whole Chamber thing?" I asked.
"No! No, it's not that." Insisted Jubilee forcefully.
"I mean, you've got a lot going for you. You should be able to find someone." I pointed out.
"Yeah, it's just. You're a nice guy, you know? You're rich and good-looking, plus you get the whole Mutant Superhero thing. Besides, you're the only guy I know who helped us out against Bastion when they didn't have to. I guess, I just sorta developed a crush on you during the whole Sentinel Thing." Admitted Jubilee.
"It's all right, but it can't happen now." I reiterated.
"I get it." Nodded Jubilee.
"Look, I gotta go. I'll see you tonight." I intoned, getting up.
"Right. Later." Agreed Jubilee.
Then I left with a frown on my face. Now, Jubilee was all sulky, and that was probably going to affect her performance this evening. Honestly, that Spirit Quest couldn't happen quickly enough. Animal Magnetism Power or whatever, it was already affecting my life. I needed to get a handle on it as soon as possible. For now, it's just putting a damper on the mood of a friend and teammate, but if I wasn't careful, I could wind up getting stabbed by a jealous supervillainess who developed an insane crush or something. I just had to get through getting Jubilee Closure first.
With that in mind, I apparated back to my tower, just barely missing the front door and landing on the shore of my Island. I was getting better at Apparition, at least. If this had been a few weeks ago, I'd have landed in the drink instead on the beach. Regardless, I headed inside, Bartholomew frowning at my sandy, wet shoes as I entered. I ignored him, though. Instead, I made a beeline for the Phone to call Tony. After twenty minutes of negotiation, he agreed to sidetrack the LAPD for two hours this evening in exchange for a major favor to be named later. It wasn't the greatest deal, but it got what I needed done. By the time I met up with Jubilee again that evening, we would be ready to hit Hunter Brawn's Malibu Stronghold without having to deal with Los Angeles' Finest.
Now if only this Animal Magnetism thing could be taken care of that easily, I'd be set. . .
XXXX
AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. It turns out that Jan being the sole bearer of the Cave Bear Totem means that he gets the full blot of totemic abilities, including the whole Animal Magnetism/Pheromone Thing that some totem users have. That, in turn, is going to cause problems down the line for him, so he wants to get a handle on it as soon as he can. Unfortunately, he is going to get sidetracked by the events of Ultron Unlimited after this, which means that he's not going to have the time to go on that Spirit Quest to learn how to dial it back. That, in turn, makes those problems pretty much guaranteed to occur. It's not just dumb wish fulfillment, it's set up for a future arc.
At any rate, the next chapter will be the assault on Hunter Brawn's Malibu Mansion with Jubilee. There will be more than just Hunter and Legault there, though. Hunter Brawn is shady enough to have fingers in the Underworld Pie, after all, and there's going to be a special guest that Jubilee didn't find out about there to complicate things.
Stay tuned. . .
