Picking Up The Pieces: Part 2

by Alexandria


Disclaimer: All charactars that you recognize belong to Marvel.

Cassie's faded jeans were too long and they were bunched up above her bare feet. She had on a blue shirt with spaghetti straps. A small paved path weaved its way down the hilly back yard to the road that lay outside theri property. Cassie shaded her eyes from the harsh sun as her feet smacked against the bricks. The mass of trees shadowed the path but the sun found its way through small gaps of the leaves. Different flowers lined the sides of the path, while some draped over vines.

Cassie walked lazily down the path listening to the singing of the birds and chirping of bugs. She tucked her thumbs in her pockets letting her hands rest on her sides. A slight smile reached her face. She stopped as a bright blue butterfly fluttered across the path. She followed it with her eyes and her smile grew. The butterfly rested on a flower on the side of the path. The flower held perfectly still as it flapped its wings restlessly. Cassie watched it for a few minutes enthrawled getting closer to it. She bent over it slightly examining it.

No sound was made, no shadow, she just knew she wasn't alone any longer. She stood up slowly waiting to hear one of the other's voice. When she didn't she turned around. Standing on the path ahead was the man Cassie had seen the previous night. How did he get behind her? She thought as she took a step down away from him. "Not again." She said with a hint of fear in her quivering voice. She keplt backing down the steps wondering why he hadn't tried to stop her. Cassie had eased her way out of the path onto the road.

She backed into something hard and she jumped forward surprised. She spun around letting out a small gasp. A man stood there like a pillar staring at her. Cassie froze taken aback by the second man. She smelled a mixture of cigar smoke and cologne. He was short only a foot or so taller than herself. Despite his size he was obviously strong with a broad chest. His thick arms were covered in coarse hair that seemed to be everywhere. Black hair with mutton chops sat on his angular face. Sharp black eyes settled on Cassie unnerving her. He was middle aged but looked older somehow. He was dressed in worn jeans and boots. He had on a red flannel shirt that was partly open.

The man hadn't moved or said anything. He stood there almost as if he were expecting something. She looked down and saw he was holding her jacket. His hand griped it tightly as if he held something dire. Cassie shifted her eyes and saw a Harley parked down the dirt road.

Terror walked down the path to the two. "I told you it was her Logan." He told him. "You should listen to me more often." He chided him. He hoped off the last step and put a hand on Cassie's shoulder. She looked at it unwelcomed. The man looked down at her with an unreadable look written on his face. "Go ahead and say something Logan." Terror joked. Cassie shrugged off his hand.

"Why are you here?" She asked Terror.

"Cassandra is it?" Terror asked her. "My name is Terror."

"How appropriate." Cassie cut in. Terror frowned slightly.

"And this is Logan. He has a problem you see. A few months ago someone kidnapped a young friend of his. He has been searching for her for about four months without avail. A couple of nights ago while I was busy I ran into her but she ran off." Terror said looking mournful.

Cassie laughed. "What are you saying, that I'm her?" She turned to Logan. "Look buddy I don't know what your friend is up to but I don't like it. If the story is true about your friend then I'm sorry. I'm not her though." She told him apologetic. She put a hand on her jacket and tugged it out of his grasp. She walked back up the path breezing past Terror. "If you come back I'm calling the cops." She threatened. Terror didn't look worried.

"How do you know?" Logan asked suddenly. Cassie stopped and turned around. "How do you know your not her?" He asked.

"I would know." She told him.

Logan shoved a hand in his pocket and dug out his wallet. He opened it and flipped through the pictures. He stopped at one and held it up. Cassie walked back down to him and looked at it. She saw herself in the picture. Her hair was unbelievably short coming down to her ears. She was a couple of years younger and she had on a bright yellow jacket. Cassie bit her lip and looked up at Logan.

"Its an old picture." He apolgized as she took the wallet.

"Hey!" Shouted Teressa. She jumped down the path and stood by her friend. She did a double take when she saw Terror but didn't back down. The fifteen year old looked at her friend who was a shade paler than she had been. She glared at the two men. "Who are you?" She demanded.

"We're old friends of hers." Logan told her. He turned back to Cassie. "Your name is Jubilee just because you don't remember doesn't mean its not. Expesially when you don't remember anything else." Logan regreated saying it as soon as he said the words. Cassie's eyes narrowed and she took a step back into her friend. "I'm not leaving L.A. and since you haven't yet then I guess neither are you. My card is in there, you keep it." He nodded to the wallet. Cassie frowned and watched as he left with Terror. Teressa watched them warily. Cassie looked down at the picture lost in thought. Teh sound of the Harley revved up shattered the silence. It shattered Cassie's thoughts and she shoved the wallet in her pocket. She raced back up the stairs and her friend followed.

"That's it? My card is in there. Why didn't you take her?" Terror asked getting on the bike.

"She doesn't remember me. I can't just take her. If I did I'd be no better than Bastion. I need her to come to me. She will, she just needs time." Logan told him casting a forlorn look at the empty path. "I can give her that." He muttered and tore away from the house leaving a cloud of dirt in the bike's wake.

 

Cassandra had side stepped Teressa's questions as she ran up to her room. She locked the door behind her and turned on the radio to block out Teressa's voice. She shut her eys again as she felt the tightening in her chest. Her heart skipped several beats as it flutterd wildly. She dug into her pocket and took out the wallet. She opened it to the picture of her and saw the happy smiling girl. She was sitting on the floor aginst a chair. Someone's hand was resting on the arm of the chair by her, the rest of them was hidden. Cassie examined every detail of the picture, the carpet, furniture, walls, everything. "Jubilee." She murmured softly as she fingured the picture.

She looked through the other pictures in the wallet. She studied each one with intensity. She looked at his license and saw he lived in Massachusetts. "Graymulkin Lane." She said out loud hoping it would ring any bells. She pulled out a couple business cards and flipped through them reading them. "Princess Bar." She saw in bold gold letters above the foreign lettering. She put them back and opened another compartment looking at the crumpled receipts. She counted fifty two dollars in his wallet and she was surprised he hadn't taken it before given it to her. She pulled out the card with the hotel's name written on it, his hotel number and phone number was written on back.

Cassie put the wallet down as she heard Teressa come back. She got off the bed and walked over to the bed. She paused and lent against the door as she felt a wave of dizziness hit her. Shaking her head slightly she opened the door and let Teressa in. Teressa looked at Cassie who was even paler than she had been before. She sat on the bed and picked up the wallet.

"Are you okay? You don't look so good." Teressa told her. Cassie nodded and sat down next to her. "Who were those weird guys, what did they want?" She asked.

"To talk to me. They may know who I am. It'd be nice if it were true. To know who I am when I look in the mirror." She said. She grimaced as her heart fluutered in her chest.

"Do you think its true." Teressa asked.

"Could be. He left his hotel number." She showed her the card. "And this." She showed her the picture. Teressa gawked at it. Cassie turned to her and laughed. "No kidding." Teressa laid back on Cassie's bed and rested her head on a hand to look at her.

"Are you sure your okay?" She asked seriously. Cassie swallowed hard.

"I don't know. I haven't been feeling all that well lately. Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow. I'll get some sleep and come down later on." Cassie told her. Teressa got up and handed her the wallet back. She walked to the door.

"I'll save you some dinner." She told her. Cassie nodded and curled up in bed.

 

Logan had said good-bye to Terror earlier on in the day. He sat alone in Terror's old hotel room and stared out the window. The sun had set and the moon was out, the stars were blocked out by the cities lights. He lent his head against the window. It was possible that he head found her. She had looked like Jubilee and sounded like her. She had even smelled like Jubilee. Still so had the clone and it was impossible to know if it was really her or not. He clenched the windowsill until his hands hurt. Why couldn't he be happy? A part of him wanted to believe it was her and the other part...the other part was dead inside. It just wouldn't let him believe it, it was too much.

The phone rang and Logan grabbed it off the hook. "Hello?"

"Um, hello?" Asked a small voice. Logan frowned and waited for her to go on. "My name is Teressa and I know Cassie. Uh, she said you knew her, from before." Teressa stoped.

"Yeah, I know her." Logan told the girl.

"Mr. Logan I found your wallet and I decided to call you. Cassie needs help." Her voice was getting quieter as she talked. "She hasn't been feeling too well lately and tonight she collapsed."

"Collapsed? Is she all right?" Logan asked.

"I don't know but she'd in the hospital. Dorian had to take her but they're not telling him anything. She's a minor and her she doens't have a gardian or anything. They might put her in a home or something. I thought that maybe you could come in and straighten things out for her." Teressa finished.

"What hospital?" Logan asked rubbing his eyes. Teressa told him.

"She's on the third floor. Hurry, please." She pleaded. Logan said good-bye and hung up.

 

Logan got off the elevator and walked down the sterile hallway. He lent on the information desk and a nurse looked up at him. "My name is Logan. I'm here to see a girl that was just brought in. She collapsed." She explained.

The nurse looked at her computer. "Her name?" She asked.

"Jub-Cassandra." He told her.

"Cassandra. Her last name sir?" The nurse asked.

"Reed." Teressa told the nurse. The nurse only glanced up as the small girl lent against the desk also. Small blonde girl looked up at Logan and offered him a wan smile, her eyes were red.

"I take it your a relative?" She asked. Logan nodded. "She's in room 314 and her doctor is Doctor Madock." The nurse stood up greting someone else. "This is Mr. Logan, he's a relative of Cassandra Reed." The nurse told the doctor who had walked up to them. Logan turned and saw the young doctor. Automatically he put his hand out to shake his. The doctor led him down the hallway and Teressa conveniatly disapeared.

"How is she?" Logan asked. The doctor frowned sightly.

"She should be fine. She has a slight heart condition and that is why she fainted. She's awake now and we're going to run some tests on her. Just to see if anything else could be wrong. Her body is quiet weak and malnourished. Has she suffered any trauma lately?" The doctor asked.

Logan shrugged his shoulders. "She ran away some months ago. I'm not exactly sure what has happened to her." The doctor sight he saw it quiet often. "Is there anything I can do for her for the heart condition?" Logan asked.

"She needs to take medication for her heart and vitamins." He told him as he pulled a sheet off his clipboard. He handed the prescription to Logan. "She's a bit agitated. Perhaps you can talk to her." Doctor Madock sugested as they stoped at her door. He opened it and they steped in. The bed was empty and the covers were lying in a crumpled heap. The IV tubes hung to the floor. The doctor looked around confused checking around the room. Logan sighed heavily and walked from the room. His senses told him she was long gone. He punched the wall agitated.

"Damnit girl. Minor heart condition or no you should have stayed put." He cursed. He walked down the wall and stopped when he saw the lab. "They ran some tests on her. They had to draw some blood." She said to himself. He looked down the hallway to see if anyone was around. Then he walked up to the door and popped a claw. The lock on the door gave way and he stepped inside. He looked around the room and spotted a rack of test tubes. He saw the name Reed, Cassandra on one and slipped it in his pocket.

He walked quickly from the room and saw Doctor Madock was talking to some security guards at the information desk. He walked the opposite direction to the stairs. Logan wasn't worried that Cassie would run again. He knew she had probably gone back ot her house, just in case he'd cheek later on her. First he had to mail her blood to Hank. The fury doctor would get it by morning and have the results by lunch. Then he would know if she was real or not. He'd have proof and he could believe it then.