Strange Happenings: Part 1

by Smitty


This story uses Marvel characters without the express permission of the Marvel Grand Poobahs. I'm not making money on it, and neither are they. In fact, they aren't making money on the characters anyway, 'cause they filed for bankruptcy. Clayton Maxwell and his ilk belong to me. If you wanna use them...get your head examined. Even I worry about using them again.


Part 1

Clayton Maxwell dipped his finger in the thick dust. "I see there has been some disturbance," he commented, mildly. "Fairly recent."

"Yes," Mrs. Curren sighed. "My guests hear things, see shadows jump out at them when there's no one there, food disappears..." She shuddered. "Frankly, it's getting scary, Mr. Maxwell."

"Clayton," he said, soothingly, patting her on the shoulder. "Please, call me Clayton."

"Get yer elbow outta my face!"

"Tab, I'm gettin' high on your hairspray, can't we put the window down?"

"Put the window down? It's already freezing in here!"

"For the last time, SHUT UP!!!" The window flew down and a cold breeze flipped three pages over. I glanced up to see Tabby and Bobby DaCosta wrestling in the seat next to me. No wonder Cable was so grouchy. Twelve hours in a van way too small to hold nine people, especially when two of them were Caliban and Warpath. I smoothed the pages back and started reading again.

"You're very kind to an old widow, Mr.--Clayton."

"Nonsense," he sniffed. "You must be twenty-five if you're a day."

"Whatcha reading, Ric?" I felt a sharp pressure on my shoulder and looked back to see Tabitha Smith's face inches from mine. She had her chin firmly pressed into my shoulder. I sighed and flipped the book closed. I wasn't going to get any reading done around here.

"It's a Clayton Maxwell mystery, Tab," I told her. "This one's called Strange Happenings." She wrinkled her nose.

"Sounds classic." She leaned closer to me. "Since when do you read in public?" she asked, her voice low. I've known Tabby longer than anyone else on this team. Before X-Force, we were in the New Mutants together, and before that, a time I don't like to mention, we were in a division of X-Factor called the X-Terminators. "If you aren't careful, someone might think you're like, a sensitive guy or something." As long as we've known each other, Tabitha and I have been putting up fronts that are pretty much the reason we aren't better friends. I've been the tough-guy, she's been the bubble-headed blonde. At least until this last time I came back. This whole Meltdown thing still had me unbalanced. If there was one thing to count on with X-Force, it was Tabitha's complete irreverence. And her dedication to her hair. Most of which was no longer on her head. Next thing I knew, she was going to let it grow in it's natural color. I leaned over next to her and spoke softly in her ear.

"If you keep saying stuff that perceptive, someone might think you actually have a brain," I told her. Her wry smile told me she knew exactly what I was thinking. "And besides," I continued, slightly louder. "I know what your natural hair color is." That started Bobby in on her, and they continued arguing, leaving me to finish reading in peace.


"Aa...aah...CHOO!"

"Subtle, Tabitha," I muttered, dragging my finger through the inch- thick dust decorating a hall table.

"Hey, like, I didn't ask to be allergic to dust," Meltdown grumbled, scowling at the hallway of the musty old hotel. "How long are we gonna be cribbin' at this junk heap?"

"Probably until you or one of your friends manage to blow it up," Cable said mildly, wandering into the hallway. "Dom and I think this place would be perfect for our new headquarters."

"Perfectly horrible," Tabby complained. "Number one, it's covered with dust. Number two, it's out in the middle of nowhere."

"Seclusion. It can only work in our favor."

"Number three, we're miles away from the other X-Men."

"I'm sure you and Sam can find some way to visit."

"Number four, do you see a mall anywhere around here?" Cable sighed and shook his head.

"See, this place has lots of things going for it," I told Tabby, giving her a wink. "When was this place built? Eighteen hundreds?" This place was pretty neat. It was sort of like one of those hotels where Clayton Maxwell used to stumble upon mysteries. And it had to be haunted.

"'Round then."

"I'll bet there're secret passages and underground hideouts all over the place." I pushed on the mantle of the fireplace. Nothing.

"Yeah, I'll bet," Tabitha said, rolling her eyes as she leaned against the nearest bookcase. "And I'm sure we got ghosts living--Hey!" She never finished her thought as the bookcase rolled inward to reveal a dark tunnel behind it.

"What were you just saying about ghosts?" Bobby wanted to know, walking into the room.

"Uh, nothing," Tabby tried to cover, gazing apprehensively into the gloomy passageway. Hmm...were we gonna let her get away with that?

"She was saying that there's about as much chance of there being ghosts here as a secret passageway behind the bookcase," I informed him, walking up behind Tabby and squinting into the dark of the new room. This was definitely cool.

"Good call, there, Tabitha," Bobby said, joining them.

"Oh, shut up," Tabby muttered, taking a step into the tunnel. "Hey, Cable, you think we might be able to use this for something?"

"I'm sure we can find some use for it," Cable agreed, winking at Dom and turned to talk to her. "I think we've sold them."


Yeah, they sold us, alright. Cable put on his law school persona, dressed up Dom as his assistant, and hashed out the deal with whoever last owned the place. We were treated to another 12 hour trip back to Westchester to pack up our stuff from the X-Mansion. It wasn't too hard. A lot of our stuff got blown up with Murderworld, and a lot of everyone else's stuff got trashed with that Onslaught deal. So basically, we had to pack up what we'd acquired since then. It wasn't a whole lot. I threw my clothes, my CDs and my Clayton Maxwell books in a carton and contributed it to the U-Haul sitting in the driveway. Everyone else did the same. Then, we had to say our goodbyes. It didn't take long. For most of us.

"I'm gonna miss you..."

"I'm gonna miss you..." Oh, gag me with a spoon. Tabitha and Sam had been practically broken up for months. They didn't talk, they didn't see each other, they complained about each other, they had pictures of each other on their dartboard, and then they stopped complaining about each other.

"Are you gonna come see me?"

"Wild horses couldn't keep me away." I yawned.

"Why would Wildhorses want to keep Friend-Sam away?"

"I do not know," Shatterstar told him. "Undoubtedly they are warriors of ill nobility."

"It's because they don't want to have to listen to this trash," Bobby muttered, under his breath. I had to agree with Bobby. This was pure BS. I winced as I thought I heard Tabitha call Sam 'Pookie'. Whatever happened to Meltdown, girl of iron?

"This is sick," Jimmy muttered.

"Tis nothin', compared to the way you and that Risque girl were carryin' on," Terry returned. I was voting with Jimmy on this one. I checked my watch. We'd been waiting on Tabitha for over half an hour.

"No, you're Pookie..."

"No, you're Pookie..."


We finally tore Tabitha away from Sam. She was cheerfully fighting with Bobby within the first ten minutes of the drive and had completely forgotten about being thoughtlessly torn from the arms of the love of her life, Samuel Guthrie. (Ha-yuck.) I don't have anything personal against Guthrie, except, maybe, that minor detail that Tabby chose him over me a few years ago. I've gotten over it. Cable drove one of the U-Hauls with Terry, Shatterstar, and Jimmy. I drove the other one with Tabby and Bobby. Dom and Caliban took the PACRAT. Lucky them. We made it to our brand new haunted hotel in one piece. Barely. Lesson learned: If you're in a convoy of U-Hauls, and the first guy decides to outrun the police...don't follow him. Dom and Caliban were waiting outside the hotel.

"What took so long?" she wanted to know.

"Took a detour."


Part 2

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