by Smitty
Clayton Maxwell puffed thoughtfully on his pipe as he regarded the chips in the molding. "This disturbance is fairly recent," he observed. "If I was to make an educated guess...I'd say your ghost is suspiciously alive." I rolled my eyes and turned the page. Get real. I'd been banished to my room again, and was reading a Clayton Maxwell novel to pass the time. "My ghost is alive?" Pamela Curren widened her eyes. "You don't mean there's a real man hiding in my house?" "Don't worry, my dear girl," Maxwell said, offering her a slight smile. "I'd guess more of a boy. Perhaps a street urchin with no other home." Yes, kiddo, your ghost is alive. Wait a minute! If her ghost was still alive...maybe mine was, too...
"You're all wondering why I've called you together in this library, tonight."
"No, actually I'm wondering when dinner'll be ready," Jimmy announced.
"I'm wondering why Cable let you come out of your room."
"I am wondering why you are employing the modifier 'tonight' when your time measuring instruments register the correct time to be 1400 hours after your last midnight."
"I'm wondering why 'Star's gotta talk like that."
"I'm wondering why Jimmy's concerned about dinner at two in the afternoon."
"Caliban wonders why Cable-Nathan and Patch-Eye do not care that there are mutants in Caliban's house."
"Let's start with...we're all mutants," Domino shot back.
"Wait a sec. Cal, did you just say you sensed mutants? Mutants that aren't your friends?" Everyone actually shut up and started to pay attention.
"Caliban not sense enemy. Just other mutant. Besides Caliban's friends."
"Why didn't you tell us?!" Domino screeched. "Security's been compromised! Intruder alert! Fire in the hole!"
"Shut up, Dom," Cable muttered. "Let Ric make his point."
"Thank you. Now, you've all noticed there've been some weird things going on around here."
"No, you've been noticing some weird things going on."
"Now, think about it. The temperature dial on the stove was changed when Terry was trying to cook her roast. I think she still blames me for that one--" I glanced at Terry. She glanced at her knees. "--but I know for sure I didn't touch it. We were all present for the Pop-Tart incident for which I was blamed. Mrs. Norton, next door, told Tabitha a story about a gangster and his bride who were staying in this hotel when they were killed, and the legend that her ghost wanders the halls, right Tab?" I looked at Tab. She was playing with the frayed knee of her jeans. "Tab?" She glanced up, guiltily.
"Well...I didn't exactly hear it from Mrs. Norton."
"Oh. Well, who'd you hear it from?" Tabby studied her knee. "Tabby...You didn't make it up, did you?"
"Well..." She looked incredibly guilty, then looked up. "It was pretty funny, watching your face when--"
"I can't believe you set me up like that!"
"It was Bobby's idea!"
"Don't bring me into this!"
"Well, it was!"
"But you told him..."
"Shut up!" Cable turned his attention back to me. "Look, Ric, we all know you think you saw a ghost, but--"
"I saw her twice," I cut in. "Once the first day we were here, and once this morning. But I don't think it's a ghost. I think it's a person hiding in here. I mean, think about it. This place is chock-full o' secret passageways and hidden rooms. She could be anywhere. And Caliban senses another mutant...the only question I have is why Cable doesn't sense her." It was Cable's turn to look guilty.
"Actually..." he started. Dom looked at him.
"You sensed something?" she asked.
"Only sometimes," he admitted. "As soon as I completely registered a presence, it would fade out again. I thought maybe there had been a strong psi living here, and I was picking up residue, or stray thoughts from people outside."
"But it could very well be a mutant with strong psionic shielding?" Cable nodded, slowly.
"Ric, lad, ye said she seemed t'disappear at a moment's notice. Could she 'ave been projectin' 'er image? Like Scanner?"
"I guess..." I frowned. "No, because I touched her, once. I felt my hand touch something."
"New experience for ya, buddy?"
"Shut up, Bobby."
"Hey, like, what if she's like...ya know...a mutant ghost? Like, that's her mutant power. To turn invisible and walk through walls and stuff!"
"Great, we have Kitty Pryde living in our attic," Bobby grumbled.
"That does make sense," Cable said, thoughtfully. "I can't sense Shadowcat when she's intangible. It's almost as if she doesn't exist." We all looked at each other.
"Well, now that we settled that...what do we do about her?" Dom had a good point.
"We could just leave her alone. That's probably all she wants, anyway," Jimmy pointed out.
"Isnae there some way t'let her know we mean t'leave 'er alone?" Terry wanted to know.
"We could have Ric whisper it in her ear during one of their midnight liasons," Bobby suggested, cheerfully.
"Shut up, Bobby."
"Make me."
"Shut up, both of you." We shut up. Cable looked thoughtful. "I want to talk to her."
"Recruiting drive?" He didn't answer right away, which worried me.
"Not necessarily," he finally said. "I just want to talk."
"Well, how are we going to pull this one off?" Jimmy wanted to know.
"What about Dom's wavelength scrambler?"
"Nah, I need to get a lock on her energy pattern, first."
"Is there a way to solve this without violence?" Everyone kind of looked at each other.
"Ric," Tab explained, gently, "this is X-Force. NO. We do not do anything without violence." I sighed. How did I know that? I leaned against the fireplace and listened to everyone fight about the best way to contact Elena. Or whoever.
"They're just going to try one stupid scheme after another, trying to get me to talk to them, aren't they?"
"Yup, pretty much." It took me a minute to realize I was talking to the ghost. "Hey!"
"Shh." She tapped her lips with her finger. "Let's see just how long it takes 'em to figure out I'm standing here. By the way, I'm Julie. You can stop calling me Elena any time, now."
"Hi, Julie. I'm Ric." I stuck out my hand. "You are real...right?" She rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, you guys figured it out. I'm a mutant with the power to turn invisible and intangible." She took my hand in hers and shook it. Her hand was cool, and light...and solid. "So how long do you give 'em?"
"Oh, ten...twenty minutes. We have a psi and a mutant detecter, so it'll be under an hour, anyway."
"That long...Hey! Shut up over there!" The entire team turned to stare at Julie. "It's about time."
And that was how Julie Brody got hooked up with X-Force. Of course, she refused to join right away. Cable threatened to throw her out of the house. He threatened to starve her out. He threatened to use Dom's little toy on her. She told him she'd consider joining X-Force. I wouldn't think it would be such a big thing. She joins, she doesn't join...who cares? As far as I was concerned...another case closed.
The End