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Summary: Kai may not be the person Jill thinks he is. Is he, or is somebody else? With extra-special emergency call on the Bat-Phone!
Date: February 23, 2012
Log Title: Double Double Agent
Rating: G
Westchester - Salem Center Food Court
Entering the mall brings its visitors right to the Food Court. A wide open area with tables and chairs sprinkled around it, its edges lined with a wide variety of fast food choices. Pizza, burgers, ice cream, chicken, Chinese, smoothies, you name it, you got it.
The mall complex is between holidays at the moment. It's past Valentine's Day but still too early for any St. Patrick's Day decorations, so the walls and storefronts are their usual, non-decorated selves. For the local mallrats though, it's not the decorations that matter. One particular blue-eyed and blonde-haired mallrat leans against the railing on the second floor overlooking the food court, sipping lazily from a plastic Orange Julius cup filled with strawberry-banana smoothie. Jill people-watches the food court down below, nudging her bag of purchases with her foot just to hear the paper crinkle quietly in time with the mall's sound system. Katrina & the Waves sing about walking on sunshine.
Kai's little side project of investigating the one other super powered school has reached the point where he believes that he has the means to find it's location, however much like his own school it is probably protected, he needs to know more. Dressed in dark grey jeans, a ice-blue t-shirt, white converse all stars and with his school-bag over his shoulder Kai has used the tracer in Jill's phone to follow her to this mall, walking down towards Jill he 'trips' and his phone slides across the floor stopping roughly in front of Jill.
In theory, there's nothing that sets Jill apart from the general crowd, just another fresh-faced teenager in jeans and a Gorillaz t-shirt. Her hologram disguise should at least keep people from telling she's a mutant at first glance. She pauses, mid-sip of her smoothie, as someone trips and their phone goes skittering across the floor to stop near her. "Hey," she says, stooping to pick it up. "You okay?" It seems like she doesn't recognize Kai right away.
Kai brushes his dark hair out of his eyes as he gets to his knees and brushes off his hands, "Yeah, should really look where I’m going sorry", looking up at Jill he frowns, "Oh, you're that girl, what are you doing here?", getting to his feet he walks over and holds his hand out for the phone avoiding eye contact.
Jill is already holding out the phone to the boy, but a slow change overcomes her expression. It gradually drifts from mild interest and concern to slight confusion. "I'm who?" At last, it graduates from confusion to disbelief. The voice, combined with the face, trip a switch in her memory. "… You." It's rather clear from the barely concealed venom in her words that she remembers who Kai is now and she isn't happy to see him.
Kai reaches out for his phone, "You don't have to say it like that, I told you already that it wasn't me", he runs a hand though his hair and finally make eye contact, "Putting it in the locker I’ll give you but I swear that I didn't have a choice".
The girl drops Kai's phone into his hand, but her expression doesn't soften any. Giving him a distinctly cold shoulder, Jill turns away to lean against the safety railing. "So, what is this? Are you stalking me?"
Kai shakes his head, "No, I don't even know you", he sighs, "I needed to spend some time out of school but I don't feel safe in the city, last time I was in Brooklyn I nearly got killed trying to help these girls", Jill might notice what’s left of the wound he gained on his forehead, "City is way to hairy these days".
Jill's indifference takes a slight hit as her eyes wander over Kai briefly, but she looks away to stare at nothing in particular down in the food court. "So you just decided to head thirty miles into the Middle of Nowhere, New York, to get some air." From the pocket of her jeans, a cheery little jingle plays from a tiny speaker. Jill grunts in exasperation and starts to dig it out. It's always something.
Kai shrugs, "Well yeah, I’m not originally from the city anyways, it's a little crowded there for me, I would just hang out at my uncle's but home things aren't too great right now", he goes quiet as Jill's phone goes off, in case she has to take a call.
Halfway drawn from her pocket, the girl's phone stops playing its message alert tone. Jill glances at Kai before she checks the message. If it was a call maybe she'd answer right away, but a text message can wait a few minutes. "Look, okay? We're not all buddy-buddy here. I don't know you either. All I know is you are somehow, even if just tangentially, related to me having my phone stolen, having to skip school, basically getting in a *fight*, and gettin' loads of extra homework for my troubles." Words fail in the face of her indignation, such that she has to take a moment to center herself before she can go on. "So I'd really like to hear your side of the story. Go ahead. I'm listening."
Kai looks worried for a second before looking around, "Would it be alright if we talked somewhere with less people?, part of it isn't something you just broadcast", he nods in the direction of the end of the mall, not really anyone there and no shops, just the security office.
Brilliantly blue eyes flick to follow Kai's nod. The set of Jill's jaw tightens a little, but after a moment she exhales a reluctant, tired-sounding breath. "Fine." The phone drops back into her pocket and with obviously annoyed body language she snatches up her Hot Topic bag.
Kai leads the way over to the quiet part of the mall, looking obviously nervous he looks around to see if anyone is able to hear them, "Can I have your word that you'll keep this a secret?, I wouldn't tell but I need to talk to someone about this, someone who isn't from my school"
Some of the boy's agitated energy rubs off on the girl, who does her part by glancing around as casually as she can. The sounds of the mall feel oddly distant, even though they're only a few dozen yards from the nearest shops and customers. "I know how to keep secrets," she replies, leaning against the wall and tucking her free hand into her pocket. "So c'mon, what's the story?"
Kai looks down avoiding eye contact, "I recently joined a private school for the gifted and about a month ago my uncle found out why and wont talk to me or see me anymore, so now the school is pretty much all I have, my friends are all back in Ithaca", he sighs, "The guy who looked like me got me to put your phone in my old locker or he'd tell the school about rules he knows I’ve broken, I couldn't risk being kicked out, that’s why I did it".
Jill may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but her suspicion is still aroused. She uncurls her index finger from around her smoothie to point at Kai as she asks, rather bluntly, "Who's this guy who looks like you? And what'd you do that'd get you kicked out anyway?"
Kai shrugs, "I don't know but some guy called Quenton started having a go at me in New York last week saying he knew me and calling me Nate, so he must of done something like this before, I’m starting to worry", he looks up, "Just staying out past curfew and other stupid things, my school is very strict".
"And… How did this Nate guy find out what you did? Why did he give you my phone?" Jill pauses to pinch the bridge of her nose like she feels a headache coming on. "I'm sorry, but none of this makes any sense at all. So we both got blackmailed over very stupid things to do things that don't make any sense. I'm not sure who's crazy here. You, me, or your evil twin?"
Kai shakes his head again, "I don't know, as far as I’m concerned he's just some dick who likes messing with people, I just wanna know why he's going round looking like me", he leans against the wall, "I'm gonna go with him being the crazy one, you just got robbed and I’m being black mailed by… well me, shit am I crazy?"
None of her questions, or to be more accurate none of the *answers* to her questions, are doing anything to make sense of this to Jill. Pushing herself off the wall, she raises both hands shoulder-high in a gesture of utter surrender. "All right. No offense, but doppelgangers or pod-people aliens or whatever's going on here is way out of my league. But whatever it is, it doesn't sound evil; it just sounds like a jerk. Call the Fantastic Four or something, I don't know. I bet they deal with stuff like this all the time."
Kai rolls his eyes, "Sure, I’ll send them an e-mail asking them to take a break from saving the city while they track down my not-so-evil-just-does-jerky-stuff twin", he rests his head against the wall behind him, "Life has done nothing but suck since I came to New York"
"Well I don't know!" Jill blurts, letting her empty hand fall to her side. "Try Spider-Man? I hear he doesn't like clones very much." Realizing her tone is growing more annoyed and sarcastic, she sighs and reins it in. "Look. I'm sorry we got mixed up in this whole thing, and believe me I *am* sorry. I won't hold it against you, all right? But c'mon, there's gotta be somebody who'll help you."
Kai nods, "You're right, this isn't your problem and I shouldn't be dragging you into it sorry", he straightens up, "Maybe I can try to scare him off or something, I can't tell my school otherwise they'll know I broke the rules and that I tried to cover it up by dealing in a stolen phone".
Looking as though she wants to say more, Jill picks up her shopping bag and loops it around her wrist. Speaking of her phone, she digs into her pocket to pull it out. Still one text message waiting to be read. From the school? Probably something about updated school rules. There have been a lot of those lately. "What's your name, anyway? I don't think we ever got that far," she asks without looking up from unlocking the phone.
Kai watches as Jill gets ready to leave and looks a little shocked when she asks him his name, "Oh yeah we didn't, my names Kai Oaken, what’s yours?", he reaches into his bag and starts fiddling with something as he waits for Jill to be finished with her phone.
That, at least, squares with what Jill already managed to learn. Her ingrained suspicion is definitely beginning to flag. "It's Jill. I was just thinkin' if I found somebody who could help, I could call you. If you just gimme your number, I… can…" The blonde girl trails off, staring at the tiny screen, expression going slack, then worried. She's silent for a long moment, lips moving slightly as she reads the text message. "I have to go," she states brusquely.
Kai is about to pull out his phone to give Jill his number when he notices the change in her expression and body language, noting the danger signs he'd leant during his time being trained he attempts to use his enhanced speed to reach Jill and see what has her scared.
There's a picture on her phone of something that looks like a… werewolf, maybe? Only a glimpse is visible before the girl's thumb reaches the appropriate icon and the message closes, back to the home screen's rows of icons and wallpaper of autumn leaves floating on a pond. She makes a good show of wiping the expression off her face. "Family emergency," explains Jill with a diffident shrug before opening the address book app. "So… your number?" she prompts again.
Kai frowns, "Your family is having a werewolf emergency?, something seriously shook you up just then, are you ok?", sighing he gives his number, "212-113-6330, text me yours yeah?", he reaches out to put a hand on Jill's shoulder, "I've told you what’s freaking me out, maybe I can help"
"It's nothing," Jill lies, punching in Kai's number so her phone will remember it. "Just wasn't expecting to get called home so suddenly. I'll text you later, I really gotta run." Brooking no arguments, she favors Kai with a smile and an apologetic dip of her head. She stops a few paces away, turning to wave half-heartedly. "Good luck with the… uh… thing. Y'know? I'll ask around, I guess, but no promises."
Having recently run into a member of Xavier’s while fighting a vampire Kai doesn't have to stretch his imagination far to believe they could need to warn their students about possible werewolf attacks. Jill is of no use to him dead, "Hey, wait a sec", running up to Jill he tries to press something into her hand.
"What?" Jill turns, an agitated edge to her voice. She barely has time to refuse before something is pressed into her hand. Something quite cold but too large and too heavy to be an ice cube. It's a knife… made out of ice. She stares at it but can't seem to work up anything to say or ask. Mouth slightly open and still no words spoken, she hides it behind her shopping bag and takes a few cautious backwards steps before turning to jog toward the mall's front entrance.
Kai frowns and waits for Jill to leave the mall, the dagger is just a precaution incase he's too slow, he'll do his best to keep an eye on the girl but won't follow her all the way to the school, he just has to hope she'll be quick enough with the knife when he leaves her.
