Redemption

Chapter Four

I gasp awake with my head throbbing. According to my clock it's 5:03. I feel like I slept like a rock last night, not tossing and turning, and that mental meeting with the X-men seems like a weird dream. It probably was, I reassured myself, just get to work.

This work day was slow, nothing coming towards us, giving us something to do. I shivered against the cold and found myself thinking, not for the first time, that I'd have found a better job. By the looks of my co-workers, I'm sure they're thinking the same thing. Our boss banned outside fires, for some reason, long before I was hired. I long to be inside. A snowflake drops onto my nose and instantly melts. I shiver again, wrapping my arms around myself. My co-workers are scattered through the alleyway, looking for some source of heat. I watch my breath rise into the air. The door to the bar banged open, making me jump.

"Everyone, inside," hissed my boss.

We all exchanged looks before hurrying inside. Why was he so mad? Once we had reached his office, my boss turned around to face us, arms crossed. The bar man was in the corner.

"I have received some information," said my boss, drawing out 'information'. "about what happened."

My co-workers looked at each other.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You know what happened," glowered my boss, anger now pinned on me. "the Josh incident that no one shuts up about in this place."

I swallowed. Here goes.

"Logan?"

"Yes Rogue?"

"I couldn' help overhearin' what you and the others were sayin' 'bout that boy,"

"What did you hear?"

"Well, I think I may 'ave seen 'm." Rogue shifted and looked nervous. "Ya know, that boy. I don' know 'is name."

"Where did you see him?" asked Wolverine. "When?"

Rogue swallowed and paused, seeming to think over her words.

"I saw 'I'm a few days after Scott got attacked by Magneto," said Rouge, looking out the window. "I was at a bar with Hank an' Ororo. Ororo wanted a drink an' we couldn' find the bar man so I wen' to find 'im in the back. I saw a boy 'round your height an' I asked 'im if he was the bar man but he said he ain't. He said he'd tell the bar man I was waitn' for 'im."

It was Logan's turn to take a pause.

"Do you think he worked there?"

"He must 'ave. No one else would be back there."

"What was it called?"

"I don' remember," said Rogue, thinking hard. "I wasn' payin' attention. When we were walkin' in I was thinkin' 'bout when I would be able to drink."

Logan sighed.

"Rogue, you gotta pay more attention to things,"

"I wasn' expectin' to meet someone who the X-men would wan' to talk to!"

Rogue stormed out of the room.

Don't listen, don't listen.

"Josh is fine! Josh is just taking a few weeks off!" raged my boss.

This isn't happening, you're fine.

"I don't want you spreading false information about what happened! I want you to get back to work!" my boss took a deep, angry breath."I don't want my people talking about something out of their control."

His arms were folded and I can just slightly see a vein pulsing on the side of his neck.

"I blame you for what happened," he said, voice calmer. "You should have stopped Josh. No one gets in the way of the X-men."

"We didn't know," my voice was quiet, barely loud enough for myself to hear.

"What?" my boss looked like he was going to yell again.

"We didn't know," I said lower, looking up from the floor at him. "We didn't know they were mutants. We just saw a man sent flying into some trash cans out back. We didn't know he was an X-man."

"Does it look like I care?" the vein was growing darker. "You interacted, Josh interacted, with a mutant. We don't talk to those filth. We don't tar ourselves with their grime. We are better than those mutants."

Spit flew from my boss' mouth as he enunciated every last word. I felt something inside me pop.

"What makes them any different from us?" I asked, trying to keep the fury out of my voice with much effort.

My boss raised his finger and jabbed it at my face.

"They are everything different from us." he growled. "Now close your mouth before I fire you."

I'm shocked.