"P-p-p-please don't hurt us, Mr.Kelly," the manager of the bank stammered, his hands in the air. He nodded to a woman. "Give him the money."
The woman nodded. Hands in the air, she backed up against a safe in the wall of the bank. She turned and brought one hand down to the lock on the safe. She dialed a series of numbers. Click, click, click, click, click, click. The door to the safe swung open. The woman backed away from the safe, both hands in the air.
"Good," the masked man with the gun and garbage-can armor smiled. "Now fill this paper bag full of $100 and higher bills." He handed a paper bag to the woman who had opened the safe.
"Y-y-yes, sir," the woman managed to reply. She lowered one hand and took the paper bag. She then walked back over to the safe. The woman who's name tag read "Sally" lowered the other hand then and proceeded shoveling $100 dollar bills and bills with higher value into the bag.
Just then, a woman with red hair walked into the bank. Everybody turned to look at her. The man who the bank manager had called "Mr.Kelly" pointed the gun at the woman, "Hands in the air."
The woman took in the scene, then said, "Now that's no way to treat a lady." The woman reached out with her mind and picked the man up into the air in a telekinetic bubble. {There's something strangely familiar about this guy,} the woman called Jean thought. {I wonder who he is.} With that, she reached into the guy's mind and searched for his name. It came to her. Reckless Kelly alias Ned Kelly. "Ned?" Jean asked out loud.
"Who are you, woman, and how do you know my name?" inquired Reckless. In all his years of robbing banks, such a thing as what was happening right now had never happened to him. Suddenly, an image flooded his mind. The image came from his boyhood memories.
A younger version of himself was playing ball with a girl who looked about a year or so younger than him. The girl had red hair and green eyes. She threw the ball to him. He swung at it, but the ball sailed past. "I'll get it, sis," his boyhood-self volunteered. "Don't bother," the girl replied. She reached out with her mind and grabbed the ball.
Reckless recognized the little girl then - she was his half-sister! He mentally added some years to the girl. The image that Ned came up with looked remarkably like the woman who now held him in the air.
"Jean?" Ned inquired.
"Yes, Ned," Jean Grey-Summers replied. Jean gently lowered the man who was her half-brother to the floor of the bank. They looked at each other. {It's really him,} Jean thought. {After all these years to find him robbing a bank!}
Ned put up his gun as he thought, {It is her! After all these years to find her robbing a bank to give to the needy!}
The bank workers and customers looked at the man who was going to rob them just a few minutes ago and the woman who was a mutant in astonishment. What was going to happen to them? The manager's jaw dropped in shock when he saw Reckless advance toward the woman with a smile on his face.
Ned reached Jean and took her up in a hug. {Who cares about robbing a bank?!?} Reckless thought. {A guy can rob a bank any day of the week, but a guy can't find his long lost sister every day! Okay, so she's my half-sister technically, but she'll always be my little sister to me!}
Jean hugged her beloved older brother tightly. {It's been such a long time since I left,} she thought.
"Sis," Ned said fondly.
"Yes, brother of mine?" Jean smiled.
"We've got alot of catching up to do, so let's go," Ned replied, smiling.
"But what about the bank?" Jean inquired.
Ned shrugged. "Oh, forget it. I can rob a bank any day, but I can't be reunited with my favorite sister every day!"
"But Uncle Dan will have you for supper!" Jean exclaimed, remembering the old black man that had been like a second father to her.
"Not if you attend supper with me," Ned replied.
"I'd love to," Jean said, still smiling.
"So let's go," Reckless urged.
"All right, but first I need to stop by my home," answered Jean.
"Sure. Give you a lift?" Ned offered.
"I'd love that!" Jean exclaimed.
Ned and Jean walked out the door smiling, leaving behind them the astonished bank workers and customers.
THE END
Jean Grey-Summers is (C) & TM Marvel Comics and is used without permission. Reckless Kelly aka Ned Kelly and Uncle Dan are (C) & TM their respective owners and are used without permission. Sally is (C) & TM Queen Jubes. I make no money whatsoever from this story.
Mail the author, Queen Jubes, with comments!