For the greater cause
By Loki
Disclaimer: They're not mine so don't sue. Even if you did sue, you'd get a lot less money than what you'd invest so… go figure :P
World: Ultimate X-Men
Rating: T
Archiving: Green light given, just tell me where it's going
Pairings: Ororo/Hank, Ororo/Jean
Summary: What's the price that Scott has to pay for his leadership attributes?
Notes: Am writing without beta, so I'm not sure how good it will turn out. If God has a sense of humor and someone reads this and decides they would like to beta future work for me contact me at my e-mail address.
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The Blackbird's quiet hum broke the entrancing silence gripping the mansion's grounds that night as it hovered a few meters above ground. The earth itself slid open and the jet descended to be swollen by the darkness. As the immense doors, camouflaged as a training ground closed above it, the night claimed it's full rights and once again everything was quiet and normal on the estate's grounds.
Professor X was waiting patiently to greet his students as they finished the landing procedures. They had handled themselves admirably again. They had gone in the city's sewer network, unto the territory of a mutant organization entitled "The Morlocks", responding to an emergency call from Wolverine. Logan had been following a Hydra agent in hopes of finding out a trail which might have led to some information about his past, when the agent had been captured by the Morlocks. Using his extraordinary tracking and stalking abilities, Logan had followed the Morlocks to their hideout and had telepathically contacted the professor for help.
/Why do these things always happen at night/ the Professor sighed as he felt a wave of tiredness wash over him.
As Scott led the X-Men in the sewers, they teamed up with Logan and set the Hydra agent free. A violent battle had then issued between them and the Morlocks. While confrontation the Morlock leader, a woman which went by the name of Calysto, Cyclops learned that the Morlocks wanted to use their telepaths in order to drain classified information from the agent's mind, which would later be used by one of their people to infiltrate the organization. What for, they had never learned as the Morlocks fled for their lives from a berserk Wolverine, a mad Colossus, and a blood-hungry Nightcrawler.
Scott eventually regrouped everyone and, with a new prisoner, in the form of the Hydra agent, headed for home.
And here they were, climbing down of the jet.
Beast gently, but firmly pinned the furious Hydra agent before the professor.
"You can't keep me here." The agent began in a furious, but at the same time calm tone. "Unless it's a siege you're looking for, freaks."
Wolverine growled as he charged towards the captive agent.
"I want his whole brain on paper, with nice colored pictures, and an index, Chuck!"
Xavier gave Wolverine a smile and then turned to Beast.
"Hank, make our new guest as 'comfortable' as possible. I will be attending to him immediately. We have to find out what the Morlocks wanted to infiltrate Hydra so baldy for. After all, they're just a group of rogues, not terrorists." Xavier's eyes narrowed.
"That's unless you, Sir, figured it out and would like to tell us yourself?"
"Maybe I do, of maybe you just need to go fuck yourself you –ugh-" the agent spat and then found his breath cut by Logan's fist in his gut.
"Mom's not been teachin' ya manners, gumbo?"
"Wolverine, stand down! The Professor will handle this. And we'll all have our answers." Cyclops ordered as he came out of the jet.
The fight had left marks on him, but it could have turned out much worse. The X-men had been outnumbered and playing in enemy territory, yet they had won. Above that no one had anything more than superficial wounds bruising their skin.
They had done marvelous, and, especially Cyclops, which had lead them flawlessly.
Wolverine growled and stepped down.
"Yeah, yeah, medal-boy. I wasn't really gonna hurt the runt." His face then turned to the agent. "Not yet anyway."
"Congratulations to you all." The Professor said from his chair once the X-Men were aligned before him. "You handled yourselves brilliantly! With the help of our new 'guest' we are going to pull the curtain on this whole affair soon enough. Please get medical attention and then do get some rest. You did great, X-Men!"
The X-Men smiled at the Professor's remarks and headed for the sick-bay.
"And, Scott," the Professor added. "I couldn't have led them better myself."
Scott just nodded and turned after the others. He knew he's done a good job. Hell, he'd done a great job and he was worth his prays.
Storm put a comforting hand on Scott's shoulder and flashed him a smile.
Scott smiled back, but it was an empty smile. Sure, he and Storm had gotten very close after his break up with Jean, but in his opinion, Storm was trying to be a better friend than he wished. After all, he'd only been together with Jean for a month. A break up after a month didn't need that much comfort.
Truth was, Storm was the closest thing to a true friend Scott was about to have. His eyes narrowed behind his visor as he realized he would have to push her back, just like he'd done with all the others, including the Professor and Jean.
Why?
It was simple. Scott wasn't allowed any friends because Cyclops didn't leave any room for them.
Necessity had taught Scott that the best things derived from it. Lack of comfort of any type and necessity had made him a survivor, had made him Cyclops.
As they got on the elevator, Scott noticed how Jean's eyes made an effort not to connect with his shielded ones. He also noticed how Storm was peeking at him now and then.
/Maybe it's physical…/ Scott thought, but then a grin spread his lips. /Nah, couldn't be that. Not after what I've found out…/
No, by all odds, Storm wasn't looking for something physical from Scott, or else, hell, he'd have given it to her. No, she was searching for a true friend, a shoulder to cry on, a person to give and receive goodness and comfort freely; that and nothing more.
However that was the only thing that Scott couldn't give her. And that was because Cyclops threatened to pull away.
Despite the professor's request, none of the X-Men visited the sickbay, for the pure reason that none had to. Wolverine Colossus and Bobby were nearly invulnerable as it was. Shadowcat had phased through it all. Nightcrawler was a master in evasion and teleportation, and Beast was just as agile. Scott, Jean and Storm bore most of the bruises, but they didn't seem to eager to be sharing a room at that moment, so the elevator opened it's doors at the ground floor.
Not paying attention to what the others were doing, and not really caring, Scott headed towards the kitchen and a cold can of beer.
He couldn't say that relationships between him and the other team mates were tight, or thin. He just preferred his space. And he learned long ago that a leader doesn't hang around his subordinates without a reason.
As he stretched on the comfortable couch and took a long sip of his beer, Storm walked in and casually headed for the fridge.
Scott almost let out a sigh.
It was the time to do it.
Storm had gotten way to close way to fast. She was a good girl, and Scott really cared for her. If things might have been different, he might have even loved her.
But as things were, Cyclops was more important than love right now.
"Mind if I join you on the magic-drink train?" she giggled and sat next to him on the couch.
"Not at all. Cheers!" Scott smiled, and took another long sip after he'd touched cans with the beautiful woman.
He clenched his jaw as he swallowed. This was the part he hated most.
"You were magnificent out there today, Scott. You showed exactly how quality can outmaneuver quantity." She started.
"Yeah, well, it's a gift. Just like Hank's is to scratch behind his ear, using his toe."
They both laughed, but Scott didn't feel at all cheerful.
Storm couldn't understand what was going to happen. No one could.
No one could see how his heart's and mind's isolation had given birth to this breath-taking leading machine called Cyclops, which could make the best of any given situation. That Cyclops which everyone praised so much was only there because of the isolation which Scott had been exposed to. He was there as a response to the need of survival with only his own tools.
If he allowed himself the luxury of love, of friendship, then his mind and heart might be at peace. Then, all the pain would go away. But so would the necessity. So would the isolation. And with them, Cyclops would be gone. To have comfort meant to kill Cyclops.
The X-Men were all that was standing between peace and a bloody outrage of wars and waves of terrorism. And as far as Scott knew, the key of the X-Men was Cyclops, his cold logics, his ability to see the lines of the near future with such ease that he could lead the X-Men through anything and everything.
How many children would die in hate crimes, wars or terrorist acts if Cyclops would cease to be? Scott didn't even want to consider it.
Pain and necessity create leaders, not love and comfort was the conclusion Scott had reached so far. And the X-Men needed a leader right now, not another happy freak.
"I'm glad to see both you and Jean are better after your break up." Storm said, her eyes lingering on the stout mutant toying with his beer. "I'm also glad you chose to talk to me about it…"
/Dammit, Storm, I'm so sorry, I just have to do this../
"Yeah, well, you were the only choice between a Russian tractor-boy, two flimsy teens, and a couple of hairballs drooling over bikes and atom structures."
Storm's expression clearly betrayed the surprise Scott's acid words had given birth to.
"I'd choose my words more carefully when speaking so about my team mates, one of which –Hank- is still my boyfriend."
"Yeah, yeah, no need to remind me ol' dog-breath got lucky for once in his life." Scott replied and went to the fridge to get another beer.
Storm frowned.
"It's like I'm not talking to the same man I've been confiding in for the last week…"
"Still me, just wiser, doll." Scott's grin gave Storm an unpleasant shiver.
"And you know what?" Scott continued, then paused to take another sip of his beer.
/God, Ororo, I could have loved you… I'm sorry…/
He gulped the whole can, then threw it in the waste-basket with precision and lunged after another one before Storm's startled gaze. She obviously hadn't seen him drink like that.
"You know what?" he said again, "You're right, Jean is better after we broke up. Those hot nights helped, I think." He said leaning against the fridge.
Storm got off the couch and took a few steps towards him.
"Just what are you saying?" she asked in a tone which betrayed fury.
"I know all about your little 'escapades' to Jean's room at night, getting it on with her and her TK. I guess we all find our comfort in different ways… But hey, it's a free country… so that gives me the freedom to spy…"
Storm took a hand to her mouth as tears trailed her cheeks.
/Jugular exposed, time for the kill…/ Scott gritted his teeth at that thought which sounded purely like the machine called Cyclops: calculated and merciless.
He leaned in slowly and his lips brushed Storm's ear.
"Don't worry, Hank ain't gonna find out from me. Poor guy's already fucked up, looking and thinking like a monkey run over by a truck. Finding out his girl is cheating on his with his best friend would just trample his masculinity. And we males gotta stick out for each other, y'know?"
Storm's hand then made impact and her delicate palm had the force to send Scott slamming into the fridge.
He slid down slowly and rested on the ground, his back pushed against the fridge door. His gaze followed Ororo storming out of the kitchen sobbing.
/Goodbye, my love…/ Scott thought as Storm departed.
How could she ever understand what Scott had just did? Cyclops was the one saving lives, not Scott. Cyclops was the value in Scott Summers… And Cyclops had a price… A big one, indeed, but it was for a greater cause…
Scott took another sip of his beer and felt a sting in the place where Storm had broken his lip.
He threw the beer in the opposite direction and rested his forehead on his knees. He wished things would have been different, but the cards were already dealed, he'd just try and play them as best as he could.
/X-Men, assemble in the Danger room. It would seem as though our guest was holding back on us. The Morlocks are working for an old friend of ours- Magneto…/
Cyclops raised his head. Now it was all coming together. If the Morlocks could have infiltrated Hydra, then they would have had access to so much technology for Magneto's use and…
Scott shook his head.
/At least let me cry my way out of this pain you offer me, bastard…/
Thus, Scott Summers, orphan since childhood and now model student at Xavier's Institute for the Gifted, lay on the ground crying for the pain he brought to others, for his own isolation and torment, but above all that, crying for… the greater cause.