Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.
Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined. I'd like some opinions on the new and improved chapters.
Note: Greetings readers, both old and new. During a fit of procrastination, in which I have taken leave of my novel, it has occurred to me that I should work on polishing my old fan fiction. Sometimes the work that you produce at 13 is not quite up to your standards when you're 20 and needs a little bit… more. I've left the original premise as it was, but have altered things such as spelling, grammar, and scene descriptions. The largest change of course, is the main characters name. I was going to leave this be, however the change makes it a lot easier to create her mutant use-name. Also, it gives her something (else) to complain about. I have actually met a Diechen, so Drachen isn't too much of a stretch in my mind
Playing With Fire is set after X1 but before X2. This makes it slightly AU now; however it was started before X2 was released in cinemas.
Drachen looked around furtively as the run-down convenience store's doors slid shut behind her. With her pockets bulging with 'borrowed' goods she headed straight for the restrooms. The trucker had stopped for fuel a few miles past the last town, and after his hints had lost some of their subtlety Drachen had decided that maybe it was time to find another ride. She just needed a little something to tide her over until that lift came along, and chocolate was just the thing.
Ten minutes later Drachen emerged, refreshed and two cup sizes larger. Candy wasn't the best sort of booster bra, but it would do in a pinch. She leisurely strolled back into the store to try her luck again.
It failed.
Utterly.
"Hey you!" an angry voice demanded from over her left shoulder. Drachen threw a quick look back and started to walk faster. It was the clerk. She'd been made. Wildly scanning the parking lot she searched for an escape route. She got halfway round before her eyes snagged a waiting patrol car. Her entire body froze involuntarily.
This so figures, she thought in exasperation, as she laboriously turned her feet towards the back lot where the big rigs rested.
With pure strength of will Drachen forced herself to start walking again, throwing little glances over her shoulder every now and then and lengthening her stride.
The art of escape, Drachen thought Zen-ly to herself, Is to make it look like you're not actually running.
This super 'escape method' was why she didn't immediately notice when her path was blocked.
Strong hands grabbed her before she hit the ground, which was just as well because the tomatoes hidden in the pockets of her cargos would have been history. Drachen couldn't have moved if she had wanted too, pined as she was between her rescuers arms and his very firm chest. He was taller then her by at least a head, and by the feel of his chest muscles - which she had bounced off in her haste to avoid the clerk, and which she was now resting rather uncomfortably against - apparently made of steel. Drachen tried not to wince.
"Hey!" the shout came from behind her. There was no escape now, with her route firmly blocked by hard muscles, and the way behind closed. Not that she was trying overly hard Drachen admitted to herself "Are you going to pay for those?" the disembodied voice demanded.
Drachen smoothed her face into an innocent expression, the kind her father used to use when mother questioned him about his latest "secretary". That thought caused a brief rush of pain, followed by guilt, but she quashed them immediately, grief and guilt could wait. Drachen turned her head smoothly to face the irate clerk.
"Oh, these?" she took two bars of chocolate out of her pocket "Of course I am, I was just showing them to my…"
"Brother." Her rescuer injected smoothly.
"Boyfriend." Was her panicked response. The clerk did not look amused.
"Well which is it? Boyfriend or brother?" The clerk demanded. Drachen gave a nervous giggle. She could feel her rescuers hands tighten on her arms.
"Well, it's both actually." Drachen began, ready, as always, with an elaborate lie "He's my step-brother really, and we've run away from our family to get married because our parents didn't approve of our love." A modern day Romeo and Juliette they were. Honest. Drachen tried to inject as much sincerity as possible into her voice, but it sounded lame, even to her.
The clerk hadn't moved, though he did cross his arms. Drachen elbowed her rescuer, and slid fully round to face the clerk, though she kept her back pressed firmly against his chest and he didn't let go of her arms. She turned her best megawatt grin on the clerk.
"Pay the man… dearest." she hissed out of the corner of her mouth. After some shuffling, during which time Drachen didn't dare take her eyes off the clerk, the correct amount of bills were dutifully handed over. The clerk took them with a 'humph' and stalked back towards the unattended store. Drachen sagged back against the chest of the guy who had rescued her, her hero. Almost like Superman – pecs of steel and all that. Taking a deep breath she began-
"Thank you, so much I-" The guy she had started thinking of as Super-Romeo-Charming firmly stood her back on her feet and returned to loading up his motorbike, which Drachen, in her previous state of self-interested self-absorption, hadn't noticed. She tried again "Hey, that's a really cool bike is it-?" but She didn't have a chance to get any further.
"'Scuse me." her rescuer said politely, brushing past her and heading back into the store.
Drachen watched as the doors closed on his silhouette, and then glanced around the parking lot. It was getting late, or early depending on how you looked at it. The early morning truckers had all gassed up and left, heading out on their routs that would take them deep into the night before they stopped again. The few locals that were here all looked to be getting off some sort of night shift, so the odds of getting a lift out a town from any of them looked to be slim to none. Drachen thought of the small pile of dwindling bills in her left boot. Not enough for a hotel room to sleep the day away. She doubted the small bundle would have covered what she'd stolen from the convenience store. Drachen shivered as she felt the wind pick up in the early morning light. She needed to make a decision, because she couldn't stay here.
When her knight in slightly tarnished amour that cunningly resembled motorcycle leathers returned Drachen was waiting. Without giving him a chance to speak she launched her attack.
"You have to take me with you, I know I don't know you very well, or really at all, but I can tell from your wonderful personality that you're a great guy." She entreated desperately. Her rescuer regarded her through tired eyes.
"No, I don't have to take you with me," he placed a couple more things under the seat and began to check the saddlebags in preparation for departure.
"Yes you do! It would blow our cover if we left separately." Drachen protested somewhat shrilly. Her man of steel lowered the seat and mounted the bike.
"Listen kid. I don't know what you're thinking, but let me tell you this. We have no cover. I paid for what you stole, though now I'm starting the wish I hadn't, and that's the end of it."
Oh yeah? Drachen thought, bristling slightly at the insinuation that she was no older then sixteen. She waited patiently with a smirk on her lips as he reached for the ignition.
"Where the hell are my keys?" he demanded, tiredness suddenly replaced by irritation. His muttonchops were bristling. Still smirking, Drachen gave a sigh a Southern Belle would have envied and stepped back from the bike and its rider.
"You know, I think you're right. I have been naive in thinking that you would take a complete stranger anywhere. Especially one in such dire straits as myself." She gave a cheshire grin, "So I'll just go." Drachen pulled one of the tomatoes she had pilfered earlier from a pocket in her cargoes and began eating it like an apple. She turned and began to head towards the highway, but she hadn't gotten two feet before her rescuer called out.
"Wait." With a smile she turned and looked expectantly at the figure. His hair was practically drooping. "How far are you going?"