A/N : Hey, there! Sorry about the mega-long wait, but I've been preoccupied with my job and other stuff. But hey, better late than never, right? Here's the second chapter, and thanks for sticking with the story. And for those of you just tuning in, welcome aboard! Hope you'll stick around for the end, which should be sometime soon!
Crystal Clear
Part 2
The roar of the helicarrier was deafening as they passed over the cliffs of the Rocky Mountain lines.
It had been hours since Fury's rather unpleasant coffee visit, and yet Emma and Logan had barely exchanged words. Not that Emma was the sort that needed constant companionship. She was an independent woman to the core, and the thought that she would ever need anyone in order to make herself feel normal abhorred her.
Still, there was something rather irritating about Logan's silence. There he was, sitting not a few feet from her, just staring outside the window of the helicarrier, without a word, or so much as a snarl, watching the scenery move beneath them. He wasn't even bothering to take a glance at the intel file that S.H.I.E.L.D had given them to read. And she had already read it forwards and backwards. She was starting to think that she knew this Hulk better than she did her own teammate.
Honestly, the man could be so frustrating sometimes, it was maddening. She wondered what had him so riled up in the first place. Granted, if a one-eyed stranger with armed soldiers at his beckon call had threatened her precious Massachusetts Academy when she was running it years ago, she would have mind-wiped everything in a five-mile radius to keep her students safe. But this was Logan. He was always mad about something, and she had a sneaking suspicion that one of those reasons was her mere presence.
She had never fully understood why it was that she and Logan could never get along. Granted, she admitted as much that she was somewhat…high-strung, but she had always made it a point to be a ready and willing member of the team. And yet, Logan was always looking at her with all the regard of a bug stuck at the end of his shoe, never making it secret that he would rather see her out of the mansion all too soon. Worse yet, he felt the need to constantly bark orders at her, always bossing her around.
That was where she drew the line. She didn't care if he snarled and snikt-ed at her until he was blue in the face. No one told Emma Frost what to do, not after the hardness of the life she had endured. Not that anyone had bothered to ask her about her own past, not even Scott, whom she had grown somewhat close to in the last few months as she helped him through his grief (mostly out of guilt).
A saddened look crossed Emma's refined features as looked down at the passing scenery. She knew at heart that she was a hypocrite. She was frustrated about the lack of trust between her and the others, Logan, in particular, and yet she knew that if they ever discovered the truth about her, and what she had done last year, she would lose so much more than just their trust…and a part of her wondered if she deserved as much.
The only thing that kept her going through all of this, through all of the games, and lies, and dirty looks, and the constant bickering with Logan, was the thought that, in the end, she would be helping to save the world, and so many precious lives. And for that, and only that, she would continue to be in a lonely place where, she had no doubt, she was not welcome.
Emma shook her head. She hated her thoughts; they were the loneliest place to be. And as she eyed Logan, scowling perpetually as he eyed the passing scenery, she relented that, despite how much she didn't want to, talking with him was the better alternative for her than to talk to herself…although, not by much.
Slowly, Emma let the mental gates of her mind open, connecting her thoughts to Logan's.
Shouldn't you be reading the files?
An angry glare was his response, to which she could only smirk, cocking a perfect golden eyebrow towards him.
Frost, I've lived the files, he snorted. Fury and his goons aren't going to tell me anything that I don't already know.
Not the most reassuring answer in the world, she smirked. Do you even have a plan for dealing with this…Hulk, was it?
He cracked his knuckles. Same plan that I usually have.
Emma shook her head, sighing. Ah, I see. That would involve you hitting his fist with that thick skull of yours until he quits?
Her mordant retort earned her another evil eye from Logan. Something like that.
Emma rolled her eyes at him as she idly fanned herself with the confidential S.H.I.E.L.D. file. So…what is this Hulk?
His face betrayed the smug feeling he felt as he parroted back her words. Haven't you been "reading the files"?
Now it was her turn to be smug, her icy-glossed lips twitching up into her patented smirk. If you've "lived" the files, then shouldn't you be the one to tell me?
He looked away, and she could feel his irritation at her growing through her connection…as well as the stray thought of how long it would take him to get to the drop-off point if he were to jump out of the copter mid-flight and walk from their location.
Deciding that the endless bickering was getting her nowhere, Emma relented. Logan, if we're going to be in this together, then you need to start trusting me.
She ignored his skeptical glare as he continued. The Hulk, as far as I tell, was never always a big, green wrecking machine. Once, he was a man. A scientist, big-time radiation guru. Dr. Bruce Banner.
A look of recognition flashed across Emma's perfect facial features. Yes, I think I came across that name in the files—
Can I finish? It amazed Emma how even through telepathy, Logan still found a way to snarl. From what Department H, in Canada, have told me, the Hulk was the result of some kinda lab explosion. Scientists in some college in Nevada- Banner being one of them - were trying to use a radiation primer to increase human resistance to gamma exposure. Something to do with cancer research. What they got was something worse.
Understanding lit up her cerulean eyes. The Hulk.
He touched his nose. Yup. What you saw in my head was only the tip of the iceburg. He can pick up tanks like they were baby rattles, bullets bounce off him like candy corn, and to make things worse, the longer he fights and the madder he gets, the stronger he becomes.
Though she was loathe to admit it, the description of this creature was making her all the more uneasy. S.H.I.E.L.D. had not armed them with much, to begin with, and all that they could throw at the Hulk after the ammunition ran out were just her telepathy, Logan's claws and that thick, unbreakable skull of his. It wasn't the best of battle strategies.
Still, if Logan had taken on this monster and lived, surely he had a better strategy than simply trying to outlast the creature in a fist-to-cuffs fight…or so she hoped.
She looked at her colleague with interest. When did you fight him?
She could see the images pass in his mind as his cobalt eyes stared off into the distant past. About 7 years ago. I was tipped off by Department H that he was laying waste to a few towns up north in Canada. I went down to stop it, or kill it.
She couldn't help but to find her lips curl up into a sly smile. Whichever came first.
Logan chuckled. Something like that. I found him, we fought, and long story short, it was pretty much a draw. His eyes were lost in the memory of heated battle. Toughest damn thing I ever fought. I kept hacking up that thick, green skin on that flaming idiot, and he kept pounding me like a piece of meat at a butcher shop.
Her eyebrows arched, slightly impressed, (not that she was the type to be turned on by a savage gladiatorial display, of course). You really fought the Hulk to a draw?
Logan shrugged, as a dissatisfied frown crossed his face. Well, our fight got cut short. I ran into some old buddies of mine that I never particularly wanted to run into again. The images of a giant blonde savage with electrical tentacles, a menacing Oriental female with deformed, but deadly claws and a red-and-black clad lunatic in a hood flickered in his mind.
Suppressing a shudder at the mental sight of those horrible-looking people, she wondered how Logan's life had become so twisted as to come across the paths of beings such as those.
And then, she remembered something. A little tidbit that Fury shared with them back in the coffee shop.
Was that before or after he ripped you in half?
Off his heated glare, to which she replied with a not-too-innocent shrug, he gave a quiet but foreboding response. Again. I don't want to talk about that.
She raised her hands in mock defense. Sorry.
Logan's gaze suddenly broke off, and Emma could see from the look in his eyes that something was connecting in his mind. The thing is, trashing a town for the heck of it, that doesn't sound like the Hulk's M.O.
Emma wrinkled her brow in thought, finding his last statement somewhat difficult to believe. Since when do monsters have a modus operandi?
You haven't met this one…yet. He met her eyes. Something doesn't add up. The Hulk might be good at playing smash-up, but he just wants to be left alone. It's only when he gets confronted or attacked that he goes on the offensive.
Logan could tell from the look in her eyes that the irony of the situation was not lost on her. And yet, here we are, flying over the United States-Canadian border to put him down. This should end well.
Despite her astute observation, Logan was too focused on the impending battle with the Jade Giant to have any level of patience with Emma's witty remarks. Can the sarcasm, Frost. It's getting old real fast.
Emma was about to let loose a scathing remark along the likes of "As opposed to you?", but decided against it. In truth, at this point, she only desired to be filled in on the plan before they went off to confront a 10-foot gamma-powered monster that would just as soon rip them to pieces than it would look at either of them. So do we have a plan?
The plan is simple, Frost. When the you-know-what hits the fan, you get into that diamond form of yours and stay out of sight. At that point, she heard the 'snikt' sound of his adamantium claws slide out of his right hand, watching him as he eyed the deadly blades contemplatively. I can handle the rest.
Emma stared at him in disbelief, wanting to believe that he was not suggesting something as stupid as what she believed him to be planning. You're not planning on fighting the Hulk by yourself…?
Logan shrugged. I did it the last time, didn't I?
Emma sighed, exasperated. She was hardly a damsel in distress. She was powerful enough to take care of herself. And this alpha-male complex Logan seemed to carry was not endearing her in the slightest. Logan, we're a team. We're both in this together.
His stare hardened. And I'm team leader, Frost. Which means you do what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it.
Enough with that rubbish, she snapped, feeling her temper rise within her throat, growing angrier by the moment. Fury sent me here because of my telepathic powers, Logan. I can help.
Logan's snort only fueled her anger. Frost, I told you. Nick Fury has an agenda for everything. I don't trust him, and neither should you.
Emma felt her features form a scowl harder than anything her diamond form could repel. You don't trust him? Well, then. It appears when it comes to you, Mr. Fury and I have something in common after all.
Logan's eyes narrowed into cold, deadly slits. What the hell is that supposed to mean?
But the blonde refused to back down, returning his icy glower with her own frigid, defiant stare. I think you know exactly what that means.
The two exchanged cold, angry glares at one another, before Emma, having grown weary from the argument, let out an exasperated sigh as she severed their mental connection, folding her arms across her chest as she gazed angrily out the window.
Logan felt the mental link abruptly cut off…and he had no idea why, but he suddenly missed the connection. And that disturbed him. He should have been glad to not have Emma poking around in his head anymore. The woman was nothing but an irritant. Always some smart-ass comment, or some haughty look, or anything to piss him off.
Yet, there was a part of him that acknowledged that she was only trying to help…unwanted as it might be. But Logan made a pact with Charles that he wouldn't let anything happen to any member of the team under his watch. And for better or worse, Emma was part of that team, now. That meant he had a responsibility to keep her safe. Of course, he was about to get to that part when she so rudely shut him out of her mind. It was so typical of her… the second she doesn't get her way, she turned on the ice queen routine – distant, curt, rude. She was so…so…
So much like you? a part of his brain ventured. Logan immediately swatted away that stray thought, not wanting to follow that strand of yarn to where it would lead.
"Sir, I think we've got something," one of the two male pilots called back to Logan.
The two teammates exchanged brief glances before they bolted over to the pilot's cabin, where the screen built into the controls showed a massive crater-sized hole in the ground several thousand feet below.
"I don't wager Canada has too many of those around," Emma grimly quipped as her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Even near the Rocky Mountain lines."
"There aren't," Logan replied, the undertone of a dangerous growl under his voice. He'd been here before – not in the location itself, but the ruptured land crater itself was definitely the Hulk's calling card.
Déjà vu all over again, he thought with weariness.
Having heard his stray thought, Emma tensed, knowing that their intended target was dangerously close.
"I suppose we should go take a closer look," she said, glancing over to Logan.
"No kidding," he snorted.
The pilots continued to hover over the crater, looking to Wolverine for further orders. "Do you want us to try for a landing, sir?"
Surprisingly, he smirked. "Don't bother."
Emma's head whipped around wildly as she stared at Logan with shock all over her face.
"I beg your pardon?" she asked, hoping that he wasn't seriously contemplating what she thought he was.
Suddenly, she let out a gasp of surprise as he reached out and pulled her close to him, his powerful right arm coiled around her small waist.
"Come on, Frost. We're on."
She only had a moment to register the shocking proximity she now shared with the feral X-Man,
Before her ears picked up an even bigger shock – the sound of the hatch door's gears whirring as the steel door 10 feet from them began to unhinge.
As the hatch door opened, letting in the stark cold of the Canadian Rockies through the hanger, the realization of the moment hit Emma as hard as the biting cold did.
She shouted at him over the howling wind, appalled and frightened all at once, "Logan, are you insane?"
"Nope," he smirked, as he prepared his body to launch. "Just in a rush."
She squirmed in his steel grip, a futile effort. "Now you wait just a minute, Loga-aaaAAAAAAAAHHH!"
And just like that, the two X-Men began their freefall approximately 5,000 ft in the air over the Canadian wilderness.
Emma instinctively wrapped her arms around Logan's neck as she clung for dear life as they continued their deadly earth-bound plummet.
"What do you think you're doing?" she screamed over the deafening rush of the howling winds surrounding them.
But Logan offered no answer, only a wild smile as they continued their downward descent.
Fear gripping the normally cool-headed telepath, she instinctively materialized into her diamond form, hoping to protect herself from injury.
Feeling the icy touch of her diamond form on his flesh, Wolverine's eyes widened. "Frost! Turn back to normal! I can't steer us with the extra weight!"
But Frost steadfastly shook her head, her grip on Logan's neck tightening.
The wild loner struggled to loosen her grasp on his throat, while trying to steer them clear of any trees or potentially deadly landing spots. "Quit it!"
Realizing that Emma wasn't going to budge on lowering her diamond shell, and time was running short before their inevitable collision with the ground, Logan twisted his body to guide them towards a nearby slope on one of the mountains.
His only hope was that there was more snow on that slope than there was rock. Logan knew he could take such a hit, but he wasn't sure how much punishment Emma's diamond form could take, and he didn't want to take the chance to test that…no matter how irritating she was.
Bracing for impact, Logan jutted his legs downward, just enough to ensure that he would meet the snow banks before Emma did. With a soft, but audible thud, he finally made contact – breathing a sigh of relief that his hunch was right about the snowfall's majority – as the pair slid down the mountain.
But the extra weight provided by Emma's diamond form threw Logan off balance as he was suddenly propelled forward, their graceful slide turning into a clumsy roll. Emma's gasps of surprise and cries of shock echoed in his ears as they tumbled down the mountain side.
Despite the pain he felt at the landing, he instinctively tried to shift his weight in order to protect Emma. Alas, his efforts were futile as the continued to roll downhill until at last, they came to a skidding halt near the base of the mountain.
Groaning in pain, Logan pushed his upper body off the snow-blanketed ground, his mind registering to check on Emma's condition.
A question he received a quick and painful response to when a hard diamond fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him backwards onto the ground.
Emma, still covered in her icy diamond form, turned her furious crystal gaze at Logan.
"You…idiot!" she snapped.
Coughing, an irate Logan spat out the trickle of blood he tasted in his mouth. "What the hell did you that for?"
"If you have to ask me that question, then you have even less of a brain than I gave you credit for," she scowled, picking herself up off the ground and brushing the snow off her shapely form. "And I gave you very little credit, to begin with."
Logan's temper flared as he turned his cowl-covered eyes at his teammate. "So, I'm the idiot? Did it ever occur to you that when we're in free-fall several hundred feet above land, we have a better chance of survival if we have less weight on us instead of morphing into that damned diamond form of yours?"
Emma's eyes widened in outrage. "Don't. Even. Start! I'm not the one who thought it would be a brilliant strategy to grab my unsuspecting teammate, ignore two perfectly-functioning parachutes or the offer for a landing and jump out of a moving helicopter in the middle of the air!"
"I would have landed us just fine, if you had just listened to me and dropped the diamond form before we hit the ground!" Logan fired back, accusatorily.
"I wouldn't have had to use it if you had even bothered to clue me in on your intentions to test out cordless bungee-jumping over the Canadian Rocky Mountains!" she retorted, her voice sharp and cold.
"If I had told you the plan, you would've said 'No!' And time isn't something we've got plenty of when dealing with the Hulk!" Logan growled, his steel-like fists balled tightly.
"You're damn right I would have said 'No!' Because it was a stupid plan!" she shouted back at him, a heated scowl etched on an otherwise perfectly sculpted diamond visage. "What kind of a brain-dead imbecile would think it's a good idea to leap out of a plane with no parachute?"
"I've never NEEDED one!" he roared at her, furiously.
"Well, I DO!" she practically screamed, literally panting with anger.
Logan let out a roar of frustration. "I knew this was a bad idea from the start. I'm better off working alone, and instead, not only does Fury saddle me with a partner, but he sticks me with the most arrogant, irritating, obnoxious, prissy ice princess this side of the Western Hemisphere!"
"As if being paired with you is any picnic!" she retorted, folding her arms across her chest. "You're rude, you're overbearing, you have all the personality of a rabid wolf, and you have no concept of working with other people! I'd have more cooperation working with a two-year old than with you." With disdain, she added, "And the two-year old wouldn't smell nearly as offensive."
Before he realized it, Logan was moving at incredible speed towards the blonde, his adamantium claws jutting out as he held them dangerously close to her crystal face, snarling menacingly.
Despite the surprise and sudden fear she felt, Emma masked her emotions well as she raised her chin proudly, defiantly glaring into the seething, feral gaze of the animalistic mutant before her.
She had no idea whether even her diamond-hard shell could withstand an attack from razor-sharp claws made out of virtually unbreakable metal. Yet, while Emma might have been afraid for her life in that moment, her pride would not let her reveal that to Logan. Besides, for all of his gruff and ornery disposition, she had always believed Logan to have some semblance of honor. Surely, he wouldn't strike an unarmed woman – a teammate – over a few scathing words. But even if he would, she would sooner die than show fear to anyone.
Logan's infuriated scowl suddenly softened, as he realized what he was doing. He almost lost it. As maddening as Emma was, he knew better than to threaten someone because of a few stupid words. He knew Charles would not approve if he saw him acting like some hotheaded teenager.
Letting out a displeased grunt, he quickly re-shed his claws, lowering his hands away from his female compatriot. He just wanted to get this hunt over with already. The sooner they tagged and bagged the Hulk (and that was a fight he wasn't looking forward to with Emma in tow) the sooner they could safeguard the X-Men's secrets, and the sooner he could be back at the mansion and not have to worry about teaming with the irritating blonde again until the next mission.
"Come on," he ground out, trudging ahead. "We've got some ground to cover and shelter to find before sundown."
Emma lowered her diamond form, briefly rubbing her hands along her arms as the wicked cold of the Canadian wilderness stabbed at her skin. Warily walking behind the wild X-Man, she shook her head.
Only just last night, she had been wrapped in the warmth and comfort of her queen-sized bed in the safety and protection of the Xavier Institute. Now, she was walking in the unforgiving cold of one the world's bitterest environments, chasing after a dangerous, menacing brute…to chase after another dangerous, menacing brute.
"This should be just…jolly," she wryly sighed.
To Be Continued…