Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze has and always will own me.

Scene 03

A slender silhouette stood by the window, black against the streetlights outside. Gambit recognised her instantly and gasped. She had come home, come back to him! He took a step forward as she turned towards him. The look on her face was sorrowful. It was the last thing Gambit remembered seeing.

Rogue's bare hand grasped Gambit's forehead from behind. The Southern belle held on as images from Remy's mind flashed into her own. Rogue concentrated, collecting thoughts, feelings and information from the Cajun. The contact lasted longer than was comfortable for either of them, but Rogue didn't let go until she was absolutely sure she had what she needed.

As soon as Rogue broke contact, both she and Gambit swooned. Rogue fell to her knees, her white hair bobbing around her grey face. Gambit teetered on his heels then fell backwards unconscious. Blaze darted forwards from the window and caught his head just before it hit the floor. She lowered him gently the final few inches, then checked his pulse. It was strong, but Blaze was sure he would have one heck of a headache when he woke up. She was sorry for that, too.

Rogue reached out and placed a gloved hand gently onto Blaze's shoulder. Blaze looked across Gambit and met Rogue's gaze. Rogue managed a Remy-like half smile and told the redhead, "He really cares for you, y'know?"

"I think he might care for me a whole lot less after this," Blaze replied sadly. Rogue frowned, stroking Blaze's cheek with the back of her gloved finger. "Don't count on it," she said. Blaze took Rogue's hand in hers and squeezed it tight. Between them Remy gave an unconscious moan.

"Well?" Mystique asked, striding through the door and ruining the moment. Blaze and Rogue startled and got to their feet. Shadowcat was right behind Mystique. Kitty looked from Rogue to Blaze and back again questioningly. Blaze took charge, "Kitty get him outta here."

"No problem," Kitty agreed. She took hold of Remy by the arm and sank him down through the floor. The Morlocks were waiting in the sewers below the building. They would see that Gambit was secured. Blaze turned her attention back to Rogue and Mystique.

"Rogue did you get everything?"

"Yeah," said Rogue, rubbing her forehead and looking pointedly at Blaze, "and then some." Blaze pretended not to notice, turning instead to Mystique, "You're sure you are up for this?"

"Absolutely Cherie," the shape-shifter answered in Remy's voice. At the same time she dropped into Gambit's form, folding her arms and blinking red-on-black eyes in the gloom. Blaze circled, giving the metamorph a critical going-over.

"Back straight," Blaze ordered, poking Mystique in the spine and making her wince. "Chin up. That's better."

"I only have to fool Jacobi," Mystique moaned. "I doubt he has such… intimate knowledge of our Cajun friend as the two of you."

"Jacobi and Bella Donna," Rogue interjected, coming to stand by Blaze's side. "She and Remy were…you know, when they were growin' up."

"And now?" Blaze tried to keep the jealousy out of her voice. She hadn't known about Gambit and Bella, not for sure.

"Bella's made a few passes," Rogue shrugged. "Probably jus' jealous dat Remy got Jacobi's ear… Do I sound like him still?"

"A little," Mystique replied with obvious humour. "Can I suggest we take a seat Rogue?" She indicted towards the sofa. "This briefing could take some time."

"You're ok with this?" Blaze asked Rogue, who nodded.

"Yeah, but next time you wanna pull a stunt like this, get yourself a telepath."

"I'll bear that in mind," Blaze smiled, squeezing Rogue's shoulder in a friendly gesture. Then she left.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Berserker met Blaze as she re-entered the Morlock realm. Ray gave here some bottled water and a brown paper bag containing a stale baguette with some limp lettuce and half a slice of ham. It was the best food they had. He asked her, "How did it go?"

"It went," Blaze replied cautiously. The incident with Rogue, who ordinarily hated Blaze, had thrown her. Blaze was dreading what she had to do next. She kissed Ray on the cheek as a thank you for the food and his concern, before going deeper into the sewer.

"Spyke, Cannonball, how did you get on?" Blaze asked.

"Great," confirmed Cannonball, shaking a can of spray paint so that it rattled.

"We tagged all the escape routes," Spyke replied solemnly. "Wherever an X-Man or a Morlock is in Bayville they'll be able to find their way back here."

"Pink Xs for safety," Cannonball elaborated. "Green, blue or yellow Xs are dead ends, just like you asked for."

"Great work," Blaze thanked them. "Get rid of the aerosols and pass the word about the paint code. You did good."

The boys both glowed at the praise before heading off into the warren of sewers to pass the word. Blaze had wanted this network of marked entrances across Bayville, but she needed to disguise them from the authorities, hence the different colours. She just hoped that the myriad of coloured Xs that had sprung up across Bayville would confuse her enemies long enough.

Bobby Drake was tapping away at a laptop keyboard. Dubious looking wiring attached the laptop to a conduit that ran above the boy's head. Sparks periodically flashed from the wiring, but Iceman seemed happy enough. He jumped as Blaze leaned over his shoulder to check his progress, "Oh, it's you."

"We online yet?" said Blaze.

"Oh yeah," boasted Iceman. "I've hacked directly into the Bayville High systems. Their own network is supporting our access, but don't worry it is completely secure. They won't even know we are here."

"Great," said Blaze. "How do you plan to circulate this?"

"I've created a viral email," Iceman replied. "It'll email every address in the school as soon as I hit the right function key. Then it'll use the contacts of each of those email accounts to replicate and forward itself automatically. In a few hours, we'll have gone global."

"So much for television," Blaze murmured respectfully.

"All set?" Shadowcat asked as she joined them.

"If you are," said Blaze, "is Bayvillegirl2709 ready to tell the world what is really going on here?"

"You betcha," Kitty was excited. "Leave it to us Blaze, we'll get the word out…" Kitty fell silent as Callisto approached.

"Your boyfriend has woken up," Callisto growled at Blaze. "He's asking for you."