Hello everyone! First of all, a big thank you to all my kind reviewers! It really bugs me that I cannot respond to guest reviews, since you gave me some great ideas with your suggestions (that's why this chapter's a Little longer than the others). I did put in a little Bobby/Rogue BUT it is probably not gonna be the sort of interaction you guys were thinking of *chuckles evilly*. Also, sadly I couldn't come up with three chapters with them in the Jet, but at least they're staying in it a bit longer than I first planned. So anyways, I hope you enjoy it!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own X-MEN or the song BONFIRE HEART!
Bonfire Heart
Charred Remains
THUNK. The knife thuds into the rubber padding between two wall panels. For the 176 time in a row. "This is so boring!" I complain, "That target isn't even moving," I look expectantly at the others. "Anyone wanna volunteer?" Rogue gives me a cold look and Bobby lets his face freeze over. Oh well, I guess not.
"Man, this sucks," Pyro joins in wailing after another ten throws (and hits). "Why are we even sitting here, I mean?" he shoots a burst of flame after my knife searing the padding. The pungent smell of burnt rubber assaults my nostrils. And everyone else's, no doubt. I smirk. Storm's not gonna like that one bit.
Apparently, neither does Rogue, though. She gives me an icy look that almost rivals Wolverine's. "Are you two ever gonna stop whining? Or wrecking the jet?"
Pyro and I look at each other with raised eyebrows. "Never." We say in unison.
Rogue shakes her head at us. "You are in sufferable! Both of you!" There's cold fury in her voice and I can tell she means every word of what she's saying. Now, you'd think I should feel insulted or at least hurt by that but actually I'm not. What do I care about Rogue liking me? Precisely nothing. Still, I shut up, at least for the time being, because I don't like being accused of whining. It's just not what I do. I lived on the streets for years. I don't whine. I give negative feedback.
There's another long silence (in which I manage to hit the crack between the panels another 34 times). Then, all of a sudden, Pyro speaks up, "That's it," he growls, putting on his jacket, "I'm sick of this 'kids' table' shit!" And I could not agree more.
"Wait, John! They told us to wait here?" Rogue calls out.
He lifts his eyebrows at her. "So what?" Then he turns to face me. "You comin'?"
I snort. "You bet I am!" I growl pulling my leather jacket off its hook by the wall. I throw my knife at the button that opens the latch, hitting it hilt first. Pyro draws back his hand reflexively, giving me a stop-trying-to-sever-my-hand kind of look. I merely shrug. Gotta keep practicing somehow.
I intend to go outside, but don't get very far. A solid wall of ice freezes over the hatchway before I've gone more than two paces. I stare. He didn't actually just do that, did he? He did. Iceman's hand's on the far wall with tendrils of frozen water spreading all over it. He's trying to stop us. The idiot.
Pyro turns around slowly to face Bobby. "What the HELL is that supposed to be?!" he asks with murder in his eye.
Iceman's not to be bothered, though. He looks calmly over to us. "You aren't leaving." He says firmly. Man, that guy's really looking for trouble, ain't he?
I raise my eyebrows at him. "And why would you think that glacier's gonna stop us?" I ask. Surely he didn't forget Pyro and I almost burned down his house less than a day ago. He has seen our powers. Ice certainly isn't the way to stop us.
Bobby shrugs. "It's worth a try. Besides, you'd just get all of us into trouble." Ah, so there's the rub. Doesn't wanna end up in detention, Iceman. Well, that's so not gonna happen.
"Well, hate to disappoint you, but we are leaving." With that I set my palm on fire and hold it out for Pyro. He smirks and starts to melt a growing hole into the ice.
But Bobby apparently is not one to give up just like that. Damn it, Iceman! He shoots a glare in Pyro's direction and I can literally feel a wave of cold washing over the room. The ice stops melting. Pyro's smirk falters. "Stop it Bobby!" He growls through gritted teeth. He lets a flame fly into his other hand and holds it up warningly at Bobby. This is getting out of hand. I need to do something.
Glowering, I ram my palm against the wall paneling. And am instantly compelled to draw it back. The metal is freezing. Well, I'll help that! Letting out a long breath, I let a surge of heat rush down my arm and into the wall. It glows faintly for a moment and this time it's Bobby to draw back his hand, fingers burnt.
I wince. "Sorry, Drumstick. Didn't mean to do that," I pause "But you DID bring it onto yourself." Wrong thing to say. Bobby glares at me. Then punches his fist against the wall with such force, he leaves a dent in it. Crap, that guy is strong! Another wave of cold runs through the wall, but I fight it and slowly, really slowly the hole in the glacier is growing again.
I am almost about to proclaim fire's victory over ice, when I see Rogue moving toward me. What is she on about? She can't help Bobby like I'm helping Pyro. Wait… she wouldn't try to hit me, would she? She's not stupid. But that's certainly what it seems like to me, because she's heading straight for me. Until…
"Oh no, you don't!" Pyro's got his lighter out and he's forming a solid wall of flame between me and Rogue. "You go suck out someone else's life!"
Only then I get it. Absorbing. Like at Bobby's place. I shudder. I do not want to experience anything like that ever again! The nerve of her, trying to do it again! Glowering, I send another wave of heat into the wall, my fingernails glowing white with the heat.
Turns out I wouldn't have needed, though. Bobby's distracted – probably by the wall of flame threatening his damsel in distress – and with all the extra heat Pyro's finally managed to make the hole big enough for us to get through. Gosh, finally!
Outside it is snowy and grey and overall rather uncomfortably cold. Especially, since I'm still wearing those blasted shorts. Shivering, I pull my jacket tighter around me and let a surge of fire run along just underneath my skin. It helps somewhat. But it also lowers the bar for unexpectedly setting things alight. Not exactly good when heading straight into trouble. Oh well, let's just hope no one's going to piss me off any time soon.
To get my mind off things, I try start a conversation. "So where d' you reckon we should go?" I ask Pyro. "'Cause I don't really fancy running into Storm and Wolverine. They're just gonna be pissed we didn't stay in the jet and…"
OU! Before I even get to finish my sentence, a blinding headache explodes in my head, knocking me clean off my feet. It's not unlike the screaming at the mansion right before the raid, only without sound and about a million times worse. It feels like my brain is tearing itself apart and my eardrums have turned into stone and my blood started boiling and… I'm setting everything on fire. My whole body is going up in flames, melting the snow all around me and scorching the ground underneath. But I don't even notice. All I know is the pain in my head. Pain like I never felt before.
Trees some twenty feet away are bursting into flames and I can't stop it. Pain. I can't even string two thoughts together. Too much pain. There is no chance of me controlling that fire. Only this time Pyro's not gonna do it either. He's lying on the ground next to me, twisting and clutching his head. He's experiencing the same pain as I am and is in no condition to help me. No control… Pain… too much pain…
That's when I lose it and start to scream. One shrill unbroken note of terror. Screaming's not something I usually do since it would be showing fear or weakness, but at this moment I can't help it. My eyes roll back into my head and I clasp my hands to my temples but it's no use whatsoever. There's only pain. Pain and screaming and more pain and more screaming and screaming and … Wait where did the pain go?
I stop screaming at once. I lie gasping on the ground for some time, like a fish out of the water. Slowly, the fire around me abates. I still don't feel like moving time soon, though. "Bon?" Pyro's voice sounds all raspy. Whether it's cause of the pain or all the smoke we created, I don't know. "You alright, Bon?"
"I guess." I croak back. Apart from the fact that I just burned down half of the trees around the lake, I mean. There's the sound of Pyro getting up slowly and crawling over to me. He looks all white and shaken. "You don't look okay." he says, frowning at me. Does he actually sound worried?
Despite being severely shaken, I still manage to snort indignantly. "Well, you don't look your best either!" I bite back. If there is one thing I cannot stand – apart from principals, planes and waiting – it is not looking pretty.
Pyro smirks at me apparently already halfway back to his old, cocky self. "Yeah, but at least my hair isn't smoking anymore." He says jerking his chin at me curls.
"Hey!" I swat him playfully and finally manage to get up. "Woah! Did I do that?" The level of destruction around us is something, not even I have caused ever before. The snow is gone, leaving instead charred patches of grass, some of them still smoking, and all the trees at a hundred yard radius are burnt down. Good thing there are no houses around here.
Pyro shrugs. "Dunno. Might have helped you with some o' that." Ah, so that headache didn't just make ME lose control, after all. Good to know.
Still, one question remains, "What the hell was that, anyway? The headache, I mean." Seriously, I have no idea what it could have been… Actually, I'm not even sure if I really wanna know about it either. It just seemed so… so very damn powerful.
Pyro seems to be agreeing with me on that matter. He stares glumly in the direction of the underground facility. "That," he says in his best doomsday voice, "Was the Professor."
