Memories
How and Why
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or any of their characters. Tora and Weapon X-ii are my own though.
They were still getting over the whole dinner and arguing over what to watch that night when the wall had come crashing in. There had been the moan that Christmas was supposed to be peaceful when Magneto had burst in and Logan had charged him, only to end up buried in the wall. The X-Men had done their best but they were relieved when Etana burst in, wearing red armour that included spikes on her wings. And she'd faltered and dropped her sword. Magneto had turned towards her, did a double-take and then pulled her towards him before flying of, with Etana in a state of shock floating behind him, wings flapping helplessly and obviously too stunned to teleport. Then Magneto had disappeared somehow and the X-Men were left with trying to work out to rescue her. Remy was all in favour of letting her rescue herself, Scott was trying to make himself heard over the racket and Logan was making muffled noises from the wall. Tora cut him out and then spent a few minutes trying to get the plaster out of his mouth. Then they went to get the tracker from Etana's room and work out where she was. Thankfully she was nearby and it didn't take long to get into costume and charge after her. When they broke into one of Magneto's many houses (how exactly did he pay for them?) they heard the words being yelled.
"Fight me! Lash out! Do it Shadow! You've broken me before, so why not now?"
Then, so quietly they almost couldn't hear it, they heard Etana speak.
"I could never raise a hand to you."
"So you abandon me! Is that all you do? Make people think you care, then leave them in a worse scenario than you found them?"
"I thought you were dead! I cried for you."
"Really? Then why didn't you try and find me?"
"The house fell in! How was I supposed to know you survived? Not to mention it was on fire. And did I mention it falling in on you!"
The X-Men crept round the corner to see Magneto towering over Etana, who appeared to have collapsed. Then they saw the tears and pain on her face. She was looking Magneto in the eyes.
"Kill me then. Show I was wrong about you. Kill me and prove you are all I tried to teach you not to be."
A piece of metal was ripped from the ceiling and hovered above her chest. The armour was pulled off and they saw her eyes half-close.
"Do it."
And the makeshift blade wobbled then fell. Missing her chest entirely. Shadow opened her eyes and almost nodded. Scott was now panicking.
"Attack."
Optic-beams, a lightning bolt, a ball of ice, fireworks and a thrown Logan all made contact. In the confusion that followed, Etana was screaming "NO!" and Magneto was forced to flee.
Phoenix sighed.
"One day I'm going to find out about those two. He would try to kill her and she would try not to kill him."
"I'm not going into an in-depth study of Etana Jean. Later, maybe."
"I am not going into my relationship with Magneto. We knew each other years ago. A minor incident meant we lost touch. That's all you need to know."
Her shields were up, an adamantium wall around her thoughts. They were obviously not going to get any more out of her tonight. In fact, they knew she'd gone to her flat in Manhattan, probably to escape from them. Things weren't made any easier by Cap ringing and Tora obliviously answering the phone, which resulted in the entire Avengers roster turning up, followed shortly by the Fantastic Four and Dr Strange, at which point the Danger Room was booted up to allow Tora to escape. Therefore people could see her beating up robots just to prove that, yes she was alive, no she wasn't an evil clone and no, she wasn't leaving the room until the house was quieter.
It was half-eleven before she dared leave.
Phoenix smirked then laughed.
"Let's go on to New Year's Day, shall we?"
"Fine."
"Hello Tora. Why do you grace my lab with your presence?"
"There's something wrong with me."
Hank was immediately beside her. If Tora had the Legacy Virus, so soon after her return…
"Is it a continuation of the Hunter armour? I noticed some slightly unethical cut corners…"
"No. I wouldn't have noticed it unless I had my chips. At first I thought it was just from being back. Then it didn't stop. So I thought I should come down."
"What's wrong?"
"My hormone levels are spiking. I have chips that keep an eye on them for me and alert me if things go wrong."
"And are they going wrong?"
"Not exactly… It's odd. It's like they wouldn't normally be doing this but it's…right."
"Can you run that past me again? Wrong but right?"
"I can't explain it."
"Well let's take a look at you then. Right. Where exactly is this wrong-rightness emanating from?"
Tora sighed.
"Look, would it just be easier to upload my hormone level charts for the last month onto your laptop?"
Hank smiled.
"If all my patients were as considerate as you…"
Tora grinned and started the delicate task of turning on the wireless, which resulted in some wincing and connecting to Hank's computer. She didn't normally like doing this. It was like allowing people into her head. And there was always the slight chance of a computer virus messing up her memories. She finished and withdrew, leaving Hank with the graphs up and her entire medical history on her file just to make life easier for him. Hank was looking at the graphs with an odd expression on his face.
"Tora, would you mind me asking you a few personal questions?"
"What do you think it is Hank? Don't lie. I can smell lies."
Hank told her. And Tora grabbed the bench to steady herself.
"How?"
The woman turned to look at Phoenix, who seemed both happy and sad at the same time.
"Jealous Jean?"
"Just a little…"