Don't Call Me Babe
Skye/Pyro
PyroQuake
Disclaimer: Marvel own all characters in this fic.
Theme Song:
The Doors – Light My Fire
Note: I've used the image of Aaron Stanford, who played Pyro in a couple of X-Men movies, to make the Ao3 manip. That said, comic-Pyro is Australian. I personally think Ryan Kwantein would be better casting! Anyway, I've written my Pyro in as an Aussie – just because my adopted countrymen do say such fantastic things…
"I'm not going back, mate." Pyro said calmly, facing the ring of armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. "Not to that prison. I never committed any crime."
"We know," the oldest agent said. "It was wrong, John, for you to be locked up pre-emptively just because you might be dangerous to someone. I'm Phil Coulson, the Director now, and you have my word it won't happen again. The Fridge no longer exists, anyway."
"In that case," he swept an arm around, indicating the guns, "why all the firepower?"
Coulson actually smiled. "You're the one with the firepower here, John, we both know that. We're here because we heard reports of strange fires in the desert. Where there's nothing to burn." He gestured at the bare sand around them.
"No one to hurt here, either. Stop calling me John."
"Do you prefer Mr Allerdyce? Or should I call you Pyro?"
"Pyro will do. It's what I am." He clicked the Zippo lighter in his fingers, flipping it open and closed, open and closed, though he didn't light it. "What do you want, Coulson, if it's not to cage me up again?"
"We don't do that. Not anymore. You must have heard about HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D…."
"One and the same, the way I heard it, mate." Pyro smiled cockily.
Skye found her finger tightening on the trigger. Damn, but he was an irritating bastard, the tall fair-haired man with the Australian accent. Good-looking, she had to concede. And fearless, even in the face of the ICER guns she, May, Bobbi, Hunter and Coulson were pointing in his direction, he seemed more angry than afraid.
"Perhaps they were," Phil said coolly, "but no more. S.H.I.E.L.D. is closely affiliated with the Avengers – we don't lock up people with super-normal abilities, Pyro. We ally with them. Work with them. One of the people in this circle, other than you, has abilities…"
"What?" suddenly the Zippo was lit, only a small flame in the gathering desert twilight, but deeply threatening considering the abilities Pyro was reputed to possess. He whirled, taking a good look at each of them, pausing for a long moment at Skye. "It's you, isn't it? You have the look…" the flame in his hand flared up.
Hunter pulled the trigger, even as Skye said; "What look?"
"What?" Hunter said when they all stared at him. "I didn't want to make any closer acquaintance with his personal flamethrower, thanks very much."
No chance of that right now. ICER rounds were apparently effective on this particular super-human. Pyro was flat on his back, utterly still.
May pocketed the Zippo. "Let's get him back to the Bus."
"Sir," Skye muttered to Coulson as they headed back, Pyro cuffed and dumped into the rear of the SUV, "he said my soulmark words."
Coulson then did something that Skye had very rarely heard him do.
"Fuck."
"Sir!"
Back at the Bus, Hunter and Mack hauled Pyro to the Cage and dumped him on the thin mattress. Coulson checked his watch, looked at Skye and sighed. "He'll be coming around any minute. You'd better stay – but he's going to be really pissed off when he wakes."
"All the more reason for me to stay close, then," Skye reasoned. She'd not been able to stop staring at Pyro ever since he said the words. He was about her own age, attractive in an intense sort of way. She'd not been able to see what colour his eyes were before.
Oh. They were blue… as they snapped open and he glared at her, rolling upright quickly, wrenching at the cuffs holding his hands behind his back before letting out an almost animal howl of rage.
"Coulson!" his eyes settled on the lying bastard. "You said you weren't going to take me back!"
"We're not," Coulson held his hands up in a pacifying gesture. "Skye, take the cuffs off him. John – Pyro – please, hear me out."
The pretty sheila was unfastening the cuffs. He considered grabbing the gun holstered on her thigh, but the look she gave him made him reconsider. "I'm listening," he said to Coulson.
"Pyro, I truly believe you are meant to join us, now. Skye's your soulmate."
"Pull the other one mate!" John looked disbelievingly back at the sheila. She looked away, a sudden expression of hurt on her face, before murmuring;
"Do you remember what you said before Hunter shot you?" When he frowned, she said "You said It's you, isn't it? You have the look, and then I said What look?"
His hand shot to his chest, just below his heart, though he looked angrily disbelieving. "You could have looked at mine. Show me yours. I want to see."
Skye hesitated, glanced at Coulson. "Would you mind turning your back, sir?"
Coulson frowned. "You don't have to show him…"
"I'd rather not get off on the wrong foot with my soulmate doubting everything I say," Skye said, her eyes boring into John's. He had the grace to look a little ashamed, though as Coulson sighed and turned his back, he looked at her intently again.
"Don't be getting any ideas now," Skye warned as she unfastened her belt, unzipped her pants. Carefully she folded back one flap, away towards her right hip.
John stared at the smooth pale skin revealed, fighting not to lick his lips. The feisty sheila would probably smack his head in. But hot damn…
…oh, that was definitely his writing.
"You are my soulmate," he said in surprise.
Skye fastened her clothes again, slightly flushed at the look he'd given her, a warm, appreciative stare. "Don't think that gives you any special privileges."
"Wouldn't dream of it, babe."
"And don't call me babe!" Figures. My soulmate's an ass.
"You'll get used to me. I grow on people," John said, grinning at his soulmate's expression, guessing pretty accurately what she was thinking.
"Like mould," Skye muttered. He grinned and blew her a kiss.
Dammit. I'm totally gonna fall for the cocky little shit.
998 words.
Cocky little shit. Gotta love him though. Pyro's definitely one of those bad boys you can't quite help falling for.
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