Alex Summers clutched the neck of a beer bottle as he looked out into open space. He was very obviously upset, and lately, that's all he has been feeling. He allowed for his mutant power to course through his hand, causing the beer bottle to shatter. Some of the shards had bit into his skin while the rest dropped to the floor.
His brother Gabriel, who'd just walked into the open area, glances down as the precious drink had gone to waste. "Whoa," he says, "calm brother. That's from my personal stash you know."
Alex grumbles his reply incoherently and drops his hand to his side. He didn't want to talk about it to any capacity. Not with Scott, and certainly not with Gabriel.
"Okay…" Gabriel instinctively put his hands up in self defence. "Pray tell, what irks you?" he asks. It wasn't often anyone let a perfectly good beer to waste. If it wasn't on the floor right now, Gabriel would be guzzling it to drown out his own feelings.
He looked at Alex with innocent blue eyes and Alex had returned it with a similarly blue glare.
"Well?" Gabriel offers a meek smile and reaches his hand out toward Alex's. "May I?" The glass shards in Alex's hand caused thin streams of blood to trickle down his palm, soaking up into the fabric of his costume. Alex's first reaction was to jerk his hand away but thought better of it and allowed Gabe to treat it.
"Now," Gabriel clucks his tongue, "what ails you, brother?" he asks once more. As he carefully picked out the glass, Alex gave his reply. "I burned a man's face." he states dully and towards the end he winced as he started to feel the cuts.
"Peace, warrior, I am almost done." Gabriel assured before getting back to the matter at hand. "Seems the fire in you has been ablaze, no? It's a rule not to hurt a human being."
"Don't you think I know that?" Alex hisses in response. "As punishment, I'm being put on Sinister's team!"
With an unchanging expression, Gabe briefly looks up. Out of the three Summers brothers, Gabriel was lucky enough to escape Mr. Sinister's torture. For some reason, the man was infatuated with the Summers' DNA, having tormented Scott for when he was in the orphanage. He had done things to a young Alex as well, but his memories were mostly blocked. Lest did the Summers know, Mr. Sinister knew there was a third Summers brother before either Scott or Alex did. He even had some of Gabe's DNA but he wasn't the exception.
The point is, Gabriel didn't have a personal gripe with this man other than he hurt his family. He was absent during all of these events but he did try to understand the first-hand trauma as he learned more and more about the Summers.
Gabriel then clears his throat, "And… knowing what you know, the Council simply let it happen?"
Alex gave a grim nod and shifted his gaze toward the mess on the floor. "Scott tried to stick up for me." he says, "But it was no use."
"I see." Gabriel replied and soon Alex's blood began to broil. He questioned the sanctity of the Council, and more importantly, Mr. Sinister's placing in it. He curled up his hand and ignored the pain it brought him. "I don't trust that guy as far as I can throw him, and I find it hard to believe that anyone does. So why the fuck is he here then?" Alex asked angrily. He directed the question to no one, but poor Gabriel opted to answer anyway.
"Krakoa offers a home to all mutants." says Gabriel in a light tone. He took a step back to give his brother some space. "Whether they be good, bad, morally grey…"
Unaccepting of the response, Alex had initially turned to strike Gabriel with an energy blast. His anger got the better of him in that brief moment but his true self held him back from harming his little brother.
Without flinching, Gabriel continues. "You wouldn't turn me away because of my past would you?"
Alex sighed and slumped his shoulders with defeat. Even before now, Alex had been willing to kill Gabriel once before. But that was when he threatened to kill all of the X-Men. Now he was just an alcoholic who spoke ornately. He wouldn't hurt a fly. But even if a sadistic ex-Emperor of the Shi'ar Empire can change, then can Mr. Sinister?
No. Alex could not accept that and he knew he wasn't alone in his feelings. Xavier and Magneto may want everyone to hold hands and sing Kumbaya, but that wasn't going to cut it. Charles Xavier is very well aware of the personal problem that the Summers had with Mr. Sinister and he simply let Alex get put onto the Hellions.
"Alex?" Gabriel broke him out of his thoughts and without an answer, Alex slinks away to disappear into his room. By the time he wakes, his doubts would seemingly evaporate as most grim feelings did since Krakoa became sovereign. It would be gone until he had to face Sinister the next day, his hatred rejuvenating. One of these days, he hoped his violent tendencies would evaporate as well.
Now alone, Gabriel sighs and crouches with intent to clean up the mess. "You wouldn't turn me away because of my past, would you?" he echoes numbly. He accidentally pricks himself with one of the shards and watches as the bead of blood drips onto the floor. "Can't get a rest, can we?"
Gabriel softly shook his head as he sucked his thumb as a quick remedy. All this talk made him thirsty for some beer.