Ch. 9 – Recovery…yet Again and Bonding
"This makes how many times now?" asked Beast. Slash was gasping for air. The bullets entered through the upper chest,
in the right lung. Air was passing
through the hole every time Slash breathed.
"I…don't…know…Guess…I'm…a…hard…learner…"
"In this case, why not learn
which mutants are our friends, and which are our allies."
"That…may…not…be…a…bad…idea…considering…I'll…have…plenty…of…time…while…I'm…in…
here…"
"No problem. I
shall bring you a portable computer."
"Thank…you…Beast…"
"Anytime my friend. Now, doctor's orders say that you can't talk anymore. Write on this pad or on the word processing
program on your computer; when I get it to you." Beast walked off and got a portable computer. He carefully set it up and hooked it up into
the school's network. Now, Slash could
tap into the World Wide Web, and the X-Men computer banks. Slash went to work, slowly searching through
the databanks of all the X-Men and finding the enemies. He also checked out the autopsy photos of
his wife, accessing it because Virginia's law states that autopsy photos are
public domain. A tear came down his
face. Shadowcat walked in. When she saw him crying, she immediately
came over and comforted him.
"What's wrong?" He pointed to the caption. It
said 'Body of Erin Kerns.' She knew
immediately what was wrong. But Slash
went to typing. 'I'm glad to know your
enemies now. Your enemies are my
enemies.' "Yes they are. But you've
learned your lesson now. No more
shooting at Magneto anymore, right?" Slash nodded his head. "Oh
well. Maybe after you get better, we
can train in the Danger Room." Slash
immediately shook his head. 'Not with
Wolverine.' "May I ask why?" Slash pulled up his shirt, and showed the
scars of the slash marks left by Wolverine from the last time he was in
the infirmary. Shadowcat giggled. "I'm sorry. I've learned never to fight Wolvie in the Danger Room. What did you do to deserve that?" 'I shot him up when they tried to rescue
me.' "And you made him mad. Never make Wolvie mad." Slash smiled.
"Yeah…I…know…that…now…"
"Get some rest. You need it." Slash grabbed her
before she left. 'Get my wife's
picture, please?' "Ok. I'll be back soon." She left, and Slash readied himself for
bed. He waited until Shadowcat returned
to get under the covers. Then he took
the picture from her, and stroked it. It must be something he does now before he goes to bed. Shadowcat walked out, and something made her
stop.
"Goodnight…Miss…Pryde…Thank…you…"
"Goodnight Slash."
The healing process took a few weeks. Over that time, Gambit, Rogue, and Shadowcat
all visited him often. Wolverine came
around a few times, but Slash formed a special friendship with those
three. Cyclops rarely visited him. He seemed to spite Slash just because the
team seemed to be more willing to follow Slash than himself. Also over that time, Slash had been working
on a flight simulator program on the X-Men computers as to learn how to fly the
Blackbird. As soon as he got out, Slash
made it a priority to be certified to fly the Blackbird. He had talked to Xavier about the idea, and
he was happy to grant the request. Slash was feeling more and more at home.
After Beast cleared him yet again from the infirmary (and
Beast also told him that he didn't want to see Slash again for a long while),
Slash headed out to the lake for a relaxation period before Cyclops was going
to teach him how to fly Blackbird Blue. He decided to take one of the powerboats down there out for a few times
around the lake. Just as he was getting
ready to start up the boat, down come Shadowcat, Gambit and Rogue. He waved to them, smiled and waited for them
to come down.
"Wanna join me for a boat ride?"
"Dat sounds nahce. Up for a cruise chere?"
"Anytahm Remy."
"You know I am Slash." All three climbed aboard. Slash
fired up the motor, slowly backed out, and then threw the throttle all the way
forward. It was a beautiful day to go
boating.
"Man, I use to pratice using these huge hard bottomed
Zodiacs to land. I actually miss seeing
a fifty cal machine gun mounted up front. And the suicide steering wheel." Gambit and Rogue were sprawled across the front seats, while Shadowcat
sat next to Slash, who was in the pilot's seat. They made a few laps around the lake. When they were out in the middle of the lake, the boat suddenly
sputtered and stopped.
"What's wrong Slash?" blurted Rogue.
"Hmm. Some
captain I am."
"What is it mon ami?"
"We're out of gas. Looks like we'll have to swim."
"No need sugah. I'll take Gambit here, get another boat, and tow y'all back in. Is that ok?"
"Sounds like a plan. We'll be here!" They all got a
good laugh out of that. Rogue and
Gambit took off and headed for the dock, leaving Slash and Shadowcat
alone. She looked around, like she was
fumbling for something in her mind.
"Are you ok?"
"Well…no."
"Would you like to talk about it Kate?"
Silence. "Yeah, I
think I will." She paused and
continued. She turned to him, sat him
down, and took his hands. "Well, to put
it bluntly, I really like you." Slash's
face held a look of surprise. "Ever
since I saw you in the infirmary, you look so much like my first love
Colossus. He was a mutant of incredible
strength, much like you. I'm impressed
by you, especially when you rescued me, and tried to protect me from Magneto…"
Her voice seemed to fade out. Slash's
expression went from surprise to one of compassion.
"You see this?" He held up his left hand. "I was
married Kate. Members of the FOH killed
my first wife, and I'm still grieving over her loss." Shadowcat looked at her
feet, and took her hands out of his. He
gently put his hand to her chin, and brought her face back up to his. "I just need some time Kate. But I do find you very attractive. But you just don't forget a woman after
you've been married to her for over ten years and drop her right away after
she's murdered. Please Kate, just give
me some time." He paused. "I do find you attractive. Maybe in the future…"
"Maybe…" responded Shadowcat. Slash moved over next to her, and gave her a hug.
"But
I value your friendship more than anything. If nothing else, we can be friends." He would have talked to her more, but the roar of a boat motor was
heard. Rogue and Gambit had returned
with the boat and a towline. Slash
stood up, but Shadowcat stayed seated, going over in her mind their
conversation.
It
took them 30 minutes to tow the boat back to the dock. Slash quickly secured it, and pumped it full
of gas, so the next pilot wouldn't have the same trouble they did. Rogue and Gambit walked back to the
house. Shadowcat wasn't to far behind
them. She didn't want to wait for
Slash. She didn't want him to see her
cry. Cyclops appeared at the top of the
hill.
"Didn't
you want to learn how to fly the Blackbird?" Slash nodded. Because of the
boat running out of fuel, they were late getting back. He really wanted to go talk to Kate, but he
didn't want to further upset Cyclops. So he headed off to the hangar.
What
a magnificent bird, thought Slash. If
only we had one of these with the teams, we would have rocked on many of our
missions. Cyke had started him off on
the Blackbird with the smaller wingspan, the Blackbird Blue. It was so easy to fly. Slash had a buddy that flew Tomcats, and he
said the "Tom" was the easiest bird to fly. Well, I think the Blackbird could challenge that. She responded to every maneuver smooth and
crisp. This was much like the
simulator, except for the fact that you were moving like the picture on the
screen. Cyke saw how easy it was for
him. So Cyke decided to cut the
power. Suddenly, the Blackbird Blue
became a huge glider. It became
sluggish and unresponsive. The plane's
nose dove near straight down. Slash
attempted to correct. They fell over
20,000 feet in an uncontrolled freefall. Just as it appeared as if they lost all control, Cyke refired the
engines, and pulled the stick up. They
had scant hundreds of feet before total destruction of Blackbird Blue.
"What
the hell was that?"
"Emergency
practice. In case you have problems,
you need to respond immediately and level off the plane and have her fall
gently. You actually did fine, it was
just that I pushed the stick forward so you couldn't level us off." Cyke smirked. "Turn for home." Slash
took Blackbird Blue home. The landing
was uneventful.
More input the merrier, so
please be kind and review. I'd really
appreciate some more input on where this story will go.