Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men characters. Thanks also to my good friend Corrinth for the use of the character Ilehana Xavier.

A/N: All reviews most definitely welcome- please don't forget! : )

Scene Nine

Blaze left the room wishing that it wasn't so technical in the mansion's lower levels and she could slam a good old-fashioned door on the X-Men. As it was the doors simply whooshed open and closed again as she passed through. Most unsatisfying.

"Hey, Blaze, wait up!" Rogue's voice called out. Blaze didn't wait, but did at least acknowledge the Southern girl and her boyfriend with a brief pirouette before continuing towards the lift. Friends, Blaze thought vehemently, who needs 'em.

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Back in the briefing room, the older and supposedly wiser X-Men debated Blaze's outburst. Was she right? Was their cause naive and uninformed? He might not want to admit it, but Charles Xavier had a nasty feeling that the young woman might have a point. But, like any good leader he would not voice an opinion until his team had had their own say.

"She does have a point." Logan, never shy of speaking his mind for once also had justification for his remark. "Where do we draw the line between fighting to stop humans and mutants fightin', and preventing them from working together for evil?"

"The clouds make no difference at night - evil is evil." Ilehana backed him up with her simple, wolf-based philosophy. "Blaze is pack now, at least to me. And in the pack, we never let a cry for help go unanswered."

"But its not our problem," Cyclops butted in grumpily. "We've got enough to do without worrying about some thief who has escaped from jail. If it does turn out to be something to do with Magneto, then we can deal with it then but..."

"You don't believe her then Scott?" Ororo Munroe didn't want to judge him; he'd had a hard time of life since Jean's sacrifice. But Storm knew that Blaze had found it difficult to talk about this Remy le Beau. Blaze may be charismatic, but there was also a sensitive side to her that Ororo could relate to. She didn't like to see her friend suffer.

"It's not that I don't believe her," Scott ran his fingers back through his thick chestnut hair and looked hard at Storm through his tinted sunglasses. "But if we start helping out just any mutant, or human for that matter, who turns up at our door, where will it stop, y'know? How many more sacrifices will we have to make?"

Scott's meaning was clear. If helping Blaze meant the loss of another X-Man like Jean, would any of them be prepared to get involved? If they had known the price of their mission to Alkali Lake, would they have gone at all? For a moment all of the X-Men were silent, lost in their own thoughts.

"May I say a word?" Asked Nightcrawler, ever so hesitantly. At Xavier's nod, he continued. "If we are not the ones to help our friend Blaze, and this man Gambit, then who will? And if the price is set high, then at least like Jean we will have died fighting a battle that is just and right."

Again for a short moment the X-Men were lost in their own thoughts. Xavier reached out telepathically for his two youngest team members before addressing his precious X-Men.

"Bobby and Rogue agree with Kurt," He did not add that Blaze was laid on her bed crying like a betrayed fifteen year old, nor that she was plotting how to accomplish a rescue mission from a well-guarded institution herself. "As do I. We could wait for the police to find Remy le Beau, but if Jacobi has powerful mutants on his side, then their chances of success are slim. I cannot risk the lives of innocent people in a task we have turned down, no matter how scared we are of losing another of our friends, our family. Make what preparations you can, I will have Blaze brief us on the facility and on Jacobi's forces in an hour."

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"Blaze, you in there?" Scott was still smarting slightly from the Professor's decision to help the mutant. Part of him knew that it was the right thing to do; it was his job, his duty. But the rest of him had an overwhelming desire to stuff the lot of 'em and go hide at Diego's. Could anyone blame him if he didn't want to play heroes anymore?

"Yeah..." A subdued voice from behind her bedroom door. Once upon a time, before she had moved in with him, this had been Jean's room at the school. Scott shook his head, don't think about her, don't think about anything. Resolutely he pushed the door open to find Blaze lying like a child on her belly on her bed.

"Are you okay?" Despite his own woe-begotten attitude, Scott still couldn't keep the concern from his voice.

"Do you care?" Blaze replied tartly.

"Yeah." He didn't know who was the most surprised, Blaze or himself. Well, perhaps you do learn somethin' new everyday...

"I'm fine." She sniffed, then rolled over and sat up. For the first time Scott took a look around the room. Fresh flowers from the garden sat in pretty vases on the windowsill. The curtains billowed gently in the breeze from the open window. The bed was half unmade, unmatched shoes lay abandoned where they had been kicked off, and several books were stacked haphazardly next to the bed. The room felt alive, natural. It was almost like Blaze had been here all her life, not a mere month and a half since she had moved up from the infirmary. For the first time Scott saw just a snippet of what every one else seemed to like about Blaze. She may be independent, impulsive and fiery, but she had something, a homely, friendly streak running right through her. Scott smiled, and to Blaze he looked about ten years younger.

"The Professor sent me." Cyclops was back to business, the organised team- leader of the X-Men. "He's decided we are gonna help you."

Blaze grinned, whilst she had never witnessed the X-Men truly in action, she had faith in her friends. And she had had no idea how to carry out a full-blown raid on Jacobi's complex by herself. Sneaking about in there was one thing, getting Remy out would be entirely another. Scott acknowledged her infective smile with one of his own before continuing.

"He's asked if you could give us a breakdown on what you think will be the best course of action in a hour?"

"Best make it two," Blaze also swung into business mode, "And do you have any form of computer program I can use to generate blue prints and architectural plans?"

"Sure, I'll show you myself," Cyclops turned to exit the room and Blaze followed him, letting the door slam behind her in the draught from the open window that once upon a time a young doctor called Jean had so loved the view from...

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Scott twitched again unthinkingly, folding his arms against his body to hide his slightly trembling hands. He just couldn't keep his mind on the task or his eyes on the computer screen as Blaze worked. If only he could have a drink, then he'd be able to relax, he'd stop worrying about loosing another friend, stop thinking about Jean...

Blaze ignored Cyclops as she worked frantically, putting all she knew about Jacobi's HQ down into a complex 3D plan of the building. Everything had to go on there, individual offices and workstations, security systems, door locks, air ducts. She shivered, not relishing the prospect of spending more time in the air con system, but there was nothing for it. Somehow in the meantime Cyclops had gathered himself again, and was squinting at the screen.

"Is this gonna be accurate?"

"Yes." Blaze was confident in her own abilities.

"How accurate? I mean, I don't really want to turn down a corridor and find myself locked a closet..."

"Its damn accurate." Blaze snapped "Not only did I spend a day crawling through air ducts and dodging cameras not so very long ago, I also have a photographic memory. I won't let anyone get left behind."

That struck a nerve. Scott visibly recoiled as though she had slapped him across the face. She didn't apologise either, as she got up and walked to the door of the briefing room and left.

Five seconds later she was back, smiling.

"I've asked Bobby to get us something to drink with too much caffeine and sugar in it, and some snacks. I don't know about you but I'm starved."

"Thanks," Scott knew she was plying him with caffeine to keep his mind on the job. Sitting back down, Blaze carried on speaking as she continued with her work.

"When Rem told me he was leaving, after Jacobi threatened my life to get Gambit to join him, he was convinced it was the only way to protect me, save me. He didn't realise how betrayed, how abandoned it would make me feel. I lost it, after he left. I didn't see the point in anything anymore. I didn't work. I spent all my money on alcohol until there was nothing left. Even my most unsavoury 'friends' gave up on me once the money had gone...

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I can imagine what you're going through Scott. Then again, maybe I can't, after all I was pretty sure that somewhere Gambit was at least alive. And he and I, we're not lovers like you and Jean..."

"You're not?" Scott was surprised.

"Only when drunk, it's bad for business." Blaze smiled secretly to herself. "Anyway, I'm only telling you this to warn you. You've got good friends here, and you and I may not have gotten off to the best start, but I'd help you any way I can. Don't let it get to the state I was in before you quit drinking... Don't leave it 'til it's too late, 'til you've killed someone."

The door slid open and Bobby and Rogue appeared, laden with trays brimming with goodies. Cyclops was impressed.

"You guys trying to feed an army or something?" He asked. Rogue laughed melodically.

"You obviously ain't seen Blaze eat. It's amazin'!"

"I have a stupidly fast metabolism, it's not my fault!" Blaze chipped in, "But if it means I can eat my own body weight in chocolate and not gain a pound, who cares!"

I dunno- this chapter has taken far too long to write...Oh well, on with the next one, and hopefully it will be a little easier on my poor mushed up brain cells...

What's the matter with it? It works well! Nice end - on a high note. I like it.