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 are most definitely welcome, so please don't forget...
Scene Twelve
There was a single but firm knock on the door. A voice like a thousand voices all tied to the same tongue answered the request.
"Enter."
Remy le Beau obliged, coming into the small room from the atrium in a billow of brown trench coat and a wave of brewing anger.
"Are you Mystique?" He questioned of the blue woman perched evocatively on the desk in front of him, New Orleans accent ringing around the room.
"I am."
"You know the X-Men?"
"Get out," The woman of a million faces told her companions, the thieves named Crush and Sal van Hyre. The two men, one mutant and one human, did as they were told. Only when the door shut behind them did Gambit get the answer he was looking for.
"Yes, I know the X-Men." Mystique hissed, as though it were some vile secret. "And I know why you are here Remy le Beau."
She stood up, came towards him. Nearly as tall as he was, Mystique met Gambit's red-on-black eyes with her own cold yellow ones, and smiled. Unconsciously Gambit reached into his coat pocket, finding comfort in the pack of cards secreted there.
"I prefer Gambit."
"It's a gambit to take on the X-Men." She was barely six inches away from him; he could feel her breath as she spoke. "You want to know if we can beat them, if they come for you?"
"Can we?" Did he want to fight with this dangerous woman?
"Jacobi is a fool, but he is not stupid. We are well prepared. More than that I cannot tell you." She turned swiftly, leaving Remy unsure whether to recoil or follow. She certainly was a strange one...
"And Blaze? If I could convince her to leave them?"
"Its too late for the girl, Xavier already has her."
Gambit's heart sank. Of all the things Blaze and he had fought together, they were defeated by a telepath, by a force from which they had no defence.
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"Blaze, the Professor wants to see you." Rogue said, knocking on Blaze's door. It opened revealing Blaze dressed in the tight-fitting black X-Men uniform. Running her hands around the collar she freed her reams of red curls from the outfit, frowning.
"I cannot believe you people wear this stuff!"
"Lookin' good Blaze." Logan, passing with cigar in hand, grinned appreciatively at the slender young woman. She pulled a face at him, before turning back to Rogue who was smiling.
"It does look good on you..."
"You too, sugah." Blaze replied in a fair imitation of Rogue's southern drawl. "Where's the Professor then?"
"He's in Cerebro, come on I'll take you."
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Bobby didn't feel so much like an Iceman when he turned into one of the lower level corridors to find Rogue and Blaze coming towards him, looking stunning in their matching uniforms. The two girls were of a height, one with brown hair tied back apart from two white streaks, the other with a mane of loose red curls.
"Hey Bobby! Whatcha think of Blaze's uniform?" His girlfriend, damn he was lucky! He rapped an arm around Rogue's tiny waste before glancing at Blaze.
"Looks good, Blaze."
"It feels like I can't breathe," Blaze complained.
"Yeah," Bobby answered concentrating very hard on where he was looking. "It's like that at first, but you get used to it."
"Like you've been wearing it forever hey Bobby?" Rogue laughed. "We gotta go sugah, the Professor's expectin' us."
As they left, turning down another corridor towards Cerebro, Bobby could completely appreciate the breath-stopping effect of the uniforms...
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"Blaze," The Professor greeted the young woman as she entered the Cerebro machine for the first time. She could almost feel Xavier's power in the air around her, like the tingling that tickles your neck before a thunderstorm. "This is a dark hour for the X-Men, I hope you can understand this."
"Professor?"
"You have exposed a naivety that I had not considered in what we do here." He felt her shame, she hadn't meant to... "You don't need to worry, I'm not upset with you. But it does bring into question where we can draw the line between acting and not acting in the future." He smiled at her, and she understood. He was still grieving Jean, and now with this new mission his very morals were being called into question. Had he blinded himself, with his ideals of humans and mutants living together, to the idea that they would themselves work together for greater evil than either alone was capable of? Taking a deep breath, Blaze interrupted the Professor's musings.
"There is something else, Professor." He looked up at her keenly. Blaze steeled herself to continue. "In the briefing, when I said I was not sure whether Gambit would want to be rescued, or if Jacobi could buy his loyalty, I remembered something. I don't know why I had forgotten it, perhaps I blocked it out..."
"Perhaps." The Professor considered, "What is it?"
"A machine, of Jacobi's. Its is supposed to amplify mutations, boost individual mutant's powers, I saw the plans so..."
Charles Xavier frowned hard.
"That is a powerful tool, so many mutants could be bought with the offer of more power..." They both knew he was thinking not only of Gambit, but also of his precious X-Men. "Has he used it yet?"
"He's tried." Blaze swallowed, closing her eyes to try and shut out the memory. "I don't think it was perfected. It killed a mutant."
"But he has had time since then..." The Professor was silent for a moment, thinking. "We will deal with this machine when we come to it Blaze. Our first priority is still to get Gambit out of Jacobi's compound and back to the mansion."
Blaze was visibly relieved. Whist she felt Xavier had every right to know about the mutation accelerator, she hadn't wanted him to change to whole mission, risk Gambit, for the sake of it.
"There is one more thing before you set off, Blaze." Xavier spoke calmly. "I want you to have faith in yourself today. Trust yourself, and you may surprise yourself. You know Gambit and the true potential of your own mutant powers better than anyone else. Take care, and don't worry, I wont be so far away..."
A/N: All reviews are most definitely welcome, so please don't forget...
Scene Twelve
There was a single but firm knock on the door. A voice like a thousand voices all tied to the same tongue answered the request.
"Enter."
Remy le Beau obliged, coming into the small room from the atrium in a billow of brown trench coat and a wave of brewing anger.
"Are you Mystique?" He questioned of the blue woman perched evocatively on the desk in front of him, New Orleans accent ringing around the room.
"I am."
"You know the X-Men?"
"Get out," The woman of a million faces told her companions, the thieves named Crush and Sal van Hyre. The two men, one mutant and one human, did as they were told. Only when the door shut behind them did Gambit get the answer he was looking for.
"Yes, I know the X-Men." Mystique hissed, as though it were some vile secret. "And I know why you are here Remy le Beau."
She stood up, came towards him. Nearly as tall as he was, Mystique met Gambit's red-on-black eyes with her own cold yellow ones, and smiled. Unconsciously Gambit reached into his coat pocket, finding comfort in the pack of cards secreted there.
"I prefer Gambit."
"It's a gambit to take on the X-Men." She was barely six inches away from him; he could feel her breath as she spoke. "You want to know if we can beat them, if they come for you?"
"Can we?" Did he want to fight with this dangerous woman?
"Jacobi is a fool, but he is not stupid. We are well prepared. More than that I cannot tell you." She turned swiftly, leaving Remy unsure whether to recoil or follow. She certainly was a strange one...
"And Blaze? If I could convince her to leave them?"
"Its too late for the girl, Xavier already has her."
Gambit's heart sank. Of all the things Blaze and he had fought together, they were defeated by a telepath, by a force from which they had no defence.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Blaze, the Professor wants to see you." Rogue said, knocking on Blaze's door. It opened revealing Blaze dressed in the tight-fitting black X-Men uniform. Running her hands around the collar she freed her reams of red curls from the outfit, frowning.
"I cannot believe you people wear this stuff!"
"Lookin' good Blaze." Logan, passing with cigar in hand, grinned appreciatively at the slender young woman. She pulled a face at him, before turning back to Rogue who was smiling.
"It does look good on you..."
"You too, sugah." Blaze replied in a fair imitation of Rogue's southern drawl. "Where's the Professor then?"
"He's in Cerebro, come on I'll take you."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Bobby didn't feel so much like an Iceman when he turned into one of the lower level corridors to find Rogue and Blaze coming towards him, looking stunning in their matching uniforms. The two girls were of a height, one with brown hair tied back apart from two white streaks, the other with a mane of loose red curls.
"Hey Bobby! Whatcha think of Blaze's uniform?" His girlfriend, damn he was lucky! He rapped an arm around Rogue's tiny waste before glancing at Blaze.
"Looks good, Blaze."
"It feels like I can't breathe," Blaze complained.
"Yeah," Bobby answered concentrating very hard on where he was looking. "It's like that at first, but you get used to it."
"Like you've been wearing it forever hey Bobby?" Rogue laughed. "We gotta go sugah, the Professor's expectin' us."
As they left, turning down another corridor towards Cerebro, Bobby could completely appreciate the breath-stopping effect of the uniforms...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Blaze," The Professor greeted the young woman as she entered the Cerebro machine for the first time. She could almost feel Xavier's power in the air around her, like the tingling that tickles your neck before a thunderstorm. "This is a dark hour for the X-Men, I hope you can understand this."
"Professor?"
"You have exposed a naivety that I had not considered in what we do here." He felt her shame, she hadn't meant to... "You don't need to worry, I'm not upset with you. But it does bring into question where we can draw the line between acting and not acting in the future." He smiled at her, and she understood. He was still grieving Jean, and now with this new mission his very morals were being called into question. Had he blinded himself, with his ideals of humans and mutants living together, to the idea that they would themselves work together for greater evil than either alone was capable of? Taking a deep breath, Blaze interrupted the Professor's musings.
"There is something else, Professor." He looked up at her keenly. Blaze steeled herself to continue. "In the briefing, when I said I was not sure whether Gambit would want to be rescued, or if Jacobi could buy his loyalty, I remembered something. I don't know why I had forgotten it, perhaps I blocked it out..."
"Perhaps." The Professor considered, "What is it?"
"A machine, of Jacobi's. Its is supposed to amplify mutations, boost individual mutant's powers, I saw the plans so..."
Charles Xavier frowned hard.
"That is a powerful tool, so many mutants could be bought with the offer of more power..." They both knew he was thinking not only of Gambit, but also of his precious X-Men. "Has he used it yet?"
"He's tried." Blaze swallowed, closing her eyes to try and shut out the memory. "I don't think it was perfected. It killed a mutant."
"But he has had time since then..." The Professor was silent for a moment, thinking. "We will deal with this machine when we come to it Blaze. Our first priority is still to get Gambit out of Jacobi's compound and back to the mansion."
Blaze was visibly relieved. Whist she felt Xavier had every right to know about the mutation accelerator, she hadn't wanted him to change to whole mission, risk Gambit, for the sake of it.
"There is one more thing before you set off, Blaze." Xavier spoke calmly. "I want you to have faith in yourself today. Trust yourself, and you may surprise yourself. You know Gambit and the true potential of your own mutant powers better than anyone else. Take care, and don't worry, I wont be so far away..."
