Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from the X-Men
characters. Also thanks in this chapter to the scientific journal 'Nature;,
I don't own that either. Thank you to Corrinth for the use of her character
Dr. Ilehana Xavier. I do own Blaze, and appreciate authors not using her
without asking.
A/N: Thanks to Knight of Avlee for his proof reading attempts! Reviews are always welcome.
Scene 02
"Mutation. There has been much speculation in the scientific world about why and how the evolution of mankind has appeared to so suddenly leap forward. Why now? How does it happen? The nature of mutation is complex, and it is only in studying the present that we can begin to unlock this past. Mutation in human beings can manifest itself in many guises. Mutants are human beings often feared or admired because their genetic differences may give them special abilities or powers beyond the capabilities of normal man. But equally mutation can become a curse. No power comes without responsibility, without 'down-sides'. Mutation may not only affect the physiology of the mutant, but also their metabolism, phenotypic looks, and their mental state and behaviour. For years the world searched for an answer to the nature versus nurture debate, before deciding that each was equally important. But with the current conflict between the nature of mutants' phenotypic changes and the world around them, lack of understanding about the difficulties of growing up as a mutant may unbalance this delicate equilibrium."
The girl on the plane closed her moth-eaten copy of Nature and placed it on the table in front of her. Leaning back in her first class seat, she eyed the man on the front cover carefully. Charles Xavier, the Professor, was the...unusual...author of the intriguing study she had just finished reading. The effects of mutation on individuals, looking at the changes undergone by children and teenagers as they grew into their mutant powers. It was the summation of years of work by the top mind in the field of mutant research, and understandable why Nature had wanted Xavier's face on their front cover.
**You've done it again, Professor. ** Thought the girl **Made me think about things I've never dreamt about before. ** She paused for a second, in case the telepathic Xavier was listening. Sometimes he was, but not today. So she allowed her mind to drift instead to her dreams, for whilst they might not be filled with intellectual discussion, they were packed to the brim with an awful lot else. It was a wonder she ever awoke rested. She smiled to herself as she fought not to blush.
The plane rumbled as it hit a pocket of turbulence and the girl christened Laura but known better as Blaze felt a slight shudder of fear run up her spine. The fear wasn't hers though; it belonged to a little old lady sitting across the isle who had never been on a plane before. Concentrating, Blaze sent a touch of her own calm and boredom over to the woman and saw her settle back into reading her romantic novel. In a burst of soul-searching Blaze wondered how much of what Xavier had said about the children he had studied was true of her? A mutant only really since she was fifteen, were her powers, personality and appearance all linked to one mutated genetic factor?
A while later, when the old lady was snoring slightly and the man in front flirting with a bored looking hostess, Blaze put down her pen and eyed her brainstorm warily. All around the margins of two pages of the scientific journal words were scrawled in her untidy handwriting. Words like impulsive, redhead, agile, emotive, warm, homely, and quick to angry. Some of the words she wrote on good authority that they weren't just flattery; seductive, attractive and even beautiful. Loving was there, but love wasn't a word that she was fond of using, love caused only pain. But there was one word she had unwittingly written in capital print, the word 'fire'. The loner she looked at that one word, the more her life, the other words, made sense. Taking up her pen again she drew lines from the other words to 'fire', if the word was something she could use to describe the element itself. Before long, there were not many words left unconnected. Was then her entire self tied totally to the element she though she controlled? Could it be more possible that the element controlled her?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Remy le Beau was bored. No, he had passed bored weeks ago, now he was sick of boredom, driven mad by staring at the concrete walls, and desperate to try and blow something, anything into a billion tiny pieces. Preferably a guard.
At that cue there was a clatter down the hall. Remy eyed the security camera that was looking at him through the titanium bars of his cell with suspicion. The mutant known also as Gambit then swung round on his bunk and planted his feet on the concrete floor. It always paid to be ready for a fight.
Nick Hobson had not been a guard at the prison for long. He'd hired on straight from leaving school, some contact of his father's getting him the post. He didn't mind the job, the long hours kept him out of his parent's house and the money kept his girlfriend Becky happy. But he hated the inmates with a passion, mutant scum who thought they were better than anyone. Especially le Beau. Nobody at the prison liked the Cajun, though nobody knew why. Nick had the feeling that it hadn't always been like that; that at one point the guards had been pretty slack with the guy. But something had happened that none of them could remember, and now they mistrusted and despised the mutant inmate.
Hobson stopped the food trolley outside Gambit's solitary confinement cell, and looked with interest around the room. Gambit knew the routine, let him inspect the hellhole; he had nothing to hide, literally. There was nothing removable in the room, nothing his powers would allow him to use as a weapon. No blankets, no trinkets, the bunk was moulded out of the concrete wall, the bars electrified so he couldn't touch them. Even his prison regulation clothes were minimal, and he was only allowed one set at once. Before a certain episode Gambit wasn't about to remind the guards of, he had had his own clothes, packs of cards, and a thick patchwork quilt one of the guard's mothers had sent in for him...
"Prisoner! Stand away from the bars!" Hobson yelled at the top of his lungs. It echoed around the empty cell as Remy stood by the bunk, nowhere near the bars.
"What? Gambit not allowed out for a little R and R? Maybe your girlfriend could come visit again instead then, eh ami? A man could go mad in here alone."
"Don't get ideas above yourself, mutant." Snarled Hobson's senior, a butch six-footer called O'Malley. "You ain't no man."
"That's not what your wife say, ami." Gambit commented. O'Malley's face contorted and he bared his teeth in a hyena like grin.
"And that's incitement le Beau. Now you gonna get it!"
"Get what? My lunch?" Gambit knew exactly what O'Malley was talking about. It was like this every day. Some guards were worse than others, but O'Malley and Hobson were absolute torment. Shame, before the episode of two months ago, he'd quite liked Hobson. O'Malley though had always been an idiot.
"You want your lunch, le Beau?" Hobson tipped the plate of mush onto the floor. "Oops, now look what I've done!"
"Yeah, you're a clumsy fool Hobs." O'Malley sneered at Gambit. "Maybe le Beau would like a workout instead of lunch?"
O'Malley's key card slid into the lock and the small door slid open. Hobson pointed his taser at le Beau, ready to stun him if he fought back, and sometimes if he didn't. Gambit steeled himself, fists clenching, red-on- black eyes narrowing. O'Malley may be bigger than he was, and have back-up, but they were the kind of odds Gambit liked to play...
A/N: Thanks to Knight of Avlee for his proof reading attempts! Reviews are always welcome.
Scene 02
"Mutation. There has been much speculation in the scientific world about why and how the evolution of mankind has appeared to so suddenly leap forward. Why now? How does it happen? The nature of mutation is complex, and it is only in studying the present that we can begin to unlock this past. Mutation in human beings can manifest itself in many guises. Mutants are human beings often feared or admired because their genetic differences may give them special abilities or powers beyond the capabilities of normal man. But equally mutation can become a curse. No power comes without responsibility, without 'down-sides'. Mutation may not only affect the physiology of the mutant, but also their metabolism, phenotypic looks, and their mental state and behaviour. For years the world searched for an answer to the nature versus nurture debate, before deciding that each was equally important. But with the current conflict between the nature of mutants' phenotypic changes and the world around them, lack of understanding about the difficulties of growing up as a mutant may unbalance this delicate equilibrium."
The girl on the plane closed her moth-eaten copy of Nature and placed it on the table in front of her. Leaning back in her first class seat, she eyed the man on the front cover carefully. Charles Xavier, the Professor, was the...unusual...author of the intriguing study she had just finished reading. The effects of mutation on individuals, looking at the changes undergone by children and teenagers as they grew into their mutant powers. It was the summation of years of work by the top mind in the field of mutant research, and understandable why Nature had wanted Xavier's face on their front cover.
**You've done it again, Professor. ** Thought the girl **Made me think about things I've never dreamt about before. ** She paused for a second, in case the telepathic Xavier was listening. Sometimes he was, but not today. So she allowed her mind to drift instead to her dreams, for whilst they might not be filled with intellectual discussion, they were packed to the brim with an awful lot else. It was a wonder she ever awoke rested. She smiled to herself as she fought not to blush.
The plane rumbled as it hit a pocket of turbulence and the girl christened Laura but known better as Blaze felt a slight shudder of fear run up her spine. The fear wasn't hers though; it belonged to a little old lady sitting across the isle who had never been on a plane before. Concentrating, Blaze sent a touch of her own calm and boredom over to the woman and saw her settle back into reading her romantic novel. In a burst of soul-searching Blaze wondered how much of what Xavier had said about the children he had studied was true of her? A mutant only really since she was fifteen, were her powers, personality and appearance all linked to one mutated genetic factor?
A while later, when the old lady was snoring slightly and the man in front flirting with a bored looking hostess, Blaze put down her pen and eyed her brainstorm warily. All around the margins of two pages of the scientific journal words were scrawled in her untidy handwriting. Words like impulsive, redhead, agile, emotive, warm, homely, and quick to angry. Some of the words she wrote on good authority that they weren't just flattery; seductive, attractive and even beautiful. Loving was there, but love wasn't a word that she was fond of using, love caused only pain. But there was one word she had unwittingly written in capital print, the word 'fire'. The loner she looked at that one word, the more her life, the other words, made sense. Taking up her pen again she drew lines from the other words to 'fire', if the word was something she could use to describe the element itself. Before long, there were not many words left unconnected. Was then her entire self tied totally to the element she though she controlled? Could it be more possible that the element controlled her?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Remy le Beau was bored. No, he had passed bored weeks ago, now he was sick of boredom, driven mad by staring at the concrete walls, and desperate to try and blow something, anything into a billion tiny pieces. Preferably a guard.
At that cue there was a clatter down the hall. Remy eyed the security camera that was looking at him through the titanium bars of his cell with suspicion. The mutant known also as Gambit then swung round on his bunk and planted his feet on the concrete floor. It always paid to be ready for a fight.
Nick Hobson had not been a guard at the prison for long. He'd hired on straight from leaving school, some contact of his father's getting him the post. He didn't mind the job, the long hours kept him out of his parent's house and the money kept his girlfriend Becky happy. But he hated the inmates with a passion, mutant scum who thought they were better than anyone. Especially le Beau. Nobody at the prison liked the Cajun, though nobody knew why. Nick had the feeling that it hadn't always been like that; that at one point the guards had been pretty slack with the guy. But something had happened that none of them could remember, and now they mistrusted and despised the mutant inmate.
Hobson stopped the food trolley outside Gambit's solitary confinement cell, and looked with interest around the room. Gambit knew the routine, let him inspect the hellhole; he had nothing to hide, literally. There was nothing removable in the room, nothing his powers would allow him to use as a weapon. No blankets, no trinkets, the bunk was moulded out of the concrete wall, the bars electrified so he couldn't touch them. Even his prison regulation clothes were minimal, and he was only allowed one set at once. Before a certain episode Gambit wasn't about to remind the guards of, he had had his own clothes, packs of cards, and a thick patchwork quilt one of the guard's mothers had sent in for him...
"Prisoner! Stand away from the bars!" Hobson yelled at the top of his lungs. It echoed around the empty cell as Remy stood by the bunk, nowhere near the bars.
"What? Gambit not allowed out for a little R and R? Maybe your girlfriend could come visit again instead then, eh ami? A man could go mad in here alone."
"Don't get ideas above yourself, mutant." Snarled Hobson's senior, a butch six-footer called O'Malley. "You ain't no man."
"That's not what your wife say, ami." Gambit commented. O'Malley's face contorted and he bared his teeth in a hyena like grin.
"And that's incitement le Beau. Now you gonna get it!"
"Get what? My lunch?" Gambit knew exactly what O'Malley was talking about. It was like this every day. Some guards were worse than others, but O'Malley and Hobson were absolute torment. Shame, before the episode of two months ago, he'd quite liked Hobson. O'Malley though had always been an idiot.
"You want your lunch, le Beau?" Hobson tipped the plate of mush onto the floor. "Oops, now look what I've done!"
"Yeah, you're a clumsy fool Hobs." O'Malley sneered at Gambit. "Maybe le Beau would like a workout instead of lunch?"
O'Malley's key card slid into the lock and the small door slid open. Hobson pointed his taser at le Beau, ready to stun him if he fought back, and sometimes if he didn't. Gambit steeled himself, fists clenching, red-on- black eyes narrowing. O'Malley may be bigger than he was, and have back-up, but they were the kind of odds Gambit liked to play...