Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from the X-Men
characters. 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: Reviews always welcome!
Scene 16
In an elaborate mansion, in a respectable district, a young mutant with the power to control fire who had once been told he was a god employed a sweeping brush with lethargic movements. This just wasn't fair. Why was he stuck cleaning this place up after the fight with the X-Men, Rogue hadn't sucked any of the others dry of their powers. Even thinking of his old friend hurt like she was touching him again. She'd looked good; Bobby was a lucky guy. Raised voices echoed down the passageway, what were they fighting about his time?
"Mystique I thought I could trust you better that that. Your anti-virus software was abysmal. Everything we have been working on has been lost because you failed to back up your work to a separate system. What exactly have you been doing for the past five months?" The critical tone of Magneto's voice covered his true disappointment and anger. How could the shape shifter make such beginners errors? Had she not been in this game long enough?
"For the last five months I have been working single-handedly to meet your impossible deadlines! On top of that you know I am working on projects other than the mutation accelerator, projects to which you yourself have assigned me, projects nobody else can work on!" Mystique did not try and hide her fury behind sarcasm. Not waiting for Magneto's reply and ignoring Pyro's hurt looks, she walked straight out the door, slamming it so hard the draft it created scattered all of Pyro's neat sweepings back over the marble floor.
"Women, my boy." Magneto confided in John. "Whatever happens, don't forget that you can't trust a single one of them."
"What about Electra?" Pyro asked.
"She will do as well at the Xavier School as she would have here, I suppose." Magneto spoke like a martyr for his cause. "But if she survives, she will know who to thank..."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx With a groan and a shiver like someone had stepped on her grave, Blaze awoke from her drug-induced sleep slowly. The cold steel of the infirmary met her waking eyes as it had done the first time she came to the Xavier mansion. Maybe the Professor would let her decorate in here? It really could do with warming up a little...
Around her, monitors upon monitors bleeped and buzzed. Her arm was itchy where the needle of the drip fed into her blood. Her neck was stiff from lying in the same position for too long. But most of all, her head and spine throbbed with every beat of her pulse. There were spots on the edge of her vision, pesky purple ones that flashed in the corner of her eye. Absently she wondered if she could torch them, even balled up her hand ready to unleash a fireball, before she realised she was not alone.
"Hey, Blaze? You awake?" Scott, she sighed before answering in a croaky voice.
"No." He only smiled, purple dots dancing round his head in a bizarre halo.
"Great. Its good to have you back with us." There was genuine relief in his voice.
"How long?" Blaze squinted as she tried to wake up and get rid of the floating dots.
"A week." He put a cool hand to her hot forehead. "Relax, I'll get Ilehana and tell her you're awake."
"No need." A female voice, brushed with a touch of the wild. Vixen came to stand next to Cyclops, smiling first at her childhood friend before taking Blaze's pulse. "You had us worried there for a while, firefly."
Blaze closed her eyes calmly; she must have been here too long, at the school, if now she was getting nicknames. Then sudden guilt and fear washed over her and she was wide-awake. Sitting up so abruptly she made herself dizzy Blaze cried out.
"Gambit! Where is he? Is he okay?"
"He's here and he's safe." Ilehana's voice was guarded, clear of all emotion.
"Don't worry about him now," Scott filled in, steadying Blaze by taking her hand. "You have to get yourself better first."
With a shallow nod Blaze agreed, but wondered about all the screens that had been erected around her bed. What was it the X-Men didn't want her to see?
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"She's awake?" Storm asked as Ilehana and Scott came into Xavier's large, sumptuous office with looks of tired triumph on their faces.
"Yes." The Professor answered for them as they sat down heavily with Logan, Nightcrawler and Storm. "But she still worries more about Gambit than her own health?"
"Can you do something Dad?" Ilehana asked. "She wont get better if all she does is stress about him."
"You think her mind could withstand my assistance?" Xavier asked his daughter, "So soon after August's attack?"
"I'm sure she can, or I wouldn't ask. She's a tough customer, our Blaze, and her super-fast metabolism is healing the damage to her mind quicker than I would have thought possible."
"Alright." Xavier sighed. "I don't like doing it, but I was brought up to always do as the Doctor orders, even when she is your own daughter." He smiled at Ilehana. "Scott, could you take the staff meeting for me? And Kurt, don't forget to raise any concerns about Michael's discipline with the other teachers." The blue mutant blushed slightly, now he had no choice but to speak out, even if he didn't feel brave enough. The Professor nodded to his staff, his X-Men, and left the room.
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"She's asleep again." Ilehana told her father as they entered the infirmary. "It's the best thing for her, but she should be alright."
"If she stops worrying about Gambit." The Professor finished for his daughter. "This will only be temporary, hopefully Gambit will begin to recover before very long, and I can remove the effect."
"And if he doesn't recover?" Ilehana wanted to know.
"I will remove the blockade anyway, as soon as she is better." He didn't have to explain to Vixen why, only through their grief and remembrance was her mother still with them both. Carefully Xavier placed his fingertips around Blaze's skull, not quiet touching. Sneakily, feeling like a coward, he put out tendrils of himself through Blaze's mind as she slept. Finding every place in the darkness where Blaze reached out for her old friend, her best friend Gambit, he closed them off to her. When she awoke, she would not even notice that these pockets of memories and feeling had even been here, as he wrapped them now in telepathic threads of adimantium.
A/N: Reviews always welcome!
Scene 16
In an elaborate mansion, in a respectable district, a young mutant with the power to control fire who had once been told he was a god employed a sweeping brush with lethargic movements. This just wasn't fair. Why was he stuck cleaning this place up after the fight with the X-Men, Rogue hadn't sucked any of the others dry of their powers. Even thinking of his old friend hurt like she was touching him again. She'd looked good; Bobby was a lucky guy. Raised voices echoed down the passageway, what were they fighting about his time?
"Mystique I thought I could trust you better that that. Your anti-virus software was abysmal. Everything we have been working on has been lost because you failed to back up your work to a separate system. What exactly have you been doing for the past five months?" The critical tone of Magneto's voice covered his true disappointment and anger. How could the shape shifter make such beginners errors? Had she not been in this game long enough?
"For the last five months I have been working single-handedly to meet your impossible deadlines! On top of that you know I am working on projects other than the mutation accelerator, projects to which you yourself have assigned me, projects nobody else can work on!" Mystique did not try and hide her fury behind sarcasm. Not waiting for Magneto's reply and ignoring Pyro's hurt looks, she walked straight out the door, slamming it so hard the draft it created scattered all of Pyro's neat sweepings back over the marble floor.
"Women, my boy." Magneto confided in John. "Whatever happens, don't forget that you can't trust a single one of them."
"What about Electra?" Pyro asked.
"She will do as well at the Xavier School as she would have here, I suppose." Magneto spoke like a martyr for his cause. "But if she survives, she will know who to thank..."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx With a groan and a shiver like someone had stepped on her grave, Blaze awoke from her drug-induced sleep slowly. The cold steel of the infirmary met her waking eyes as it had done the first time she came to the Xavier mansion. Maybe the Professor would let her decorate in here? It really could do with warming up a little...
Around her, monitors upon monitors bleeped and buzzed. Her arm was itchy where the needle of the drip fed into her blood. Her neck was stiff from lying in the same position for too long. But most of all, her head and spine throbbed with every beat of her pulse. There were spots on the edge of her vision, pesky purple ones that flashed in the corner of her eye. Absently she wondered if she could torch them, even balled up her hand ready to unleash a fireball, before she realised she was not alone.
"Hey, Blaze? You awake?" Scott, she sighed before answering in a croaky voice.
"No." He only smiled, purple dots dancing round his head in a bizarre halo.
"Great. Its good to have you back with us." There was genuine relief in his voice.
"How long?" Blaze squinted as she tried to wake up and get rid of the floating dots.
"A week." He put a cool hand to her hot forehead. "Relax, I'll get Ilehana and tell her you're awake."
"No need." A female voice, brushed with a touch of the wild. Vixen came to stand next to Cyclops, smiling first at her childhood friend before taking Blaze's pulse. "You had us worried there for a while, firefly."
Blaze closed her eyes calmly; she must have been here too long, at the school, if now she was getting nicknames. Then sudden guilt and fear washed over her and she was wide-awake. Sitting up so abruptly she made herself dizzy Blaze cried out.
"Gambit! Where is he? Is he okay?"
"He's here and he's safe." Ilehana's voice was guarded, clear of all emotion.
"Don't worry about him now," Scott filled in, steadying Blaze by taking her hand. "You have to get yourself better first."
With a shallow nod Blaze agreed, but wondered about all the screens that had been erected around her bed. What was it the X-Men didn't want her to see?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"She's awake?" Storm asked as Ilehana and Scott came into Xavier's large, sumptuous office with looks of tired triumph on their faces.
"Yes." The Professor answered for them as they sat down heavily with Logan, Nightcrawler and Storm. "But she still worries more about Gambit than her own health?"
"Can you do something Dad?" Ilehana asked. "She wont get better if all she does is stress about him."
"You think her mind could withstand my assistance?" Xavier asked his daughter, "So soon after August's attack?"
"I'm sure she can, or I wouldn't ask. She's a tough customer, our Blaze, and her super-fast metabolism is healing the damage to her mind quicker than I would have thought possible."
"Alright." Xavier sighed. "I don't like doing it, but I was brought up to always do as the Doctor orders, even when she is your own daughter." He smiled at Ilehana. "Scott, could you take the staff meeting for me? And Kurt, don't forget to raise any concerns about Michael's discipline with the other teachers." The blue mutant blushed slightly, now he had no choice but to speak out, even if he didn't feel brave enough. The Professor nodded to his staff, his X-Men, and left the room.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"She's asleep again." Ilehana told her father as they entered the infirmary. "It's the best thing for her, but she should be alright."
"If she stops worrying about Gambit." The Professor finished for his daughter. "This will only be temporary, hopefully Gambit will begin to recover before very long, and I can remove the effect."
"And if he doesn't recover?" Ilehana wanted to know.
"I will remove the blockade anyway, as soon as she is better." He didn't have to explain to Vixen why, only through their grief and remembrance was her mother still with them both. Carefully Xavier placed his fingertips around Blaze's skull, not quiet touching. Sneakily, feeling like a coward, he put out tendrils of himself through Blaze's mind as she slept. Finding every place in the darkness where Blaze reached out for her old friend, her best friend Gambit, he closed them off to her. When she awoke, she would not even notice that these pockets of memories and feeling had even been here, as he wrapped them now in telepathic threads of adimantium.