Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men
characters. Thank you to Corrinth for the loan of Ilehana Xavier. Blaze is,
always has been, and forever will be mine, so there!
A/N: Don't forget to review!
Scene 13
Sirens, shouting, crying... Scott coughed and spluttered as someone lifted his head so he could breathe.
"Its okay, One-Eye, you're with friends." Ilehana's voice, calling him by the childhood nickname she still clung to like a security blanket. The name that meant no matter what changed between them, they'd both always remember what had been.
"Tsunami..." Cyclops breathed, unable to open his eyes for some reason. Ilehana didn't reply, instead wrapping him in telepathic sympathy. Lying on the hard airport concourse floor, head resting on Ilehana's knee, Scott knew Tsunami was dead.
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Music boomed loud from the club on campus, and Tabitha even risked a bit of a dance as the four young mutants walked. Blaze couldn't smile. Perhaps once, when she had been shot at, betrayed and abandoned once less often, she would have found the blonde mutant amusing and danced with her. But not tonight.
Not so far behind the hideous university building, in the anonymous shadows of the night, they were approached by one of the men from the e-fits. Blaze stood back, acting the nervous young student on her first trip to buy ace. Bobby stood by her side; this was where Tabitha and Havoc paid their debts to him. The dealer recognised the friends, and simply cocked his head in the direction of the road as Havoc asked to see Shrew about more of the power-accelerating drug.
Shrew's corner was away past the road, by a large still pond decorated with water lilies and iris that were turning bronze in the October cold. Shrew himself sat like a rodent-king on a decorative wall away to one end of the pond. The other two men from Havoc and Tabitha's memory couldn't be seen, but Blaze was sure they were about here somewhere. Their guide nodded towards Shrew just in case the mutants hadn't seen him, before leaving. Blaze supposed they didn't expect, or at least didn't care if they attacked Shrew. That was good news.
"Shrew, old friend." Blaze crooned with venom in her voice after the guide had left. "What have we been up to?"
"B-b-blaze?" Shrew had always been terrified of the smell of the fire- mutant, even before she had had control of her powers, and she knew it. Not letting him have the chance to scarper, Blaze used her remarkable agility to excellent effect, leaping to close the distance between the criminal and herself, closing one strong hand around his neck before he even had chance to squeal.
"Very observant, Shrew. Now here's how this is gonna work." Blaze put a tiny taste of her power into the hand that gripped Shrew's neck, smiling coldly as he began to writhe under the heat of her hand. Vaguely she was aware of the other three mutants panning out besides her. Bobby would make a good leader of the X-Men one day, subtle and organised. "You are going to give me every last capsule of ace you have on your person. Then you are going to tell me where I need to go to destroy the rest of your horde. After we have that out of the way, you will tell me the name of the scum who has you fooling mutants into believing salvation comes in little silver discs."
"T-t-then you'll let me go?" Shrew stuttered, a little hot under the collar. Blaze only squeezed slightly harder, fireballs dancing over her wrist just in front of his face. "Well, okay then... He wriggled again, but Blaze held him tight up against the wall, brown eyes burning. "It's like this, Blaze, I've sold all my stock today, some guy named Quicksilver, you know. If I had known you were coming to visit then I would've saved you some, but..." His sentence was cut short as Blaze squeezed so hard he gasped for air.
"You wouldn't lie to me, would you Shrew? Because I'm not in the mood for lying, cheating scum tonight..."
"No Blaze I swear! This guy called Quicksilver came about an hour ago and bought the lot, cash, for his boss. I-I thinks the boss' name was Misty?"
"Mystique." Bobby offered coldly from behind Blaze's left shoulder. Blaze nodded her agreement.
"Well then, looks like you've only one question left to answer, my little vermin friend?" She prompted, noting at the back of her mind that his shirt was beginning to smoulder but not withdrawing the use of her power one thread. It would do the underworld good to know she had come of age as a mutant at long last. She wanted them afraid of her.
"I-I-I" Shrew sputtered, noting himself that things were getting a little toasty. "Well!" Blaze exclaimed, pushing back his forehead with her free hand until she had his throat bare, chin jutting skywards. Havoc and Tabitha shifted uneasily on the spot, glancing at each other. Bobby stood firm, trusting Blaze to stop before she killed the criminal mutant, but drawing a fist behind him to ready his power if it looked like his trust was misplaced.
"Jacobi! Alessandro Jacobi's behind ace- the design, the marketing! There I told you, Blaze! Let me go!" With sudden gusto Shrew wriggled himself free of Blaze's distracted grasp and flew off into the night. Tabitha started after him, but Bobby's call to stand her ground tamed the blonde. Again Blaze's world wheeled, and she thought she would be sick. Shrugging off Bobby's hesitant calls of her name she stalked off into the night, alone.
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"What d'ya mean, we ain't goin' nowhere!" Logan roared at the Professor. "Those-those freaks killed Tsunami in cold blood, an' they'd have done the same to any one of us if we'd been there!"
"Granted Logan!" The Professor near roared back. "But what good will it serve if we give all those terrified humans out there grounding for their fears? We must find the source of the armed men, the Friends of Humanity! We have to have a plan!"
"You're fighting a pointless battle," Storm was the voice of reason, "Someone else has acted before us Professor." She flicked the remote in her hand, broadcasting the news over the tension in the briefing room.
"And so at eleven fifty five tonight, the breaking news is that the mutant who calls himself Magneto has issued a call to arms of all mutant citizens of the world to unite with him against the terrorists called the Friends of Humanity. Further to Senator Kelly's outburst yesterday, Magneto has given a time and a place for what he calls the 'First Battle for Freedom' to occur. In a bid to prevent such an incident, the government has now outlawed the broadcasting of Magneto's message to the world's mutants. The call follows the murder of a unnamed female mutant at the airport earlier today..."
"Where," Xavier asked his waiting X-Men, knowing someone would have checked the information as soon as they heard the news. "When?"
"Tomorrow, or should that be today?" Storm answered. "Mutants are to gather before noon in New York. He's offering ace to any mutant who turns up, and he is confident that in this one battle the Brotherhood of Mutants can wipe out the human aggressors."
"He'll draw them out of the woodwork, Dad." Ilehana offered, "Any human or mutant who has ever had a grudge against the other side will be there."
"And through fighting he will surely only worsen matters, increase the hatred..." Already heading to Cerebro, Charles Xavier knew his worse fears were realised. He must first contact his absent X-Men, and then at least try to get through to his old friend...
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**He hasn't got the ace for his battle yet, Professor. Mystique's new crony Quicksilver is transferring most of it right now. He's here in front of us, with Pyro and another mutant I don't recognise. **
**Avalanche. ** Xavier confirmed. **You must stop them Iceman. **
**Alright, but it wont be easy. They've already helped themselves to some of the supplies... **
**I know you can do this, Bobby. Make me proud. ** The Professor signed off, reaching out to Kitty, Jubilee and Colossus with barely a flex of his telepathic muscles. Ready and waiting for his call, all three were soon on their way to New York however they could manage. He reached for Blaze next, but with a reflex firewall she drove her boss, her mentor and her friend away. Terrified she may give in at any moment to the tumult of emotions raging inside her, Xavier pushed harder, did she not know how much he needed all the help he could muster right now? For a moment he felt like he was getting through to her, but under the surface of the fire he came across a knowledge Blaze was trying so hard to deny even to herself. Could it be? Xavier pulled back slightly in shock, and an enraged Blaze slammed her mind closed to him in a way she had never done before. She knew what was happening, but she had her own demons to fight...
Gambit walked alone in New Orleans, equally marvelled and repulsed by the city that had hardly changed in all these years he had been away. The smell, the sounds, the whole feeling of the city was that of girl growing old, trying to make herself a bride. Remy felt Xavier brush his mind almost shyly, but now wasn't the best time to be asking Gambit to be a hero. The rest of the world had faded to insignificance to the Cajun, even Blaze, and Xavier was left discarded in the street feeling like tonight the demons ruled...
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"Things move better than I ever could have dreamed." Jacobi mused to his two employees. "And yet I am feeling strangely poetic, even melancholy. And I think that this is why. Remy and Blaze are so close to finally being dead, driven from each other and from their friends, and yet I will not be part of that moment..."
In New Orleans, waiting where she knew Remy would find her, where he had always found her, Belladonna bit a nail angrily. All the years she had waited to have Remy to herself again, all this planning, and now Jacobi wanted to switch on them? On a university campus many miles away, her assassin partner Jacques had already sussed out Jacobi's change of heart, and found it appealed to the prognosticating telepath's wicked sense of humour. Put all the meat in a boiling pot, it was time to see them stew.
"Bring them to me, alive, and I will triple your fee. I look forward to watching Gambit's face as he sees Blaze die and knows he could have prevented it all..."
A/N: Don't forget to review!
Scene 13
Sirens, shouting, crying... Scott coughed and spluttered as someone lifted his head so he could breathe.
"Its okay, One-Eye, you're with friends." Ilehana's voice, calling him by the childhood nickname she still clung to like a security blanket. The name that meant no matter what changed between them, they'd both always remember what had been.
"Tsunami..." Cyclops breathed, unable to open his eyes for some reason. Ilehana didn't reply, instead wrapping him in telepathic sympathy. Lying on the hard airport concourse floor, head resting on Ilehana's knee, Scott knew Tsunami was dead.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Music boomed loud from the club on campus, and Tabitha even risked a bit of a dance as the four young mutants walked. Blaze couldn't smile. Perhaps once, when she had been shot at, betrayed and abandoned once less often, she would have found the blonde mutant amusing and danced with her. But not tonight.
Not so far behind the hideous university building, in the anonymous shadows of the night, they were approached by one of the men from the e-fits. Blaze stood back, acting the nervous young student on her first trip to buy ace. Bobby stood by her side; this was where Tabitha and Havoc paid their debts to him. The dealer recognised the friends, and simply cocked his head in the direction of the road as Havoc asked to see Shrew about more of the power-accelerating drug.
Shrew's corner was away past the road, by a large still pond decorated with water lilies and iris that were turning bronze in the October cold. Shrew himself sat like a rodent-king on a decorative wall away to one end of the pond. The other two men from Havoc and Tabitha's memory couldn't be seen, but Blaze was sure they were about here somewhere. Their guide nodded towards Shrew just in case the mutants hadn't seen him, before leaving. Blaze supposed they didn't expect, or at least didn't care if they attacked Shrew. That was good news.
"Shrew, old friend." Blaze crooned with venom in her voice after the guide had left. "What have we been up to?"
"B-b-blaze?" Shrew had always been terrified of the smell of the fire- mutant, even before she had had control of her powers, and she knew it. Not letting him have the chance to scarper, Blaze used her remarkable agility to excellent effect, leaping to close the distance between the criminal and herself, closing one strong hand around his neck before he even had chance to squeal.
"Very observant, Shrew. Now here's how this is gonna work." Blaze put a tiny taste of her power into the hand that gripped Shrew's neck, smiling coldly as he began to writhe under the heat of her hand. Vaguely she was aware of the other three mutants panning out besides her. Bobby would make a good leader of the X-Men one day, subtle and organised. "You are going to give me every last capsule of ace you have on your person. Then you are going to tell me where I need to go to destroy the rest of your horde. After we have that out of the way, you will tell me the name of the scum who has you fooling mutants into believing salvation comes in little silver discs."
"T-t-then you'll let me go?" Shrew stuttered, a little hot under the collar. Blaze only squeezed slightly harder, fireballs dancing over her wrist just in front of his face. "Well, okay then... He wriggled again, but Blaze held him tight up against the wall, brown eyes burning. "It's like this, Blaze, I've sold all my stock today, some guy named Quicksilver, you know. If I had known you were coming to visit then I would've saved you some, but..." His sentence was cut short as Blaze squeezed so hard he gasped for air.
"You wouldn't lie to me, would you Shrew? Because I'm not in the mood for lying, cheating scum tonight..."
"No Blaze I swear! This guy called Quicksilver came about an hour ago and bought the lot, cash, for his boss. I-I thinks the boss' name was Misty?"
"Mystique." Bobby offered coldly from behind Blaze's left shoulder. Blaze nodded her agreement.
"Well then, looks like you've only one question left to answer, my little vermin friend?" She prompted, noting at the back of her mind that his shirt was beginning to smoulder but not withdrawing the use of her power one thread. It would do the underworld good to know she had come of age as a mutant at long last. She wanted them afraid of her.
"I-I-I" Shrew sputtered, noting himself that things were getting a little toasty. "Well!" Blaze exclaimed, pushing back his forehead with her free hand until she had his throat bare, chin jutting skywards. Havoc and Tabitha shifted uneasily on the spot, glancing at each other. Bobby stood firm, trusting Blaze to stop before she killed the criminal mutant, but drawing a fist behind him to ready his power if it looked like his trust was misplaced.
"Jacobi! Alessandro Jacobi's behind ace- the design, the marketing! There I told you, Blaze! Let me go!" With sudden gusto Shrew wriggled himself free of Blaze's distracted grasp and flew off into the night. Tabitha started after him, but Bobby's call to stand her ground tamed the blonde. Again Blaze's world wheeled, and she thought she would be sick. Shrugging off Bobby's hesitant calls of her name she stalked off into the night, alone.
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"What d'ya mean, we ain't goin' nowhere!" Logan roared at the Professor. "Those-those freaks killed Tsunami in cold blood, an' they'd have done the same to any one of us if we'd been there!"
"Granted Logan!" The Professor near roared back. "But what good will it serve if we give all those terrified humans out there grounding for their fears? We must find the source of the armed men, the Friends of Humanity! We have to have a plan!"
"You're fighting a pointless battle," Storm was the voice of reason, "Someone else has acted before us Professor." She flicked the remote in her hand, broadcasting the news over the tension in the briefing room.
"And so at eleven fifty five tonight, the breaking news is that the mutant who calls himself Magneto has issued a call to arms of all mutant citizens of the world to unite with him against the terrorists called the Friends of Humanity. Further to Senator Kelly's outburst yesterday, Magneto has given a time and a place for what he calls the 'First Battle for Freedom' to occur. In a bid to prevent such an incident, the government has now outlawed the broadcasting of Magneto's message to the world's mutants. The call follows the murder of a unnamed female mutant at the airport earlier today..."
"Where," Xavier asked his waiting X-Men, knowing someone would have checked the information as soon as they heard the news. "When?"
"Tomorrow, or should that be today?" Storm answered. "Mutants are to gather before noon in New York. He's offering ace to any mutant who turns up, and he is confident that in this one battle the Brotherhood of Mutants can wipe out the human aggressors."
"He'll draw them out of the woodwork, Dad." Ilehana offered, "Any human or mutant who has ever had a grudge against the other side will be there."
"And through fighting he will surely only worsen matters, increase the hatred..." Already heading to Cerebro, Charles Xavier knew his worse fears were realised. He must first contact his absent X-Men, and then at least try to get through to his old friend...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
**He hasn't got the ace for his battle yet, Professor. Mystique's new crony Quicksilver is transferring most of it right now. He's here in front of us, with Pyro and another mutant I don't recognise. **
**Avalanche. ** Xavier confirmed. **You must stop them Iceman. **
**Alright, but it wont be easy. They've already helped themselves to some of the supplies... **
**I know you can do this, Bobby. Make me proud. ** The Professor signed off, reaching out to Kitty, Jubilee and Colossus with barely a flex of his telepathic muscles. Ready and waiting for his call, all three were soon on their way to New York however they could manage. He reached for Blaze next, but with a reflex firewall she drove her boss, her mentor and her friend away. Terrified she may give in at any moment to the tumult of emotions raging inside her, Xavier pushed harder, did she not know how much he needed all the help he could muster right now? For a moment he felt like he was getting through to her, but under the surface of the fire he came across a knowledge Blaze was trying so hard to deny even to herself. Could it be? Xavier pulled back slightly in shock, and an enraged Blaze slammed her mind closed to him in a way she had never done before. She knew what was happening, but she had her own demons to fight...
Gambit walked alone in New Orleans, equally marvelled and repulsed by the city that had hardly changed in all these years he had been away. The smell, the sounds, the whole feeling of the city was that of girl growing old, trying to make herself a bride. Remy felt Xavier brush his mind almost shyly, but now wasn't the best time to be asking Gambit to be a hero. The rest of the world had faded to insignificance to the Cajun, even Blaze, and Xavier was left discarded in the street feeling like tonight the demons ruled...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Things move better than I ever could have dreamed." Jacobi mused to his two employees. "And yet I am feeling strangely poetic, even melancholy. And I think that this is why. Remy and Blaze are so close to finally being dead, driven from each other and from their friends, and yet I will not be part of that moment..."
In New Orleans, waiting where she knew Remy would find her, where he had always found her, Belladonna bit a nail angrily. All the years she had waited to have Remy to herself again, all this planning, and now Jacobi wanted to switch on them? On a university campus many miles away, her assassin partner Jacques had already sussed out Jacobi's change of heart, and found it appealed to the prognosticating telepath's wicked sense of humour. Put all the meat in a boiling pot, it was time to see them stew.
"Bring them to me, alive, and I will triple your fee. I look forward to watching Gambit's face as he sees Blaze die and knows he could have prevented it all..."