Scene 07

"It's no good, I'm starved!" Blaze complained, "I can't think when I'm this hungry!"

"How can you even think of food at a time like this?" Kitty asked, "We have to come up with a plan to get out of here!"

"Uh huh," Blaze agreed, but her eyes fell longingly on a bakery stand not far from the main exit. They did the nicest bagels… It wasn't her fault that her metabolism ran so fast to fuel her powers. At least she never put any weight on, no matter how much she ate. "Any ideas how we spot a mutant in a mall full of people?"

"Well," Kitty began, but was cut off.

"Someone doing dis is usin' a lot of power," Gambit cut in, appearing from nowhere in a whirl of trench coat to pace besides the X-Men. "They have to be doin' it for a reason, they after somethin'… or someone." The way he said someone made Blaze almost stop dead in her tracks. He thought it was someone after her. Why? Could he see through her that easily, that she'd never been straight with Ilehana or the X-Men about how bad her past had been? How many enemies she had?

"Oh yeah," Shadowcat retorted. She'd had about enough of Gambit for one day. "Well you'd know, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah," Remy replied nonplussed, "I would."

"So you're suggesting we let them, whoever they are, come to us," Kitty continued, oblivious to the worried look on Blaze's face. "What if we miss them? When they get what they want they'll lift the barrier and we can all just go home?"

"We need to work out what it is they want," Gambit told the girl with an air of patience. "An' why they haven't taken it already."

"Just give me one good reason why we should listen to a word you say," Kitty snapped.

"Because he's right," Blaze filled in. She met Gambit's red-on-black eyes uneasily. "I don't trust you, but you are right."

"Oh great," Kitty muttered sarcastically. "Next you'll be tellin' me we need to ask the Brotherhood for help too."

"No," Blaze turned to her friend, "but we do need to watch them." As if to back up Blaze's words of warning, there was a huge crash. The three mutants turned to look back at the Brotherhood. Apparently the Blob had got bored of waiting to be let out and charged the wall of the building. The force of his body weight crunching into the wall had fractured the bricks, sending chunks falling on his head as he sat in the debris looking dazed. The barrier was unharmed. Pietro was laughing heartily with Toad at their friend as both Lance and Wanda shook their heads.

"I've had enough of this!" Avalanche suddenly exclaimed. His eyes rolled back in his head as the building began to shake under the effect of his powers. Kitty was the one to run back, shouting at him above the screams of the assorted shoppers.

"Lance no! You'll bring the whole building down!"

"And the barrier with it," he stated confidently, angry that Shadowcat had interrupted him.

"No Lance you'll kill us all," Kitty pointed out, standing angrily in front of him. "Looks like I'm gonna have to babysit you pathetic losers after all. If you want to try and force our way out, let's have some sense about it. Blob, can you like grab that bench and try hitting the force-field with it?"

The Blob obliged, wrenching a three-seater bench from the foyer of the mall and smacking it full on the invisible barrier.

"It didn't work either," he moaned, pointing out the obvious. Kitty rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

"Well keep trying. Wanda, can you attack it without it hurting you?" Wanda nodded, hating to take Shadowcat's orders but knowing someone had to take charge of the situation before the mall really did come crashing down on them. Lance also directed his powers at the base of the barrier, making the earth underneath it quake and shiver. That seemed to have the biggest effect, sending ripples of light up from the ground as it moved. Toad, Quicksilver and Kitty put themselves to throwing anything that could be lifted at the barrier as hard as they could as the security guards kept the growing crowd away from the rebounding objects. Behind the crowd Gambit turned to Blaze.

"So who is it Chere," he asked softly, "who's after you?"

"What makes you so sure it's me they're after," Blaze asked as she began to walk away from Gambit further into the mall. She didn't like this one bit.

"You're not the only one been checkin' up on your enemies," Gambit replied, following her determinedly. "I've done my research, Cherie."

"Really?" Blaze stepped onto an escalator to the upper level. She put her hands on the rails to either side, her back to Gambit so he wouldn't see how worried she was. Remy followed her not two paces behind as she said, "I thought Magneto had washed his hands of me since his plan to use me to get to Ilehana failed so spectacularly. What possible interest could he have in my past?"

"Not everyt'ings about Magneto," Remy said with a fly grin as Blaze glanced over her shoulder at him. It was odd to be looking up at the petite fire elemental for a change, but then they were at the top of the escalator and Blaze was walking away from him again. Gambit snatched at her trailing arm and turned her around so he could see her reaction as he told her what he knew. "It seems you're a popular figure in the criminal underworld. You've turned a hand to thievin', sellin' information, blackmail..."

"You make me sound like a petty crook," Blaze snapped, raising her chin defiantly as she met Gambit's eyes to let him know he'd offended her professional pride. Gambit smiled at her, "Aren't you?"

"No," Blaze was deadly serious, "I'm much worse than that."

For a moment nothing was said, Blaze lost in her own thoughts and memories, Gambit coming quickly to the conclusion he didn't want to know how much worse Blaze was. After a few moments it was Blaze who spoke first.

"There's only one way to find out. Whoever it is hasn't attacked because I've not been on my own. Time to give them what they want…"