Encounters with an Icy Table
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Marvel does.
Chapter 2
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"Jeannie, did you run this sample?" Hank asked, his large, blue, furry hand holding up a small, plastic petri dish. Jean sat at the lab bench staring into the specimen in front of her vacantly. "Jean? Jean? Jean!"
"Huh?" Jean snapped out of her daze and swiveled to face Hank.
"I asked if you ran this sample."
Jean looked at the petri dish.
"I don't think so."
"What's got you?" Hank queried as he sat down beside her to prep the sample.
"I don't know."
"You chew Summers out this afternoon?"
"No," Jean answered.
"I thought you were pissed off at him for what he told Bobby."
"Turns out he didn't tell Bobby anything."
"Oh no?"
"No. Bobby was guessing, but Scott didn't tell him anything."
"Do you believe him?"
"Yes."
Jean sighed, and pulled her sample to the front of her desk. Her red hair fell in her face. She batted it out of the way. It fell back again. She repeated the process, getting really frustrated. Hank laughed at her. Jean glared at him and groped through her pockets for an elastic. Finding one, she gathered the long hair and tied it into a ponytail. She frowned.
"Bad
afternoon?"
"I don't know. I don't know what I want."
"How so?"
"It's complicated."
"Does it have to do with Scott?"
"Yes and no."
"Very vague today, eh?"
Jean glared at him again.
"Is it that you don't know what you want, or that you think that what you want might not be a good idea?"
Jean didn't answer.
"He's wanted you for a long time, Jeannie."
"I know. So have Warren and Bobby."
"Not like Scott. Hell, we all wanted you at first, but one by one we all gave up. Except Scott."
"Yet he's the least obvious about it."
"Yeah. That's his way. Scott's very awkward."
"I know."
"We'd all agreed early on that it wouldn't be a good idea to actually go for you. It wouldn't be good for the team. But that was two years ago. Things change. At the time we were concerned competition for you would effect the team."
"That's what concerns me. If I were to act on this, how would it effect the whole group."
Hank nodded. "It's a tough issue. It's one that's concerned the Professor as well. I mean, everyone knows Scott's still interested. But he'll never act on it."
"No?"
"Probably not. Always the leader, except in his personal life."
Jean shook her head. "I don't know what to do."
"Did you two have an, uh, incident, that's prompted you to ponder this?"
"Kind of. While I was treating his cuts yesterday and today. I find him very attractive. I can't deny that. But I'm not sure if its wise to act on it."
"I figured that something had happened."
"It was really what didn't happen. We had long periods of silence, but the silence said so much…"
Suddenly a loud alarm pierced the air.
Hank snapped to his feet. "Sounds like another mission."
"Great."
^^Students, please report to the briefing room^^
"Yee ha! Two in one week." Hank exclaimed as he and Jean hurried to put away the specimens. "You don't seem thrilled."
"I'd be more pleased with only one mission in a given week. Too stressful."
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Hank and Jean were the last to arrive in the map room. Scott sat next to the Professor, analyzing the image before them. Bobby and Warren sat in the corner, looking less than interested.
"What do we have Professor?" Hank asked, striding up to the Professor's other side.
"We have a situation," the Professor announced, gesturing to the holographic map in front of them. "There on the river. Magneto has taken a Friends of Humanity representative hostage. He's holding him on this island."
The map zoomed in to reveal a very small island.
"Aren't the Friends of Humanity the guys who hate us?" Bobby asked.
"Yes," the Professor answered. "However it is our job to ensure that this does not escalate. We do not want the Friends of Humanity to have any further reasons to hate us."
"It appears that Magento's base on the island is underground," Scott pointed out.
"Why do you say that?" Warren asked.
"Look," Scott pointed. "Those branches there. Zoom in some more," The map further focused. "Are they branches, or beams to a structure?"
"The map can't get that kind of clarity, unfortunately," the Professor acknowledged.
"We needed to be prepared for it though. Perhaps repelling gear."
"Good idea. I'd like you all to be ready to go in a half hour. It's about an hour north of here."
"Yes, sir"
The Professor nodded and rolled out of the room.
"Great. I lose another date because of goddamn Magento. Second time this week."
"Warren get over it," Scott snapped. "You were bragging earlier about doing Candy all afternoon."
"But I was going out with Kelli tonight."
"Ooh, that's the brunette with the big knockers right?" Bobby asked, excitedly.
"All of Warren's dates have large breasts," Hank snickered. "It's his most important criteria."
"It is not. At least, its not the most important one."
Bobby laughed.
"Quit it!" Scott ordered. "We have to prepare for this mission. We do not need to analyze Warren's dating criteria."
"What's got your ass?"
Scott glared at him.
"All right," Hank jumped in. "Let's go get into uniform."
He led Warren and Bobby out of the room before they could further annoy Scott.
Scott stared at the map. The green image spun around in front of him. "I wish I could get a better view of that one area."
Jean looked in at the map. "You know, I bet there's a view of the waterfront on file that can be zoomed differently than this. This is an aerial shot."
Scott looked at her. "Bingo. Where are the files?"
"In the computer here." Jean sat down in the chair. Scott stood behind her, laying his hands on the chair's back. Jean typed quickly.
"Can you tell me the code number of the other map?"
"Uh, yeah," Scott ran over to the main table. "A34."
"Ok, got it," Jean called. Scott came back over quickly. Jean moved over in the chair to make room for Scott. "Look, there. That's what you were pointing at on the other map. It has some depth. It appears to be a cover of some sorts."
Scott nodded. "Excellent."
Jean stood up. "About earlier…"
"You don't have to explain."
"I want to…"
"Not right now," he stood faced her. "We have a mission right now. I, uh, we…need to concentrate on that."
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FEEDBACK!! Originally I was going to end it further into the chapter, but I like the flow of this better. Tell me what you think. The next chapter will be the battle. Maybe it'll go up today as well…