Three
Eyes glazing over Betsy watched another set of ten mug shots scroll past-three hours going through all the European mutants known by S.T.R.I.K.E and still she hadn't found her mystery girl. Of course Betsy knew she was wasting her time-the girl hadn't had a noticeable accent which ruled Europe out as a possible birth place. However, it was better safe than sorry and Betsy needed to do something while she waited for Brian to return from Muir Island with Moria and her foster daughter Rahne who had attended the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Betsy cracked a smile at that; when referring to a group of mutant teenagers 'gifted' was the understatement of the century.
Once Moria arrived they would contact Charles Xavier himself-the world's most gifted telepath-to see if she could shed some light on their little mystery. Not bothering to stifle her yawn Betsy watched the last of the pictures fly by, "Time for the FBI and CIA files then?" the rough sound of another voice broke through Betsy's lethargy.
Betsy groaned, "When did you turn into such a slave driver Pete love?"
The tall well muscled man pushed some of his shaggy black hair away from his eyes and smiled, "Always have been Bets-you just never noticed before."
"And here I thought I was special?" Betsy poured on the charm glad to have a distraction at hand-and she had to admit Pete Wisdom made one hell of a distraction-a tall dark and handsome one.
"Is that what your fan club tells you?" He smirked and moved towards the computer to pull up the next round of mug shots.
Betsy stuck her tongue out at the former spy, "At least I have a fan club not a pack of angry exes."
Wisdom opened his mouth to shoot back another caustic observation when the door opened allowing Brain to enter followed by a scholarly looking redhead and a young girl in pigtails, "You know it'd be nice if we didn't have to muzzle the pair of you every time you're left alone."
"You know I've never felt that way about you Bri and I'm pretty sure doin' that sort of thing with your sister is illegal…" Wisdom grinned before turning his attention to the new arrival, "A pleasure to see you again Dr. Mctaggart."
Moria Mctaggart pushed her glasses up her nose and rolled her eyes at the younger man's attempt at charm, "I'm sure it is Mr. Wisdom. Now what was all of this about havin' to contact Charles Xavier."
Taking a deep breath Betsy launched into the third retelling of her harrowing tale of danger and near escape. For their part Moria and Rahne listened intently while Brian and Pete pretended to pay attention again. When it was finished Rahne frowned, "I don't remember anyone who looked like that while I was there…but new people appeared all the time."
"You said this Xavier runs a school for mutant kids?" Pete frowned and pulled up a chair, "The girl Betsy describes sounds a bit old to be a student."
"Well," Moria shrugged and reached for the phone, "I suppose the best way to settle this would be to ask Charles himself."
**************************
"Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, Charles Xavier speaking how may I help you?" Professor Xavier answered the phone smoothly.
"Nice to see the barins haven't run you to an early grave quite yet Charles," a familiar Scottish brogue travelled over the ocean and into his ear.
A smile creased the Professor's face as he switched the receiver to his other ear, "Moria to what do I owe this honour?"
"I thought I might
ask you a question," Charles smiled as the scientist cut right to the point as
was her wont, "A friend of mine in London was attacked last night."
"I hope that they came to no harm."
Moria paused and
took a light breath, "As a matter of fact no. People get attacked all the time,
that wasn't so unusual. The attacker
herself is our anomaly. It seems the attacker possessed two distinct
personalities one wishing harm while the other did
not. The peaceful persona won and told
my friend to find Xavier-that you'd know what to do."
Dark brows furrowed together, "That is unusual. Could you describe the assailant to me? Perhaps I know them?"
"Betsy says the girl was between eighteen and twenty five," Xavier nodded as Moria spoke, "Dark curly hair, pointed sort of elfin face with all black eyes that turned to grey when the other persona took control…"
Xavier's mouth went dry as Moria relayed the description he was all too familiar with the mutant who fit it. His thoughts immediately began to race trying to figure how and why Malice had appeared in London and why now was Cypher fighting the possession?
For several
seconds he didn't even notice Moira calling his name, "Charles? Are you
alright?"
"Yes fine," he coughed gently and tried to reign in his wandering thoughts, "I do recognise the girl you've described. She was a resident here at one point although it seems that her mind has been taken over by another mutant whose goals are less than altruistic. I'll send some of my people over right away-we've been looking for an opportunity to bring Cypher back to the fold."
"Do you think that's necessary Charles?" Moira's voice was full of concern, "We do have qualified people here that could deal with this. Psylocke herself is a telepath…I shouldn't think we'd need any help."
Rubbing his temples tiredly Charles frowned; he couldn't risk allowing Malice to injure any more than she already had-it might mean Cypher would never return. "Moria I'm sure this team is well trained-but Malice is the one responsible for the Morlock massacre here in New York that sent half of my X-Men to the hospital. I'm afraid this is a case of never having enough fire power."
"If you're sure Charles," Moira's voice was anything but certain but she could remember the puzzled conversation she had had with Hank McCoy about some of the stranger injuries suffered by the X-Men, "Have your people meet us on Muir Island, I might have a made a breakthrough on restoring young Miss. Pryde's tangibility."
We'll see you soon," Charles Xavier lowered the phone feeling ten years older than when he had first picked it up. Somehow they had to stop Malice before anymore lives were affected-the empath had proved that she was a foe not readily ignored. Xavier just hoped he would be strong enough to free Cypher of her influence preferably without killing the hacker. Of course Xavier knew that if it came down to the wire and hat was the only option Asli would approve-after all she had tried to die to save her friends once before.
**************************
Travelling on soft feet Remy stalked his prey-it had taken him two hours to calm down and figure out just what he had to say but now he was ready. All he needed now was to get Piotr alone so that he could hand over a very large piece of his mind. De homme's got 'nuff on his plate wit Kitty and Asli…no need to add Rogue to it, the Cajun thought miserably. How his day had gone so horribly wrong Remy didn't know; he finally came to the conclusion that Kitty was right and he would have to make the first move to reconcile with Rogue. If he was honest it was the Gothic belle's stubbornness that kept things exciting between them-he never knew what to expect.
When he had seen Rogue slipping away from the Mansion; Remy had followed hoping to catch her in their clearing. Instead she veered off towards Piotr's studio but that wasn't unusual enough to worry Remy; she had been spending a lot of her time with the Russian trying to help him deal with Asli's sudden resurrection. Remy had taken his time knowing that in the right circumstances Rogue and Piotr could talk for hours. But they hadn't been talking when he had finally made it to the studio. Remy couldn't forget the scene even if he tried-Piotr immune to Rogue's touch in his organic steel form, Rogue floating a foot off the ground so that she could meet the taller man's eyes…then…then Remy's heart clenched at the memory of his girlfriend kissing his friend's cheek softly before being engulfed in the other man's arms.
Even before Asli's warning that it would be him trying to keep up to the feisty river rat, Remy knew his real challenge would be keeping Rogue interested in him. He wasn't funny like Kurt and Bobby. He didn't have any moral superiority unlike Scott. He didn't need a mother figure like Jamie. And he sure as hell wasn't artistic and brooding like Piotr-no normal mortal could out brood Colossus. All Remy had to share was his charm and sex appeal-two things completely lost on a girl who couldn't touch another person for more than five seconds at a time.
If anyone ever asked, Remy could pinpoint the moment Rogue broke his heart. He could feel it shattering as she clung to Piotr as if her life depended on it. That the man Remy had thought of as a friend had the nerve to hold Rogue, to wipe away her tears-a fresh surge of anger accompanied the memory. Shaking it away Remy squared his jaw and moved forward, Piotr was just steps ahead of him now. "Eh homme where you goin' in such a hurry?"
The larger man stopped and turned slowly a hint of smile touching his eyes as he spotted his friend, "I was going to visit Katya…"
"Is dere a point to dat Petey?" Remy lifted an eyebrow and couldn't help baiting Piotr, "Not like de chaton can leave dat room."
"That is why I am going to her," Piotr's voice was stiff as if he cared about the pain Kitty Pryde was feeling.
"Remy didn't know you cared."
This time Piotr stopped in his tracks and glared at Remy, "Of course I care. You of all people should understand a girlfriend unable to control her mutation."
Remy narrowed his eyes and scowled up at the other man, "Funny you should mention Rogue homme-de two of you seemed very close today."
"Rogue and I are friends," Piotr frowned trying to understand Remy's venom.
This time black and red eyes fairly glowed with rage, "Like you an Asli were friends?"
"Do not bring her into this."
"Why not mon ami?" Remy smirked and leaned against the wall trying to assume a carefree air when all he wanted was to rip Piotr to shreds then charge the pieces, "Or you and de Chaton? Des femmes really like de pouting artistes non?"
Sadly Piotr shook his dark head, "I do not know what you are talking about Remy."
"Remy is talking about you and his femme kissing in dat studio of yours." Remy sneered and pushed himself close to Piotr, "Den we all know how fast you move on. How long did it take for you to start playin' house wit Kitty when pauvre defante Asli died?"
A muscle in Piotr's jaw twitched and Remy could feel the larger man tightening his fists to hold back his anger. When the Russian spoke his voice was low and menacing, "Do not talk about her that way."
"Who you to defend her Capon?" Remy snarled not caring who he hurt now all that mattered was lessening his own pain, "You were de first to cast stones when she was alive."
"I loved her."
"Strange way of showing it," Remy laughed mirthlessly, "First Kitty now Remy's Rogue. Mebbe dat's why Asli fucked de rock tumbler?"
Moving faster than Remy had ever seen Piotr move-even in the heat of battle-the Russian's large hand streaked out and caught Remy's neck. Gagging slightly Remy tried not to choke as the larger man began to apply pressure to his larynx. All feeling had left Piotr's blue eyes, "Never again will you talk this way about Asli. I was doing nothing with Rogue-she was crying because she didn't think you'd forgive her for not believing you about Malice. Ask her yourself. And if you don't believe me ask Rogue yourself. She loves you very much-but if you ever accuse her like this again I will make you regret it."
Violently Piotr dropped Remy and began to walk towards the med lab once more, his back ram rod straight but fists still tightly clenched. From the hallway ahead of the men Wolverine appeared; for a minute it looked like he would ask why both men reeked of testosterone and rage but he thought better of it. "Chuck wants us all in the War Room…he's found Malice."
**************************
Lying down in her cell Asli unobtrusively tried to find weaknesses in it's design. So far she had yet to find one-the Keeper had been amazingly through. Fortunately for Asli all she had was time to wait for the Keeper to slip up once more. When that happened she would try once more to escape. Each memory she regained strengthened her desire to regain control. And in that dark cell trapped in her own mind Asli Fraser was getting very strong.
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Muhahahahahaahaha! How was that for jealous Remy? Hmmmm???
I don't own the song 'Mouth' it belongs to Bush…mmm…Gavin Rossdale…wonder if Gwen would share?
Bush – Mouth
you
gave me this
you made me give
your silver grin
still sticking it in
you have soul machine
soul machine
the longest kiss
peeling furniture days
drift madly to you
pollute my heart drain
you have broken at me
broken me
all your mental armor drags me down
nothing hurts like your mouth mouth mouth
your loaded smiles
pretty just desserts
wish it all for you
so much it never hurts
you have soul machine
stolen me
all your mental armor drags me down
we can't breathe when you come around
all your mental armor drags me down
nothing hurts like your mouth mouth mouth
your mouth mouth mouth
your mouth mouth mouth
we've been missing long before
never found our way home
we've been missing long before
where we'll find our way
you gave me this
made me give
you have soul machine
broken free
all your mental armor drags me down
we can't breathe when you come around
all your mental armor drags me down
nothing hurts like your mouth mouth mouth
your mouth mouth mouth
your mouth mouth mouth
all your mental armor
all your mental armor
and your mouth
mouth
Responses on the starboard bow!
Pixie Flyer – Yep so very, very wrong that it sounds right.
Ish – Yes poor artistically broody Piotr. I'm pretty sure there are things he wouldn't paint…like Wolverine in the shower. But anything else might be fair game. If we find one we'll clone him and sell him to all the other Romy fans for $29.95 American-how's that sound? Yep, Remy is quite the perv…and I could see him painting Rogue nude if given the chance. Maybe they'll make up…umm…once Rogue kills him for assuming she was messing around with Piotr (I really have given him the short end of the stick haven't I?) YAY British Superheroes. Did you notice a particular one that could solve the whole Kitty/Asli/Piotr thing? Thanks for all your support with this and 'Wild Horses'.
Star of Chaos- Drat that crystal ball of yours…At least I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.
Yes, the next thing I write WILL be Wild Horses chapter three I promise…look for it this weekend.