Five
As far as Pete Wisdom was concerned the night had been quite productive, once Moria had finished her chat with Xavier the team had relocated to Muir Island. Upon arrival the members of Excalibur had gone their separate ways to await the appearance of the American mutants. Pete was reasonably sure that Brian hadn't anticipated his taking off to visit his old friends Johnny Walker and Jack Daniels but the former spy was positive he didn't give a damn what Captain Britain thought of his desertion. If the blonde team leader wasn't such a stickler for protocol Pete would have brought him along-even if that had meant halving the female clientele of the bar-Pete was willing to be generous. Keeping to the shadows Pete walked the corridors of the Muir Island Research center hoping not to wake anyone before he made it to the relative safety of his room.
The faint sound of skin hitting plastic caught his attention-someone was hitting the punching bag rather hard. Deciding he was curious Pete moved to the doorway of the gym to watch its occupant. Even if he hadn't made his way through the better part of a bottle earlier that night Pete would have thought the girl beautiful. Lean but muscled with the right curves in the right places, pale skin that set off the tiny black spade tattooed on her shoulder. Her auburn hair was caught in a ponytail allowing a few stray platinum streaks fly around her angelic face. Suddenly Pete wished he had been here to welcome the X-Men to Muir-or at least the X-Women.
"You gonna move where I can see you or you just gonna stare like a perv?" Her voice cut through the silence-a bit low with a hint of Southern drawl.
Stepping into the room Pete took his time pulling his eyes over her once more, anger made her green eyes glow like emeralds; "Just enjoyin' the view love."
She snorted and pushed her white bangs away from her face, "Sugah, I've heard better lines. Why don't you stumble along and work on some more."
"Don't feel like it ducks," Pete smirked liking her attitude, "Maybe you could come help?"
This time instead of glaring at him the girl let out a sharp laugh, "Hate to disappoint you Sugah but I've got too many man problems as it is…"
"Want a little unasked for advice?" Pete smiled wondering just how stupid a man would have to be to give the beauty in front of him trouble-as far as he could see this was the type of woman men should fall to their knees and worship.
"Since it's unasked for I suppose sayin' 'no' would be pointless." She rolled her eyes and brushed her unruly hair away from her face.
Pete grinned and sat himself on the mat; it had been a long time since he had found a girl who could or would match wits with him, "A complete waste of time luv. Now it's obvious that whoever this chump of yours is-you care for him. If you didn't I doubt you'd be giving Brian's Adimantium reinforced punching bag a good beating. So now you have two choices; either you forgive the chump, or you dump his sorry ass and give a real man a try," Pete winked at her and licked his lips, "I personally would like to volunteer for any position you'd have available."
Out of all of the reactions Pete had expected-anger, disgust, pity-laughter hadn't been anywhere near the top ten. But low and behold the Gothic Goddess was practically bent over double with tears streaming from her eyes as she laughed. Crossing his arms Pete pouted, "It wasn't that funny luv."
"When I tell you my powers you'll laugh too," she bit down on her mirth and held out a gloved hand for him to shake, "I'm Rogue. I absorb the memories and thoughts of people when I touch them skin to skin…with other mutants I get their powers too."
Pete's frown disappeared as he got the punch line; he took her hand a shook firmly, "Pete Wisdom…I possess the superhuman ability to make an ass out of myself."
"Really?" One of Rogue's arched eyebrows lifted in thought, "I would have sworn you were a contortionist who liked to stick his foot in his mouth. It isn't often I'm wrong about these things."
"Well," Pete let his grin turn lecherous-knowing full well that nothing would come of it, "If I could figure out a way around your powers I could demonstrate my flexibility to your heart's content ducks."
This time her smile was sad, "I'd love to Sugah…but I think I'm gonna find my chump so we can kiss and make up."
"Foiled again!" Pete let out a good natured laugh and tried to keep himself sitting upright.
Once Rogue had finally left the room Pete gave up all pretence of sobriety and fell over on the mat. It wasn't the first time he had passed out before stumbling back to his room-and even as he drifted off to sleep Pete knew it wouldn't be the last either. Not while his personal demons nipped at his heels.
***********************
"I thought I made it abundantly clear to him I didn't need any help?" the first thing to greet John Greycrow as he disembarked Sinister's private jet was a visibly angry Malice tapping one booted foot impatiently.
Greycrow shrugged, knowing that it wasn't worth fighting over; "He said come so I did. I don't want to step on your toes Malice."
Her black eyes narrowed as she weighed the truth of his words; to Greycrow it felt like an army of ants crawling up his spine and it took all of his control not to shift from foot to foot. Greycrow waited for the inevitable shift in Malice's mood-when it came he felt like a man strapped to the electric chair suddenly given a reprieve. "Very well I suppose I can find some use for you. If only to keep the Nasty Boys in line."
He tried very hard not to let his relief show-it was as close as he'd ever get to Malice admitting she needed help. From him or anyone. Hell, Greycrow had seen what she had done to the Morlocks in the Alley-the way she had chastened Riptide for questioning her authority. Even before that she had been someone his finely tuned sense of self preservation had told him to appease. Now it told him to defer to her for most of the planning of their mission, "What did you have in mind for them?"
Before Malice had taken control, Greycrow would have said the host was a pretty girl-all the fearsome scars that Malice delighted in showing off had made her look vulnerable and small. Now those slightly bowed lips twisted up in a smile of pure evil, "I'm tired of all this shadow play. It's time for a direct assault. We go in and clean house then take Sinister's new pets back to the lab for him."
Frowning Greycrow could only find one fault with this, "Who are his targets? He said you'd brief me when I arrived."
Malice began to grin maniacally-like the most evil child in a candy store, "He wants Cyclops and Jean Grey intact for his experiments. The rest are mine to do what I want with. That slippery Cajun of Magneto's got away from us far too quickly last time…I intend to rectify that."
Greycrow's stomach lurched-did Malice guess that he had helped Gambit escape from Sinister the first time? There were few things John Greycrow had left to honour but his vows to his Guild still took prescience. Once he had be contracted to kill Lebeau by the thief's ex-fiancée, but the assignment had ended in disaster and the only reason Greycrow had walked out with his life was because Gambit had saved him.
Greycrow had thought the debt repaid when he had 'accidentally' turned off the nullifier in Lebeau's cell-it had almost been worth the month he had spent as Malice's plaything as punishment. But he was still alive which said neither Sinister nor Malice suspected him of anything but stupidity.
Suppressing a shiver Greycrow nodded as if he were listening to Malice's plan to steal into Muir Island and to take the combined forces of the X-men and Excalibur by surprise. He knew exactly what she would do to Gambit when she got hold of him-getting him away would be like pulling a bone from a hungry dog. Unless John Greycrow did something about it.
***********************************
Keeping to the shadows Remy navigated his way out of the medical lab and out of the building searching for a quiet place to have a cigarette. It took all his willpower to not hear Rogue's dry drawl in his mind listing the health risks he took smoking his 'death sticks'. It took all his willpower to not hear Rogue's dry drawl in his mind listing the health risks he took smoking his 'death sticks'. If his jaw hadn't been so sore he would have laughed at the irony of it-lately the biggest risk to Remy's health had been Rogue's always shifting moods.
Sliding one hand into his pocket to retrieve the pack kept hidden for 'special occasions' Remy felt rather than saw the presence of another-a big looming, self pitying presence, "Who dere?"
The shadows shifted and the faint light from the fire exit glinted off of a pair of ruby coloured glasses; Scott's voice broke the silence of the night, "Didn't think you'd be up and around yet."
Remy slid down the low wall Scott was using as a backrest and put a cigarette to his lips making sure to pull his shields up tight-he had enough self-hate at the moment and didn't need to borrow from anyone else, "Not for any lack o' tryin'. Ma Chère's got one hellava punch."
The defacto leader of the X-Men smiled thinly and took a sip from the blackened hip flask in his hands, "Wolverine had a hard time pulling her off of you."
"Guess Remy owes de old man another hein?" lifting one finger to the end of his smoke Remy focused and lit it with his powers, "You want one mon ami?"
"Why not," Summers took one and let Remy light it; sucking the smoke into his lungs he could feel it burning a path of destruction all the way down. "Jean'd kill me if she found out."
Neither man spoke for several seconds while inhaling; Remy broke the silence, "It'd be faster den what your doin' now mon ami. Remy never figured you for the 'Guilt myself to death' type."
"I'm breaking new ground." Scott took a shaky breath and stared at the glowing red end of his cigarette, "I can't help but feel responsible…for all of it. If I had controlled myself I would have seen what she was trying to do…she might have made it…"
"Dere's a lot of 'might's' in dat theory of yours." Remy frowned normally he would avoid being on the receiving end of an infamous Scott Summers self pity party. They were almost as frequent as Piotr's if a little more destructive; but tonight the mood seemed to fit-he had a lot of 'might's' in his mind too.
Summers exhaled and ran a shaking hand through his shaggy hair, "Yeah well I've had a lot of time to think of them."
"You not sleeping much den?"
"I keep seeing it in my mind over and over again," Scott let out a shaky laugh, "If that answers your question."
Remy nodded but didn't say anything; he figured this was one of those times when words would just remove all meaning. It was the first time he had felt such camaraderie with the first X-Man and surprisingly Remy enjoyed it. Even as a hollow guilt ridden wreck Scott Summers was a rock to steady those around him. The faint chirping of Remy's cell phone intruded and the thief deftly fished it from it's pocket and lifted it to his ear, "Allo?"
"Malice is coming for you tomorrow night at 0100…be ready for her." The line went dead.
All the blood fled Remy's face-it must be really bad if The Scalphunter was giving him a heads up. Scott was giving him a curious look over the rim of his flask, "Old girlfriend?"
"Remy wish," the Cajun lifted his cigarette a sucked some nicotine deep into his body hoping it would make the chill caused by Scalphunter's call go away. "Come one mon ami, we got work to do hein."
Standing Remy offered his hand to Scott and pulled the heavier man to his feet and began walking back to the building, he was going to need help waking everyone up to share this morsel of information. This time the warning came in time-they could stop whatever plan Sinister had and get their hands on Malice…maybe even…Remy stopped himself before he let the thoughts get too far ahead of him. It was too soon to tell if they could ever get Asli back.
Too wrapped up in his wandering mind Remy didn't notice she was in his way until he ran right into her. The faint light played on her white streak almost making a halo for the fallen angel her make up made her seem. "Remy?" there was concern and apology in her voice.
"Not now chère," he smiled as much as his aching jaw could let him, "Dere's other things to do now."
A flash of anger crossed her face making his Rogue twice as beautiful, but soon it was replaced with worry as she noticed his own seriousness. "What is it?"
Remy grimaced and faced the combined inquiring glances of Scott and Rogue. Finally sighing Remy ran a troubled hand through his hair, "Malice is coming to visit."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Note: Yes I live. I'm so sorry guys…things have been utterly insane and my writer's block has pretty much crushed my will to live. In the last month the biggest thing I've written was a grocery list. I've had this on the go for ages and just couldn't make it work…ask Ish…but hopefully this is a good sign…Please some one knock on wood there! Ps…I don't own the song…that's Veruca Salt's…I think by now it's well established that I'm a hack.
Seether – Veruca Salt
Ow!
Seether is neither loose nor tight.
Seether is neither black nor white.
I tried to keep her on a short leash,
I tried to calm her down.
I tried to ram her into the ground, yeah.
Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
I can't see her till I'm foaming at the mouth
Seether is neither big nor small.
Seether is the center of it all.
I tried to rock her in my cradle,
I tried to knock her out.
I tried to cram her back in my mouth, yeah.
Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
I can't see her till I'm foaming at the mouth
Keep her down, boiling water,
Keep her down, what a lovely daughter.
Oh, she is not born like other girls,
But I know how to conceive her.
Oh she may not look like other girls,
But she's a snarl-toothed seether, seether!
Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
I can't see her till I'm foaming at the mouth
Seether
Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
Can't fight the seether
I can't see her till I'm foaming at the mouth
Yeah.
Now on with the responses…
Pixie Flyer – You asked for faster updates…ummm…yeah…sorry again…really…please don't hurt me…I promise to try and write more…I might even get my comic done on time…and umm…if it sells autographed copies for everyone…are you mollified yet?
Ish – Maybe we need a new catch phrase…slow like Krac without crack? I'm sorry I had to mess with you here…but as I've told you before it could be worse…I mean I could veer off and turn this into a Rogue/Jean slash fic…*ducks a flying garden Gnome* Yeah Kitty's got issues for her issues when it comes to Asli…and I have an evil plan for it all forming in the back of my twisted mind…Teehee…no one will see it coming…Did I give you enough Pete? I know you read that part but how'd I do with him? Have I done Mr. Wisdom justice? And so now part of the evil plan is revealed…Sinister wants Jean and Scooter…I couldn't resist letting him and Remy bond a bit. And Remy shall become Malice's chew toy…hmmmm…what fun…maybe I should let her have him…
Star of Chaos – Yep, a pissed off Rogue is very hazardous to Remy's health anyway. Yep…good ole Forge…about time he got off his ass…hmmm…Your crystal ball could be actuate…I mean they had power inhibiting collars in the research lab back in 'Survival and Sacrifice'…I'm glad there are no homicidal feelings from this corner…my artist has been throwing a fit over my writer's block…or as I call it written word constipation.
WebKat07 – Hey a first time reviewer! Yay…welcome. I'm glad you like this…and I promise to finish torturing Remy and Rogue soon…then I'll move on to my favorite love rumbus….Piotr/Kitty/Asli/Pete…oh the fun I'll have there…especially if Lance decides to play too…