Ma Soleil
Chapter Twenty-One: Dinner and an Argument
Disclaimer: All Marvel Characters are the property of Marvel. This is a work of fanfiction, not an attempt to infringe on Stan Lee's personal arsenal of hotties. I can wish all I like, but Sabes is never gonna show up to collect me, and that's that. Oh, yeah, I'm making zero profit off this and if you want Beck, just ask.
As always, the lifeblood of the fanfiction author is reviews. I will respect constructive criticism, but flames are sincerely unappreciated. My e-mail address is seraph_taurus@thekeyz.com. Thanks for your time and God bless.
#-indicates thought
^-indicates telepathic conversation
XXX
"Hey, Warden," Rebecca sat down on the couch beside her partner, flicked a glance at the game controller he was struggling with. "Put that down, I need to talk with you."
"Becky, this is an X-Box v.4.2! Do you have ANY idea how awesome this is? God, I would've loved to have this as a kid."
"You ARE a kid." She knocked the controller out of his hands. "A big, whiny kid who just murdered one of the most skillful and well-linked mercenaries in the western world." Warden sat up and started.
"Beck-EE!" he pouted. "OhmyGOD, I was just about to kill Jin Mishima and Paul Phoenix's double-team! Do you have ANY idea what you've just done?" he rammed his fingers through his shaggy blond hair in frustration.
"You'll get back to it. What is this, Tekken part eighty-six trillion?"
"It's Tekken Twelve, if you must know." He continued to pout. "And the graphics are SOOO kick-ass! Becky, how could you?"
"I need to talk seriously with you, Chris." She brushed her hair back, and took her hands in his.
"What, are you breaking up with me?"
"Don't joke."
"You ARE breaking up with me!" he turned pale. "Whoa, I thought you told me you told Cyclops that you weren't going to join the X-Men again!"
"I'm not rejoining the X-Men, because to start with, I've never really BEEN a part of them. All I'm saying is that I think we should operate from here for a while."
"But your apartment in the city! It's so perfect! And everyone knows that we were there, and we might put the school in danger because we're mercs."
"Calm down, Chris." She shook her head. "I had a good conversation with Xavier last night, and there are just some things that are going to go on here that you know. . .might need me."
"Like what?"
"Now I want you to listen up carefully, because if you get all emotional and angry, then I'm never going to really get through to you. First of all, you have to know that splitting this team up is not an option. I am NOT going to leave you. I'll deep-forty-six everything else in my life before going back on a business deal, understood?"
"Yeah." He avoided her eyes, snatching the controller back and scrolling to the main menu of the video game.
"I'm sure you saw the scar on the back of Xavier's head last night."
"I heard he had a neural inhibitor implanted in his brain to stop his telepathy."
"Good, you're already up on the basics. Well, the inhibitor hasn't really taken root yet. You know what that means, I'm sure, we've lived together long enough for you to get my psionisis lingo." Warden grunted by way of reply. "I think I can help him get his control back to normal again. I have to try. If I don't, I'll have to live with it, and so will Xavier."
"So we'll take up shop here, then?"
"Yeah. It makes sense, Chris. We'll have access to the X-Men's state-of-the-art equipment, including the latest weapons from the Maker, two Blackbird airplanes fully equipped, and one of the most solid security systems in the cosmos. Besides, once all the villains realize Xavier's no longer a powerful telepath, they'll come after the X-Men and X-Cell."
"And your brother." Warden muttered.
"Exactly."
"Huh. I guess you're right, then. There's no reason not to, I mean. . .once we move our equipment in from the city, we'll have the same cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses. People can contact us easily. And it's not like the Merc Hubs are going anywhere."
"So you're all right with it?"
"Yeah."
"Even if we're going to be an hour and a half away from Richard?"
Warden shrugged. "Yeah, it's fine. If our relationship can't stand up to something as simple as this, we shouldn't be together."
"I don't want you to feel obligated to do this simply because it's what I feel is right or necessary. If you're opposed to it, there's nothing that could constrain me to break up this team."
"We could live apart." Warden shrugged. "You know, if I get bored of being surrounded by a bunch of straight superheroes."
Rebecca chuckled, then turned serious. "Some of Clyde's allies might come after you."
"I doubt it. He wasn't too well-liked."
"But he was an integral part of several crime families."
"Touché. I guess it's settled then. When should we close up the apartment?"
"Well, we own, so I guess we should just move our equipment out. That should make sense."
"All right. Have you. . .arranged things with the school?"
"I told Xavier I'd talk with you about hanging around. He says he'd think seriously about removing the inhibitor and only using a Genoshan bracelet for a few hours a day, and while he's sleeping. During the day, I could train with him."
"Can't Phoenix do this? I mean, why you? I thought she was like. . .so much more powerful."
"He might not admit it, but Xavier has a serious ego. Jean was one of his students, and it'd hurt his pride to be led along by the wrist by someone he's been training since she was eleven years old."
"Huh. I guess I never thought about it that way." Warden reflected, tapping a few buttons on the X-Box control and bringing his game back up. "All right, so I guess it's settled. You'll work it out with the bigwigs here?"
"Yeah, I'll take care of everything. I'll even have the apartment cleared out. You won't have to lift a finger."
"Hey, just because I got kidnapped and was forced to take a hit that'll most probably come back to bite me in the ass doesn't mean I need a permanent vacation."
"Yes, it does. I want you to shut up and keep playing video games. . .both here and in the Danger Room, which I'm assuming you've checked out."
"No, what's that?" he sat up and leant on the back of the couch.
"I'll have someone introduce you to it." She called back, chuckling as she walked away.
XXX
Scott sat on the dock of Breakstone Lake, his feet dangling into the cool water. A cane fishing pole was propped up in a Y-shaped stick cradle, and there was a bucket full of moist earth and fat worms sitting beside him. His wife was cooking in their beautiful lakeside house only a few yards away, their newly born daughter snoozing in her bassinet. His son was due to come down for dinner that evening. They scarcely saw one another any more, between their respective duties to the X-Men and the classes they both taught.
He hadn't fished like this in a long time, and it wasn't as though he expected to catch anything more than perhaps a few wide-mouth bass three or four inches long. But the atmosphere was relaxing. He could see fireflies performing their drunken dances, turning their lights on and off like unsure old men. The hum of crickets sounded gently in his ears, and he sighed deeply.
^Scott,^ the telepathic voice reached him just as he heard the rustle in the grass behind him.
"Soleil. Hey. Nice evening, isn't it?"
"It really is." She curled up beside him on the dock, and reached her hand into his bucket, withdrawing it with a plump worm cradled in her palm and dirt beneath her pink, manicured nails. "So what're you setting your sights on out here? Lake trout?"
"Nah. Just relaxing. What're you doing out here? Isn't it dinner time in the Mansion?" she shrugged. "Have you made all the arrangements with Warden's psi-sig yet?"
"Actually, I finished with that this morning. I had a conversation with the Professor, and we decided it'd be best if Warden and I stayed here for a while. I mean, all hell's apt to break loose so soon as people realize that the Professor's no longer telepathic."
"And?"
"And because. . .well, he said he'd consider rebuilding his psionic restraint if I were to stick around for a while."
"What?"
"Yeah, I think I talked him out of the whole brain-implant thing."
"You're insane."
"Scott." She rolled her eyes. "Look, it's a good thing. I'll have the protection I may or may not need in the wake of Clyde's murder, and you'll get the Professor back. Won't it be lovely?" she crooned, more to the worm than to him.
"No, I don't think that's a good idea at all."
"Why not?" she knit her brow, stared into the mirrored glasses he wore.
"Because." He sighed. "Where do I start? For one, you and Monet won't get along at all."
"That's not true. We've agreed that Victor's HER territory, and that I don't want anything to do with him romantically."
"Well, then, you'll disrupt Chamber's concentration on rebuilding himself."
"That's pure bullshit and you know it. What, you scrambling for excuses to get rid of me now? Don't worry, I promise I won't join the X-Men. Warden and I will work out of the Mansion, but we won't be affiliated with you in any way. No trouble, I've already worked everything out. Oh, some men will be around tomorrow with a few trucks of electronic gadgets and some plastic explosives. Is there somewhere in your basement I can chuck them?"
"No! Look, you can't set up a mercenary operation at Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning. We'll have the Feds or the Department of Social Security crawling up our asses. The kids' parents know that we're the X-Men and X-Cell, they have for nearly twenty years now, but housing a mercenary operation is an entirely different story!"
"No, it's not. Because they won't have to know about it."
"We're required by law to inform them of any new developments. We can't have. . .plastic explosives on the grounds!"
"The Blackbirds are each loaded with two nuclear warheads, a machine gun, and pounds of C4 apiece! Don't throw that 'required by law' crap into my face because it'll just make you a hypocrite. If the parents can live with their kids being tutored by a vigilante group, they'll be able to stomach a couple of killers-for-hire on vacation, I promise you that!"
"You really think you have the right to do this, don't you?" he drew himself up to his full height, upsetting the bait-bucket with his boot. "I thought we had an understanding, Rebecca! In fact, we did. You were going to cue your doll-faced, ailing partner-in-crime's psi-signature into Cerebro in case he gets kidnapped again by an old boyfriend of yours or was he Rachel's?" Rebecca's jaw dropped, and she covered her face in her hands. Her shoulders began to shake, and for a moment, Scott became terrified that she was crying. "All right, now that's just not fair play." She looked up, and her face-splitting grin simply infuriated him the more.
"Is THAT what this is about? You're angry with me, and don't want me to hang around for a couple more months because Guillaume and I were an item after Rach got blasted into the time stream?"
"No! I wasn't even thinking about that!" he reddened.
"Whatever. Well, just in case you're wondering, Guillaume and I ended a looong time ago, if we ever really WERE together."
"Just like you and Creed."
"Look, Creed and I were married." She turned around, eyes blazing. "That doesn't constitute a relationship. I was legally tied to him because of his and Natty's misplaced sense of honour. They both thought they had to protect me from whatever the hell goes bump in the night! And why would you throw him in my face now? For the sake of a tragedy-wound? I didn't think you were that petty!" Scott muttered something incoherent and stared at his boots. "Speak up!" he shrugged, remained silent. "I think you owe it to me to tell me what you just said.
"I don't want you around!" he replied, his face coming up. She could feel his eyes latching onto hers even through his glasses.
"And why exactly is that?"
"Because. Everyone needs you. Everyone LOVES you. When you come around, you're the person everyone's excited about, and I don't need excitement in my life right now. I have Jean, and I don't want you!" he reached down, and grabbed his worms and his fishing pole, prepared to stomp into his house and, God damn it, enjoy his meal with his wife and son!-but Rebecca grabbed him by the arm before he could get too far.
"Whoa, whoa, wait. You are NOT going to say something like THAT and leave me hanging. What's that supposed to mean, that you don't want me in your house, polluting your teams? That you dislike me that much? Or what?"
He pursed his lips. "I don't know."
"Come on. You've faced down countless villains. You should be able to fess up to me."
"Yeah, I should." He mumbled. "I'm just afraid. . ." he turned away, and left her standing at the docks, finishing the sentence in his mind, #That I might have feelings for you.#
XXX
Chapter Twenty-One: Dinner and an Argument
Disclaimer: All Marvel Characters are the property of Marvel. This is a work of fanfiction, not an attempt to infringe on Stan Lee's personal arsenal of hotties. I can wish all I like, but Sabes is never gonna show up to collect me, and that's that. Oh, yeah, I'm making zero profit off this and if you want Beck, just ask.
As always, the lifeblood of the fanfiction author is reviews. I will respect constructive criticism, but flames are sincerely unappreciated. My e-mail address is seraph_taurus@thekeyz.com. Thanks for your time and God bless.
#-indicates thought
^-indicates telepathic conversation
XXX
"Hey, Warden," Rebecca sat down on the couch beside her partner, flicked a glance at the game controller he was struggling with. "Put that down, I need to talk with you."
"Becky, this is an X-Box v.4.2! Do you have ANY idea how awesome this is? God, I would've loved to have this as a kid."
"You ARE a kid." She knocked the controller out of his hands. "A big, whiny kid who just murdered one of the most skillful and well-linked mercenaries in the western world." Warden sat up and started.
"Beck-EE!" he pouted. "OhmyGOD, I was just about to kill Jin Mishima and Paul Phoenix's double-team! Do you have ANY idea what you've just done?" he rammed his fingers through his shaggy blond hair in frustration.
"You'll get back to it. What is this, Tekken part eighty-six trillion?"
"It's Tekken Twelve, if you must know." He continued to pout. "And the graphics are SOOO kick-ass! Becky, how could you?"
"I need to talk seriously with you, Chris." She brushed her hair back, and took her hands in his.
"What, are you breaking up with me?"
"Don't joke."
"You ARE breaking up with me!" he turned pale. "Whoa, I thought you told me you told Cyclops that you weren't going to join the X-Men again!"
"I'm not rejoining the X-Men, because to start with, I've never really BEEN a part of them. All I'm saying is that I think we should operate from here for a while."
"But your apartment in the city! It's so perfect! And everyone knows that we were there, and we might put the school in danger because we're mercs."
"Calm down, Chris." She shook her head. "I had a good conversation with Xavier last night, and there are just some things that are going to go on here that you know. . .might need me."
"Like what?"
"Now I want you to listen up carefully, because if you get all emotional and angry, then I'm never going to really get through to you. First of all, you have to know that splitting this team up is not an option. I am NOT going to leave you. I'll deep-forty-six everything else in my life before going back on a business deal, understood?"
"Yeah." He avoided her eyes, snatching the controller back and scrolling to the main menu of the video game.
"I'm sure you saw the scar on the back of Xavier's head last night."
"I heard he had a neural inhibitor implanted in his brain to stop his telepathy."
"Good, you're already up on the basics. Well, the inhibitor hasn't really taken root yet. You know what that means, I'm sure, we've lived together long enough for you to get my psionisis lingo." Warden grunted by way of reply. "I think I can help him get his control back to normal again. I have to try. If I don't, I'll have to live with it, and so will Xavier."
"So we'll take up shop here, then?"
"Yeah. It makes sense, Chris. We'll have access to the X-Men's state-of-the-art equipment, including the latest weapons from the Maker, two Blackbird airplanes fully equipped, and one of the most solid security systems in the cosmos. Besides, once all the villains realize Xavier's no longer a powerful telepath, they'll come after the X-Men and X-Cell."
"And your brother." Warden muttered.
"Exactly."
"Huh. I guess you're right, then. There's no reason not to, I mean. . .once we move our equipment in from the city, we'll have the same cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses. People can contact us easily. And it's not like the Merc Hubs are going anywhere."
"So you're all right with it?"
"Yeah."
"Even if we're going to be an hour and a half away from Richard?"
Warden shrugged. "Yeah, it's fine. If our relationship can't stand up to something as simple as this, we shouldn't be together."
"I don't want you to feel obligated to do this simply because it's what I feel is right or necessary. If you're opposed to it, there's nothing that could constrain me to break up this team."
"We could live apart." Warden shrugged. "You know, if I get bored of being surrounded by a bunch of straight superheroes."
Rebecca chuckled, then turned serious. "Some of Clyde's allies might come after you."
"I doubt it. He wasn't too well-liked."
"But he was an integral part of several crime families."
"Touché. I guess it's settled then. When should we close up the apartment?"
"Well, we own, so I guess we should just move our equipment out. That should make sense."
"All right. Have you. . .arranged things with the school?"
"I told Xavier I'd talk with you about hanging around. He says he'd think seriously about removing the inhibitor and only using a Genoshan bracelet for a few hours a day, and while he's sleeping. During the day, I could train with him."
"Can't Phoenix do this? I mean, why you? I thought she was like. . .so much more powerful."
"He might not admit it, but Xavier has a serious ego. Jean was one of his students, and it'd hurt his pride to be led along by the wrist by someone he's been training since she was eleven years old."
"Huh. I guess I never thought about it that way." Warden reflected, tapping a few buttons on the X-Box control and bringing his game back up. "All right, so I guess it's settled. You'll work it out with the bigwigs here?"
"Yeah, I'll take care of everything. I'll even have the apartment cleared out. You won't have to lift a finger."
"Hey, just because I got kidnapped and was forced to take a hit that'll most probably come back to bite me in the ass doesn't mean I need a permanent vacation."
"Yes, it does. I want you to shut up and keep playing video games. . .both here and in the Danger Room, which I'm assuming you've checked out."
"No, what's that?" he sat up and leant on the back of the couch.
"I'll have someone introduce you to it." She called back, chuckling as she walked away.
XXX
Scott sat on the dock of Breakstone Lake, his feet dangling into the cool water. A cane fishing pole was propped up in a Y-shaped stick cradle, and there was a bucket full of moist earth and fat worms sitting beside him. His wife was cooking in their beautiful lakeside house only a few yards away, their newly born daughter snoozing in her bassinet. His son was due to come down for dinner that evening. They scarcely saw one another any more, between their respective duties to the X-Men and the classes they both taught.
He hadn't fished like this in a long time, and it wasn't as though he expected to catch anything more than perhaps a few wide-mouth bass three or four inches long. But the atmosphere was relaxing. He could see fireflies performing their drunken dances, turning their lights on and off like unsure old men. The hum of crickets sounded gently in his ears, and he sighed deeply.
^Scott,^ the telepathic voice reached him just as he heard the rustle in the grass behind him.
"Soleil. Hey. Nice evening, isn't it?"
"It really is." She curled up beside him on the dock, and reached her hand into his bucket, withdrawing it with a plump worm cradled in her palm and dirt beneath her pink, manicured nails. "So what're you setting your sights on out here? Lake trout?"
"Nah. Just relaxing. What're you doing out here? Isn't it dinner time in the Mansion?" she shrugged. "Have you made all the arrangements with Warden's psi-sig yet?"
"Actually, I finished with that this morning. I had a conversation with the Professor, and we decided it'd be best if Warden and I stayed here for a while. I mean, all hell's apt to break loose so soon as people realize that the Professor's no longer telepathic."
"And?"
"And because. . .well, he said he'd consider rebuilding his psionic restraint if I were to stick around for a while."
"What?"
"Yeah, I think I talked him out of the whole brain-implant thing."
"You're insane."
"Scott." She rolled her eyes. "Look, it's a good thing. I'll have the protection I may or may not need in the wake of Clyde's murder, and you'll get the Professor back. Won't it be lovely?" she crooned, more to the worm than to him.
"No, I don't think that's a good idea at all."
"Why not?" she knit her brow, stared into the mirrored glasses he wore.
"Because." He sighed. "Where do I start? For one, you and Monet won't get along at all."
"That's not true. We've agreed that Victor's HER territory, and that I don't want anything to do with him romantically."
"Well, then, you'll disrupt Chamber's concentration on rebuilding himself."
"That's pure bullshit and you know it. What, you scrambling for excuses to get rid of me now? Don't worry, I promise I won't join the X-Men. Warden and I will work out of the Mansion, but we won't be affiliated with you in any way. No trouble, I've already worked everything out. Oh, some men will be around tomorrow with a few trucks of electronic gadgets and some plastic explosives. Is there somewhere in your basement I can chuck them?"
"No! Look, you can't set up a mercenary operation at Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning. We'll have the Feds or the Department of Social Security crawling up our asses. The kids' parents know that we're the X-Men and X-Cell, they have for nearly twenty years now, but housing a mercenary operation is an entirely different story!"
"No, it's not. Because they won't have to know about it."
"We're required by law to inform them of any new developments. We can't have. . .plastic explosives on the grounds!"
"The Blackbirds are each loaded with two nuclear warheads, a machine gun, and pounds of C4 apiece! Don't throw that 'required by law' crap into my face because it'll just make you a hypocrite. If the parents can live with their kids being tutored by a vigilante group, they'll be able to stomach a couple of killers-for-hire on vacation, I promise you that!"
"You really think you have the right to do this, don't you?" he drew himself up to his full height, upsetting the bait-bucket with his boot. "I thought we had an understanding, Rebecca! In fact, we did. You were going to cue your doll-faced, ailing partner-in-crime's psi-signature into Cerebro in case he gets kidnapped again by an old boyfriend of yours or was he Rachel's?" Rebecca's jaw dropped, and she covered her face in her hands. Her shoulders began to shake, and for a moment, Scott became terrified that she was crying. "All right, now that's just not fair play." She looked up, and her face-splitting grin simply infuriated him the more.
"Is THAT what this is about? You're angry with me, and don't want me to hang around for a couple more months because Guillaume and I were an item after Rach got blasted into the time stream?"
"No! I wasn't even thinking about that!" he reddened.
"Whatever. Well, just in case you're wondering, Guillaume and I ended a looong time ago, if we ever really WERE together."
"Just like you and Creed."
"Look, Creed and I were married." She turned around, eyes blazing. "That doesn't constitute a relationship. I was legally tied to him because of his and Natty's misplaced sense of honour. They both thought they had to protect me from whatever the hell goes bump in the night! And why would you throw him in my face now? For the sake of a tragedy-wound? I didn't think you were that petty!" Scott muttered something incoherent and stared at his boots. "Speak up!" he shrugged, remained silent. "I think you owe it to me to tell me what you just said.
"I don't want you around!" he replied, his face coming up. She could feel his eyes latching onto hers even through his glasses.
"And why exactly is that?"
"Because. Everyone needs you. Everyone LOVES you. When you come around, you're the person everyone's excited about, and I don't need excitement in my life right now. I have Jean, and I don't want you!" he reached down, and grabbed his worms and his fishing pole, prepared to stomp into his house and, God damn it, enjoy his meal with his wife and son!-but Rebecca grabbed him by the arm before he could get too far.
"Whoa, whoa, wait. You are NOT going to say something like THAT and leave me hanging. What's that supposed to mean, that you don't want me in your house, polluting your teams? That you dislike me that much? Or what?"
He pursed his lips. "I don't know."
"Come on. You've faced down countless villains. You should be able to fess up to me."
"Yeah, I should." He mumbled. "I'm just afraid. . ." he turned away, and left her standing at the docks, finishing the sentence in his mind, #That I might have feelings for you.#
XXX