Act On Impulse (2)

I'm back! And in record time too! I'm on the New Fic Hype. It wears off with lack of reviews and muses. FIGHT THE NEW FIC SLUMP SYNDROME! Donate Now!

Reviews to answer to:

Crazy Chick: Well only one person died there would have been more but I REALLY HATE JEAN and PROFESSOR X MILDLY PEEVES ME. But will Scott get Lance? Or Lance get Scott?

Zee4: Dude I'm a Dude! Yeah it's true I'm a guy but I totally get why you think I'm a girl/chick/femme/babe/woman/lady. On the upside I have pretty good fashion sense. STAY ON THE SUGAR HIGH! And remember. Diet hoho's just wreck your figure at a slower rate. EAT PIXIE STICKS INSTEAD TEEHEEHEEEHEEE (dances around a meadow until Angelo whacks him with a large fly swatter)

And those who review shall see more! Also send good thoughts to my main man Fallen Angel Overlord (hereby dubbed Angelo for short) who reminded me that I had to use the hype now or it would be lost forever

Chapter 2: The Friendship Scene

San Francisco was different now, the Golden Gate Bridge was scorched and battle damaged. There was a section of the city consumed with buildings being repaired by the Builders, a team of mutants and humans who used their skills and talents to rebuild the cities as best they could.

Lance had gotten a Studio Loft and the floor below it. He'd never in his wildest dreams believed he could make it to this place. Anything even remotely like it and in one of the most impressive parts of town. His architectural skills had stemmed from a love of art and the fact he'd mended the old boarding house so often. And then a few books from the library had given him a chance to see what he could do. During the Blockades he'd had to put his studies on Hiatus but now he was a fully qualified one and it only took 3-4 years.

Seriously. The Genoshan school system was a little different from the American anyway. A few exams here and he was done. He tossed his bag into a corner and collapsed backwards onto the sofa with a groan. An air steward and two stewardesses had made eyes at him but he'd been too preoccupied to renew his membership in the Mile High Club.

The phone rang he picked it up and immediately said: "Hey Kitty"

"Lance!" she smiled. "Just calling to see if you're up for lunch? Ashton Kutcher is getting divorced so he baled on lunch and I have a table at a restaurant and no one to go with. Interested?"

"Yeah" he said. "What time?"

"2:30 today"

Lance sat up. "Kitty, Jet lag"

There was a sigh from the other end of the line. "You and you Mile High club. Honestly". Lance stared at the phone in his hand indignantly and then put it back to his ear.

"Actually I was unable to sleep on the flight and I didn't "go MH" this time"

"Mystique? This isn't funny? Or is this Dream?"

"Cut it out Kitty" snorted Lance. "Look I'll meet you for lunch but only if you come and pick me up at 2 because I intend to sleep". He felt Kitty's thoughts welling. "Alone and actually asleep" he said before she could speak. "So good morning"

"See you later" Kitty laughed and hung up. Lance groaned and decided to force himself up stairs to his room. His apartment was white with polished wooden floors and various pieces of art on the walls. Rogue had dragged him to a gallery opening a few months ago and given him instruction on what to buy. To balance it out Kitty had taken him to another place and bought brighter art.

Philippe was out, probably threatening Remy and trying to prove he loved (a word normally not associated with the vamp) Rogue. As for Rogue, she was in the city at a Bram Stoker honour ceremony. Which was where Philippe was.

Lance fell asleep the second his head touched the pillow.

A FEW HOURS LATER

Kitty phased through the door and prodded Lance awake. He told her about the state of Bayville high as he got dressed and she feigned interest until they were in the elevator with an old lady and her poodle and a Reverend.

"Okay I don't give a damn – sorry Reverend – about the school details about Scott"

Lance choked and nearly spat his gum into the Reverends hair.

"Did you two screw around or not – sorry reverend?" Kitty pressed.

"What did your friend say Lawrence dear?" the old woman (Mrs Fern) asked.

"She asked if I flew around on my trip back to Bayville Mrs Fern" Lance said clearly and loudly. The old woman smiled and nodded while the reverend stared at Lance. His eyes declared: "I may put up with mutants but not your kind".

"Seriously Lance I'm tired of damn –sorry – well waiting for you to get around to the matter at hand god damn it! Sorry Reverend. Did you find out if Scott is gay?"

"What did she say Lawrence?" Mrs Fern asked blankly.

"She asked if I did a lot while I was away" smiled Lance as he shot a seething glare at Kitty who was shifting slightly from the Reverends gaze. Mrs Fern got out of the elevator and that left the scandalized Reverend with the Bible (which had moved from under his arm up to his chest and held in both hands). "Goodbye Mrs Fern" he called and then turned on Kitty as the doors shut. "You are very lucky she has a hearing problem in confined spaces" he said.

Kitty gave a broad grin and gently pushed him aside. "So did you really just kiss him?" Lance nodded. "And you didn't do anything else? Not even groping or partial nudity?"

"Nope" Lance said. "Well a little groping. He has a tight rear, nice and muscled, the war bodysuit didn't do it justice". The Reverend had begun reading a chapter. Kitty sighed and poked the man in the neck. He collapsed.

"I can't help it. He was starting to annoy me" she sniffed.

They left the elevator and unconscious Reverend and walked out to the car that Kitty had waiting, a large black car with a chauffeur waiting. "It's the work car," she said. "I decided to take it out today, normally I'd just drive myself but ya know" she shrugged.

Lance slid in and then so did Kitty. Kitty was wearing a dark purple sweater with a wide neck that just slightly bared her shoulders, a pair of flared jeans with lace patterns on the ends, a beaded leather belt and another of silver segments and her hair held up by a round silver clasp. She opened a Compaq and gave her cheeks a subtle bash of the puff.

"So you and Scott played the groping game?"

"Yeah" he said as they drove past the piled up debris of buildings they'd buried a Horseman under (A/N: Last Chapter DF ;) near the start) in the attack on the city. It wasn't a pretty sight. The body was not one anyone was willing to risk touching and even HAZMAT would wither eventually on contact because of the strength of the mutant power.

The car cruised down the streets. Car factories had gone into overdrive to create the electrical car now and also begun working with a new metal-looking alloy that was plastic based. They didn't want to risk the return of Magneto. The streets were filled with cars, true and they looked like the cars from the past, true but they were eco-friendly and a whole lot less Magneto-friendly.

"What was the kiss like?"

"It was" Lance sighed and lay back in the seat. "Like someone set off fireworks in my brain opened a free bar on my tongue and started dancing a cha-cha under my skin. I don't know why I didn't pass out I felt all mushy inside."

Kitty got a funny look in her eyes. "Awwwwww!" she said.

Lance recoiled. "I don't like that look Pryde," he said.

"You're in love!"

"Hey I don't fall in love. I get laid!"

"I bet you even told him you had that crush in school! And during the X-terminators"

"Yeah but I want to get into his pants"

"Lance. I haven't forgotten that phone call. You. Love. Scott. Summers"

"Oh look we're here!" Lance said. "Let's go" the chauffeur held the door open and Kitty grabbed her purse to launch after Lance Alvers.

They were seated swiftly (to avoid Kitty's wrath) and Lance scanned the menu, aware Kitty's eyes were boring into his brain. "Is the salad any good?"

"I'm a vegetarian," she said, not breaking her gaze. "I take what I can get, but its good."

"What about the duck medallions?"

"Again. I'm vegetarian" she shut her menu. "Spill Lance. Do you love him?"

"Uh" a cute waiter with a tan and big blue eye saved Lance from answering. "Hey" Lance smiled flirtatiously. "I'll have the duck medallions with the salad, the smoked salmon and a beer," he said. The waiter smiled coyly.

"Hey, quit imagining him naked for five seconds" Kitty said to Lance. "As for you waiter boy. He's cutting back on the sex in the backrooms at break time. I'll have the salad, the pasta with spun sauce and a white wine. Slip him your number on a napkin but don't hold your breath and Lance stop that"

Lance was playing with a breadstick. Kitty looked at him meaningfully as she karate chopped it in two. Both Lance and the waiter swallowed nervously and the waiter went to get their food.

"Look answer me as straight as you can queer guy," she said. "Do. You. Love. Scott?" Lance winced and looked around for a distraction. Alas there were none and finally.

"Yes" he sighed. "He makes me want to be a better person and until now I thought that was a clich

"Or only happened in movies, books and-slash-or fan fiction written by odd folks with nothing better to do" (A/N: I couldn't resist) Kitty said.

"Yeah, kinda" he nodded.

"Then" Kitty said as she took a breadstick. "We have to win him over". She deftly bit it and crunched it with a smile. Lance grinned. This was a powerful ally.

Scott wanted Lance out of his head. He and Lance were opposites.

He was a long-term relationship guy. Lance was promiscuous.

Scott was an honest relationship guy. Lance often had 4 or 5 on the go at once.

Scott dressed primly. Lance believed clothing optional

Scott liked meaningful relationships. Lance thought group sex was a form of therapy.

Scott wanted love. Lance wanted to get laid.

This was complicated. Scott sat at his desk and massaged his temples. Bobby entered looking incredibly pleased with himself and walking funny. "What's making you so happy?" Scott asked.

Bobby smiled. "Well I was exhausted last night and John asked me to come over to his office. And when I got there, tired and worn out he pushed me over a desk and put whipped cream on my-"

"No thanks" Scott cut in. "Not listening."

"But then he-"

"Zip" Scott said. "I really amn't in the mood. Mystique called me in three hours after I got to sleep. It killed me she even woke me up back in Bayville a half-an-hour before the plane I was supposed to catch was taking off!"

Bobby looked at Scott. "You wanted to have sex," he said.

"I did not," Scott said indignantly. "It's only been two weeks since I broke up with Darius I amn't interested in another relationship just yet!"

"You should consider it, maybe you'd loosen up if you were getting some," the water cooler said coldly (and at room temperature too).

Conversations with inanimate objects were a usual occurrence here. Mystique loved the ability to give her mass and density a slight alteration and to even transform into (non-functioning) inanimate objects. It was still relatively new

"This doesn't help employee relations," Bobby said coolly.

"I care, really" Mystique said as she transformed into her blue skinned self, wearing a black business suit. "Summers, the murders in Chinatown. Deaths rose to 4 over the past few nights. The Rainy Day killer looks like either a non-discriminating human or mutant. Its not self-defence and its definitely not race related."

"Two mutants, two humans" a voice said. Two men entered, one was around Scott's age and the other was a little younger. The Elder was Indian with black hair and smouldering eyes. The other was blonde and smiling.

"Agents Cameron and Sharra" the blonde said. "I'm Davis and this is Neal."

"Pleasure" Scott said as he, Mystique and Bobby shook their hands.

"We're from the offices in Washington," explained Neal. "People a scared in Washington. Two mutants as powerful as these two and two humans in peak physical condition. And all in a short space of time"

"So short and so clean that we've got zip to go on" Davis said in an Australian drawl.

"And all they have in common is Chinatown, the stabbing pattern and mutilation and the fact it was raining" Bobby said. "Wiping away all the clues we could have used."

Scott nodded. "We have to catch whoever this is," he said.

"It's due to rain again tomorrow night" Mystique said. "We need to find a pattern now" she was firm on that point. Neal and Davis nodded in agreement. Mystique entered her office and slammed the door sending a pane of glass to the ground in shards.

"Monday at 3:20" Jamie called from his desk as he pulled up a marker board marked "Broken Glass Pane Pool". He circled his name. "Pay up everybody".

His dupes walked around the room, hands out for "donations" and grudgingly they were handed to the grinning clones. Scott looked at the four pictures and shivered at the mutilated bodies that had been broke and cast into assorted shapes. He shook his head. "Oh God we have to catch this scum" he said

"We will" Amara said as she walked over and put down the magazines. "Speaking of which you do know you're one of the only three guys who doesn't go looking for porn from whoever gets the magazine rota?"

Scott shrugged and glanced at the magazines she was handing out. She handed him a copy of Moment magazine. It was the phoenix of Time magazine and had been started by the survivors of a Magneto attack.

"I don't believe it," he grumbled. "The Power of the Petros family?"

On the cover were Natasha, Dominic and Lance. He tossed it onto his desk with a groan and went about investigating their files on the killings. Seconds later he shut the dossier and with all the casual manner he could muster opened the article.

Great.

All he needed.

Shirtless Lance and Shirtless Dominic with Bikini-wearing Natasha on the shores of Genosha. Now he had to find where Mystique had put the real water cooler and get cold water STAT!!!

TBC

Lance is after the handsome Mr Summers. By becoming his friend? Things could get complicatedâ€especially when Lance is pulled into the investigationâ€why all the better to screw you withâ€tee-hee

(Gets bucket of water dumped on him) Angelo darlingâ€lighten up (Ice water splashes down) okay I get the idea cool off.

Angelo: Just review him and I'll not have to turn on the water heater

DF: Eep! ! And he'd do it too!

Angelo: Of course I would.

And don't forget! Tell me what you think of the characters tips welcomed but reviews make me feel all sunshine fuzzy inside...and give me the strength to battle Mr Negativity--ahhhh it burns! The water burns! Who let him near the water heater AGGGGH!