Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men. Ilehana Xavier belongs to Corrinth. All
other characters belong to me.
A/N: Thank you to all my reviewers out there; you really are all stars.
Scene 14
"You are such a..."
"Mind your mouth, Petite." Gambit warned Blaze as she entered the office. "I'se only tryin' to watch your back. You wont let me do that; you know I gotta go over your head. You'd do the same if was other way round, wouldn't you?"
"Sometimes you make too much sense for your own good. Not often mind, but occasionally." Blaze ceded defeat and sat, before turning to the exhausted looking telepath. "How you coping Professor?"
"As well as can be expected." Xavier replied slowly, watching both his X- Men with hawk like eyes. "Gambit's told me a little, Blaze, but I'd like to hear the whole story. Who is this Mercury? What did she do to get put in prison for so long?" He asked calmly, despite how it made both his X-Men squirm in their seats. Blaze and Gambit looked at each other, and he nodded, let her tell the story. She'd probably put him in a better light then he would anyway.
"Mercury, Eloise, and Gambit dated years ago. She was a thief, same as us, and she and I were good friends. I introduced them." Blaze frowned and tugged at her curls, remembering. "They lasted six months, which was impressive..." Gambit folded his arms defensively and pouted, making Blaze shoot him a teasing grin. "Well, its true. Anyway it was getting way too serious, so he decided to break it off, am I right?"
"Yeah." Gambit leant back in his chair, trying to look nonchalant and succeeding at looking tortured.
"Or rather, he asked me to do it for him so it wouldn't seem so harsh. Stupid as I am, I didn't argue. Somehow Mercury got it in her head that he was dumping her because of me, maybe it was the way I passed on the message or something."
"More like the message you passed on, Chere." Gambit pointed out. "You weren't exactly easy on her."
"Well, I was to start with, but then she kept me there all night, trying to find out why it hadn't worked out and slowly both of us getting seriously drunk. I wont hide the fact that I lost my temper with her. I told her it had all been just a laugh for him, and that she should get over herself. Suddenly she went very quiet, scarily so. A few moments, and she pulled a silver key out of her pocket, put it on the table and used her mutant powers to turn it into the belly button bar I wore for years. She said if she ever saw me again, she would kill me. Then she left. We met up with her again in Cape Town, South Africa. When she heard we had moved there, she..."
"She went through with her threat." Gambit sat forward in his chair again and met the Professor's eyes. "Middle of a nightclub, she melts everythin' metal in sight, an' throws it all at Blaze. It ain't just random when she does that. She can force it down your throat, literally." Xavier glanced at Blaze, noting how she shuddered, sensing her fear as she thought about it.
"How did you survive?" Xavier asked slowly, carefully. He didn't want to trigger Blaze into another spate of overloading memories.
"My ex-boyfriend, the police officer, saw it coming and pushed me out of the way. Gave me a few seconds, long enough for Gambit and Electra to stop it at the source." Blaze shot her best friend a look of gratitude, which he acknowledged with a nod. "She's been in jail there ever since."
"Until now." Xavier finished. "I'll go and use Cerebro, see if I can't get through to Mercury and suggests she changes her mind."
"You can do that?" Gambit asked, frowning slightly, not having the highest opinion of telepaths.
"For the safety of my X-Men, I can do most things Gambit." Xavier cautioned; pointing out that this was no lightly made offer. Gambit nodded, whilst Blaze opened the office door for her boss. "I suggest," Xavier continued on his way out, "That the two of you have a good long chat about what being an X-Man means to you both..."
"Ouch." Blaze muttered as she shut the door behind Xavier. "Guess that's one way to put me in my place..." Gambit could only agree, before Blaze's next words alarmed him. "Maybe I'm just not cut out for this after all. And even if it was only for an hour or so, and in terrible circumstances, today I've felt more like me than I have in a long time. Who am I if not a thief?"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"How are you holding up Hank?" Scott asked quietly, somehow in awe of the slow bleeping of the machinery, the soft bustle of science. Hank paused, pipette poised in hand, and sighed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his furry nose with the back of his other hand.
"There is a small fathom of comfort to be found in the familiar mechanisms and protocols one has grown used to. Perhaps you will rightly think less of me for putting it like this, but this virus is a mystery occurring just as I need a mystery to unravel, to remind myself of just who I am."
"I don't think any less of you," Cyclops was quick to point out. "I understand what you're saying. When things are bad, the most normal stuff can be a big help, y'know?" Scott paused, considering. "And maybe I've been talking to Kurt too much, but have you thought about it the other way? Maybe what's happened to you was just in time, so you'd be here when the X- Men needed you?"
"An interesting thought," Hank smiled, "But surely the Professor could have just called me?"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "Vixen, you gotta minute?"
"Sure Gambit what's..."
"No she don't, Cajun." Wolverine snapped, "She needs a break, not more of your messes to sort out."
"I'm fine Logan." Ilehana protested. "I'll meet you in the kitchen, mine's a bacon sandwich okay?"
"Don't be long." Wolverine warned, brooding eyes flicking from Ilehana to Gambit and back again before storming off.
"Phew." Ilehana commented, "I was sure he was going to make some really bad joke about slicing our bacon then or something..."
"Wolverine right, Chere, you bin in the lab too long..." Gambit risked a grin, before dropping it just as quickly. "You sure you okay?"
"Don't you start, Gambit." Ilehana warned, blue eyes flashing. "Spill."
"It Blaze." He stated obviously. "She bin out thievin' again, long story why but sounds like she enjoy herself. She need some sense talkin' into her before she goes do somethin' stupid, an' I ain't getting' through..."
"Dad and I were expecting that she might try something like that, Gambit." Ilehana spoke sagely, "Blaze is just trying to work out who she is again, and she'll get through it with time."
"Time ain't somethin' she got." Gambit replied. "We think somebody after her, maybe me too, but if Blaze quits on us, how we gonna protect her? The Professor in Cerebro, tryin' to make it safe, but Blaze is thinkin' 'bout leavin' now, not waitin' to hear what he says."
"Alright, Gambit I'll..." A sudden grimace of pain shot across Ilehana's face, and she cried out, falling to her knees. Gambit lurched forward to grab his friend, confused. "Dad!" Ilehana cried. "I have to get to Cerebro!"
A/N: Thank you to all my reviewers out there; you really are all stars.
Scene 14
"You are such a..."
"Mind your mouth, Petite." Gambit warned Blaze as she entered the office. "I'se only tryin' to watch your back. You wont let me do that; you know I gotta go over your head. You'd do the same if was other way round, wouldn't you?"
"Sometimes you make too much sense for your own good. Not often mind, but occasionally." Blaze ceded defeat and sat, before turning to the exhausted looking telepath. "How you coping Professor?"
"As well as can be expected." Xavier replied slowly, watching both his X- Men with hawk like eyes. "Gambit's told me a little, Blaze, but I'd like to hear the whole story. Who is this Mercury? What did she do to get put in prison for so long?" He asked calmly, despite how it made both his X-Men squirm in their seats. Blaze and Gambit looked at each other, and he nodded, let her tell the story. She'd probably put him in a better light then he would anyway.
"Mercury, Eloise, and Gambit dated years ago. She was a thief, same as us, and she and I were good friends. I introduced them." Blaze frowned and tugged at her curls, remembering. "They lasted six months, which was impressive..." Gambit folded his arms defensively and pouted, making Blaze shoot him a teasing grin. "Well, its true. Anyway it was getting way too serious, so he decided to break it off, am I right?"
"Yeah." Gambit leant back in his chair, trying to look nonchalant and succeeding at looking tortured.
"Or rather, he asked me to do it for him so it wouldn't seem so harsh. Stupid as I am, I didn't argue. Somehow Mercury got it in her head that he was dumping her because of me, maybe it was the way I passed on the message or something."
"More like the message you passed on, Chere." Gambit pointed out. "You weren't exactly easy on her."
"Well, I was to start with, but then she kept me there all night, trying to find out why it hadn't worked out and slowly both of us getting seriously drunk. I wont hide the fact that I lost my temper with her. I told her it had all been just a laugh for him, and that she should get over herself. Suddenly she went very quiet, scarily so. A few moments, and she pulled a silver key out of her pocket, put it on the table and used her mutant powers to turn it into the belly button bar I wore for years. She said if she ever saw me again, she would kill me. Then she left. We met up with her again in Cape Town, South Africa. When she heard we had moved there, she..."
"She went through with her threat." Gambit sat forward in his chair again and met the Professor's eyes. "Middle of a nightclub, she melts everythin' metal in sight, an' throws it all at Blaze. It ain't just random when she does that. She can force it down your throat, literally." Xavier glanced at Blaze, noting how she shuddered, sensing her fear as she thought about it.
"How did you survive?" Xavier asked slowly, carefully. He didn't want to trigger Blaze into another spate of overloading memories.
"My ex-boyfriend, the police officer, saw it coming and pushed me out of the way. Gave me a few seconds, long enough for Gambit and Electra to stop it at the source." Blaze shot her best friend a look of gratitude, which he acknowledged with a nod. "She's been in jail there ever since."
"Until now." Xavier finished. "I'll go and use Cerebro, see if I can't get through to Mercury and suggests she changes her mind."
"You can do that?" Gambit asked, frowning slightly, not having the highest opinion of telepaths.
"For the safety of my X-Men, I can do most things Gambit." Xavier cautioned; pointing out that this was no lightly made offer. Gambit nodded, whilst Blaze opened the office door for her boss. "I suggest," Xavier continued on his way out, "That the two of you have a good long chat about what being an X-Man means to you both..."
"Ouch." Blaze muttered as she shut the door behind Xavier. "Guess that's one way to put me in my place..." Gambit could only agree, before Blaze's next words alarmed him. "Maybe I'm just not cut out for this after all. And even if it was only for an hour or so, and in terrible circumstances, today I've felt more like me than I have in a long time. Who am I if not a thief?"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"How are you holding up Hank?" Scott asked quietly, somehow in awe of the slow bleeping of the machinery, the soft bustle of science. Hank paused, pipette poised in hand, and sighed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his furry nose with the back of his other hand.
"There is a small fathom of comfort to be found in the familiar mechanisms and protocols one has grown used to. Perhaps you will rightly think less of me for putting it like this, but this virus is a mystery occurring just as I need a mystery to unravel, to remind myself of just who I am."
"I don't think any less of you," Cyclops was quick to point out. "I understand what you're saying. When things are bad, the most normal stuff can be a big help, y'know?" Scott paused, considering. "And maybe I've been talking to Kurt too much, but have you thought about it the other way? Maybe what's happened to you was just in time, so you'd be here when the X- Men needed you?"
"An interesting thought," Hank smiled, "But surely the Professor could have just called me?"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "Vixen, you gotta minute?"
"Sure Gambit what's..."
"No she don't, Cajun." Wolverine snapped, "She needs a break, not more of your messes to sort out."
"I'm fine Logan." Ilehana protested. "I'll meet you in the kitchen, mine's a bacon sandwich okay?"
"Don't be long." Wolverine warned, brooding eyes flicking from Ilehana to Gambit and back again before storming off.
"Phew." Ilehana commented, "I was sure he was going to make some really bad joke about slicing our bacon then or something..."
"Wolverine right, Chere, you bin in the lab too long..." Gambit risked a grin, before dropping it just as quickly. "You sure you okay?"
"Don't you start, Gambit." Ilehana warned, blue eyes flashing. "Spill."
"It Blaze." He stated obviously. "She bin out thievin' again, long story why but sounds like she enjoy herself. She need some sense talkin' into her before she goes do somethin' stupid, an' I ain't getting' through..."
"Dad and I were expecting that she might try something like that, Gambit." Ilehana spoke sagely, "Blaze is just trying to work out who she is again, and she'll get through it with time."
"Time ain't somethin' she got." Gambit replied. "We think somebody after her, maybe me too, but if Blaze quits on us, how we gonna protect her? The Professor in Cerebro, tryin' to make it safe, but Blaze is thinkin' 'bout leavin' now, not waitin' to hear what he says."
"Alright, Gambit I'll..." A sudden grimace of pain shot across Ilehana's face, and she cried out, falling to her knees. Gambit lurched forward to grab his friend, confused. "Dad!" Ilehana cried. "I have to get to Cerebro!"