Black Ice
To vasdrkangel: Hey there, vasdrkangel! Nice to hear from you! I'm very glad you liked the last chapter! Thank you! I'm very glad you enjoyed the story so far. I'm a big fan of the Sidney Chronicles, so that's the reason why I wrote this side fic to them. You should read the Chronicles, particularly "To Err is Human". "Black Ice" starts after it. Enjoy the new chapter!
To todd fan: Hey there, todd fan! Nice to hear from you again! I'm very glad you liked the last chapter! Yeah, Bobby's breaking down. He doesn't want to talk about his anger, but he really needs to. Especially now. He can't afford to hold in his anger anymore, but Bobby doesn't want to trust. He feels he can't trust. It's a real shame. Enjoy the new chapter, and I can hardly wait for new chapters of "Gifts and Curses" and your Knight's Tale parody!
To Aaron: Hey there, Aaron! Nice to hear from you again! I'm very glad you liked the last chapter! Yeah, Bobby just couldn't hold in his anger anymore. He's mad at Virus for seemingly beating him, frustrated with his inability to catch him, and he's not willing to work with the other Freedom Force members to stop him. Yes, if you know Shiro's history from the comics, then you'll understand why I have him bond with Gina. Yeah, Gina's going to go on a new path by the time this story ends. Enjoy the new chapter!
To DarkKnight92: Hey there, Knight! Nice to hear from you! I'm very glad you liked the last chapter! I'm glad you liked the story so far. I'm a bit of a Psylocke fan myself. I have planned to put her in a future version of Freedom Force around the time of "Gifts and Curses". Enjoy the new chapter!
Disclaimer: "I fought tougher monkeys than you in my swaddlin' clothes!" - Dan "Terrible" Turpin, "World Without A Superman"
Chapter 29: Iceman's Fall!
A warehouse, location unknown
"Hee hee…" Virus cackled as he leapt out of the laptop computer, holding the organic steel generator. "Oh boy, oh boy! I've got them! The nanites, combined with the amazing technology of this organic steel-maker, will be my fruition." He looked out a window, up toward the sky. "Me plan will come to fruition now. No one can stop me. And the oppressed shall have their world…"
A beach in Los Angeles
Bobby Drake sat on the sand, staring out at the ocean.
Stupid, stupid, stupid! The ice-maker groused to himself.
"Bobby?" A voice asked. Bobby looked up and saw Lila standing next to him. "…I've been looking for you everywhere. You disappeared."
"What's it to you?" Bobby grumbled.
"Bobby…" Lila sat down next to him. "…You had a breakdown. Don't you realize that?"
"I'm well aware." Bobby grunted. "And I don't care."
"Bobby, listen to me." Lila said. "People have breakdowns when they're under too much stress."
"I am not under stress!" Bobby snapped.
"Bobby, listen to yourself!" Lila snapped back. "Look at yourself! Look at your actions! You're holding something in! Something deep is bothering you, and you won't let it go or talk about it! You're angry about something! What is it?"
"Leave me alone!" Bobby jumped to his feet. "Why are you trying to intrude on me?"
"Because you're in a bad position, and I want to help!" Lila got to her feet. "Why can't you tell me what's wrong with you?"
"Because you wouldn't understand, Lila." Bobby turned and started to walk away. "No one can." She grabbed his arm. "Let go of me!"
"How do you know, Bobby?" Lila said to the ice-maker. "How do you know that no one will understand?"
"I just do." Bobby's blue eyes narrowed. "And you wouldn't listen to me. No one listens to me." Lila's face showed her disbelief.
"I doubt that." Lila countered. "I'll listen to you. Just tell me what's bothering you. You need to let this out. Let this anger go, Bobby. Look at you. Look what it's doing to you. It's hurting you."
"I can't." Bobby forced his arm out of Lila's grip. "Don't you get it, Lila! I need my anger! I can't afford to let it go!" His eye spilled a tear. "It's all I've got, Lila. My rage is all I have. I'm nothing without it! I'm meaningless without it!"
"No you are not, Bobby." Lila tried to get through to the ice-maker.
"Yes, I am." Bobby walked away. "I can't trust anymore, Lila. I'd rather be alone for the rest of my life than be betrayed again." Lila realized what this was about.
"What did that Cannonball guy do?" Lila inquired. "What happened between the two of you? Why'd you leave the X-Men?" Bobby stopped.
"You wouldn't understand." Bobby answered. "You wouldn't believe me. They didn't." He continued to walk.
Freedom Force HQ
Shan and the other members of Freedom Force sat around a table.
"I say we throw the psycho out on the curb." John grumbled.
"That's not cool, man!" Ace shook his head.
"You saw him, Ace." John grunted at the feral. "He was willing to kill us just to get his hands on Virus!"
"Look…" Shan sighed. "Fontaine's reporting to Fury about this. What can we do with him?"
"I don't feel right doing this." Kyle grumbled. "The Thunderbolt thinks the least we should do is wait for Lila to get Anakin's butt here."
"She seems to have taken a shine to him." Ace snickered.
"Oh, please." Terrell groaned. "What would any woman see in Bobby Drake? Guy's moody, he don't like anyone…"
"Chicks dig guys with issues, jabroni." Kyle quipped. "Right, babe?" He grinned at Gina.
"If you say so, Thunderbolt." Gina shook her head with a sigh.
"It is obvious that Robert Drake is under some serious mental stress." Shiro noted.
"You think?" Rictor shot the Japanese mutant a look. "We need a shrink here or something."
"He won't go for it. We all know how he is about talking to people." Ace sighed.
"Why didn't anyone see this coming?" Gina grunted.
"We haven't been around for that long." Shan explained.
"And no super-team, government or not, would expect someone like Bobby in their ranks." Ace chuckled, trying to enlighten the mood. Fontaine walked into the room.
"I reported to Fury." She announced. "Someone's coming over tomorrow to talk to Bobby."
"Wonderful. We gotta put up with him for another 24 hours." Terrell groused. "That guy has a lot of problems."
"You're still sore about the things he said about Dazzler, aren't you?" Rictor crossed his arms.
"Dang right, I am!" Terrell snapped.
"Huh?" A confused Gina looked up at Shiro.
"Before you joined." The Japanese mutant explained. "Terrell went out on a date with Alison "Dazzler" Blaire, the famous singer. Iceman said some rather…heartless remarks about her. He claimed that she thought of Terrell as just a possession she can throw away."
"Yeah." Terrell grunted. "Luckily, I got a thick skin. I enjoyed that date with her. She said that if she was in town again, she'd look me up. I'd like to see Bobby get himself a girl! But knowing him, he'd just start running his mouth and losing his temper."
"Easy, Velocity. Settle…" Ace calmed down the speedster. "Bobby has problems. Don't we all?"
"Yeah, but we don't all act like Bobby does." Velocity groused.
"He acts like we owe him. We saved his butt from the Wendigo!" John growled.
"Maybe we should wait." Shiro suggested. "Let the psychiatrist come and speak to Bobby. We'll know what to do with him then."
Downtown Los Angeles
Bobby Drake walked down a back street. He scowled at anyone looking at him.
Stupid Lila. The ice-maker muttered mentally. How dare she? How dare she? How DARE she assume that I know what I'm going through? She had no right! NO RIGHT TO ASSUME! She never was betrayed! She has friends! She still has her family! My family dumped me, Elizabeth lied to me and led me on, and the X-Men turned on me!
"Bobby, come back here!" Lila ran up to the ice-maker.
"Leave me alone, Lila!" Bobby snapped.
"No way, Drake." Lila answered. "Bobby, something is seriously wrong with you!"
"Yeah, something is wrong with me!" Bobby snapped back. "You're bothering me! That's what's wrong with me!"
"Bobby, please. Just listen…" Lila begged.
"No! I'm tired of listening to people! I listened to my parents, and they dump me! I listened to my heart, and it was lied to! I listened to the X-Men, and they betrayed me!" An ice sculpture that was standing near Bobby melted as he ranted. The puddle of water that was left behind started to boil. "I'm not going to listen to anyone ever again! No one cared about me or what I thought, so why should I care about you, the others, or what anyone else thinks? Let me tell you something, Lila…I stopped caring." Bobby turned and continued to walk away.
"Look at you, Bobby!" Lila snapped. "You need help!"
"No, you're the one who needs…what the?" Bobby noticed something. "Hey Lila? What is that?" Bobby pointed at the roof of a museum. There was a figure on the roof trying to sneak inside. Lila noticed this.
"I doubt that's a janitor…" She turned and saw Bobby was gone. "Bobby?" She then saw him running toward the museum. "Oh no…" Lila groaned, taking off after him.
Next: Sapphire Twilight Part 1: The Ice Cracks Iceman and Starway try to stop Mesmero from stealing a ring at a museum, but Mesmero causes Iceman to suffer another mental breakdown. A very destructive second breakdown…