Untouchable Flame
So I went and bought Shakira's "Oral Fixation vol.2" today…and there's some good music on that cd! I suggest putting "Animal City" on repeat while reading this chapter…it was good inspiration. As for the chapter, we will be seeing the X-men holding an urgent meeting. Is Phoenix really back? Otherwise why was Rogue acting that way? And as night falls and the light grows darker, so do Rogue's plans… PLEASE NOTE – After re-reading the chapter, I will be changing the rating from T to M. This chapter delves deep into what I would almost say is that of the horror genre.
Rating: M (16+) – language, heavy violence, some mild adult themes.
Pairings: Rogue/Gambit, Scott/Jean, and Logan/Ororo. And of course, there might be some other minor pairs along the way ;)
Official (complete) Summary: Phoenix is done with Jean, and done with the X-men. Due to Jean's final, desperate attack to save not only the man she loved, but the entirety of humans and mutants alike, the last thing anyone saw of Phoenix was her dying form fading away on the ground between the humans and mutants during the "war for the cure." Scott has recovered, Jean's body is free of Phoenix, and the "war for the cure" has ended. Rogue's been hit by the cure, however after one fateful night, questions begin to arise about the cure itself…and what exactly happened to Phoenix.
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men franchise in any way. I wish I could be a part of it though! (: That would be spiffy. Oh – this series, along with "Seeing Yet Blind," is meant to take place in the movie-verse, seeing I've read little about the comics. However, what I have added into this series that pertains to the comics (Gambit, for example) I have researched to get at least a basic grip about. Also, Untouchable Flame is set after my other x-men series, "Seeing Yet Blind." It is advised that that-16 chapter series is read before reading this sequel-series.
2 – Subliminal Attack
After the continuous crashing echoing from downstairs, Storm raced down the darkening hallways. The storm outside was kicking up wind, and the clouds were ramming into one and other as thunder cracked overhead. She skidded sharply around the corner and found three figures: Scott, Jean and Rogue's. Her eyes widened in slight suspicion as she took in the lunacy of the setting around her: Jean crumpled beside the stairs, Scott wincing and clasping at his shoulder as he forced himself back onto his feet, and Rogue set before it all, her eyes relaying her horrific expression.
"What happened?" Storm questioned desperately as she aided the blinded Scott to his feet. His glasses had clattered to the ground several feet away only seconds before she'd rounded the corner.
"Phoenix is back," he hissed spitefully through the searing pain in his shoulder. After impact with the wall, he'd figured he'd broken something, but the pain hadn't come into play until he tried to get up again. Lucky him; he'd hit his right shoulder.
Storm's mouth fell open slightly while her brow knitted together simultaneously. She shook her head as she replied, "We saw her die…"
"Rogue…! I don't know how the hell it happened…but she's back and in Rogue's body, no less," he snarled quietly. His eyes were still clamped tightly shut, and he whispered, "Get my glasses, will you?"
Storm nodded and as she strode in Rogue's direction the girl's body was still trembling like the leaves on the trees outside. Her eyes now shone through as the natural brown, and as she looked to Storm, she found her breath faltering. "I…I didn't…" she begged, edging away further. Post-traumatic shock, some could say. Storm's eyes never left Rogue; she was unsure if she could believe what she was told, Scott had been blinded after all, but again she never doubted his word in the past. After slowly back-stepping to the man, she pried open his fisted hand, and then placed his glasses within his fingers. Only when he had gotten them completely back on did he dare to open his lethal eyes.
"Check on Jean…" he breathed, but Storm cut him off.
"You check on Jean. I'm getting the Professor…he has to know about this… Head down to the infirmary after you get things sorted out… Bring them both."
"As if Phoenix is going to listen to me," he breathed.
"Fine…" Ororo sighed. "Rogue, can you come with me?"
The girl still looked confused and displaced. However she nodded and silently followed the weather-woman down the hall.
---
The older X-men had grouped in one of the two infirmary rooms. As it turned out, Jean didn't suffer too much damage from the collision, and Scott's shoulder was just rather nastily bruised. In the other room, Rogue sat on one of the beds with her knees drawn up to her chest. Within moments of being locked in the room, her eyes pulsed red again, and she scowled at the door. "Idiots," she breathed. "All of them."
"Professor…I don't understand how this could happen," Storm interjected. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was shaking her head.
"She was only dead, ya'know," Logan added.
Jean had no comment; her head ached horribly due to the minor concussion she'd suffered just moments ago. Every few moments she'd reach back for her head and her fingers would hardly graze her scalp before she winced.
"Perhaps it is another one of her tricks, Ororo," Charles replied. "She managed to keep Jean alive beneath the lake and keep her body intact while she lit herself on fire."
"Well then why is she back? And why here?" Storm objected.
"She can use Rogue's mutation to her advantage," Jean stated bluntly.
"But Rogue told me she was hit by the cure…do you think Phoenix went and managed to change that?" Logan added.
"She took Jean's mutation," Scott replied, "she also threw..cards at us? Isn't that Gambit's mutation – the have the cards explode? She threw a couple at us and they exploded in our faces."
"Then I would assume she would have had to of dismantled the cure's effects within Rogue's body. However, the real question is how she managed to get into Rogue's body…" Charles mused.
"She probably just diffused through her skin," Jean stated, "when it wasn't lethal. If she'd of had the mutation then, then she could have just touched Phoenix and killed her that way."
"Well I still don't understand why she's here…why not just run back to Magneto? Why not reactivate his mutation and start up their army again?" Storm added, anger rising in her voice.
"I think she's more here out of revenge, Ororo," Charles chuckled.
Logan scoffed, "Ahh…she's back to finish the job, huh? Just because you two didn't kick the bucket." Scott's arms crossed over his chest and he glared at Logan.
"Just to kill them again?" Ororo objected. "Well why not us just get rid of her?"
"We can't just kill the girl, 'Ro," Logan barked back.
"I forced Phoenix out due to sheer willpower… I don't think Rogue's got enough behind her to be motivated enough to do that… Nor do I believe she's strong enough," Jean added quietly, "How we're going to get her out…I have no idea."
"Well the easiest way to get Phoenix out would be to kill the host, thus forcing her out. Phoenix's power does not draw from fire, or water or an element such as that. No… Phoenix draws her power from life and the energy of life itself," Charles explained, looking to Scott at the last few words. The man shifted at the energy comment, but the Professor continued, "To 'kill' Phoenix would be to kill the energy of life itself. This is why she is so tricky…" He sighed and added, "However…if Rogue was murdered, Phoenix could manage to either escape at the last minute, or she could even use the energy from Rogue's mutation to bring the body back to life. This is very similar to what happened to you, Jean." She looked up, acknowledging the mission at the base at Alkali. "However, if Rogue was to die of age or sickness, Phoenix would die with her if she did not retreat from the body before death. Other ways to kill Phoenix…I'm not sure of. Ways to destroy her without harming Rogue in the process? I don't think there are many legit options there."
"And as for honing in on Rogue…?" Scott pressed.
Jean replied for this one, "Phoenix has made it to where Rogue can retain the mutation now…or at least while she's inside her body. So that means that she's yet again become the ultamite mutant… By touching another mutant she could not only kill them, but she now holds the power received for good."
"How do you know this, Jean?" the Professor questioned; he had already assumed this was true, but he wanted to hear her explanation for it.
"I just spoke to her…and it's been an hour," Jean stated matter-of-factly. Silence followed her statement, and they all stared at her for a moment.
"Are you sure, Jean?" Scott stammered.
"Never been more certain," she replied, "and it's Phoenix speaking back…not Rogue."
Charles was the one to break the uneasy silence this time, "How about the four of you return to your schedules…I will speak to her alone."
"Are you sure?" Jean asked, her worry for the elder man quickly soaring.
He held up a hand and smiled warmly as he reassured them, "I will be fine…if not, I will call for you all."
And with that, the four bid him good luck and exited; first Scott and Jean, followed by Logan, while Ororo stayed behind and hesitated. Logan turned in the door way and called, "You comin'?"
She exhaled quickly and blinked forcibly as if she'd drifted off. She then looked over her shoulder as Charles wheeled himself into the solitary room connected to the main room of the infirmary. "Yeah…" she sighed, rubbing her forehead with the heel of her hand, "I'm just leery of Phoenix…"
"Come on…" Logan motioned over his shoulder as he held the door for the weather-witch. "Chuck'll be fine. You, however, I worry about," he smirked. She shook her head and then joined him as they exited the room behind Jean and Scott.
---
The conversation with Charles Xavier had been rather foul. Phoenix had acted out Rogue, and even managed to disguise the glaring red eyes for quite sometime, but he still saw through her. He also spoke to her mentally, which seemed very foreign despite the fact she'd been within Jean's body when the woman had done such a thing herself. Eventually after being interrogated for a good ten minutes, she grew bored and let her fury seep out.
"I'm here because they're here," she continued to say. Whenever she didn't want to respond to a question that was the answer she threw out. Of course she was referring to Scott and Jean, who had survived just as she had.
Xavier decided ruefully to leave Rogue locked in the isolation room overnight, hoping that it would somehow make her come to her senses so the two could come to a reasonable conclusion regarding Rogue's sake.
So now the night had fallen, and the air was dreadfully still within the mansion's walls. Phoenix-Rogue still sat atop the hospital bed, her legs crossed and her back straight. Her corneas were an alarming shade of red initially, but she blinked slowly, and tested Jean's powers within her own. She stared menacingly at the silver wall before her, concentrating as she stretched her psychic hold out over the entirety of the mansion. At this point, her eyes had dyed a bone-chilling shade of crimson, and now it was the entirety of her eye that was covered by the deepening shade, rather than just the cornea alone. Ever so gently she tapped into the hundreds of thoughts and dreams that floated under her silent veil, and found not one being awake in the entirety of the mansion. "Wonderful," she sighed; her shoulders relaxing back as her chest sank.
---
When Ororo Munroe awoke, she found herself fighting to just regain consciousness. Where am I? Why am I here…? How? She thought bleakly as she swam in fogged memories. Her vision was horribly blurry, and for a moment she wondered if she'd been drugged and possibly taken hostage. Her dark eyes fell closed miserably again, and she felt she should have been more concerned. She was in a foreign room, a room that smelled distinctly of antiseptics and chemicals. Was she in a hospital? After wallowing in her unfazed confusion, she started to snap.
She was in a hospital.
The lights were dim, and there were no windows in the room, except for the one on the door that stood opposite her. Her breath started to catch in her throat as she felt a slight hyperventilation coming on. Hospitals, doctors, and the like all frightened Ororo. She hated being caged in the sterile rooms that smelled oh-so-horrifyingly clean. She'd especially feared it lately, with the cure going around and all.
Ororo then tried to push herself off the bed that leaned down in the direction of her feet at a 45 degree angle. She gave panicky gasp as she realized she was being confined by something. A harness maybe? No matter, the bounds held her chest and arms down, and were also around her ankles. She felt as if she was being pulled in a hundred different directions, and all the while her breath grew thinner. "Get me out…" she breathed, her eyes dilating in fear "Get…me out of here…" she choked again. As she began to struggle, she felt an agonizing pressure in her left arm. When she glimpsed at the general source of the pain, her breath came up short just as her whimpers turned to screams. A needle had been lodged in her arm and was taped down to prevent removal.
It's amazing how when in panic or fear, one suddenly develops marvelous strength. Ororo's arms broke the restraints on her arms, and she claws at the injection, ripping it carelessly from her skin. However, as she had painfully extracted the needle, she noticed a band on her right wrist.
Ororo "Storm" Munroe. Weather Manipulator. Mutant X102. She gave a choked whimper as tears welled in her eyes.
Suddenly the door slammed inward with a bang, and Logan stood in its wake, his chest heaving and his eyebrows stitched together. He was angrier than Ororo had ever seen him. Her eyes darted between him and the open door, and then she gawked at Logan's hands. His knuckles were particularly white-skinned, but that was barely mentionable compared to the numerous bloodstains laced around his fingers.
"You…they got y-you?" she stammered with her heart hammering. She could clearly make out the gashes where his claws normally shot from.
"They got all of us," Logan snarled.
"Jean and Scott too?" Scott staggered into view after her question. However, his eyes were still closed. "Then why--" She began, motioning to the man.
"Cyke's blind."
Her expression instantly turned to that of penitence. They say you can't miss something you've never had, and Scott had hardly ever had normal vision. Now he had no sight at all. Tears streaked her skin. She had never felt such a sudden strong compassion for her mutation and these people whom she'd called her closest friends.
"How…? Shouldn't a cure just of taken back the blast?" she choked.
"The damn doctors thought it'd be great to try to 'fix' my eyes after the cure. The damn scum of the earth doctors," he breathed. His eyes then finally swept open, and he seemed to almost stare directly at Ororo. After a year of having the mutation and having to live with eyes closed when he was a child had trained his senses greatly. His eyes were a gorgeous shade of blue, even in the dim lighting.
Logan and Scott then went to her side, and the two fiddled with the restraints. Surprisingly Scott was doing a rather quick job; he almost matching Logan's speed even without sight. Once they'd torn the harness off of her, she looked to Logan, while tears were shimmering on her dark skin. Scott was looking down, his own eyes closed. She could tell he too was fighting tears, and Storm touched his arm, and then brought it to her shoulder. Meanwhile she hugged Logan's massive figure, which was now mortal. The two men were the only ones in this hell-hole hospital, and there was no telling if three previously-mutated beings, one now blind, would be able to escape. Suddenly she questioned, "Where's Jean?"
But again, as if her voice was the command, Jean hesitantly entered the room, almost expecting to come across workers that would tie her up again. This place was ready to kill the four of them, and they had no way to get out, unless they fought physically. Talk about Animal City.
"Scott…?" she breathed. She had straight away noticed his glasses were gone when she'd seen him. He hardly looked up at her voice, but when he did look towards her, his eyes weren't looking directly at her. "Scott?" she asked again, more panicked.
Logan opened his mouth to say something, but the breath behind the words wouldn't come. Scott sighed and his jaw tightened; he was back to square one. He couldn't see her and missed her terribly already, despite the fact she was drawing closer to him by the second. She threw her arms around him; she too found it hard to contain her fears and not to mention the tears in her brown eyes. He breathed in her scent, and again he was reminded of the new fact of his blind-ness.
"Where are your glasses? And…the blast…?" she breathed, taking his head in her hands. His eyes shone in a bitter-sweet fashion.
"We were all tagged with cures Jean," Logan growled, helping Ororo from the angled bed.
Her mouth fell open too. "Then you can see…"
"And that's where you're wrong," Scott whispered. His eyes narrowed as he continued, "They off-handedly blinded me in an effort to make my eyes better."
Her face revealed a misplaced shock. "No…not you…" she whimpered.
The door then exploded open again; countless numbers of men in white suits blocked the only exit with handguns drawn. Scott grimaced and instinctively drew Jean closer to him, while Logan's embrace on Ororo pulled her tighter as well. This was how it was going to end: Four cured mutants, one bleeding (potentially to his death), one blind, and all facing far too many bullets to stop.
---
Logan's breath was heavy. His claws shone with bright crimson blood, and various splotches of red stained the form-fitting black suit he sported. Storm was a dozen feet away from him, her arms out-stretched as a precaution. Lightning sizzled in the sky, and thunder clapped as frequently as an audience would.
Why's she wear a cape? He thought bitterly. Capes are stupid. He snarled at her, and then growled, "Make you're move, 'Ro."
"Logan…this isn't you…you're letting it control you," the white haired woman pleaded with him. Her face was still unbreakably stern, but he would crack that perfect fight stature before long.
"Letting what control me? You? The damn X-men? I mean…" he chuckled, "…what are you trying to gain here, 'Ro?" He flexed his fingers; he was itching for bloodshed.
Her face softened in remorse, "Logan…there are people who love and care about you here… Don't give into that lust," her arms fell back slightly.
What the hell is going on…? He questioned his mind. The reply he received: You're taking the dive. It was a menacing, feral voice in his head. His…double-personality, if you will. The lethal, feral, unstoppable instinct version of himself that rose during bloodlust. Logan had always been able to fight back the animal within, but this time it was impossible to go against it's word.
She doesn't deserve this! Logan snarled.
I think she does. She chose to go against us.
Us? Logan questioned.
Of course…it's a team effort! It snarled back.
He wasn't able to put in another word before his body leapt at the weather-witch, throwing her down to the ground and knocking the wind from her chest. She groaned quietly as she was pinned to the ground.
"Now let's make this worth-while…" he breathed; his claws lengthened further, if possible. And suddenly Storm had six gleaming, blood-coated daggers through her stomach. She attempted a scream, but it came out as a weak cry of pain. Tears ran on either side of her face as she groped at the man's massive hand that still had it's claws plunged into her skin.
"Logan…please…" she rasped. The lightning shattered through the clouds, and the thunder turned even more rebellious.
The feral instinct withdrew from his mind. Logan found that he, himself, was crouching over the woman's body, with his adamantium claws going completely through her body. His face melted into one that was horror-stricken, and his claws retracted automatically with a sharp ripping sound. He tried to find the words…any words at all to explain what had happened. Storm tried to find breath to keep her alive.
He edged away from her, looking stunned as he saw the amount of blood on his suit. And despite the black tone of the leather, the red shone through faultlessly. "She's…she's dead. And…I killed her…"
And you enjoyed it, no? The voice rang out.
He snarled in response, feeling that his throat was burning with guilt.
There's no way to go back, Logan. She might have once said you were half animal, half man… But no… You are an animal. Fight to survive.
---
The memories flashed across his mind. God; they'd had some close scrapes. Liberty Island: Magneto and held them mere inches apart and took his visor without a second thought. Alkali: he'd been "relearned" as Styker put it, and set him out against Jean. If not for her barrier, she'd have been dead. That time had been the first time he'd used the visor at its maximum strength while on the field. And it had been against the one person he'd sworn to never harm. How did that work for irony?
But in this instance, much like the instances before, he was being held against his will. His arms and legs were being held by something…restraints of chain or heavy leather, maybe? His vision was incredibly hazy; he swore he was blinking, but there was no color, no hint of red and maroon when he thought he was opening his eyes.
What's wrong…? He thought sluggishly. Am I blind?
"No," a voice replied sharply beside him. He edged away from where he presumed the source would be.
"You again?" he breathed.
Phoenix drew closer to Scott, so close in fact, that her breath tickled his ear, "Open your eyes."
"I-I just was?" he stated, confused.
"Idiot," she snarled. He was wearing the glasses at the time, and he barely managed to get a glimpse of the woman as her hand snapped out over his face and levitated the glasses away. His eyes instantly flew shut. "Open them," she growled, punctuating the first word rather dramatically.
"And for what reason would I?" he replied curtly.
"I'm not one to mess with, Summers. I thought you would have learned that by now," Phoenix snarled. "So open up, or I'll do it for you."
He didn't budge.
"Summers, this is life and death here."
"Meaning I'll kill someone if I open my eyes, and if I don't they'll live, right?" he smirked sarcastically.
"Precisely," she hissed, throwing her open palm towards his head, and his eyelids were wrenched open. However, she also held the optic blast for a few seconds as her eyes pulsed a deep maroon. "I want you to see the life leave her eyes…"
His own eyes darted frantically. Everything was red, but the blast was inching along; Phoenix was losing grip on the energy. Scott's gaze then settled on an alarming image: Jean bound and gagged, tied much as if she'd been kidnapped and was now being held hostage. His mind snapped at that exact moment, when Jean's eyes were wide with fear, and begging for an escape.
Phoenix released the hold over the beam, and Jean's scream echoed like glass shattering; dozens upon dozens of sparkling shards all colliding with a hardwood floor. The noise never seemed to end.
---
"Stop it…" she whispered through gritted teeth. Her eyes fluttered closed, tears clinging to the elongated eyelashes that swept over her shimmering eyes.
"Isn't this what you wanted?" the feminine voice purred.
She turned her head away and her eyes fell closed. However, the horrific images would not subside even with eyes closed.
"Your two lovers pitted against each other…? To see who was the better…?" the woman continued, prying into Jean's last sane nerve. The two men were being tortured. Or more like Logan was torturing Scott to no end.
"You knew this would happen," Jean choked feebly. "Everyone knows that Logan would win this fight. He's got the goddamn regeneration."
"We can save him, then," Phoenix offered.
She bit her lip. She wouldn't be forced to offer her body up as a home for the diabolical woman. Not again. Not even at Scott's death as the bribe. However, a feral snarl came from below and Jean weakly stifled a cry. Logan had figured out a way to block Scott's optic blast, and without that, all that was left to him was sheer muscle. However, that was next to nothing against Logan-the man made of steel bones. Scott was being forced to retreat while Logan made false swipes at him left and right, laughing demonically when he managed to clip flesh.
You can't fight him as a human would. You have to reason with him as an instinctual being would. Jean thought. However, for some reason unknown, her powers had been shut off. She herself felt chained. She couldn't escape the fight below, she couldn't even push it from her mind. She couldn't cry out for help, she couldn't run. She was stuck here by her own will.
"You can't have everything you want," the woman beside her stated, death laced in her seemingly honest tone.
"I want Scott to survive me if it comes down to that," she quietly snapped.
"You want freedom. You want two men you cannot have," Phoenix retorted. However, she was still awaiting the initial answer from Jean. She quickly grew impatient, and rose as she called, "Kill him."
"No-! Wait…" Jean cried, tears lining her eyelids. It would be one fear or the other, but not both. She would not suffer like this. "Take me. Take my body and let him live," she practically growled as she came to a full standing height.
"Good choice, Jeannie," Phoenix purred, as she literally stepped into Jean's body, pushing her will away. And as it had in the days long gone, her body lit aflame as Phoenix so like to do, and she smirked as she stated, "Logan, be a dear."
Jean screamed within her mind. She was slowly losing control, losing her willpower. Phoenix fed hungrily on her fear and misery.
"I never swore to anything, Jeannie," Phoenix chuckled. The fight exploded from then on out. Logan threw Scott to the ground, and then heaved his body back up, by his neck first. Logan gave a beckoning roar; a low roar, and then smirked malevolently. He plunged his claws deep within the man's flesh over his chest cavity, and angled the claws further downward before pulling them back out. The other man dropped dead within seconds; crimson dots turning rapidly into pools on the marble-tiled floor.
All of this while Jean had been forced to watch.
---
Meanwhile, Rogue-Phoenix was still seated with her back straight and her legs crossed on the bed in the isolation room. Her hands were outstretched, but they soon stretched further and turned outward. This was done to strengthen her telepathic hold on the mansion's inhabitants.
"Let them suffer in their idiotic fears. They don't deserve the gratitude they are given….not when they turn and run from fears… Losing control? Death? They've become even more pathetic since I left," she hissed while entwining the X-men into the deadly, nightmarish world in their dreams even further.