Disclaimer: Making no money out of this
A/N: Sincere aplogies about the length of time this update has taken. I have been beseiged by major computer gremlins. Back online now though, obviously, and am posting to the end of this fic tonight. I'll get back in the swing of things probably next week with a few more new stories, including Shades of Heroes Part Two. All the best and thanks for your patience, Lamby
Shattered Like Glass: Scene 15
"Ah Logan, Remy, come have a seat." Xavier greeted them as calmly as ever. The two X-Men glanced at each other as if for support. Belatedly they realised they weren't getting along, causing them to both sit down heavily in the nearest chair and rather juvenilely pretend the other one wasn't there.
How can Chuck be so calm, Wolverine thought anxiously. Our whole damn world's falling apart, Gambit's turned traitor, and yet the Prof's acting as of this whole thing is a walk in the park…
#It comes from years of practice Logan.# Xavier's mind voice was amused despite his weariness. #I find keeping a clear head the best way to deal with any crisis. Besides with Gambit I feel we must proceed with the philosophy of innocent until proven guilty. However…#
"I have a special assignment for you both." How Xavier moved from one-on-one mind communication with Wolverine to speaking aloud in a continuation of what he was saying, yet not letting Gambit know that anything telepathic had been said, Logan would never know. He was good at it though.
"I know neither of you would choose to run from a problem or baby-sit a group of children. So instead I propose something a little different. I need a distraction, something to draw attention away from the school whilst we evacuate the children."
"So what did you have in mind?" Logan asked aloud. He was thinking #Why do I get landed babysittin' Gumbo? I'd rather take the kids…#
"Sabretooth has been spotted in New Mexico." Xavier confessed. #Because we can't afford a loose cannon Logan. Gambit cannot be left to his own devices just in case he is tempted to go back to the enemy and fill them in on our plans. Of course if you'd rather not have the responsibility, I'm sure Ilehana will step in…#
Wolverine half-snarled at the threat, the flirtatious relationship between Ilehana and the Cajun not something he approved of.
"Easy Wolverine, no need to claw the Professor's eyes out jus' at the mention of your hairy ex." Gambit thought Logan was snarling at the mention of Sabretooth and put a dig in accordingly.
"Shut your mouth Cajun." Logan warned him, glaring. "I've had about enough of you today to last me a lifetime."
"That's decided then." Xavier cut in before the argument could escalate. "The coordinates are programmed into the X-Jet already. When you have taken Sabretooth down a peg, I suggest you lie low for a while, but keep an eye on events here should we need your talents. Good luck gentlemen."
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"Professor?" Blaze peered around the door, hesitantly, hugging the wood. He still hadn't asked to see her, and everyone else had long since headed off to make his or her preparations. Logan and Remy would be leaving any minute in the jet, the students were being divided up, and Blaze didn't like feeling so insecure.
"Blaze." Charles beckoned her in with a sad smile. "I'm sorry my dear, I didn't mean to take so long to speak to you. I have been waiting on a telephone call that has only just ended."
Blaze frowned at this, closing the door gently. Suddenly the mansion's windows started to shake in their frames, the X-Jet was taking off from under the basketball court. Blaze and Xavier went to the window, each of them momentarily lost in their thoughts as Logan and Gambit made their exit in fitting style. Only when the jet had disappeared from sight did Blaze take a seat.
"Who were you on the phone to?" She asked, no quite understanding the significance.
"One of my field operatives. We've talked about this before Blaze, about what you wanted to happen if ever the X-Men were disbanded under threat from the government…"
"I don't want to stay in the US. I don't want anyone to link me with my daughter." Blaze let a touch of panic edge into her voice. "I have to protect her any way I can."
"I understand, Blaze." Xavier came across and took one of Blaze's hands in his own softly knarled ones. "It's a commendable ideal, one which I have found a way to work to the X-Men's advantage.
"I have been speaking with Stifle." Xavier continued. "I don't believe the two of you have ever met. She has a problem she would like some assistance in dealing with. A gang of troubled mutant teenagers that are not responding to her offers to help train them. She feels they are becoming a danger to themselves and the general populace."
"Where?" Blaze asked, so grateful that Xavier would find her a field mission when she needed it most. That gratitude didn't last very long though as Xavier revealed where it was Blaze was being sent to. Of all the nations on the planet, even the ones where she had extensive criminal records, this one was the worst. Her home, the place she had grown up in. Where she had accidentally murdered her parents when her powers first emerged.
"Manchester, England."