Disclaimer: Don't own Gambit; do own pretty much everyone else.
A/N: Please read and review?
13
Gambit arrived just in time to see Lance rugby tackle Blaze out of the way of the torrent of flying metal. The couple rolled in a heap across the floor, but it would do them no good. Mercury had already adjusted her powers to send the metal to attack again. Gambit's fingers lodged around the extendable pole he kept in his pocket. Leaping between the metal and its target, he struck the liquid out of the air, splattering it across the dance floor. The respite was probably only temporary, but at least he'd give Mercury something else to think about.
Noticing tendrils of metal creeping towards his legs like possessed silver snakes, Remy took the initiative and charged Mercury. He shouldered her in the collarbone, and then kicked her in the stomach. She wailed but didn't fall. Grabbing Gambit's metallic staff with two hands, she sent a ripple-like vibration down its length. The weapon turned on its master, trying to reach to choke Remy. Gambit strained but couldn't take his hands off the weapon.
"Hey bitch!" Electra challenged, coming up behind Mercury. "That's my boyfriend, get your own!" That distracted Mercury enough that she turned, letting Gambit snatch his hands back. The staff splashed ruined to the ground. Electra cried out as Mercury slapped the other young woman across the face, leaving scratches where her long nails caught Electra's pale skin. On the follow-through, Electra blocked and grabbed Mercury's trailing arm. With relish the blue-haired powerhouse unleashed her own mutation and flooded Mercury with tens of thousands of volts. Mercury, it seemed, was a natural conductor. She screamed a high pitch wail, like a fork scraped on a plate, and collapsed.
At some point during the struggle, the surrounding crowds had started panicking and screaming. Now it was over several large bouncers started pushing their way through the clubbers to Gambit and company. Gambit grabbed Electra's upper arm and tugged her to his side, ready to make a break for it or fight if necessary. A quick check over his shoulder showed Lance helping Blaze to her feet. Remy breathed a silent sigh of relief that his protégée was unharmed. If Lance hadn't had such great timing, it might all have been so different. Somewhat stupefied by that thought of gratitude, Remy returned the other man's glance with a nod of thanks.
"What's going on?" a bouncer snarled, pushing Gambit in the chest, hard. One of his colleagues poked at the semi-conscious Mercury with a toe of his shoe. She groaned, and the puddles of metal around her resonated slightly. Lance noticed the signs of life in the attempted murderer even as a foul-mouthed baboon of a bouncer was accosting him. This needed to be stopped, and now before the mutant attacker recovered her strength enough to start again.
Blaze saw Lance reaching for the pocket where he kept his badge of office. Gus, pushing through the crowd to back up his partner, saw the look of horror traverse her face. She pleaded with her boyfriend, "Lance, no!" but was ignored. At her words Electra, then Remy, turned to look at the couple. Lance raised his badge, the silver shield shining in the still-flashing lights, his expression stern and professional. Whatever he said to the bouncers to calm the situation, Blaze didn't hear it. Dread ran up her spine and chilled her to the bones. This was not good.
As Gus and Lance sat Mercury up and read her rights, they tied her hands with plastic binding strips. Lance didn't even look back at Blaze as the two cops started to take Mercury away. The party started again in the club as the bouncers drifted off like hyenas into the savannah. Blaze didn't notice. With her ears ringing strangely like they were full of water, she watched Lance leave. Why had he done that? What had he just done?
Blaze heard Gambit plain enough. He spat "Outside, now," in her left ear. Blaze did as she was told, feeling uncomfortable with both Remy and Electra trailing her. She jogged up the steps and stumbled over the curb into the street. The cooler air throbbed against her cheeks as she turned back to face the music.
"A cop?" Gambit asked disbelievingly, "Merde Blaze, a fuckin' cop!"
"Its none of your business, Cajun."
"You got Mercury arrested! I don't care what she done, you trained better that to get a fellow t'ief slammed up!" Gambit grabbed Blaze by the arms and shook her hard. "I know you knew he was a cop! You ain't lyin' to me! You tryin' to put us all in danger!"
"I'm not trying to do anything!" Blaze slapped his arms away hotly. "I stopped him from following a lead that would have tied us in with Fallon and Henrick. I…" She tried to rationalise what she had done and couldn't. Suddenly it didn't make any sense in her mind either, to be with a police officer. "I don't have to explain anything to you! Let me past, now!" She tried to dive round Gambit and head back inside. Remy sidestepped and filled her path again, practically picking her up and lifting her away from the doorway, before pushing her staggering into the street.
"You ain't seein' him no more!" Gambit yelled furiously.
"You've no fucking right!" the girl screamed hysterically, her anger flashing in her eyes. She backed away from him across the street, ignorant of the rest of the world. Overhead the sky was a blackout curtain, trapping in the fluorescent glow of street lamps and illuminated signs. The reverberating music of the nightclub resonated through the ground she stood on. She could still feel its crushing embrace, thumping her ribcage, making it hard for her to breathe. Her ears rang with the distorted sound. Adrenaline and alcohol in her blood fuelled her rage, enticed it until it overrode all other feelings she had ever had for him.
"Stupid bitch!" he roared back righteously, storming after her and reaching to grab her arm. She struggled as his grip pinched her flesh, knowing he was stronger than she was. This girl was no pushover though, she twisted and elbowed him in the neck, making him retch and let go. She moved away again, and then stopped, watching him warily.
"Stay the fucking hell away from me!"
"Shit…" he coughed, placing his hands on his thighs, dropping his head and coughing. He spat to clear his throat, and then shook his head in a vague effort to clear his thoughts. When he looked up again, he ran his eyes over her body with familiarity he perhaps shouldn't have. He'd done so much for her, and this was how she repaid him? He'd wanted her, but now everything about her disgusted him. So then, this was how it was to end… "Why Blaze, why you do it?"
"For some God-forsaken freedom, Gambit! I wasn't born to be abused by you, I refuse to be," Blaze spat nastily, meeting his eyes unashamedly. "I'm no tool. Get the hell out of my life Remy, we're through. Everyone's got their chains to break, this is mine."
"Fine," Gambit threw up his hands. "Bien, Cherie. Have a nice fuckin' life. C'mon Electra, we're outta this dump."
"Where we going?" Electra whinged.
"Cairo, Rio, Amsterdam, who cares?" Gambit turned his back on Blaze and started walking off into the night. Electra had to jog to catch up with him. Disappointment tainted his anger as he dismissed Blaze. "Anywhere dat ain't near that cop-lovin' slut."
Blaze watched them go, feeling tears start to sting her eyes but refusing to cry. Her chest ached painfully, she almost couldn't breathe because of it. She gritted her teeth and took a deep breath in through flared nostrils. "Fine," she spoke more to herself than Gambit's receding back. "I don't need you Rem, I don't need anyone. I can be a one-woman crime wave and Cape Town won't know what's hit it."
She didn't go back in the club to find Lance. As soon as Mercury was locked up on charges of attempted murder, Blaze broke up with him. She said their worlds were too different. She lied, knowing that their worlds were one and the same, but the lines had been drawn long before they had met and the rules could not be changed. Blaze set off alone into the dawn that day, carrying only a burden of broken dreams and promises, and a hunger to prove her worth.
The End
A/N: Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers, especially hiddenflame and RescueMe, you are all too kind. See ya next time, love Lamby