"Ah, Good Morning Doctor" A voice, vaguely familiar said softly in front of him. Hank lifted his chin from his chest, eyes slitting open only just, "How do you feel?" He raised an eyebrow, not even bothering to give the pathetic question an answer. There was a laugh from inside the hood and the red eyes curved a little, smiling, "I apologise for my lack of intellect. How rude of me" She, for Hank could smell her, replied, sitting on the edge of what looked like a desk, "I also apologise for Leviathans treatment of you. I did order him to be careful but he's…exuberant"
"He's cruel" Hank growled back, "and so are you" There was a pause as she tilted her head, "why are you keeping us here?"
"Because I need you out of the way for a while" She replied softly, "and you are adequate bait…the fact that I have the Wolverine here too is comforting"
"To whom?"
"Me" She laughed a little before there was a heavy sigh, "why couldn't you just leave it alone?" She asked, "you had to come and investigate didn't you? Noble deeds in your own minds indeed but you should have stayed away. I didn't want to hurt you-"
"But you had Wolverine stab me through the chest?" Hank asked, glaring, all the while tugging at the chains that held him, looking for some week like. The woman before him sighed heavily and shifted uncomfortably, long legs folding up and onto the table until she was sat cross legged,
"That was a mistake made outside of my hands" Hank frowned, trying to figure the words out through the dull throb of agony in his face,
"Then you were not the one controlling Wolverine?" He asked,
"No, one of my cohorts was at the time" Hank swore inwardly, this woman was clever; she wasn't going to tell him whether or not Logan was still being controlled,
"How many cohorts do you have?" He wondered vaguely how many questions he was going to get away with asking, she seemed…strangely indifferent to his questions. Her head tilted a different way,
"Enough for my purposes" Ah, he'd gone too far then, "but we could use a good doctor" She added after a moment,
"Ah, the routine 'offering-me-a-place-within-your-band-of-merry-morons'" He quipped,
"A simple 'no' would have sufficed" The wiry answer came back, "then you and your companion shall be looked after. You have nothing to fear from me" Hank frowned at the strange spin she had put on the word,
"Why? Why aren't we dead yet?" He asked bluntly. The glowing red eyes narrowed a little,
"The quality of mercy is not strained, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed - It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes"
"You believe in mercy or you just think it's an appropriate quote?" Hank asked, the Sphinx laughed, standing before him,
"I believe that mercy, compassion and honour between mutants is the way forward, Dr McCoy…don't you?"
"If I was to agree to be your Doctor would you let me see your face?" He knew he'd struck the right cord when she took a few steps back, gloved hands flying to the material of the hood – a door opened somewhere nearby,
"Terribly sorry to bother you, old girl, but there's a jet coming in hard on our heels doncha know" Hank looked over at the man that called into the room, pale skinned with razors of what looked like rock protruding at odd angles up the length of his arms and splitting the centre of his skull, "Scanner and Sonar think it might be the X-men back for round two, wot?"
"Tell them I'm on my way, Avalanche" Sphinx said without looking away,
"Right-oh" The door closed again,
"It's not nice to play mind games, McCoy" She snapped, eyes still narrowed,
"Then let us go and prove me wrong" He attempted a shrug, the chains rattled. She stared at him a moment, tugging the material tighter around her head,
"According to Shakespeare, a person who takes the mercy offered to them is blessed by God…what William fails to acknowledge is that mercy, like patience has its limits"
