Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me
Scene 08
Like clockwork at four am, the portal opened once more right where it had done the night before. It started small, before swelling and dilating until it was big enough for those on the other side to step through. Vertigo led the way, followed by Ruckus into the warm dark of Angel's room. Everything was still, the curtains were drawn and the figure in the bed had the covers pulled up over him. Vertigo glanced as Ruckus before stepping across the carpet and stretching out a hand to peel back the blankets.
Wolverine jerked upright, punching Vertigo across the jaw with a force that sent her flying. Her skull hit the wall and she slumped to the floor, motionless. Before Ruckus could react, Gambit blindsided him and got him in a headlock. The Cajun got the other man in a grip that cut off his air supply. Ruckus gargled, struggled and eventually slumped backwards to lean on Remy. Gambit slid the unconscious man to the floor and dragged him to sit besides Vertigo. Blaze moved in then, using a roll of brown sticky parcel tape to secure first Vertigo's hands and mouth, then Ruckus.
"Bring the kit round," Logan instructed Remy. Obligingly Gambit dragged the gizmos and gadgets round to face the portal by the foot of the bed. Logan moved in to start flicking switches. Three or four different streams of light like coloured laser beams hit the fluidic green of the portal. Hank's machine started to gargle as it registered data. Logan left it running, turning back to his teammates as Gambit and Blaze both pinned button-like location transmitters to the front of their uniforms. Next the pair strapped on their image inducers around their left wrists, and Gambit concealed a satellite phone in his inside coat pocket. Finally they flicked on the image inducers, and their new personas shimmered into life around them.
"Formidable!" exclaimed Remy, holding his 'new' hands out in front of him and straightening the cuffs on his 'new' coat.
"Do you think she's skinnier than me?" Blaze wanted to know, twisting at the hips to try and see all of what the inducer had done to make her look like Vertigo.
"Non Cherie," Gambit replied, ever suave. "It look to me like dat inducer made you put on a few pounds."
"You really think so?" Blaze was flattered, turning Vertigo's big lavender eyes on Remy-as-Ruckus endearingly.
"Keep your minds on the job," Logan warned them. "You'll need these," he said as he held out three vials to the pair of thieves. Gambit took two and Blaze took one. Holding it up to the light coming from the portal she asked, "What are they?"
"Hair, blood and soft tissue samples donated by Angel. The Prof reckons it's most likely that these are what those two were sent to collect."
"Gross," Blaze turned her nose up at the blood sample she held. "You can mind this Rem," she told the Cajun, tossing the vial to Gambit. "Don't forget the PDA in Ruckus' pocket either."
"Yeah, yeah," Gambit shook his head, going to the captives and fishing the PDA out of Ruckus' coat. "What you gonna do wit' t'ese guys Logan?"
"The Prof is in Cerebro ready to ask 'em a few questions," Logan informed them. "If that don't work, I guess there's always these…" He let his claws slide through his knuckles briefly, before drawing them back.
"Play nice," Blaze chastised him playfully.
"Or what?" demanded Wolverine menacingly. "You'd better get goin', and remember the inducer will do nothing about your voices, so try and keep chatter down to a minimum."
"After you, mon belle Cherie," Gambit-as-Ruckus bowed a little, indicating that Blaze-as-Vertigo should enter the portal.
"See you later Logan," Blaze told her friend, approaching the throbbing green pool of light. Under her breath she added an apprehensive, "I hope." Then she stepped through the gateway, and was gone.
The pulsating green filled her vision, making Blaze nauseous. A sucking noise like the dragging of seawater over coastal rocks fumbled at her ears, making them pop. Her chest was close to bursting with the need to breathe, but there was no air in this pseudo place. Cold scraped its nails over her skin, intent on causing her pain. Blaze strove not to cry out, but it took all of her will. She fumbled with her hands and feet to find some solid purchase. There was nothing, and worst of all there was no sign or sense of Gambit. She fell through this void of radioactive emerald nothingness totally alone.
With a gasp she was stumbling forward, blinking tears from her eyes as the light became acutely white. The floor caught her by surprise and she nearly fell. Somehow regaining her balance, Blaze remembered to breathe. The rush of air into her lungs was heady, like stepping outside into the cold night after an evening drinking whisky in a warm muggy bar with a Cajun.
"I would have thought you'd be used to that by now Vertigo," a young female voice asked. Blaze's head snapped round to see a teenage girl with pinkish-hair and lavender skin sat on a high wooden stool, off to the left hand side of the portal. Blaze grinned what she hoped was a sheepish grin, and shrugged. At that moment Gambit-as-Ruckus staggered through the portal behind her, nearly bowling Blaze out of the way before recovering much as she had.
"Well, well Mate," a familiar Aussie accent reached their ears, making Gambit scowl. From nowhere Pyro and Sabretooth appeared, looking as pleased as the cats that got the cream. Pyro was speaking sideways to Sabretooth, but both Acolytes were staring straight at Gambit and Blaze. "Looks like these losers might 'ave finally got some samples from ol' chicken-boy. Its only taken them, what, a week?"
"Amateurs," growled Sabretooth, showing his teeth. He looked like he was about to heckle them some more, but was interrupted as a new and even more menacing masculine voice joined the conversation…