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Slaves to the Cause: Scene 5"Right here." Blaze smiled, moving her body suggestively to cover her grasping for the right fake ID. She handed the passport over, whilst opening a clamshell mobile and making a call. She spoke briskly, hoping that Marcus would believe that she really was talking to a bank. "Here you go."
"Can you confirm the funds?" Marcus asked into the phone, nodding as he handed back Blaze's forged ID. On the other end of the line, Indigo's shape shifter cousin Carly put her voice talents to use impersonating an Indian call centre operative. Funds of seventy eight thousand were confirmed for immediate release, and one hundred and two thousand to follow. Blaze prayed she hadn't been an X-Man too long, and her pricing would be accurate. It had been a while since she'd tried a scam of this proportion.
"One hundred and eighty thousand." Marcus mused, stroking his chin. "Yes, I believe we are talking in the region of what was paid for the merchandise I am about to show you…"
Marcus clicked a mouse button, bringing up an image of a weedy looking male in grey boxer shorts and nothing else. Not blessed with good looks, he had greasy black hair cut in curtains, and a face taunt but somehow jowly.
"This is Morph. We found him in the sewers of Philadelphia. Like you, the man who purchased him had very specific requirements. He desired a replica for his own entertainment. The portfolio was a challenge, but Morph took to it after a little of the right encouragement.
"The results astounded even myself." Marcus continued, "Here's an image of the template, another mutant. If you watch the video you can see Morph actually becoming the template. A practically perfect copy."
A dead man's hand closed around Blaze's slender throat, gagging her. Who was it that'd said that truth was stranger than fiction? She didn't know, but watching the images on the screen was enough to make her want to vomit. Her head spun as she fought not to let any emotion show on her face. This was too much! She'd only been pretending, using her hyperactive imagination to come up with a lie based in enough fact to fool Lowry. She hadn't expected to be confronted with the same story as facts.
"It's a remarkable likeness." Blaze tried to sound approving. "At least on screen. Was the buyer pleased? Perhaps I could speak to him as a reference?"
"I'm afraid that won't be possible, he died shortly after the purchase. But Mr Jacobi was very pleased I promise you, particularly with the detail of the replica, such as the eyes. The unusual if not unique pigmentation took Morph a while to perfect."
"What happened to the shape shifter after his owner's death?" Blaze wanted to know, "Is he for sale again?"
"No, I'm sorry." Marcus smiled sadly. "This type of sale does not result in long term relationships. Hard as a mimic might try, they are never quite perfect enough. We had serviced Mr Jacobi with merchandise for experimentation for several years. Given the rate at which he ploughed through them, I was surprised that Morph lasted as long as he did."
Blaze had to physically bite her tongue to stop her from giving the game away. She'd seen Jacobi's experimentation on mutants, seen him kill innocent people because it suited him to. She'd thought all that was long over with Jacobi's death at Gambit's hands. Apparently that was not the case, and three years later here she was cleaning up after Jacobi again. The twin Gambits on the screen glowered at her, red-on-black eyes telling her she'd better do a good job. She swallowed hard, tasting blood from her misused tongue.
"Singapore eh?" Marcus Lowry had moved to one of the room's sash windows and was watching the streets outside. "Did you really expect me to believe that? We've had enough rounds with that hoodlum Indigo and his gang to know his work when we see it. Tell me mutant, just what do you hope to gain by this stupidity? Apart from a healthy price from one of my real buyers that is?"
Blaze stood too, looking stubborn as Marcus ran his eyes professionally over her body. The door to the room opened and Jethro entered, accompanied by a butch brunette who must have been Carmen. Jethro remained in the doorway, blocking Blaze's escape. Carmen approached Blaze with her arms spread like she wanted to shoo Blaze into a corner before pinning her down. Blaze ignored Carmen and addressed Lowry.
"When you get to Hell, give Jacobi mine and Gambit's best."
"A shallow threat, how original." Marcus drawled. "How you know Jacobi is beyond me, not that its of any importance…"
Blaze snapped. She'd been through too much at that man's hands to let anyone, even scum like Lowry, say it wasn't important. She pulled a similar move on Carmen as she had on Stifle. Ducking under the woman's arms she came up in a blind spot and punched she sweetly, stopping her in her tracks. When she turned back to Lowry, Blaze had called on her fire. Tendrils of orange flame danced about her body, floating in the air. A heat wave rippled from her, warping the air as the floor beneath her feet started to burn. Lowry's eyes bulged as he started to sweat. None of the mutants he'd encountered had shown power like this.
"I was the thorn in Jacobi's side." Blaze stated with feeling. "I was the reason the real Gambit wouldn't so much as work for him. I was the reason you sent poor Morph to his death. I was there when Gambit pulled the trigger on the gun that sent Jacobi to Hell where he belongs." Blaze stepped purposefully forwards towards Lowry as she spoke. When she was right in front of him, she grabbed his chin in her right hand. She listened to him gargle as his flesh blistered and burned. "Now I'm going to clean up the rest of Jacobi's mess. Like I said, tell him Blaze said 'hi'."