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Slaves to the Cause: Scene 8The X-Jet touched down sweetly at Logan's request. The two X-Men piled out, charging into the night with no idea where Blaze was, but pretty damn certain she would be near the trouble. They were striding down an alleyway, closing the distance between them and the riot when Logan stopped dead in his tracks. From over his shoulder, a male voice spoke threateningly.
"Move and you're dead."
Logan looked down tentatively, raising an eyebrow. "You call that a knife?" His muscles tensed and he released his adimantium claws. At the same moment he ducked under the knife blade and pushed his attacker away, squaring up for a fight and supported by Gambit.
"No!" A voice rang out clear in the night, "Remy, Logan, back off! Drop it Indie, I'm not messing!" Blaze stepped into the street from the far end, supported by Stifle. Dell Tucker, Xavier's British field, had been the unseen hand saving Blaze from police and bloodthirsty mob. Stifle let Blaze stand on her own and approach her teammates.
To Logan's disappointment, the young man who'd attacked them withdrew the flick knife. He passed the X-Men and swaggered towards Blaze. Gambit's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he stopped by Blaze's right side, brushing her bare arm familiarly as he muttered something into her ear. She seemed to flicker in her resolve to be angry, dropping her eyes to watch his hand on her skin. It made Remy's skin crawl.
When Blaze approached them, it was instantly apparent that she wasn't her usual flamboyant self. Pale and with dark rings under her eyes, she looked ready for a hot meal and an early night. Her hair may have been braided earlier, but now it was coming loose from its clasp. A very small close fitting top didn't cover anything, though its singed edges suggested it might have done when she'd put it on. But the biggest change to her appearance since last the two men had seen their teammate was only really visible when she got close to them.
She hugged Logan first, as he greeted her with, "Couldn't you just have got love and hate tattooed on your knuckles like anyone else?"
Blaze shook her head and went to hug Gambit, only to be pulled into a tight embrace and kissed on each cheek. He kept hold of her arms as he offered his expert opinion. "So how far it go?"
"Use your imagination." Blaze dismissed the question, pondering how far short of the mark that would leave him.
"Cute tattoist?" Was all he'd ask in reply. He's joking this off, Blaze thought, but he really doesn't like it. Before she could think of a response, Indigo was butting in.
"Cute enough, mate. What'd you come as?" The Mancunian tactile empath looked the X-Men over as though thoroughly disappointed.
"Behave yourself Indigo." Stifle threatened, joining the group belatedly. Indigo turned his nasty expression on the field agent and wrapped his arm around Blaze's waist. If Stifle was shocked to discover their relationship, she didn't express it.
"Gambit, Wolverine, Indigo and Stifle." Blaze made the introductions as quickly as possible. "Where's the jet?"
"Back that way." Logan nodded over his shoulder, then turned on the spot to lead the way. Stifle followed him, followed by Blaze and Indigo. Indie supported Blaze as she staggered, exhausted and bruised, muttering to her all the time. What he said, Gambit couldn't tell, but as he followed the couple all the hairs were standing up on the back of his neck. Remy did not like this one bit.
Blaze's progress was so laboured that by the time the jet came into view, Gambit had already passed her and Indigo. He stood on the gangway of the jet, as Stifle and Logan were already prepping for launch. The quicker they got out of here the better.
"C'mon Blaze!" Gambit hollered, a card glowing threateningly in his fingertips. Blaze and Indigo glanced at each other briefly, and then jogged the last few metres to the jet. Gambit scowled as he forced Indigo to sidle past him, before grabbing Blaze by the wrist. She wouldn't even look at him. "You alright?"
"Fine." She swore, boarding the craft. "Why?"
"You don't look so fine Chere." Gambit told her frankly, not letting go of her wrist and making her turn back to face him.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Blaze lied, shaking her wrist to free her hand and turning her back on her best friend. The gangway sluiced shut behind them, sealing them in. Blaze took hold of the back of a seat as the jet pitched suddenly into the air.
"Talk to me Blaze." Gambit was stood just behind her.
"Nice weather we're having." Blaze dismissed him, gawping out the windscreen. Gambit shook his head, muttering, "Don't…"
"Don't what?" She asked, glancing back at him briefly before looking away again.
"Why you here?" He tried again, standing as close behind her as he could without touching.
"Because I take a perverse pleasure in defeating myself." She answered brightly. "Why else would I come back to where I accidentally killed my own family?" She sighed slowly, watching the cityscape fly by below. "See that down there, that's the City of Manchester Stadium…"
Gambit shook his head at her and dropped into a seat at the back of the jet. Blaze went up to the front, sitting by Indie and just behind Stifle and Logan. Gambit just watched them, shuffling a pack of cards and brooding surreptitiously.
The city and suburban lights fell away beneath them. Finally they all but twinkled out as the land rose up to greet them. The steep moorland slopes brushed with heather and tufty grass gave way to a plateau interlaced with single-track roads and river valleys. Logan took the jet directly over a deep reservoir, sending spray into the air. Stifle indicated a likely landing spot, and Logan responded to her suggestion keenly. They needed to rest, and to decide what on Earth they were going to do next.