A/N: Raleigh Ritchie strikes again, with StraitJacket. Seriously, check out what this man has to offer, you won't be disappointed I swear! Also it's only been a bit over a month since I last updated, so see? I didn't abandon ship! Also the chapter's kinda heavy with a few lighthearted interludes.
WARNING! Mentions of sex and murder. So you know, the good stuff.
Chapter 12: Affection Is My Way Out Of The Danger Zone
They were falling. Kurt was holding the cross he wore on his neck, saying prayers in German. Kitty was gripping his arm for dear life, tears streaming down her face. Rogue seemed to curl into herself, her head buried in her knees. Scott reached over from his copilot seat, holding her hand and Jean, Jean heard a voice speak to her, calling her to action. She saw flames engulf her vision and before she knew it they stopped, it all stopped and they were suspended in time, the Blackbird's nose touching the surface of the ocean. She felt the flames surround her and let go of Scott's hand instinctively, rooted to her seat.
The jet seemed to right itself up and delicately sit on the water.
She passed out.
Kitty felt her stomach jerk and she turned to the side, vomit spilling out of her mouth. Her head was aching and she slowly opened her eyes, ready to see water surrounding her in a cockpit full of her injured friends.
There was no water. They were still on the surface, she could clearly see the sky through the windows. She looked around and both Kurt and Rogue seemed a bit worse for wear but still very alive and uninjured. She let go of Kurt's arm and he rubbed the place her nails bit into his skin absentmindedly.
"What, what happened?" Rogue slowly straightened out her legs, checking herself over with hesitant hands.
"Jean?" Scott shook his copilot delicately, trying to wake her up but weary of a head injury. "Kurt, get the brace! Jean?!"
Kurt teleported out of his seat and a second later appeared in between Scott and Jean, delicately putting her in a neck brace and started to cut her seat-belt. Scott began to do the same for himself. Kitty phased out of hers, walking over to Rogue on wobbly legs and phasing her through the material.
Scott checked Jean over for possible injuries while Kurt sent a distress signal to the Institute.
"Blackbird, do you copy?" Kitty could hear Ororo's voice through the radio. "I repeat, do you copy?"
"Storm, we need a pick up, X-Force should be nearby" Kurt looked through the data displayed on the cockpit. "Jean has a possible spinal and brain injury, she's unconscious at the moment. Our coordinates-"
Kitty sat down on the floor, her thoughts mixed in with possible scenarios. Everything started to shake uncontrollably.
"Panic attack" She heard Rogue's voice through a wall of water, muted and warped. "Don't worry Kurt, she just needs air and a bottle of water afterwards."
Her heart was beating straight out of her chest and she felt like she was dying, her lungs constricting and not letting her breathe. She heard Rogues calm breaths and tried to match them. After what felt like eternity her lungs went back to normal, but she seemed to have passed through the seat behind her, cramped between it and the wall of the jet.
"I'm fine" She breathed out and reached for the bottle Rogue was passing to her.
"I was scared we'd have to look for you in the water for a second there, sugar" Rogue brushed her hair back.
Kitty suddenly remembered that she was sitting right in the puddle of her own vomit and cringed, feeling the wetness seep through her suit.
"That's disgusting" She stood up shakily and carelessly poured the water over the back of her suit. "Better. How's Jean?"
"Still unconscious, but breathing" Rogue helped her into a clean seat, seemingly unfazed by it all. "Scott is keeping tabs on her. Kurt is on the lookout for our rescue party."
"How did we survive?"
Rogue stayed silent for a second before sighing.
"Jean's seat was scorched, however her uniform and skin were untouched" She rested against the seat behind her, looking out the window. Kurt was porting from nose through wing to tail, leaving behind his usual puffs of smoke. "We think it's another power surge."
Kitty knew half the institute thought Jean was slowly going insane and losing control of her powers. Hell, most of them remembered how she tore apart the danger room the last time her mutation went nuts.
Kitty glanced at her teammate's unresponsive body and could swear that for a split second it got engulfed in flames.
Pietro groaned as he heard his work phone ring in the living room. He was in the middle of putting Luna down for the night and the ringing just woke her right back up.
"Laaaanceee!" He yelled, trying o calm the sleepily confused toddler. "Pick it up, alright?"
He barely managed to shush his daughter and convince her to lay back down when Lance barged into her room, tossing him the phone.
"Suit up, Fred's staying with Luna" Lance walked further into the room to brush her blonde hair off her face and leave a kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight, sweetheart."
"Night, 'ncle" She murmured into her pillow, yawning. "Night, daddy."
"Night, baby" Pietro squeezed her hand, sighing. "Be nice to Fred."
"Mmm kay" She nodded and hugged the stuffed dragon she got from Kitty closer to her chest.
His heart always broke when he had to leave her to go on a mission, knowing he might not come back.
Violette flew down with Piotr in her arms while the rest of their team dropped ropes out of the Velocity's hatch. She watched as he gently laid Jean down on a stretcher and helped him attach it to the ropes. She stabilized it while Laura, Remy and St. John pulled Jean up. She could hear the rapid bamfs of Kurt's teleportation and wasn't shocked to see Scott, Piotr and Rogue already on board.
"Could you help Kitty get on? She's not feeling well" Rogue put her gloved hand on Violette's shoulder while Scott leaned over Jean, brushing back her hair. "Kurt's staying behind to start the repairs before we get Logan and Mr. McCoy here."
"Sure" She nodded, squeezing it before flying back and wrapping her arms around Kitty's waist. The girl started loudly protesting that she was fine but Kurt just shook his head and told her she was acting like a toddler.
"Huh?" Kitty looked ready to phase his heart out of his chest so Violette silently took off, chuckling.
When she put the girl down Violette quickly thought about her options.
"I'm going to stay with Kurt" She said, stopping Rogue from closing the hatch. "Brain injuries can come out way later."
Nobody dared to say a word about it, not after living through one of their jets almost crashing. Well, Remy still winked at her knowingly, which got him a middle finger as Violette flew down to the Blackbird's undamaged wing. She walked through the emergency door and leaned against the first row of seats, watching Kurt check the controls for damage.
"Scheisse" He groaned when one of them started to emit sparks and quickly shut it off, turning around. "I shouldn't be surprised you stayed behind."
"I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you suddenly collapsed from internal bleeding in the middle of the ocean."
"I'm sure that's the only reason" He smirked, the light pouring from the cockpit windows lighting his silhouette in a way that made Violette's insides coil.
"Well, maybe being completely alone away form everyone else for at least an hour had something to do with it" She took slow steps towards him, her arms looping around his neck. "It seems like exactly what we've been looking for the past few months."
"It does" He nodded, his own arms circling her waist. "But before we do anything, do you have anything against open spaces?"
"Of course not" She leaned in, kissing him passionately, one of her hands lifting up and burying into his hair. They continued until she really thought about what he was saying. "Wait, what's wrong with the cockpit?"
"You really don't want to know" He shook his head, porting them to the wing. "Wait a second."
He disappeared and reappeared in the exact same place, the amount of smoke around them blocking her view of the ocean for a few seconds.
"Stille Wasser sind tief" She chuckled, seeing the strip of condom packets in his hand.
Kurt's eyes shone with mischief as he dropped them next to her and forcibly pulled her towards him.
"Halt den Mund" He growled against her mouth, one of his hands undoing her ponytail while the other traveled down from it's innocent placement on her back to her ass.
Violette shivered and once again kissed him, for once thrilled to be compliant.
Lance sighed, looking through the fire damaged files. Thankfully, not every page burned down.
"Their system's fried, yo" Todd sighed, trying to get anything on what exactly went down between the X-Men and the Hellfire Club. "There's maybe ten minutes of footage left."
"Pull it up, then" Wanda closed a file cabinet, before opening another's drawer with her powers. "Better that then trying to figure it out through paper trails."
He obliged and Lance stepped closer, leaning against the panel. The blonde woman – Emma Frost, as he learned during the briefing – was leaning over Grey, who appeared to be out cold on a metal table. Red's eyes flew open as flames surrounded the women before the footage turned to static. Todd clicked on another file, this one labeled as a few weeks old. Frost was surrounded by a group of cloaked people, standing in lingerie.
"We sure we wanna watch this, yo?" The younger boy cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable.
Thankfully the weirdness went in the other direction as Frost's arms rose into the air, surrounded by faint flames.
"What. The fuck" Lance leaned closer to the screen. "Get this on a disc."
"Guys" Pietro appeared behind him, his face white. "You might wanna see something. I think they set fire to an entire room of people."
It took Logan and Mr McCoy literal hours to get to them, with Kitty for tech support and Jamie for manpower.
Kurt and Violette went through every nook and cranny the jet had to offer, digging through piles of junk to find anything remotely entertaining.
They found a dozen bubblegum wrappers in the compartment next to Kitty's seat, but sadly no gum. Rogue's was mostly filled with gloves, but they managed to find a worn paperback.
"I can't believe this" Kurt chuckled, showing her the cover. "Is that Fabio?"
"Jesus Christ" Violette grabbed the book, the model's shirt and hair blown back by the wind. "It's even titled Gentle Rogue" She opened it and giggled, seeing the inscription. "The guy has massive balls."
"Is it from Gambit?" Kurt chuckled, leaning over. "Seemed like fate? He's delusional."
"Or has a sense of humor."
They put the book back where it came from before combing through Scott's.
"Seriously?" Violette took out the Blackbird manual and sighed. "Not even mints?"
Kurt walked over to Jean's seat and opened her compartment before yelling triumphantly.
"We've got an iPod!" Kurt turned it over in his hands, whistling. "She's got the one with Madonna's signature on the back."
"No way" Violette traced the letters with her finger. "I always knew she was well off but damn. Those cost like fifty bucks extra."
They spent the next two hours listening to Jean's music, but the blend of Kelly Clarkson, Justin Timberlake and surprisingly Usher quickly started to get on her nerves. She had no idea how many times they listened to Rock Your Body before Kurt finally snapped and turned the iPod off.
"Okay, time to do something else" Violette sighed, laying down on the jet's floor. "Wanna read the Fabio novel?"
They took turns reading it aloud, getting more and more into the novel with each page. By the time their rescue arrived, they were dying to finish it on their way back.
Logan walked into the cockpit and sniffed. Mr. McCoy chuckled.
"You're grounded until I feel otherwise" Wolvie brushed past them to open the hatch in the floor before disappearing below them.
Violette felt her checks grow warm. Kitty giggled as she followed Beast to the main computer. Jamie looked confused for a few seconds before he put two and two together.
"Oh, ew!" He groaned, clapping to create a dupe. They both shuddered before disappearing after Logan.
Roberto stared down at the case file in front of him as if it would set on fire from his stare alone.
"We didn't want you to worry about the mission" Miss Monroe put her hand on his, but he pulled it towards himself after a second.
"I-I don't know what to think" He shook his head, shoving the file aside. "I-I… I need some air."
He walked towards the window and opened it, the sun warming up his skin. Before making a fully conscious decision he was already flying. He landed in the gazebo, his hands gripping the edge until is knuckles turned white.
"What.. the fuck."
His father was in a cult worshiping a fiery deity called the Phoenix. A weirdly pro-mutant cult. Or club. Whatever.
His father was one of the bad guys.
'Fuck, who knows about this?'
Everyone apparently, since he saw a flash of green walk out of the mansion.
It took her a while to reach him. She sat on the ledge, her legs swinging back and forth over the cliff.
"This seems like a huge hazard" She furrowed her brows, suddenly stopping. "Did anyone ever fall out?"
"Rogue pushed her adoptive mother out when she was a statue" He looked her up and down, wondering how she was able to rock head-to-toe green. "What do you want, Lorna?"
The younger girl sighed, twirling her hair nervously.
"Bobby told us what happened" She finally faced him, her green eyes determined. "I'm sorry. I know how it feels."
Roberto bit his tongue before he could say that no, she didn't. Because she never met her father, and Roberto knew his very well. She never met her siblings. He loved Mariana, Julia, Gabriela, Fernanda and Camila with all of his heart, even if they got on his nerves most of the time.
He just nodded and turned back to the cliff side. They stayed silent for a minute.
"Everything they said to me applies to you too" She went back to her fidgeting and it started to get on his nerves. "It doesn't change the fact that we trust you."
"Maybe it should" He snapped, momentarily losing control of his powers. He lit up, the power he derived from the sun enabling him to break off a chunk of the stone fencing's ledge. "What if it comes to you or my family? Am I supposed to completely abandon them? They've been there for e my whole life!"
Lorna nodded, standing up and walking closer to him. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and he immediately collapsed into her like a deflated balloon.
"It's gonna be okay" She started to brush his back as his powers shut off. "We'll figure this out."
St. John sighed, throwing himself on the bed.
His lower back ached, as did his left arm. He was exhausted, the mission and then the rescue taking a toll on his body.
He stared at his computer, the black screen mocking him.
He missed all of his personal deadlines. His official one was in a month.
He remembered the darkness that surrounded him when he was at the base, the disappointment, the shame.
He rolled off the bed and loudly sat down in his desk chair, cracking his knuckles.
"Time to get to work, Jin" He said beneath his breath, turning on his PC.
He looked at the bulletin board above his desk, the picture Tabitha took of Amara and him immediately grabbing his attention. He looked okay – perhaps a bit aloof, leaning back in the plastic chair. The Bayville Mall's food court clashed with his hair horribly, a weird mix of oranges and reds. Amara however had only eyes for him, her eyes and smile clearly showing that she was smitten with him.
The sudden and oh so loud startup sound of Windows XP made him flinch.
"Time to get to work."