I'm alive! I apologize for the long delay on this, but rest assured I have not forgotten about this fic and I am hoping to have it all finished this summer. Thanks to all my reviewers for keeping me motivated and encouraging me!
Disclaimer: X-men is the property of Marvel, which is owned by Disney. Cheyenne, however, is my intellectual property.
"Ta-da!" Forge exclaimed, proffering the object in his hands to Beast.
"This isn't going to set my fur on fire is it?" He inquired, eyeing the bulky watch in Forge's hands suspiciously.
"No trust!" Forge declared, flipping his heavy goggles up into his shaggy hair. "You cut me to the quick."
With a long-suffering sigh, Beast took the proffered watch and affixed it to his wrist.
"Atta, boy Hank!" The techno path praised cheerfully. "Now just kindly hit the green button on the side there."
Hank McCoy complied with this direction, and the watch screen lit up blue. It began to whir softly, and the blue-furred mutant cautiously thrust his arm away from him. His free hand hovered over the device, ready to throw it off his arm should it catch fire.
Forge crossed his arms over his chest. "You get yourself stuck in limbo one time." He muttered. "It's just taking in your biometric data, you big baby."
"Mmm-hmmm." Beast replied, watching the watch warily. "I have one thing to say to you, Forge. All-purpose body wash."
"Ok, I'll give you that." Forge capitulated. "But I've kept my promise not to tinker with chemicals without your assistance!" He grinned. "Besides, Storm thought you were a lovely shade of pink!"
Hank gave his best friend a withering look.
"Fine, fine!" Forge raised his hands. "But I still think you should have seized the moment and asked her out!"
"I wasn't going to put a sign on myself and tell Ororo I was her Valentine's day Teddy Bear." Beast said dryly. Forge chuckled, and Hank cast him a searching look. "Odd, that I ran out of shampoo on Valentine's day and had to use yours now that I look back on it."
"Yes, odd that it happened when I was testing that out." Forge replied somewhat guiltily. The watch beeped. "It's done!" Forge exclaimed brightly, reprieved.
"Twist the top?"
"Yep!" Forge confirmed.
Hank twisted the top of the watch and, with a brief blurring flash of light, found himself looking at a completely unremarkable arm.
"Am I good, or what?"
"This is unreal!" Hank marveled, looking down at his fur-free appendages and squinting at his reflection in the stainless steel work-bench.
"You know," Forge considered, "You look kind of naked without the fur."
"It's very strange." Beast agreed, awed at being able to touch his arm and feel fur yet see normal human skin.
"I call it the image inducer!" The image inducer gave another beep, flashed red and the image disappeared. "It's a work in progress."
"What do we need to do to work out the kinks?" Hank inquired, inspecting the device. "Does it need more time to adapt to my biometrics?"
"Exactly!" Forge rubbed his goatee thoughtfully. "It'll go quicker if I have more users to iron out any bugs and be able to see the impact of different abilities."
"I'm sure Kurt would be willing." Beast considered.
"Oh, can't wait to see what affect porting has!" Forge rubbed his hands. "I'll probably have to play with the frequencies a bit to be able to keep up an image while he's porting."
"Now that I have you here to interpret that chicken scratch you call handwriting, I can help on assembly." Beast remarked, gesturing to the blueprints.
"Toad would probably be willing to help out too." Forge mused. "He's in the same situation you are, looks like."
"Ah, yes, with Cheyenne." Hank adjusted his spectacles. "He seems quite enamored and I do believe she rather likes him."
"They were shouting through the wall at each other this morning." Forge informed his friend, with the air of one showing off a prize trophy. "Flirting up a storm, completely oblivious that anyone could hear them."
"Really!" Beast replied, sitting down opposite his friend.
"Really!" Forge waved his hand. "I'm surprised Firework girl hasn't got a pool going on them yet. There's one on all the other soon-to-be's."
"Jubilee." Beast corrected. "I am surprised that Remy hasn't asked Rogue out yet."
"Hmph, you're one to talk!" Forge began to gather materials and sort them for two more image inducers. "I'm surprised the maximum time on that bet for you and 'Ro is in months and not years. You've been crazy about her since you met her. Honestly, glaciers move quicker than you."
Hank paused in assisting his friend in sorting materials. "There's a bet going on Storm and me?"
Cheyenne took a deep breath before following Storm in to dinner. 'Time to face the music.' She thought. Golden eyes were on her the second she passed through the doorway.
Placing the glass he'd been sipping from on the table, Mort made eye contact with Cheyenne and she froze, pinned by his gaze. His eyes traveled down her frame, taking in her form appreciatively and noting that wings and talons were currently retracted. Making the return trip up her body, he made eye contact once more and smirked at her, dimple appearing on the left side of his mouth. He patted the empty seat on his right. To his delight, Myth, now blushing spectacularly, strode forward with as much dignity as she could muster and took the seat next to him.
"Like taking wot you dish out, love?" Mort addressed her, offering her the serving plate.
"Yes, I do." Cheyenne replied, smiling at him and holding his gaze. Conscious of the fact that she was blushing profusely, the winged mutant was only able to maintain eye contact for a few seconds before transferring her attention to dipping up her dinner. Toad observed the Texan smiling with shy happiness at her plate with a good deal of satisfaction.
Finishing with the serving plate, Cheyenne passed it down the table to Storm, who nodded her thanks. "Hank has not come up from the lab yet?" The white-haired woman inquired of the table in general.
"Not as yet, no." Professor Xavier answered, after swallowing a bite of his dinner.
"He was working on something with Forge." Tabby piped up from her seat next to Jubilee.
"Heaven only knows what they're up to down there." Bobby mused, with equal amounts interest and trepidation.
"You're awfully up-to-date on Forge's location, Tabs." Jubilee teased.
"What can I say?" The blonde mutant grinned wildly. "Mama likey."
"Mama likey what?" Forge inquired interestedly, sliding into the empty seat next to Boom Boom as Hank took the seat next to Kurt across from Storm.
"Well, you of course!" Tabitha said coyly, batting her eyes at him.
"Groovy!" Forge grinned, leaning back in his chair and wiggling his eyebrows at her.
Kitty, entering the dining room with Colossus, Gambit and Rogue, perched herself on Myth's other side. "What's groovy?" The petite mutant asked the Texan, giggling slightly.
"Tabby just told Forge she likes him." Cheyenne explained bemusedly.
"Oh dear." Rogue grinned. "Think of the explosions they'll make together."
"Awww, don' be jealous Roguey," Gambit commented winsomely, "we can make much better explosions together."
"Don't call me Roguey, swamp rat."
"You love it." Gambit decided.
Cheyenne smiled as the conversations splintered into sub-groups along the table, enjoying the banter and teasing that was becoming familiar. Shyly, she glimpsed Mort out of the corner of her eyes contemplatively chewing his dinner. "So," she said, shifting in her chair to face him, "what've you been up to since the Fellowship was broken?"
Mort's face lit up at this reference. "Not huntin' orcs, that's for sure. You?"
"Nope." Cheyenne grinned, unconsciously twisting the end of her ponytail around her fingers. "Talked on the phone with my best friend for a bit, then went over new job stuff with Storm."
" Me as well, with the new job stuff. Logan gave me a tour of the garage and went over my duties."
"It's really awesome, right?" The Texan realized she was twirling the end of her ponytail around her fingers and stopped. 'This is a dinner conversation. You're supposed to be eating not playing with your hair.' To this effect, she picked up her fork once more. "The work benches and the lifts are just close enough. At least on the car side of things that is." She amended hastily. "I don't really know about the jet side of it, but it looks great."
"Yeah, tha' setup is great." Mort agreed immediately, thinking back on the arrangements. Then his mind fully processed this last statement. "Mos' people," he observed, watching Myth take a bite of her supper, "would just notice the vehicles and the jets." The corners of his lips turned up slightly. "But you noticed tha equipment behind it?"
"Well, most people didn't grow up in a garage." Cheyenne replied after she swallowed. She grinned at him. "My dad owns an auto-shop."
"So, if I need someone ta be my go-fer?" Mort inquired flirtatiously, loading up his own fork.
"I'm your girl!" Myth replied cheerfully. She realized what she'd just said and a flush rose in her cheeks. "Actually, I feel very at home in garages so if it wouldn't bother you and Logan too much maybe I could come hang out." She added quickly. "I wouldn't get in the way, I'd just read or work. Talk if you want, or help out if y'all need a gofer."
Mort grinned at her, that dimple she liked so much making an appearance. "Love, your welcome at my workbench any time."
"Thanks." Cheyenne beamed.
At the conclusion of dinner, Mort was highly disappointed that his time with Cheyenne was interrupted by the advent of the ladies' biweekly yoga session. 'Though the view is fantastic either way.' He mused, leaning back in his chair. He watched the swish and bounce of the Texan's dark brown hair in its ponytail and the gentle sway of her hips as she trailed behind Rogue, who was laughing at some comment of Remy's, out the door. As she passed into the hall, Myth glanced at him over her shoulder and gave him a smile. It was equal parts coquette and shy, and it left Toad internally cursing his injured toe yet again.
Basking in thwarted plans of pursuit and the possibility of being able to covertly observe the yoga session, the green-skinned mutant wasn't aware for a few moments that the Dr. McCoy was speaking to him. "Eh?"
Hank sighed.
"They vant our help with a project." Kurt reiterated kindly, hardly suppressing an amused smile, as he gestured to Beast and Forge. The four men were the only people left in the dining room.
"What sort of project?" Toad inquired suspiciously.
Forge chuckled. "The sort that'll let you take Miss Pterodactyl Wings out on a date."
"I don' need any help takin' Myth out." The British mutant replied gruffly, crossing his arms.
"You do if you want to actually take her someplace public." Hank pointed out wryly. "Like a movie, or a nice restaurant. Doesn't she deserve that?"
"We still talking 'bout me and Cheyenne?" Mort asked, standing and grabbing his crutch. He flexed his toe, grimacing slightly, but happy to note that it was much better.
"Myth and Storm are both incredible ladies." Kurt stated gently, laying an understanding hand on Beast's arm. "They deserve all possible happiness, and I vould be happy to contribute to that." He continued gallantly. "And to tell the truth, I vould like to be able to go where I vant with no need for concealment."
"And not just you guys!" Forge contributed. "If we get this," he pointed to the watch-like device on Beast's wrist, "working reliably, we could help all mutant-kind! Show them, Hank. It should be ready for another go."
With a nod, Beast turned the dial of the image inducer.
"Mein Gott!" Nightcrawler breathed.
Toad stared in surprise at the image of a completely unremarkable Dr. McCoy, implications bursting in his brain.
There was silence for a few moments until the watch beeped and the image faded. "Still needs some work, but that was longer than last time." Forge stated, leaning forward to inspect the device.
"So, shall we reconvene in the lab?" Beast asked.
All Toad could do was nod mutely, feeling torn between a long-standing, submerged desire to fit in and the principles Magneto had ingrained in his brain.
"Ve'll meet you down there." Kurt agreed, reaching forward to take a hold of Mort.
The green-skinned man stiffened at the feeling of displacement as Nightcrawler transported him to Forge's workshop. "You know," he informed the German mutant, slightly irritated, "my toe's almos' all better."
"I know." Kurt grinned unrepentantly. "But ve vouldn't want you to delay your recovery. The lovely Miss Jackson vould certainly be disappointed."
Toad crossed his arms, lips twitching at this thought. "If I didn't want you to grab me, I could have broken your 'ands."
"Mmmm-hmmm." Kurt Wagner replied lightly, smiling to himself as he inspected the two watches sitting pristinely amid the clutter of Forge's workspace.
Mort settled his internal conflict. 'It's a disguise is all. 'M not changing who I am.' He decided. 'It'll let me go incognito.' A mental image of riding his motorcycle in the bright sunlight with the pretty Texan he could make blush's arms wrapped tightly around him drifted across his mind. With considerable eagerness that he attempted to not visibly show, Mort, too, began to inspect the two image inducers.
Wednesday dawned bright and early for Cheyenne Jackson. Not wishing to appear over-eager, she played the piano for all of an hour after breakfast before meandering to the garage. Logan had raised an eyebrow at the sight of the Texan with her armful of papers and books, and a blanket thrown over her shoulder. He hadn't objected to her presence, however, and Mort had greeted her with a great deal of pleasure so the winged mutant had ensconced herself somewhat shyly near his workspace.
Sitting cross-legged on her blanket on the floor, she'd initially reviewed her lesson plan, periodically asking the two mechanics opinions on whether or not they found an approach boring. She had also on and off covertly observed Mort, pleased to see that he no longer needed his crutch though he was hobbling somewhat. His unique feet were completely on display as he wandered about sans shoes. She had noticed this previously, but had assumed that it was due to his injured toe.
"Mort?" She asked, as the man in question wiped a dipstick clean after checking the oil in a pretty red corvette.
"Yeah?" He replied, grinning up at her.
"Isn't it dangerous for you to be shoeless?"
"Don' like shoes." Mort shrugged. "Feel weird on me feet."
"But what if you drop something on them?" Myth persisted, concerned. "Or something falls on them?"
"In that case, shoes aren't going to provide that much more protection." Logan called out from his spot underneath a vintage Thunderbird.
"Well, this is true." Myth admitted. She realized she was waving her lesson plan book around and laid it aside.
"Sweet tha your worried, love." Toad said, the depth of his baritone sliding down her spine like a drink of iced tea at noon on a sweltering summer day. "But I'm not likely to drop anything." He winked at her and, kneeling to grasp the bottom of the car with both hands, easily lifted the corvette to shoulder height.
"Oh." Myth breathed, blue-green eyes wide. 'Nice.' She thought, impressed by the show of strength and the flexing of biceps easily visible due to his sleeveless shirt. Her eyes tracked the muscle underneath the tattoo emblazoned on his upper arm.
"If you drop that," Wolverine put in mildly from his spot, "Summers will lose his-er, have a fit." He corrected himself, remembering the presence of the history teacher. "Actually, drop it." The Canadian chuckled. "I'd really like to see that."
Mort snorted. "No, thanks." He gently placed the car back down on solid ground. "Don' want Captain X-Men to have a fit." The British mutant felt inclined to preen at the rapt interest the Texan was displaying. "Care to help me on this next one?" He nodded towards the van that Storm had driven to the mall not too long ago.
"Sure." Cheyenne said, rising. "What're we doing?"
"To the car or together?" Mort inquired lowly with a smirk, as she came up to him. "Cause I'm open to suggestions."
"I can hear you, you know." Logan reminded them, voice echoing from underneath the Thunderbird.
Cheyenne assisted in cleaning up the van. The task didn't last too terribly long as the van wasn't all that dirty, and there were two of them doing the cleaning. "And that's that!" She commented, replacing the shop vacuum in its position.
"You two made quick work of that." Logan observed from where he stood nearby, wiping his greasy hands on a rag.
"Teamwork." Cheyenne replied, flashing the Canadian a quick smile and offering a hand to Mort. The green-skinned mutant took her hand in one of his and rose from his spot next to the right rear tire. He took advantage on rising to leverage himself up so that he was standing only a hairs-breadth away from Cheyenne, her hand still in his.
"We do work well together." He whispered lowly in her ear.
"I can see you and hear you." Logan informed them plaintively.
Cheyenne laughed, slightly embarrassed, and stepped a little way back from Toad, though she kept her hand in his. " I bet you've overheard worse surrounded by teenagers."
Wolverine groaned. "Just wait, kid." He rolled his shoulders, sighing as they popped with a satisfying click. "Pretty soon you'll be hearing it. Smelling it too"
"Ewww!" The Texan grimaced. "And suddenly I'm glad your senses are better than mine."
"Though playin' chaperone can be fun." Logan considered, as he moved towards the doorway.
"Fun?"
"I love jumpin' out at them." He grinned, every inch the Wolverine with that slightly feral grin.
"'Ow is he still employed?" Mort directed at Cheyenne.
"A healthy dose of fear is important to the development of responsible individuals." Logan deadpanned, almost at the door.
"That man could single-handedly prevent teen pregnancy." Mort commented mischievously as the Canadian passed through the door.
Cheyenne cracked up at this. She brought her hand to her chest in her laughter, belatedly realizing that she still held Toad's hand in her own. "Oh, I'm sorry." She apologized, releasing his hand.
" 'M not." Toad replied, gazing at her intently with topaz eyes.
Cheyenne beamed, sufficiently distracted to not notice the futuristic watch strapped to the wrist of the hand she had previously been holding.
"Are you two comin' in for lunch or not?"
Mort started and Cheyenne gasped, wings and talons springing free.
Logan's green eyes sparkled with mirth.
"Yes, coming." Cheyenne breathed then let out a short laugh. "Now that I know my heart's in good shape."
Toad glared at Wolverine as the Texan walked toward the doorway. Logan's response was to let out a brief chuckle. "Sorry, thought you needed a chaperone."
Cheyenne let out a gusty sigh, ruffling the top of the stack of papers in front of her slightly. 'I think that's as good as it is going to get for the time being.' She mused, gazing at the lesson plan overview Storm had assisted her in drafting. She had fleshed out the majority of the overview based off of Storm's previous teaching schedule that morning, with Mort and Logan's input. After lunch, Mort had been dragged off by Forge and Hank to the former's laboratory, with Kurt opting to port down to meet them. Apparently the group of men were working on a project together, which had raised the speculation and curiosity of their fellow mutants.
"It's probably awesome!" Tabitha had predicted enthusiastically.
"It'll probably explode and send us all to a parallel universe." Bobby had muttered darkly.
"There's tinfoil in the cabinet for yah to make a hat just in case, Mr. Paranoid." Rogue had replied with a raised eyebrow.
"Hank would not condone any unsafe experimentation." Storm agreed.
Jubilee chewed her lip thoughtfully. "He does kinda tend to get carried away when he's working on something he's interested in though."
There was a silent pause at the table while all present contemplated this fact.
"I'll just meander downstairs and inquire as to what they're working on." Professor Xavier stated carefully, backing his wheelchair away from the table.
Cheyenne had participated in the debate for a while, before being drawn back upstairs to call her father, noting that he should be having his own lunch. Her father was happy to hear from her, and had put her on speaker phone to talk to himself and Rick for a bit while they ate lunch in the backroom of the garage.
The brunette stretched her arms above her head, frowning at the stiffness in her back. Rising from the desk in her room, she extended her wings with a soft whoosh.
"Well, that's a bit better." She commented, rubbing at her lower back. She glanced back at the papers on the desk, then shook her head. "Nope, I need a break." Rising from her desk chair, the Texan padded to the door of her room. 'Maybe I'll go play the piano for a bit.' She mused as she exited her room, shutting the door behind her. As she turned to walk towards the stairs, she was greeted with the sigh of Rogue approaching the stairs from the other direction.
"Hello there stranger." Rogue greeted cheerfully. "Whatcha been up to?"
"Lesson plans." Cheyenne made a face. "I suddenly feel the need to send thank-you notes to all my teachers. I thought I appreciated them before but now I really appreciate them."
Rogue chuckled. "Makes me glad I'm Logan's assistant for the training program. He does the lesson plans for the kiddos' training." She paused. "Well, he's supposed to do the lesson plans. Not sure how much of that he actually does."
"He doesn't really seem like the lesson plan type." Cheyenne agreed, picturing the gruff mutant.
"If you're takin' a break, how do you feel about helping me brew up some iced tea for Friday?" Rogue inquired. She gave her fellow southerner a conspiratorial grin. "Gives us a chance to further plan, you-know-what. That is, if your still up for it? I don't want to heap to much on yah, since you'll be meeting Warren for the first time."
"Oh," Cheyenne made a dismissive hand wave, "don't worry about it! I'm happy to help."
Rogue grinned. "Then let's go brew us up some tea."
Charles Xavier stared in fascination. "Incredible." He murmured.
Kurt, who had just ported three feet, looked down at his visually non-blue hands in wonder.
"Woo-hoo!" Forge cheered. "Finally the right frequency."
"Hpmh." Mort frowned at his image in the mirror flickered to his natural coloration and back to the artificial overlay skin tone as he flicked his prehensile tongue out of his mouth.
"Hmmm." Beast rubbed his chin as he considered the green mutant. "We may not be able to come up with a workaround for that."
"Early days yet." Forge tacked on, pushing off in his swivel chair to bring him closer to Toad and inspecting his image inducer.
"Fantastic work." Professor Xavier praised. "After you've worked out more of the kinks, perhaps we could set the students who would benefit up with their own inducers."
"Shouldn't be too terribly long." Forge contemplated. "Actually, it might be a good idea to go ahead and get to setting those up when they get back. Each inducer has to acclimate to its users biometric data for the image to last longer than a minute or so."
"We may not be able to support power use simultaneously with image upkeep." Beast theorized. "After all, the inducer is really not for battlefield use."
"Oh, don't be such a gloomy Gus!" Forge admonished. "After all," he gestured to Kurt, "I am a genius techno path!"
"And so modest too." Hank replied dryly.