September 18, 2006
3:43 AM
Malibu
Sasuke liked to think he was good under pressure.
He was, sort of, in the sense that he didn't panic.
He just sort of… lost himself.
There wasn't any thinking involved when he woke to find a bunch of random goons trying to kidnap him from Tony's house.
He just moved.
Sasuke hid a kunai under his pillow at all times, since the day he'd been allowed to have weapons again. He didn't sleep with it clenched in his hand, but it was a close thing.
The first man got stabbed in the shoulder.
The second got a kick to the throat while he was still cursing in surprise at the fact that a kid had just sent his partner screaming.
The third got a kunai to the chest, since he was on the other side of the room. Sasuke's throwing aim wasn't good enough to slip it between the ribs, so it caught on bone instead of diving deeper, but that was probably for the best.
By this point, the first man had regained his faculties enough to make another grab for Sasuke, and managed to actually catch hold of an arm.
Sasuke's leg connected with his face a second later.
The third man had pulled the kunai from his throat, and was now swinging it wildly.
So he got a face full of fire.
After several seconds of being surrounded by nothing but groaning, and not attacks, Sasuke's mind came back, and he took a look around him.
Blood, and wheezing, and charred flesh, and nothing he'd thought he'd be able to do after what Itachi had—
No. Better to avoid that train of thought.
There were grunts coming from the hallway, and after one last fearful glance around the room (they were alive, but that did little to comfort him), he left.
It was carnage.
It was a different kind than inside Sasuke's room, of course. There wasn't any fire here, for one. Less blood, too. There were also more people, and guns.
And most importantly, the one fighting wasn't Sasuke. It was Ms. Douglas.
Ms. Douglas fought like an artist. She fought like a taijutsu master, one of a specific form that seemed more ballet than fighting style. She was all legs and blank fury, with her arms seemingly reserved solely for supporting her in her violent dance. She avoided the gunshots, few as there were in such a crowded space, disarmed the men and broke them with what would have been cold, calculated efficiency, had it not been for the snarl that graced her face.
She was terrifying.
She was inspiring.
She was… protecting him?
"Sasuke!" Tony came up from behind him, and Sasuke only barely managed to stifle his startle reflex enough to not stab his uncle when he grabbed him around the torso like that.
"She's killing them." Sasuke whispered.
"Maybe." Tony admitted. "But she's doing her job, and she's even better at it than I expected her to be. I might need to give her a raise after this, or at least a bonus."
"She never…" Sasuke trailed off. She'd never shown this side to him.
"That's because before, she didn't need to, or she did it out of your sight." Tony pulled Sasuke away from the fight as more of the goons started to notice them. "Panic room, now."
"But…!"
This was the moment at which one of the men finally got a lucky shot, and managed to put a bullet through Ms. Douglas's leg.
She didn't make a sound, but she didn't need to for the room to take notice. Not with how the rest of her body reacted.
Sasuke noticed the blood first. It seeped through the thin pants Ms. Douglas wore to bed with ease. The rest of the change spread from there, hidden beneath the draped cloth until it reached bare skin.
Flickering blue scales.
They folded their way across Ms. Douglas's skin, over her arms and legs and even her face, changing the shape of her body wherever it crossed. Her eyes bled an acidic yellow, and her hair shortened and stuck to her head, turning a glistening red.
Ms. Douglas spared one look for Tony and Sasuke at the end of the hall.
"Go."
With that one word grunted out, she snapped her good leg out into the gut of a nearby attacker and resumed the fight, losing only a portion of her grace.
"Let's go, Sasuke." Tony bustled him out of the room. "She'll be fine."
Sasuke wasn't sure.
(Besides, he found something hauntingly familiar about the woman that may have once been Ms. Douglas.)
o.o.o.o.o
September 18, 2006
4:18 AM
The Panic Room, Malibu
"Sir," JARVIS interrupted the game of jacks that Tony and Sasuke had been playing while waiting for their time in the room to end, "Ms. Douglas is requesting entrance."
"How do you know it's her?" Sasuke asked.
"The entrance code used was hers." JARVIS answered. "Shall I set up a line of communication instead?"
"Yeah," Tony said, rubbing a hand over his face. "Do that."
"Stark, let me in." The screen next to the door began to stream a live video feed of the person outside the door. The voice was Ms. Douglas's, but the face on the wall was that of the blue woman. She looked annoyed. "The attackers are all incapacitated, and you and I both know the best medical care is in the house is in that room."
"Police aren't on their way?" Tony asked, as though testing the waters.
"Like you'd risk Sasuke that way." The woman snorted. "And like I'd risk letting them take me prisoner after everything. I called Pepper and Obie. Let me in, Stark. I'm bleeding here, and I need to get this bullet out before it does more damage than it already has."
Tony considered it a moment. Sasuke could see him doing it.
"Alright. J, she's cool. Let 'er in."
"At once, Sir."
The blue woman limped in, and the look on her face was the same long-suffering look that was always on Ms. Douglas's, but less hidden.
"How kind of you." She drawled, setting herself down on a chair and pulling out the medical supplies. "This might get a bit gory, so feel free to look away."
"I've seen worse." Both of them said at once. They glanced at one another (Sasuke with a raised eyebrow, and Tony just reproving) and then back at Ms. Douglas.
"Sure." She agreed easily, pulling out a pair of long tweezers. "Still, don't stay on my account."
"Feel like I better keep an eye on you until you explain things." Tony said, leaning back in his chair and putting on a relaxed air, but tense as a bowstring.
"I'm a mutant. I did some things I'm not proud of, and I'm trying to make up for it by protecting people. Figure I might as well put my skillset to good use, and playing bodyguard for children seems like a good option." She yanked the bullet out of her leg with a hiss. "That'll take a while to heal."
"No shit," Tony said, ignoring the dirty look she shot him; Sasuke wasn't sure if it was due to his insensitivity (as she had on occasion) or due to cursing in front of a kid (as she had with alarming frequency), but he figured it was a mixture of the two. "Quick question: is Rachel even your real name?"
"No. It's rather close, but no." She was wrapping the wound, now; it bled less than Sasuke expected it to. "My name, back before I dropped it, was Raven Darkholme."
That name, much like her face, tugged at something in the back of Sasuke's mind. He knew it, somehow, but he just couldn't remember how.
"Pretty name for a pretty lady." Tony remarked, earning himself an eyeroll from both Sasuke and Ms. Dou… Ms. Darkholme. "Any reason why you chose to do high profile body-guarding instead of doing security at a children's hospital or something?"
Raven stilled for a moment. "I could… see what kinds of assignments I was getting. I tried to make sure I ended up with children that were particularly high-risk. Mutants, mostly."
"There are mutants in high society?" Tony asked, though he sounded far from incredulous to Sasuke's ears. Rather, he seemed resigned. "That why the Worthington kid stopped showing up at his dad's parties a few years ago?"
"…I'm not at liberty to divulge that information." Raven said, though that was enough to assume that the answer was a 'yes.' "But there are more mutants in high society than you think. In all society, really, but the economic extremes seem to collect them more."
It hit Sasuke with a sudden clarity. "You're the Professor's missing sister!"
Raven twisted in her seat, nearly falling off her chair. "How did you hear about that?"
Sasuke thought quickly. "I… Anna Marie told me. After I saw a picture on his desk."
She thinks I'm dead, Kurt's words echoed back to him. No, that wasn't Sasuke's information to share. She deserved to hear it from family. From the Professor, or Anna Marie, or Kurt himself.
Something in Raven's eyes softened. "You've been visiting the school, then."
Sasuke nodded, figuring there was no harm in telling her. "She misses you. So does the Professor."
"They're better off without me." Raven shook her head and went back to tending to her injury. "I'm surprised she hasn't forgotten me."
"At least visit." Sasuke tried to convince her, feeling the weight of Tony's (weirdly non-interfering) eyes on his back. "I mean, if you really think you're better off that way, then you don't have to stay forever, but at least visit."
Raven stared at him, a calculating look in her eyes. "How would you feel if Itachi came back? Just to visit?"
"That's different." Sasuke said immediately. "I don't want Itachi to come back. I'm terrified of that happening. Anna Marie misses you."
"People die around me, Sasuke." Raven told him sharply. "Whether I want them to or not, they do. My husband and son died, and Charles was left crippled, largely due to me. Dozens of mutants and humans, just by known association."
"That won't happen. Not just if you visit." Sasuke tried again, pressing the issue. He'd tell her Kurt was alive if he had to, but he didn't want to be the one to do that. He didn't have that right.
"It's a bad idea." Raven said again, and her face was clouded. "I shouldn't have even stayed here with you long enough to tell you this. I should have left the minute I finished up the business in the hall."
"Five minutes." Tony interrupted. "Visit for five minutes, just to let them know you're okay and that you still care."
Just long enough to see Kurt, Sasuke's brain translated. He nodded vigorously.
Raven stared at them suspiciously. "There's something you're not telling me."
"Not really." Tony shrugged. "I know as much as you do, probably less. But I can tell Sasuke's just bursting to tell you something that he thinks he can't say, for whatever reason."
Sasuke shot his uncle a glare. Now wasn't really the time.
Raven folded her arms over her chest and stared at Sasuke, just daring him to try to lie to her.
"There is more information." Sasuke admitted, and then switched languages. "But I think you would be best off hearing it from Anna Marie or the Professor, not me."
Raven pursed her lips, but seemed satisfied that they weren't hiding anything more from her.
"Three minutes." Raven finally said. "Any more than that, I'll stay of my own volition, but three minutes is the most I can promise."
"Can I call ahead to tell them you're coming?" Sasuke asked hopefully.
Raven took a deep breath. "Fine. Just don't let them make a big production out of it."
"Great!" Tony clapped his hands, startling both of them. "I'll call up Happy and tell him to get the jet ready soon. We should be there in about… five hours?"
"We do need to take care of the unconscious men in your hallway." Raven reminded him. She then winced and rubbed at her shoulder. "And women. At least one of those fighters was a woman that knew what she was doing."
Tony frowned for a moment, deep in thought. "I… think I know who to call. Give me a few minutes and I might be able to get a clean-up crew down here that can keep secrets. J? Remember Aunt Peggy's niece? Sharon? Blonde and kinda frigid to me after the thing with the ice cooler?"
"Indeed, Sir. She is our SHIELD contact, after all."
"Bingo, call her."
Raven stared at Tony with wide eyes. "SHIELD? You trust SHIELD?"
"I trust 'em about as far as I can throw them." Tony answered promptly. "But I know Sharon well enough to know that she can keep this as quiet as possible and get it cleaned up in no time with a crew that won't talk."
Raven shook her head. "You're going to get us all killed."
"Haven't yet!" Tony called as he left the room.
Sasuke chewed on his lip for a few seconds, and then pulled his legs up onto his chair and crossed them. "JARVIS? Can you send a text message to the Professor for me? I don't think they'd let me go get my phone right now."
"I certainly wouldn't." Raven informed him. "Ninja or not, you're still a child. I can't say the same for Tony."
"I can send a text message to Charles Xavier." JARVIS confirmed. "What would you like it to contain?"
"Um…" Sasuke thought about how he could word it to keep it vague. "Tell him… 'We found your sister, and we are going to bring her to the school in a few hours because you and Anna Marie miss her. She's only promised a few minutes, but that should be enough to tell her… the thing."
He finished lamely, well aware of Raven's eyes on his back.
"This surprise of yours better be a good one, Sasuke." Raven told him. "I don't appreciate people keeping secrets from me."
"Then you're a… a…" Sasuke struggled for the word, "A hypocrite."
"Really now?"
"Yes!" Sasuke turned around to face her again. "And you're meaner like this, too!"
"Sasuke, it is currently four-thirty in the morning and I have been shot in the leg and talked into doing something I avoid whenever possible. I have every right to be grumpy."
Sasuke floundered for a second, and then just huffed and turned back around, arms folded. "Whatever."
o.o.o.o.o
September 18, 2006
1:15 PM
Westchester, New York
Sasuke shifted in his seat in the back of the car that was, at least currently, being driven by Raven herself. Tony, conversely, was in the back with Sasuke. Raven usually looked strangely prim in her day-to-day clothing, but she seemed even more severe with her new, stranger coloring. Sasuke's phone kept going off with texts from Kurt and Anna Marie, asking him if he was sure this was their mom, and that she really was finally going to come visit, and asking just how he'd found her, and so on.
The school came into view, and Sasuke could see, even from this distance, the dark grey and green splotches that were the Professor and Anna Marie. There was also a large blue splotch, much too big to be Kurt, which Sasuke assumed to be Dr. McCoy.
(He thought he remembered someone mentioning that Dr. McCoy and Raven had been friends once, but he hadn't had enough reason to pay attention to back then to be sure now.)
Raven sat stiffly, and Sasuke was pretty sure her eyes were fixed on Anna Marie, even if she couldn't see as well from this distance as he could. Undeveloped or not, an eye with a Sharingan was almost always better at sight distance than any non-Doujutsu eye, barring mutant-enhanced senses.
Tony put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and squeezed, just hard enough for Sasuke to realize that he'd been tensing up in anticipation himself. He forced himself to relax, and leaned into his uncle's touch, turning it into an actual hug that he was maybe a bit too old for now, but Pepper and Ms. Do… Raven had both told him that he was never too old for hugs.
As they came to a stop in front of the school, Raven clicked something on her watch, took a deep breath, and stepped out of the car.
"Hello, Raven." The Professor greeted her with a level of warmth that Sasuke didn't think he'd ever seen before. The Professor was always nice, but… not like this.
"Charles. Hank." Raven nodded stiffly at each of them, and then turned her attention to Anna Marie, who was now shying away into the shadow of Charles's wheelchair, and seeming much more timid than usual. She was staring at Raven with wide eyes, her lip trembling.
"Mom?"
Raven's stance and expression softened, and she knelt down to be closer to Anna Marie's height. "Hello, Marie. I'm sorry for leaving you alone all this time."
"Mom!" Anna Marie broke away from Charles and ran over to Raven, who engulfed her in a tight, soothing hug.
Sasuke looked away, suddenly feeling like he was looking at something very personal, but feeling very empty and even… envious.
He would never have that kind of reunion. Not with his parents, at least.
"Sweetheart, I'm sorry." Raven muttered against the hood that Anna Marie was wearing over her head, probably for this very purpose. "I'm so very sorry, but there wasn't any… I couldn't stay."
"But Mom," Anna Marie started, and then faltered as though she just couldn't figure out how to say it, and just looked at Charles instead.
Raven frowned, and looked at Charles. "You've all been tip-toeing around something since Sasuke figured out who I was. Just what is going on, Charles?"
The Professor smiled, just the tiniest bit. "He isn't dead, Raven."
Sasuke could hear the sharp intake of breath, even from all the way over where he was.
"Who?" Raven demanded, her embrace of Anna Marie visibly tightening. "Which…?"
Charles's smile widened, and one word was really all that he needed for his answer. "Kurt."
Sasuke had an inkling that the man had sent out a call psychically, because Kurt bamfed into his lap half a second later.
Raven stood, slowly, taking in the sight of her child for the first time in over a decade. Anna Marie moved to the side, excited enough for this occasion that she didn't try to press for more time of her own.
"Hello, mother." Kurt didn't bother with English, nor try to get closer to Raven. The young mutant simply sat in the Professor's lap, with a nervous grin and an excitedly waving tail that threatened to cut off 'Uncle' Charles's nose.
Raven took one step forward. Then another. Then she broke out into a run, scooping Kurt up into her arms when she reached the wheelchair and…
Sasuke turned away again. Crying people almost always meant the moment wasn't something he was supposed to see.
"Well, it's nice to see them playing happy families." Tony muttered, squatting down beside Sasuke. "Do you know who Kurt's dad was?"
"Some red teleporting demon in Europe that people always thought was the devil." Sasuke said, remembering the secondhand account he'd gotten from Kurt and Anna Marie, which they themselves had heard from the Professor.
"He was quite the charmer." Hank joined them a second later. "I was never quite sure of his intentions, but he and Raven didn't seem to mind getting together for a few afternoons back when she was already married."
"Whoa, wait what? This sounds like telenovela-type drama." Tony turned to Hank. "Tell me more."
"Not much to tell. Raven was married to a rather wealthy man at the time. Nice guy, very rich, completely human, dreadfully in love, treated her like a princess and all that. But he wanted an heir, and he wasn't exactly… the most fertile of men." Hank put it as delicately as he could with a child present. "And he saw that a good friend of his was getting along with his wife and apparently decided that he didn't mind if the kid wasn't technically his so long as he got to raise it."
"I'm guessing it didn't work out like that." Tony made a sympathetic face.
"Not really." Hank shook his head. "The midwife went wailing into the town about demons, a mob got rustled up, the husband got killed, and Raven tried to escape with Kurt by going into the river on a small rowboat. She passed out due to some injuries after several hours on the water, and woke up to find that she was being resuscitated by someone on a beach and Kurt was nowhere to be seen. She'd had his name sewn into all his clothing before he was born, so at least the people that found him knew that much, but Raven… she never found out he was alive before disappearing."
"You couldn't use Cerebro?" Sasuke asked, remembering the machine.
"It doesn't work that way, kiddo. Trying to find a specific mutant, especially a child or an infant, runs the risk of causing brain damage in the target. Raven was already convinced he was dead, and we didn't want to give her hope only to be the cause of the child's actual death." Hank shrugged. "It seems to have all worked out in the end."
"Yeah, only now I'll be needing a new nanny." Tony complained.
"I'm old enough to not need one now!" Sasuke complained right back. "I'm almost a legal adult in Konoha!"
"Yeah, in your village. Because of ninja rules. Not here in the US, which is comparatively modern, and that's saying something, considering the kinds of people we've got piling up in all our weirdest nooks and crannies." Tony wanted to be open to other cultures. He usually was.
But again: ninjas. Legal adult at twelve, or whenever you passed the test (which could be as young as five, apparently). Ready to kill whenever you became an adult. Forced to work for a living the second you passed that exam, unless you happened to have a support net of parents ready to catch you.
Seriously, that place gave him the creeps and he was from there, sort of.
"But," He held up a hand, "I think I can trust you enough with the little henge thing for you to stay with me or Pepper or Obie most of the time, instead of making you stay home with a nanny. As for Konoha… I really would feel better if there was someone taking care of you there."
"There are orphans in my class that have been living on their own for years!" Sasuke argued.
"Sasuke, I don't know if you know this, but living on your own is… a lot of work." Tony scratched the back of his head. "We'll talk about it later."
"Boys?"
Sasuke turned to look at the Professor, who was wheeling over to them now. The man smiled and nodded at the school. "Maybe we should give them some more privacy. There's lunch inside, if you're hungry."
"Got any burgers?" Tony asked, standing up straight. "And don't you want to talk to your sister a bit longer?"
"She'll be staying a bit longer than expected." The Professor smiled. "Thank you for convincing her to visit, Sasuke."
Sasuke looked to the side and tried to keep his face blank.
(He wasn't sure if he wanted to smile or pout or even cry. He was happy for them, really, but envy was a powerful, powerful thing.)
(Tony's arm across his shoulders is at least a bit of a reminder that he isn't alone.)
Well, at least lunch at the school is usually pretty tasty.
o.o.o.o.o
A/N: Hopefully you guys enjoyed the dramatic reveal that I finally got around to!
Phoenix
