500 Miles Hellfire 2
By Princess Alexandria
Raven could only handle a week of the empty apartment. She missed Terrance, and she could still see Mystique all over the place. It was time to go. The letter she got with a new identity and a job in Austria sat on the kitchen table as she packed. Irene was just going to have to understand.
Part of her was pissed at the precog, because she had to know Mystique was going to get into trouble and she could have warned Mystique instead of letting her get captured and sending Raven after her. Why did Irene do that? Mystique wouldn't have left. Raven tossed one of her shirts into her bag a little hard. She still couldn't understand it. She also couldn't understand how it could hurt so much when she was lucky to see Mystique once every few months. It wasn't like with Tessa, and how she used to spend every spare moment with her, but Raven still felt abandoned.
Tossing one bag over her shoulder and grabbing the other two, Raven grabbed the other papers on her table, the identity she'd created. Raven Christine was her new name. Christy had said she'd always be with her, and Raven needed to feel a little of that right now. Granted her last name was actually her first, but she'd been Raven since she was twenty one and it didn't feel like her name anymore. It wasn't that she'd hated it, it was okay as names went, and it wasn't that it was a reminder of her mother like her team had thought. She'd had to lie to them about her reasons. No, she'd switched to Raven because that's what Tessa called her. Tessa had taken a power that Raven had been embarrassed about and turned it into something worthy with just a name and a story.
The plane only took her to South Africa, no planes were allowed over the country she was going to. Raven stood on the docks and watched the people around her. The green boy in the distance, the woman with fire for hair, all of them were clearly mutants and in spite of her right to the title, Raven felt a little out of place. The ship came to rest at the dock, and who would have expected South Africa to let it dock there. Raven followed the line onto the ship, grateful that her papers were accepted. It had been hard to forge them.
"The Promised island, Mutant Utopia." A man spoke softly beside her as Raven watched the land getting closer, the city was amazing and so different looking than other cities she'd seen in her travels. "Over fifteen million mutants living openly, and growing." He continued while staring out at it with her. "Magneto welcomes all mutants, but humans need to get special permission to visit our homeland." The question was clear, and Raven had already noticed he worked for the government.
Raven didn't bother answering his question immediately, she lowered her shield and felt the death hitting her. The epidemic on the island was claiming lives, but Raven had heard it was contained and strangely she didn't have it in her to fear it. Her eyes started to glow lightly and she turned to the man beside her and let him see that she did belong on the ship. He nodded and went on his way, having done his job of screening the human looking mutants.
Raven's hand gripped the handles of her bags tightly as the power flowed over her. Death in any major city touched her, but mutant deaths always hit much harder. Still she needed her proof to be strong and so she let it batter her so that her eyes glowed as brightly as possible before they docked and Raven had to fill out endless paperwork and tests to prove herself. Her one mutant trait would save her a lot of time if she stoked it up.
Genosha loomed in front of her and Raven found herself frightened and excited in a new way. It would be easy for a mutant to get lost in a country full of mutants. So Magneto ruled it, knowing Mystique and Irene showed Raven that not all of Xavier's enemies were as bad as advertised and Raven would most likely never see him. She was working class on this trip after all, and she'd never been allowed on missions against that man. He'd never recognize her if they did cross paths.
Her papers were scrutinized again at the port, but Raven was sent on. She smiled in relief as she stepped out into the city, the longer they'd looked at the papers the more she'd worried that they realized they were fakes.
Now that she was here she had to figure out what to do first. She had no place to live, because Irene used to always take care of that. She had no preplanned job either. She really was on her own.
……………..
"If you want I think I have some old furniture in the garage. I haven't had a chance to go through everything." James told her while they stood in the center of the room. "A dresser for sure, and I have a mattress, but no frame." He sighed. "I hadn't really planned to rent it furnished, so I just got rid of a couch."
Raven looked at the large room. James had advertised this space at the grocery store and the price was cheap, it just came with extra chores around the place to make up for it. The two car garage was under her, and this was clearly an addition, a small apartment. The bathroom was fine and there was a wall with a small kitchenette. The closets were lowered because of the roof, and then the rest was just one large room. "I'll take whatever you got." She smiled at the middle aged man. "The less I have to buy the better."
"You wouldn't happen to have super strength would you?" He asked.
"Nope, I'll have to do it the hard way." She hid her irritation at once again falling short of expectations. She was hiding that she was injured as well, she couldn't even claim her normal strength at that moment.
"I'm not really afraid of working either, but my mutation makes it hard for me to go out in the sun, and the yard is just going wild because of that." James sighed. "I always lived in apartments, and I was so eager to have a house, but I forgot about that little detail. Once Steven left me, well, I just can't do it." James was what Raven considered an oversharer, he'd told Raven all the details of why he needed a live on gardener for a normal sized home. She'd heard all about how his ex had moved away without him, ending a three year relationship, leaving James with a house he couldn't take care of because the sunlight burned him. His pure white skin was very sensitive to the sun, and his black eyes were great for night vision, but in the daylight he needed special glasses just to see. He'd showed her the special windows his house had to have and explained how he had to cover up to leave for work, but that his office was an inside one without windows. He was a lonely fifty something year old gay man and Raven agreed to take the place seconds after actually seeing it.
"I know." She said gently, not wanting to hear how Steven left him again. "I need to save up money, so this works out well." She tried to relieve some of his guilt for having a young woman do this, he was a little sexist in that he felt he shouldn't ask a woman to do manual labor. "When can I move in?"
"Any time you want." He smiled and seemed to relax.
She smiled and dropped the bags she had in her hand. "How about now?"
………………
She really should have checked the job market before she came, Raven thought with a little self disgust as she left the tenth not hiring place she'd seen that day. She went into anything she had even remote experience in and it wasn't working. She'd even tried bars, which were a bit more temptation than she felt comfortable with, but they weren't hiring her. Was this how it was for regular people? Her memories of getting her first job weren't this depressing, but then she hadn't gotten herself a job since. Irene did it all, and the Professor didn't encourage her to work. He probably thought it was better if she was dependant on him, harder for her to leave, she thought less than charitably.
At least she didn't have Terrance here, she thought with some relief. He might have liked to see this place, but she would have felt terrible if she'd been reduced to peanut butter and jelly meals only with him there, and it was looking like that might be a possibility. Raven sat up straighter on the bench and scolded herself for thinking the worst so early in the hunt. She was just scared because she'd never really been on her own before, not really, because Irene had been with her in spirit, but she'd finally moved out of that. This was growing up, and she was so past time to be responsible for herself.
Irene had both given her and cost her a lover. Raven just needed some time away from her. A sad bitter smile crossed her lips at that thought, time away from a dead woman. Her life really was far from normal. She pulled her sketch pad out and sat back more comfortably to start to draw for a little while.
The obvious mutants casually walking around in the opened were inspiring on a few levels. She worked hard to keep her hand from shaking as she focused on one girl sitting on the grass in the tiny park reading and started to draw. The constant source of power was starting to feel comforting, a low hum of arousal stayed with her from it, but she was a little shakier with so many mutants, and therefore mutant deaths around her. She could block out humans, but mutants always leaked through her shields, and no country, city, was without death. She even remembered being lost once and finding the right way to walk by feeling the level of death. Bobby had been slightly impressed Raven could find the way to the city.
Her pencil sketched the unusual looking girl, who actually reminded her of a piece of art she'd seen before. The gothic girl wore black and was pale. It was an interesting look to find her, the posterchild for gothic life, sitting under a tree reading. It just set Raven's pencil moving faster.
When the girl looked up toward her Raven noticed the girl's eyes widen just a little. "Death." It was said softly, and Raven glanced around her, hoping the girl wasn't talking to her, but she was the only one there. "You'll crawl out of death, like a butterfly out of a cocoon." The words sparked some half memory, but Raven couldn't grasp it. She did however grasp the familiar talk of a precog in a vision. "So bright. So pretty." The girl still stared at her without seeming to see the Raven of today. "But so quiet. Stay so quiet or you'll kill her. Whisper quiet or the bright lady will kill the shiny one." The girl's voice became a whisper, but Raven could still hear it. "So hard not to scream, you fight so hard." The gothic girl blinked and shook her head a little, before staring at Raven and seeming to really see her. "You get all that?"
"Uh, yeah." Raven felt her own face paling at the hint to a future horror.
"Don't forget. I like the shiny lady, something about her is familiar." The girl sat up a bit straighter. "My mutant name is Negasonic Teenage Warhead." Her head tilted a little as she seemed to study Raven curiously.
"And what do people who don't have all day to say your name call you?" Raven asked, thinking a codename like that would never work in the field.
"Ellie." The girl smiled at her, amused. "Ellie Phimister."
"I'm Raven Christine." Raven gave a small polite smile.
"No, you're a Christine that is a Raven." Ellie spoke with a hint of amusement still in her voice, but Raven felt a wave of nervousness at the comment. It made the other vision more real if this girl was that good.
"Why aren't you in school?" Ellie looked to be about sixteen.
"It doesn't start until next week, we get January off." Ellie stood up and tucked her book into some pocket in her long robe, dress, whatever, Raven couldn't really categorize it. "I'm working more while I can." Ellie looked up at her. "Johnny, one of the personal trainers, is about to hurt his back slipping on a wet floor. Perhaps you might want to walk me to work." Ellie didn't bother saying more, she just turned around and started down the sidewalk. Raven stared after her a moment, before quickly putting her sketchpad and pencil in her bag and rushing after her. That sounded like Ellie was thinking of a job.
Raven was letting a strange kid she'd just met call the shots now, she thought with a heavy sigh. She felt a little bit like a beggar, and a little foolish, but personal trainer was on her list of things she could do.
Ellie glanced over at Raven, seeming to study her body but without it being sexual. "I'll give you a free pass to work out. I work the check in desk. Be helpful." Ellie instructed her and gave her a slight smile.
"Do people know you're so manipulative?" Raven smiled back, liking this girl more and more.
"That would defeat the purpose." Ellie's smile faded and she moved toward a gym. The gym looked to be three stories from what Raven could see in the windows. "Go buy something to work out in that shows off your muscles. Ask me for a trial membership, oh and don't let on you know me or Johnny will be upset I didn't say anything before I left for lunch."
"You knew?" This girl was a little ruthless.
"No, but he'll assume I did." Ellie's face scrunched up a little in irritation. Raven could understand that, it took her a while to understand how precognition worked herself. "I like you and you're supposed to be here." Ellie said it like it was fate. She then turned and went into the building, leaving Raven outside.
She left where one precog told her she was supposed to be only to have another tell her she was where she was supposed to be.
………………..
Raven studied her current client, taking in the extra set of arms and trying to anticipate the issues they'd need to deal with in the woman's workout. It didn't help that the woman was looking at Raven with a little amusement. "You always wear sunglasses inside?" The woman spoke with a voice deep enough to be a man's.
"I got tired of people avoiding my eyes, staring, or trying really hard to not let on anything is strange." Raven muttered as she started to write the woman's name, Karen Torkenson, on the woman's tracker, the paper that showed progress and where Raven could write her recommendations for the woman's workout.
"Land full of mutants and still old habits die hard." The woman spoke a little softer. "That will stop when they get used to it and if you can't be yourself here, where could you be?"
Raven sighed and looked up from what she was writing, which was a new set of boxes for the extra set of arms. She wasn't assuming all four arms were the same strength. "Yeah, but I get tired of telling people they just glow, they don't actually DO anything." They always glowed now, the effect of living in Genosha for a week was very visible on her.
"And I just have a few extra arms. It isn't like I'm super strong or anything." Karen smiled at her and while it was a rather masculine face, it wasn't unattractive. "Ditch the glasses if you don't need them. Makes you look ashamed."
"What are you a counselor or something?" Raven smiled just a little and moved to start loading some weight onto the machine to test the woman's limits.
"Actually I am. A Psychologist." Karen laid back down on the bench and scooted up so the lower arms were level with the bar. "But if you start talking about your childhood and all that Freudian stuff I'll have to charge you, instead of you charging me."
"Alright, I'll keep all my talk about cigars, bananas, and other phallic symbols to myself." Raven smiled. "Check this out and see if you can lift it wimpy."
"Wimpy?" Karen chuckled and reached up for the bar. Raven noticed her eyes trailing over the two set of arms again, wondering if having an extra set would be helpful, and with the talk of Freud she couldn't help but wonder how helpful they'd be in bed. Damn, if Mystique were still with her she might have asked her to try that. Finally she had a new fantasy, one that Mystique would most likely enjoy, and now she had no lover.
Karen was leaving at the same time a familiar face came in the door. Raven smiled at Ellie and glanced at the clock. "Hey, how was school?" It was the first day back for Ellie.
"Got a few new teachers." Ellie moved around the counter and put her book bag underneath it while logging into the computer to clock in. "Looks okay so far. My telepathy teacher is a bit sarcastic, but she has good ideas."
"You have telepathy?" Raven asked.
"A little." Ellie smiled. "Not that I can read you. I can see you with my precog, but telepathically you just aren't there."
"That's,"
"Part of your powers," Ellie interrupted, "I know."
"Okay, here's a tip. Pretend you actually need people to tell you things, it makes them feel better." Raven leaned over the counter and noticed Ellie's eyes travel to her less than formidable cleavage for just a moment, before looking Raven in the eye again. Raven did her best to not smirk at the teenager. She had never considered her breasts an eye catcher.
"So how was work?"
"Stop flirting with the jail bait and get upstairs." Another voice interrupted them and Raven turned to see the manager giving her a slightly irritated look. Perhaps letting it slip that she was gay to avoid the gym Casanova wasn't the best thing to do if every time Raven stopped to talk to a woman she'd be getting this response. "Denise, your three o'clock, skipped check in again and is waiting for you."
"Alrighty." Raven did her best to not glare at him, and didn't acknowledge his dig about her and Ellie. "See you later." She smiled at Ellie.
"Wait." Ellie reached out a hand to rest it on Raven's arm. The girl's hand was cool. Raven leaned back a little at the other hand reaching for her face, a bit shocked, but then the building became much brighter. "She was right. You shouldn't hide your eyes." Ellie spoke softly, a rare blush on her face as she stole Raven's sunglasses.
"Ah, okay." Raven stammered it out before heading for the stairs. Ellie took some getting used to, knowing things she shouldn't, and inexperienced in hiding it like Irene did. Raven even wondered if perhaps Ellie might end up being more powerful than Irene someday, or if it was just a difference in the way the two women's powers worked.
Raven felt a little flustered with the contact, but she had work to do. Maybe they had been flirting. It was a disturbing thought that caused Raven to frown just a little as she took the stairs two at a time. She really should watch that. Flirting with a sixteen year old was really rather Mrs. Robinson of her. She wasn't a cradle robber, regardless of the Professor's claims the last time Raven was interested in someone underage.
……………
Raven took a quick shower after work. The locker room wasn't very busy on a Saturday, and she'd been roped into the morning shift. While waking up that early sucked and Raven hoped she never had that shift again, she did now have an afternoon to herself.
She wasn't going to rush back home to work in the yard, it was coming along nicely and Raven decided she'd earned some time off. She just wasn't sure what to do with it.
As she was getting dressed she noticed one of her clients doing her hair. "Karen, what do people do for fun around here?" Karen turned to look at her.
"Well, there are plays and movies just like any other city." Karen teased her. "Oh, and restaurants."
"I can't really afford any of those things." Raven gave a fake tired sigh. "Poor peasant that I am. I just want to kill a few hours and I'm new here."
"On a budget," Karen nibbled on her bottom lip a moment. "Well my husband and I spent last weekend at the Saturday market. I liked it, but he was bored." Karen sat down and started to put her shoes on while also doing up the buttons on her shirt. Raven's eyebrow rose for a moment, impressed with the coordination of all those arms. "They had so many craft booths, it was fun. I bought a new wind chime for the porch."
Art in any form interested Raven. "That sounds cool."
"How about you dry that hair and I'll take you for a few hours." Karen smiled at Raven's surprise. "Hey, consider me the welcome wagon, without the baking and prying into your home for a hint of a scandal."
"Cool." Raven smiled and moved to work on her hair, but she just combed it out. It would dry fast even though it was longer than it used to be, ending in the middle of her back. She'd dyed it blue for this trip, figuring that she'd blend in better if she stuck out a little in this country. "Oh and I thought you were a psychologist, don't you make a living out of prying?"
"And you're a glorified cheer leader." Karen teased back.
"Push it out, Push it out… way out." Raven cheered quietly, making Karen chuckle.
The day was slightly overcast, but it wouldn't have mattered if it rained. The Saturday market was actually in an old warehouse and when they walked in Raven stared around at the booths, shocked at the number of them. There were several food booths on the outside, but this was where the action was.
They walked past a booth with beautiful woven blankets and Raven stared longingly at one for a moment. "Oh I wish I had money." She groaned in disappointment, not even letting herself reach out to feel it.
"Are you really having trouble?" Karen asked her and reached out to grab Raven's elbow to steer them out of the crowd a moment. Raven considered lying.
"Yeah." She sighed. "I'm the new employee, so I don't get the hours. When Johnny came back my hours were cut. Next week looks bad."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Karen looked a little troubled.
"It's no big deal. I'll find a second job eventually. I'm still looking." And if it weren't for Ellie she knew she wouldn't have found a first job. She was surprised she was even telling Karen this.
"Well, that's good." Karen smiled at her and they dove back into the masses to check out more booths. They were there for two hours before they stood near the exit, having seen it all.
"I wanted a cartoon, like we got at SeaWorld." A sad voice spoke, a young kid of about seven was talking to a parent. "We got one in DisneyWorld too, and this place is so nice. I don't even have to hide my ears."
Karen was saying something, but Raven shared a brief look with her and then with her eyes made it clear she was eavesdropping as the parent tried to explain how they just didn't do that here. "Aw damn." Raven sighed and turned to Karen. "Gimme ten minutes?" The kid just wanted a drawing that looked like he really looked without an image inducer on.
"What are you going to do?"
"Draw a cartoon." Raven started to pull her sketchpad out of her bag and walked up to the family. "Hey, you need an artist?" She smiled at the family and spoke quietly, fully aware of her new friend watching her. Raven opened up her sketchpad and did what she rarely did. She shared her partly done sketches. "I can do cartoons too, but I usually save those for the margins of math homework."
"What do you charge?" The father asked, seeming a little wary, but also a little hopeful. Charge. Drahke's lesson about her worth came back to her, and the huge amount she'd gotten for the painting for Heather, but this was a quick little ten minute job, tops.
"What did you pay in SeaWorld?" She asked him. It didn't sound like he'd lied about the amount and Raven offered to take that. It was more than she thought ten minutes were worth, but she didn't want to undervalue herself either.
Ten minutes later she left the smiling family with a page out of her sketchpad and walked up to Karen, who was reaching for her pad with three hands before Raven could put it away. "You are a really good person." Karen smiled at her and then opened the sketchbook. "These are beautiful." Karen muttered as she flipped through it. "Real art."
"Thank you." Raven blushed a little.
"Have you considered being a professional artist?" Karen asked, and Raven did her best to not grimace. Of course she'd thought about it, but you need to sit still for something like that. You need to stick with a life. "You could make money on this you know."
The topic was dropped but Raven started to think about it, and the next day she was back at the market, asking how much it was to have a booth. She'd offered to take the nasty early Saturday morning shift indefinitely if they'd promise her the rest of the weekend off at the gym and Raven was very nervous as she put her rent money down for a booth, praying she'd make it back.
That week she worked hard on samples of the cartoon style that took little time. She picked out sketches that were more realistic for the samples as well. She did some in conte crayon as well, it was a fast way to have color, since she wasn't going to try and paint in that place.
"Ellie." Raven's favorite for her sketchpad was of this girl and since she was the only local in the book that was clearly done and recognizable, Raven thought she should ask first. She leaned over the desk. "I'm gonna have a booth at the Saturday market, doing sketches and such."
"Yes you can use the drawing that I never gave you permission to do." Ellie smirked at her, with that damned amused expression on her face.
"Ah, thank you." Raven felt a blush come to her cheeks. She'd planned to lead up to that question.
Raven found herself making some decent money during the next weekend, and even with the government taking a chunk she came out enough ahead to feel good about her gamble. Still she was a little disappointed with how high income taxes were in Genosha, and the fact she couldn't get out of them like she'd gotten out of it in all her other lives. The booth owners had to pay out taxes daily. Apparently Magneto found the loophole that Raven had been using, which meant a few others did that too. Well, at least this was a government she'd actually want to support. She knew for a fact these people weren't using her money against her and other mutants.
……………….
"I'm becoming a tour guide. I should start charging for it." Karen said as she pushed the barbell up again. "I told new woman in my office building that I'd show her around this weekend." Raven helped Karen guide the barbell back into place and Karen gave a large sigh and shook two arms out. "Maybe you could come with us. You need to make more friends, and she's pretty." Karen wiggled her eyebrows at Raven.
"Thanks, but I thought I was dating you." Raven pretended to be innocent. "And now I find you're dating her too." Her bottom lip shook, as she tried to pretend to be about to sob.
"I'm sure Max would like that." Karen rolled her eyes as she mentioned her husband. "As long as you like an audience."
"My audience days are over." Raven pushed gently on Karen's shoulders to indicate the break was over. "And my right hand is the jealous type even if your husband isn't."
"Well, I've got two to keep her busy, she might not notice." Karen grinned as she grabbed the barbell again.
"You straight girls, its all tease tease tease and no action." Raven sighed heavily, but helped guide the barbell up for Karen.
"Seriously though," Karen pushed her arms out and held them there for a moment. "She's a sex therapist, and she dresses like she might do hands on work if you know what I mean." The bar was lowered to Karen's chest and Raven watched for any sign of tired muscles, not wanting her client to get stuck.
"So you're trying to set me up with a slut. How kind." Raven watched Karen's form as she went through with another set. "A professional slut, but a slut regardless."
"She's not a slut. She's," Karen paused in her talking and workout "liberated and unashamed." It sounded like a line even Karen wasn't buying.
"So she's an equal opportunity slut?" Raven moved to help Karen put the weights down and waited for Karen to shake her arms out again before they moved to another station.
"I don't know." Karen groaned a little as she sat up, still sore from the sit ups they'd started with. "I just assumed a woman in her field might be open minded about gender." Karen smirked.
"Leave the blind dates out of this and we could have a beautiful friendship." Raven's smile faded a little as she caught Karen's eyes and made it clear that wasn't joke. Her voice softened. "Really, thanks for caring, but I don't want any help."
"If you change your mind, let me know." Karen reached out and touched Raven's elbow gently, before turning to walk towards the next station. Raven had told Karen the very basics that she'd been dumped recently, and maybe it would have been better to keep that to herself. Who would have thought the Psychologist had dreams of being a match maker?
"She's probably too busy to date anyhow. She works nights seeing couples and has some sort of day job. I only see her in passing."
………………..
Raven sat in the break room after her shift microwaving a lunch before she left for her booth. Her back and shoulders were tense and she did what she could to stretch it out while reading the newspaper someone left there.
"Here." Ellie's voice surprised her, and then the hands on her shoulders surprised her even more. Ellie's hands started to kneed at the tight muscles. "You can't pretend you aren't hurt like you do and not expect to hurt yourself even more." Ellie scolded quietly. "You were shot weren't you? I saw the scar."
"Yeah." Raven tried to think of a good lie, but then realized who she was talking to. Lying to Ellie just got her called on it and embarrassed. "Rescue mission gone bad."
"Playing hero." Ellie's hands moved down Raven's arms just a little and Raven could hear the bell of the microwave go off, but she didn't move. "Bend your head forward." Ellie gently pushed the back of Raven's head to make her do it and Raven shivered from the intimacy. No one really touched her, even Mystique had been remote ever since Raven got shot. It felt nice. The hands moved to work the sides of Raven's neck and then started to trail down the sides of Raven's spine. Ellie was a natural. Raven rested her elbows on the table and submitted to the treatment silently, part of her churning with the idea she should stop it. She kept telling herself it was innocent, but her body wasn't listening. Ellie's fingers found a knot of muscle and worked at it, making Raven moan with relief. "Don't pretend to be so macho, and take it easy." Ellie scolded, but her voice was soft and quiet. "And you can't leave. Don't let anyone run you off." The words didn't make sense, which meant they probably really meant something and Raven would figure it out later.
One final squeeze and Ellie stepped away. Raven noticed the light blush on the girl's face, but knowing her own matched she just gave Ellie a shy smile and got up to get her lunch. "Thanks."
"No problem." Ellie opened up one of the employee lockers and shoved her bag into it. "I better get to work. Have a nice day," Ellie turned to stare at her, looking very serious. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"I'm not working."
"But you better be around." Ellie spoke firmly, before turning to leave. Raven stared after her for a moment before starting to eat. She really needed to get moving so she could get to the Saturday Market, with that thought in mind she ate faster to try and make up time she'd let Ellie have.
……………….
Raven had soft music playing just loud enough to hear it over the noise of people checking out the booths as she stared at the teenager sitting in the hot seat, which was what she called the chair she had her subjects use. "Do you want anything special for the background?" The girl, Wicked, had paid the extra for a realistic sketch, and background. It took Raven some time to draw the fishnet stockings the girl wore, but now that it was done it was time to think backgrounds.
"Can I show you?" Wicked asked her and Raven just had to smile at that name again. Sure the girl dressed a little trashy, not slutty, just a little trashy, but she seemed sweet, not wicked. Raven nodded and then her eyes widened as ghosts suddenly appeared around the girl. "Can you draw them in?"
"Ah," Raven stared at the six ghosts swirling around the girl. "Um," She felt a little cold. "Can they stay still long enough?"
"Sure." Wicked smiled at her and after a second of talking to the dead the ghosts posed for Raven around Wicked. Raven took a deep breath and ignored the staring crowd she could practically feel behind her as she studied the ghosts.
"Can you." She pointed to one of the ghosts, "move just a little to the left?" The ghost smiled at her and shifted. "Good." It made the circle of dead people even around the girl. "Okay." Raven started to move her hand over the paper trying to do it like she would do clouds and hoping it would look right.
"Normally people freak out." Wicked spoke casually but Raven could see some curiosity behind the façade.
"I have a death power too." Raven glanced up at the girl and gave her a small smile. "Never saw ghosts before, but I've felt them."
"Oh, cool." Wicked shifted a little in the chair and went quiet. When Raven finished up the ghosts moved to look at the finished product as well and Raven tried to not react to the one male ghost that tried to pat her on the back in appreciation, only to have his hand go right through her. To Raven it felt like her body was trying to grab onto something that wasn't there, like her power had kicked in halfway and then stalled. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. She was glad her day was done after Wicked walked away and Raven packed up her sample books and supplies.
It was still daylight. She never worked so late she couldn't get home before dark, but it would be a late dinner that night. Raven walked down the city streets heading for the edge of the city and the street she lived on. The smell of restaurants made her consider stopping in one and eating on her way.
"Raven." A familiar voice called after her. She noticed Karen leaning out a restaurant door. "We're just waiting to be seated. Want to join us?" Raven could see Max just inside the door and smiled. She'd never met him, but she'd heard stories from Karen.
Her hand dug into her pocket as she felt the money she just made. She could afford this. "Not really dressed up Karen."
"If you're overly concerned about appearances maybe you should visit my office and lay on the couch a while." Karen called back while moving to hold the door opened with a smile.
"If these people take one look at me and point to the door you'll owe me." Raven spoke quietly and nodded to Max. She was in jeans and a t-shirt and Karen was dressed a bit nicer, so were most of the people waiting for a seat.
"It'll be nice to have a fourth." Karen spoke quietly. "I'm showing that sex therapist around and we decided to do dinner." There was a hint of teasing in the voice.
"I can't believe you managed to rope me into this." Raven shook her head and glanced around for the woman in question.
"In the bathroom. She'll be out soon."
"I'm Max." Karen's husband held out a hand.
"I know, Karen showed me a picture." Raven smiled and gave him a brief handshake. "I'm Raven."
He smiled, a hint of teasing in his eyes. "I know. Karen showed me a picture."
"Oh don't worry Raven. I only showed him the one I took of you in the shower." Karen teased. Raven blushed a little.
"Karen," A voice cut through all the teasing and Raven froze, her eyes wide. Her heart was hammering as she slowly turned around, and her face paled suddenly. Emma Frost glanced at her and then looked again. Raven could see the second the woman recognized her. Emma's eyes widened and her head tilted just a little.
"I forgot I have plans tonight." Raven spoke to Karen, but could barely pull her eyes off of Emma to do it. "I really need to go." She turned for the door, her eyes looking around nervously for anyone else she didn't want to see. She could almost hear Selene's voice, hear the Black Queen's words about how Raven would always be hers. She could hear Shaw's laughter as he forced himself down her throat.
"Christy." Emma spoke softly, clearly still stunned, but Raven pushed through the crowd toward the door. "Raven" Emma's voice rose behind her as Raven slammed into the door and shoved it opened.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Karen's voice was right behind her and Raven felt arms circle her before she could run. "Whoa, Raven… calm down."
"Let me go!" Raven yelled and struggled, managing to slam a foot down on her friend's foot. When Karen lost her grip Raven spun around, her eyes wild but pained. She didn't have time to explain. Emma probably wasn't alone, and Raven didn't know who Emma would have with her.
She slammed into a man on the sidewalk, knocking him down and stumbling herself, but then Raven started to run.
"Raven, you're over reacting." A boy called out to her, his speech sounding like Emma. Another few steps and a woman she almost slammed into when she stepped out of a store stared at her. "This isn't necessary, you know that don't you?" Again Raven could tell who really was saying these things. She started running faster as the light on the crosswalk started to blink. "I won't hurt you Raven." A mother with a small child called out after her. Raven couldn't risk it. Christy might have, but Raven couldn't. She started to sprint down a side street and hopefully away from people Emma could control. If the telepath decided to make someone capture Raven, Raven would have to fight an innocent and she was trying to move away fast so that didn't happen.
Her exercising paid off in that she wasn't huffing and about to collapse as she darted down alleys and across streets, trying to get home. She felt like she should just leave her bags and run, but they were all she had, and with the boats being the only way on or off this rock she'd have to do something about her looks or she'd be recognized. The green of the suburbs were in the distance, this city being freakish in its abrupt line between city and suburbs and Raven felt her heart pounding a bit hard. She didn't have much left in her after trying to dodge the telepaths many eyes.
A white blur darted across the street right in front of her and Raven's feet stopped and she skidded towards the limo that had just slammed on its breaks blocking her way. The door opened and a woman in all white stepped out mere feet from her. Emma stood regally in front of the car and Raven could easily see the White Queen's commanding presence, her power. "Raven," was all Emma Frost got out before Raven brought her right fist up and slammed it into the telepaths face. Emma rocked backward and Raven didn't even bother to wait and see her fall as Raven jumped over the limo's trunk and onto the other side. "RAVEN!" An angry yell that made Raven run faster called after her.
Raven could hear the limo tires squealing and she ran right for the hill, jumped over the ditch and started to climb through trees and bushes. She ignored the scratches and the branches that caught on her bag, yanking it and herself away whenever she got tangled. Emma Frost wasn't someone she wanted to battle, it wasn't a fight she could win. The Mistress was powerful, more powerful than Raven. Raven ducked branches and tripped over some roots as she made her way towards home the hard way.
Christy had wanted Emma, but Raven hadn't. It was the one thing they hadn't agreed on and Raven had been helpless to stop it. The taste of the blonde seemed to ghost over Raven's lips and Raven did her best to block out the memory.
She was dirty and exhausted as she crept onto her street. Her mind was on where she had the letters for her friends here and where her bags were. She looked around the house carefully before pulling her keys out and unlocking the door beside the garage that lead to her stairs. Sweat clung to her body and she panted as she climbed the stairs, every step painful for abused legs. As she stepped into the main room she pulled the bag off her shoulder and let it dangle a moment before dropping it.
"Now will you listen?" A cold voice made Raven's back go ridged in shock and she turned to the chair in the corner to see the telepath she'd been running from holding an ice pack to her cheek and glaring at her. Raven took a step back away from the fire in Emma's eyes, before clenching her fists and preparing to fight. "I was very surprised to see you here Raven." Emma pulled the ice pack away from the bruised cheek. "It is Raven, I can tell the difference." Emma motioned to where Raven had hit her. "Christy never would have done this."
"I'll do more than that if you don't let me go." Raven glanced out the window, thinking that Emma must have backup. She tried to see if she could see anyone out there, while also not taking her eyes off of the telepath for too long.
"Karen is absolutely beside her self with worry dear. I had to leave her at the restaurant so I could try and catch up with you. I also had to discourage her from coming to check on you herself." Emma's voice was clipped with anger. "I told you I wasn't going to hurt you."
"Like I should trust that?" Raven's voice was cold. "I'm not going back."
"I'm not with the Hellfire club anymore." Emma's voice softened just a little. "And I'd never make you go back." Raven watched warily as Emma put the ice pack down and gently touched her own bruise. "I suppose I can consider this fair, but I won't let you hit me again." Raven's hands were shaking, but she refused to talk. She was listening very carefully to the background noise, the soft wind rustled trees, the neighbor kids playing in the street, in case Emma was just supposed to distract her and someone else was out there, but Raven was starting to believe that it really was a colossal coincidence that lead to this. "You know, I was surprised when no one ever mentioned what happened to you after I joined Xavier's little crew. I ran a branch campus of his school, I've been playing a good little telepath Raven. I've sat down to dinner with your teammates and I was surprised to find out the Xmen didn't know about it," the way she said it held some remorse, "or where you were." Emma sighed heavily. "I didn't volunteer any information, but why didn't you?"
Silence filled the room and Raven opened her mouth for just a moment, before closing it. She didn't owe Emma an explanation, her mind screamed, but then she remembered Emma caring for Christy after Selene's tortures and she opened her mouth again, her voice barely a whisper, "The Professor told me to never tell." Her jaw clenched as she tried to not let tears form while she told someone that really knew what she'd suffered what her mentor's response had been. "The Xmen, Storm, she would have ripped you apart." Her voice gained a little volume with her threat.
"And you didn't want that?" Emma sat back in Raven's old crappy chair as if it were a throne. Emma tilted her head just a little. "Tessa and I waited for the second attack, the one I suspected would be very bloody indeed, but it never came." Raven didn't respond, she stayed silent, unsure what to say. She stared at the woman in white, taking in the pants and short top that exposed Emma's firm stomach, thinking it was strange to see Emma in pants. She was used to seeing the telepath in a lot less. Raven stared into light blue eyes staring back at her and could see Emma was doing the same thing, comparing what she was seeing to what she remembered. "You look good." Emma finally interrupted the silence and for some reason Raven found herself relaxing, her battle ready stance faded and she was just standing there. "With your hair I almost didn't recognize you."
"That's the point." Raven took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "To not be recognized. I'm hiding."
"In Magneto's country." Emma crossed her legs and sat back in the chair. "You really don't want to be found do you?"
"Who would look for me here?" Raven glanced around the room for a moment, feeling disoriented by the conversation. The sticky sweat and dirt made her skin itch and she could feel the cold of her damp clothes as she stood before a woman she could never really understand. Emma wasn't a monster like Selene, but she wasn't kind like Tessa, and while Christy had her strong opinions of the woman Raven never really knew what to think. "Hiding near his enemies made sense to me." She muttered as she tried to think of what to do now.
"Sebastian might not really like Magneto, but he hardly thinks about him anymore."
"The Professor, I was talking about the Professor." Raven swallowed hard and made a decision. She'd sit. It took a while to make up her mind and she moved a little hesitantly as she sat on the bed facing Emma. Raven's hand clenched into fists. Emma just nodded like she'd expected that and more silence hit the room. Raven spoke quietly, her head bowed submissively. "Please give me time to run before you tell anyone." Raven wondered if she should use the word Mistress, if it would help her cause.
"There's no need to run." Emma sighed. "I must admit that no one knows I'm here either and I'm not eager to let them know." Raven looked up to see Emma looking at her a little strangely, it almost looked like remorse, but it was gone quickly. "This country is easily large enough for both of us to get the privacy we desire."
Raven stared a moment, doubtful that she could trust Emma. She should probably pretend to and then leave in the morning as soon as the boats start to work.
"I didn't enjoy hurting you." Emma looked past Raven to stare out the window with a sigh. "It was regrettable that we didn't meet under better circumstance. I would have let you go you know, if it had been up to me. The best I could do was try to keep the others away as much as possible."
"You were the White Queen. You claimed to be so powerful." Raven's throat felt tight, and she followed Emma's lead in not really looking directly at her. "If you wanted to help you could have helped." Raven could feel Emma's eyes on her now.
"My choices were limited. There were three of us and Selene and Sebastian were so excited to have an Xman in the club. I couldn't outvote them and if I had tried I would have lost the right to any contact." Raven risked looking at her and Emma was looking right back. "Tessa captured you, which gave her rights and my rights were hard won while you were in the cold room, but I had to be very careful not to seem too sympathetic or it would have been Sebastian or Selene that kept you most of the time. I had to do some heavy negotiating to keep you out of their hands as much as I did."
"Why?" Raven wasn't sure she believed it, but the idea of either of the others having been in Emma's place wasn't a comforting one. There was a lot worse than Emma out there.
"I wish I could tell you stories about wanting to do the right thing, but I did it for power. Tessa was much more powerful than the others realized because she had the ear of many people. I wanted her to owe me and she wanted more control over how you were treated." Emma's eyes trailed over Raven. "You intrigued her." Emma spoke softly. "Now that I've shared how about you do the same."
"What?" Raven was still stunned that Emma would admit to be so selfish as to only help because of what it would get her. And Tessa had asked for Emma's help?
"Well, it occurs to me that while I had the chance to ask Christy, I never did get to speak with you." Emma leaned forward a little. "Why were you in the club to start with?" Raven sat back a bit in shock, the familiar question making her feel some of the same helplessness as before. She couldn't answer that and she just stared at Emma until Emma waved a hand to the side. "Nevermind. It looks like I won't be getting that answer from you either. You are lucky Christy didn't know or we would have gotten it from her."
"Christy knew." Raven had to defend Christy's strength. "She knew all along and she never told." Christy hadn't known the why, but the who was what the others were most interested in and Christy didn't betray Tessa.
"She did?" Emma seemed deep in thought for a moment, before shaking her head as if dismissing that line of thought. "Well, she was definitely a strong woman." Emma looked into Raven's eyes. "You both were." Emma stood up. "Do you remember much?"
"I remember it all." Raven spoke very quietly.
"I'd hoped the drugs would do more for you than they did for me." Emma sighed and moved toward the door. "I'll leave you so you can shower. You look like you must have falling in the dirt a few times." Raven just stared as Emma closed the door behind her, surprised at the comment and the hint of true concern it suggested.
Raven had her three bags packed right after her shower and she stood in the middle of the room staring at them. She didn't know what to do, part of her believed Emma wouldn't tell anyone, but could she risk it all on that? Irene hadn't sent a letter, but then Irene hadn't sent her there to begin with. Would Irene know where she was?
Ellie told her to stay. Thinking of Irene reminded Raven of the other precog's words. Raven bit her lower lip and stared at her bags. Without anything else to go on, she had to trust Ellie and Emma's words because of Ellie. Raven left the bags packed, but she put them back in her closet. She liked it in Genosha and she wasn't going to let Emma run her out of it.
It took her a very long time to fall asleep that night, and her nightmares startled her awake as soon as she had.
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