500 Miles Hellfire 2
By Princess Alexandria
Raven stood still, her arms wrapped around her, as the people she used to live with closed in on her. She started to feel trapped and nervous as Hank and Scott came closer. Logan stood back a bit and Raven's eyes traveled to him, unaware of the pleading she had in them.
"What are you doing here?"
"Are you okay?"
"You're glowing, why?"
Words traveled to her, but Raven just turned to stare at the ocean, rather than look towards the remains of the school Ellie died in. "Death." She whispered and stared at the gentle waves and beautiful blue sky. "It hit us so fast no one could stop it." Ellie, her mind returned to Ellie's words. "But I didn't scream, not once." The other's words trailed off and Raven could hear footsteps coming closer. "That much death was too much, way too much." Her head dropped just a bit. "But I didn't scream." Her voice a little stronger, as she considered her one and only victory in this, she fulfilled Ellie's last wish and didn't scream. Emma was alive.
"No you didn't." Emma spoke softly while she walked up, joining the circle around Raven. Emma spoke as if she were talking to Fredrick, the boy who at least didn't die alone, but died none the less. "What was that thing?"
"Portal." Raven turned just enough to see Emma next to her. "It's what Christy made to get to this world, and what she made to get out. It went somewhere." Raven really had no idea where that one had gone, but nothing went through so it didn't really matter.
"We have to see if there are any more survivors." Scott spoke, with a hint of regret in his voice and Raven turned to look at him. He looked older, harder, than he used to be. "Raven," He moved forward just a little bit, "we'll talk later. Get some rest, get something to drink." Get out of the way, Raven's mind filled in for a bitter moment, but his brief touch of her arm belied that. "I'm glad you're okay."
"I'm not." Her voice stayed quiet, but grew cold. "But if I can walk it's enough isn't it. Doesn't matter how much it hurts, if I can soldier on. Who the hell did this to us?"
"Sentinels." Raven just stared around at the destruction in disbelief. Sentinels couldn't do this, hell an atomic bomb would have been a better answer to this mess. "We've never seen anything like it." He was answering her instead of running off, so Raven brought her eyes back to him.
"Yeah," She took a deep breath and turned to stare at the bones on the ground she hadn't noticed before. "You better see if anyone made it." She turned to stare back out at the water she'd been painting just that morning, having seen more than enough of the country itself. It felt familiar, standing out of the way while the real mutants worked, old emotional hurts opened to join the gapping painful oozing ones she already had.
Emma stayed with her, while the heroes ran to find what little life they could. Raven could feel the woman standing close, staring at the water with her. "You're still glowing." Emma spoke gently, but when Raven turned to look at her, Emma was still looking at the water.
"And you're still…" The automatic insult stopped, faded away, and Raven looked out at the burning boat she could see floating in the ocean, drifting, the owner most likely dead. "And you're still here." Raven whispered.
"I don't feel as much anymore." Emma turned to face Raven. "I can't help with the search because my telepathy is gone." It bothered Emma, Raven could see it.
"It isn't gone." Raven sighed and her rigid back relaxed just a bit. "It's just shut off. Thank god, you wouldn't have wanted to feel..." Her eyes trailed over the ruins again. "So much death, I still feel people dying. That's all they do, they just lay there dying." Her voice held accusation and bitterness. "They should just fucking get up and do something, not just lay there." She could hear her own insanity, recognized that she couldn't blame the people dying for what she was feeling, but it was still there. The anger was still there.
"I'm sure they want to." Emma's voice was soft, soothing. It made Raven feel uncomfortable, knowing she was being humored. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her mind. She didn't want to say anything else crazy today.
"I can only find the dying." Raven felt a tear of helplessness trail down her cheek as more deaths hit her. She wanted to help; she looked at the people in weird radiation suits, and only briefly worried about exposure to whatever it was they were worried about. She was more concerned with the way they were trying to find people buried out there.
"We can make that work." Emma waited just a moment, before turning to walk towards the nearest radiation suit man. Raven followed behind her. "It's better than just waiting here. I don't do helpless well." Emma admitted and Raven stayed quiet. They joined a small team and in very little time Raven was pointing her team out to where she felt something. Raven stood back as Hank joined them and helped to dig. When Emma started to help as well it dawned on Raven that she didn't have to stay out of it, that she could help in that as well. She moved to take the other end of the mess Emma was working on to help her pull it away.
"We've got a live one." One of the other men called out and Raven was almost run over as Hank moved to help them clear the last of it. Her lessons in staying out of the way reasserted themselves and Raven stepped back and let the others work, pulling a teenage boy out of the wreckage.
"Let's go." Emma reached out and took Raven's hand. "There anywhere else you feel something?" Hank was looking over the boy, checking his health as best he could in this situation.
"Um," Raven closed her eyes and tried to feel the deaths, to pinpoint direction again. "Over that way." She pointed down the street and started to walk over bones and dead toward where she'd just felt someone die. There was no guarantee that there would be any living there, but it was the only thing she had to go by. Emma walked with her to the base of another pile of rubble.
"My apartment." Emma spoke quietly and Raven turned around to see hints of what used to be on the street, to see Emma was right. It didn't look like Emma was going to get any of her stuff back.
"I was almost done with that painting." Raven sighed as she stared up at where the building should be but wasn't. She felt selfish thinking of that, or regretting that what had been a very good piece of art was gone.
……………..
If her landlord had called in sick to work that day, he might have lived, Raven thought as she lifted the last of her bags. Their home hadn't been touched at all, but she could see the smoke from the city even in the near dark. It still burned on the second day. They'd searched all day, all night and all day again after they'd gotten out of the school. There was little hope that they'd missed anyone at this point, all that could be saved were and now they were leaving.
Raven had loved living here. She stared out towards the city remembering the life she'd even considered not leaving at one point.
"Ready?" Jean moved up to her and rested a hand on her shoulder. Raven just nodded. It wasn't like she could stay; she had to go with them. The blackbird was on the street in front of the house, waiting.
As they took off Raven stared down at the city and when the high school came into view she whispered. "Goodbye Ellie. I really did love you." Logan turned to stare at her a moment and Raven turned further away from him and pulled her legs up to hug them to her as she cried quietly. She'd gotten very good at making very little noise, because she knew she still was holding more power than she was supposed to be able to.
Jean got up from her seat and moved to the empty seat next to Raven and reached out to touch her, clearly ready to comfort her. "Raven?"
"Some one she loved died in her arms." Emma spoke with little emotion in her voice, explaining Raven's pain in more detail when Raven didn't offer to. Raven looked over at her but didn't get past looking at how tightly Emma was clenching her fists. "We really couldn't do anything for her, or any of them." Raven's body shook with her pain. She'd repressed it during the search, did her best to just focus on the mission, but now it hit her hard. Emma got up and walked toward the bathroom, her fists still clenched hard. The woman couldn't let go of her image long enough to cry, Raven realized it and stared after Emma knowing that Emma didn't need anything but privacy in that room.
Jean petted her while Raven curled up on herself and cried, finally pulling Raven closer to hold her and Raven felt lost. Jean had done this for her before, so many years ago. It felt like several lifetimes and still no time had gone by. Once Raven was able to push her pain away again she pulled out of Jean's arms and turned back to the window to stare at the stars.
"Raven, do you want to talk?"
"I can't." Her voice cracked. "Not yet, I just can't."
"Okay." Jean was still looking at her, Raven could feel it. "You know I'm here if you need me."
"I know." Her voice was barely audible. Jean waited a little longer, while Raven willed her to go away. Sympathy made it hard to stop hurting and Raven wanted to go numb again. She had too much to deal with right now to let herself hurt like this. She was going back to New York, a place she really didn't want to go, and she had no say in it. Jean finally got the message and left, heading to the cockpit and Scott. Emma was still in the bathroom, but no one else seemed to notice that.
The quiet of the flight was eerie and still welcome. She didn't complain when Emma took the empty seat next to her. They didn't talk, and with Emma in that seat no one who did want to talk could take it. Raven once again was feeling a bit lost with the White Queen, unable to deny that the woman was looking out for her.
Raven rested her head on the window and closed her eyes to finally sleep. She'd been tired before the attack and had been in almost constant motion since then.
She woke up suddenly sitting up and the blanket someone had draped over her fell to the floor. Raven took a few deep breaths and reached out for the blanket, pulling it up over her again.
"You do this often. You don't even scream." Emma's voice was soft and Raven turned to see the White Queen laying semi sideways facing her, with a blanket over her as well.
The muscle in Raven's jaw tensed and she looked around to see the entire team, minus a pilot, asleep. They'd learned to take the opportunity when it came up because another emergency could happen at any time. Raven used to have trouble with that. "It isn't really…"
"any of my business. Yes I know." Emma's voice seemed to wave away the protest. "You were whispering in your sleep, you were begging for mercy from Selene. She never gives mercy."
"I know that." Her voice grew cold.
"I can't." Emma glanced around the plane herself. Her tone changing slightly with a change of topic. "Hard to get used to being without my telepathy. They look asleep to me." Emma's eyes returned to Raven. "I can't change the past Raven, only the future. If I could, I would go back and kick some sense into myself back then. I would have walked you right out the front door myself and dealt with the consequences. You were different." Emma stopped for a moment, but Raven didn't interrupt her. "I am sorry. And I know how hard you had to work to keep your power under control out there, after everything I did to you," Emma shook her head. "Christy called you a hero, and you are. Thank you."
"Pretty words." Raven sighed, unable to pull enough emotion out of her body to get really angry.
"More than words." Emma shifted to face Raven more fully while still lying back in the seat. She held one of her hands out, close enough to reflect Raven's light, which while faded too much to light up a room was still enough to make her stick out, "We have these brand new bodies. Can we bury the old ones and all that came with them?" Images of the remains of her own body ran through Raven's mind. It wasn't a pleasant memory.
"I don't know if I can." Her voice was softer, wishing she could just forget about it all and be free of it. That shedding her skin let her shed old pains as well.
"It's okay. I hurt you pretty badly. Perhaps only a Saint could forgive me. I know I can't." Emma turned around and pulled her blanket up over her shoulder. Raven just stared at her for a while before turning away and pulling her own blanket over herself. She didn't manage to fall asleep though. She just stared unseeing out the window thinking about the Hellfire club, her life on the run, Genosha, and the woman lying next to her.
The sun started to rise and glisten off the water. These waters didn't look like home.
Scott's tired voice called back. "Rise and shine people. ETA is about twenty minutes." Raven didn't move as she stared out the window, but her body tensed as she finally let the thought that she was going back hit her fully. HE was going to be there and Raven wondered if she'd be locked up in her old room so that he could keep her quiet. She'd made it easy for him to get rid of her, no one would be surprised if she disappeared again would they?
After they landed, the Xmen left quickly, but Raven remained seated, looking out at the underground hanger. It was new.
"Emma." She spoke quietly without turning around.
"Yes."
"If I disappear,"
"You really don't trust him do you?"
"No."
"My cell is 555-555-5152. I lost my phone, but I'll be getting a new one." Raven turned around and noticed Emma's slight smile. "You ever go a week without contacting me and I'll become rather pissy until I see you again. Will that work?"
With a sinking stomach Raven nodded. She hated tying herself to Emma like this.
"So I'm the lesser evil?" Emma reached out to take one of Raven's bags out of storage. "That must have really shaken your world."
"It did. I lost everything when I realized that." Raven glared at her bag in Emma's hand as she admitted that.
"He did more than order you not to tell didn't he?" Emma probed for information as Raven picked up her other two bags. Raven couldn't answer her, couldn't tell her the extent of his crimes. "I see." Emma's voice was colder, but it didn't seem directed at her. Raven didn't need to admit to anything for Emma to understand there was more. It was strange how well Emma seemed to understand. "I'd always thought the trauma from the club was what sent you running, but it was much more. It fits. From what I'd seen of you, I didn't peg you for a coward at all. I'd expected the shooting, not the running."
"All you ever saw was Christy."
"And yet it wasn't Christy that punched me, that was you. When cornered you fight." Emma smiled at her as they made their way down the ramp. Raven noticed the Professor down there and the brief shocked expression on his face as Raven and Emma made their way down the ramp. He had to have been told she was found, so it was her standing and talking with Emma that put that look on his face. Raven gave Emma a smile back just for that reason. Emma's smile grew a little as she seemed to catch the motivation behind it. "You seem to be cornered right now."
"Guess I'll have to fight." And with that her pounding heart calmed. Raven wasn't a child anymore, and Emma had just reminded her of that. She wasn't as afraid of what he'd do as she started to consider what she'd do.
The team had a routine when they got back from a mission and it didn't look like it had changed in the years Raven was gone. Hank had disappeared to his lab to prepare for the physicals, Logan had probably gone to get a beer, and Scott was getting the blackbird ready in case they needed it. Jean was standing near the Professor filling him in on things, but that stopped the minute Raven and Emma came out.
"Raven," He pushed his chair forward just a little and stared at her. Raven could see the apprehension in his eyes that he tried to hide. "I've been so worried, we all have been. It's so good to see you home safe and sound."
Raven just stared at him, a look of disbelief on her face. He was going to try and play the loving father now? She turned away from him and glanced at Emma. Emma looked at her and the expression on her face said play along for now. In her time with Emma she'd learned to read her a bit, and at this moment Raven went with Emma's instincts.
"Yes, home, well, it is where the heart is, isn't it?" She did what she could to keep her hatred out of her voice.
"Why are you whispering?" He asked.
"I have to." She didn't elaborate.
"I know I want to go and figure out how to switch back." Emma rested a hand on Raven's shoulder and Raven let her. The Professor just stared at the evidence that Emma was a part of her life and it amused Raven to see the confusion in his eyes. He couldn't ask, not with anyone around, because it would expose him.
"You want to switch do you?" Raven gave Emma a mischievous smile, flirtatious even.
Emma just smirked at Raven's play on words. "You might as well come with me to the med lab. Any information you have on my mutation would be helpful I'm sure."
"Why would she have information on your mutation?" Jean asked, sounding a little lost with Raven's attitudes not being what she expected. Raven didn't act warm enough to the Professor, she was sure of it, but it was all she could fake when what she really wanted to do was knock his ass right out of the chair.
Raven just stared at Jean, doing her best to not let her hidden tension affect her response. "Christy knew a lot about her lover, including how her powers worked. This diamond form is fireproof, resistant to bullets or crushing. Emma can now run into burning buildings or fall from bridges and she'll be just fine."
"Really?" Emma sounded interested in this.
Raven smiled at her, redirecting her conversation. "Yep. You got an upgrade Emma." Raven enjoyed ignoring the Professor in favor of Emma. It had to grate on him. He loved to be the one everyone turned to and the one no one would dare ignore. Also the fact that Raven knew more about the mystery of Emma's mutation would bother him, he liked to offer the insight.
"Well, why don't you two go get your physicals and then we'll talk later." He gave Raven a warning look, but she just glared back at him, before she turned to walk with Emma.
When they were out of hearing range Raven whispered. "You are also vulnerable to telepaths in this form. You don't have your protection. We need to get you changed back fast. It isn't bullets you need to worry about now."
"Why didn't you tell me these things earlier?"
"I wasn't really thinking clearly." Raven had to follow Emma to the med lab, not knowing the way from here.
"You flirted with me." Emma teased and Raven blushed just a little. "Keeping them guessing are you?"
"Seemed like a good idea at the time."
They took a turn in the endless hall. Emma took that opportunity, once they were out of sight to stop walking for a moment and look at her. "You seem a bit tense about my newfound vulnerability."
"He has a habit of erasing people's memories if I talk to them. I can't let him do that to you." Emma's eyes widened a little at Raven's words.
"Okay then, any suggestions on how to change back?" Emma asked and Raven spent the rest of the walk to the med lab telling Emma what she'd been able to pick up from Christy's dreams and the talks they'd had about Christy's Queen, just those things related to her powers. Raven didn't really want to talk about Christy's love for the woman with Emma.
Hank examined Emma first. Raven sat off to the side out of the way as she waited for Emma. It was very likely she'd be next, once he was done with the diamond coated telepath. She wasn't looking forward to the uproar her own changes would cause. Just like she knew what Emma's powers now were, Raven knew exactly what she was, or she thought she did. Her change came about a little differently and she knew that Christy had never glowed like this. One thing she did know though was that her body was not the same, it was water and energy. It would be hard to hide that from a doctor.
"Whoever did this is dead." Emma's voice came close to a growl as she retold their story to Hank. She told him about Fredrick, but she barely talked about Ellie, the look Emma sent her way told her that Ellie's death was Raven's story and she wouldn't touch it.
"We don't kill Emma." Jean walked into the room and joined the conversation as if she'd been there the entire time. "That was Magneto's way and he's dead." They bickered for a while, Jean holding her own against Emma's wit.
"What makes you such a bitch Emma." Jean asked and Raven's hands clenched into fists. If Jean had been here for the whole story she'd know. Emma had just told Hank about the kids, and it was more than enough reason to want to kill.
Emma shot off some cool comeback and marched out of the room, leaving Raven alone with Jean and Hank. After a moment of silence where Raven glared at Jean, Raven moved to follow the blonde. "Raven?"
"Don't, just don't." Raven muttered as she stepped out of the room. She saw Emma down the hall and she moved more quickly to catch up with her. "Emma."
"You want to give me the heroic we don't kill line? It would be rather hypocritical coming from you wouldn't it Raven?"
"I wouldn't ever say something like that. Sometimes you have to kill." It was something Raven was more comfortable with now than she'd been just a few months earlier. "I'd kill em."
"Yeah, I imagine you would." Emma sighed. "So shall we find a quiet corner and see if I can switch." The woman smiled a little, teasing about the word.
"Since Christy's lover couldn't be telepathic in that form I don't have a lot of details on how you do it."
"That's okay, you can keep me company while I figure it out." Emma tilted her head just a little as she studied Raven. "It doesn't bother you, talking about switches or any of that?"
Raven smiled just a little too tensely. "You ask me to call you mistress again and I'll manage to crack that skin of yours with my fist." They started for the elevator and with the silence Raven felt like saying more. She sighed. "Getting out of here isn't going to be easy. I look like a mutant now, don't I?"
"No more so than I do." Emma stepped into the elevator and Raven followed her.
"If I took you to a pawn shop, what do you think I could get for you?" Raven eyed the diamond skin curiously.
"Honey, there isn't enough money in all of Manhattan to buy me."
Raven went quiet, feeling a little awkward joking in this way with her. It hit a few too many raw nerves. The silence was even more awkward.
"Oh for…" Emma paused and then hit a button to get them moving. "Everything is a mine field with us."
"How about we just cut your nails and I'll go buy a new car." Raven forged ahead. She reached out and touched the blonde's hair, feeling the hardness there as well. "Haircut could buy me a condo." It was starting to feel less wrong as Raven studied Emma's hair. "I wonder how you'd look with short hair, like mine used to be."
"But then I wouldn't be able to flip it. It would completely ruin my seductive act." And the tension was completely ignored, Raven had pushed through it. She felt a little good about that.
They found their way to what had to be Ororo's garden. It was wild and huge, an indoor celebration of nature. Raven sat down on the bench next to Emma and enjoyed the place, imagining Ororo's expression as she designed it. It didn't take nearly as long as it should have for Emma to become her fleshy self again. Raven sat there and watched as Emma studied her arm and switched back to diamond, going back and forth a few times, each time faster than the time before. It was actually pretty amazing how fast Emma was getting a grasp of her new power.
"Can you turn your glow off?" Emma stopped looking at her own arm and looked up at Raven. "And what about what Christy said about being…"
"Don't." Raven spoke quickly and quietly, while glancing around them. Her as of yet untested shapeshifting power wasn't something she wanted to share with the Professor and she didn't know anything about the security in this place anymore. Closer her eyes she focused on her hearing, one of the shape shifts Christy had done with Raven a few times and she smiled just a little as she heard the air move and the leaves of plants brush against each other, she could hear Emma's breathing, but she didn't hear anyone else in the room. Putting her hand down on the bench between them she focused on one finger, and Emma looked down to see it, Raven made it sharp and longer, and then put it back the way it was supposed to be. "It's there." She whispered even more quietly.
"And neither of you told anyone around here about it?"
"She didn't really trust anyone, and at that point neither did I."
"So Tessa and I are the only ones that know." Emma looked thoughtful. "Unless she told someone."
"Yeah, unless she told someone." Raven sighed. Hopefully Tessa hadn't, because if she had the Professor would want to keep her around even more. Raven now had the potential to be the spy he'd always wanted, and with her life on the run she knew she had the ability. His training never really tapped into her strengths, but Raven found them. She could quickly absorb new skills, new lives, and fit in. She could blend into the background just as well as Tessa did if she wanted to and now with this new power she could be in the spotlight as well and still be okay.
"Okay, well, the glow." Emma shifted in her seat to face Raven. "It makes you stick out a bit much. Can you do anything with it, cover it?"
Raven sighed and moved to sit facing Emma on the seat, her legs crossed. With a force of will she tried to calm the glow as Emma called it. Nothing happened.
"Christy was able to create an extra layer of skin, would that work?" Emma offered once Raven's shoulder's slumped a bit with her failed effort.
"All over?" Raven complained a bit at the thought.
"Just where your clothes aren't. You aren't glowing through them."
Raven stared down at the pants in her line of sight and remembered putting them on that day it all happened. She also remembered crawling in blood, but she didn't see any. She stared at them and remembered her own remains, not quite a body, still wearing them. These weren't real pants. She hadn't even thought about it. She was quiet and thoughtful as she considered this. Her pants weren't glowing, so she should be able to not glow.
Starting small she stared at her hands. Her shirt was long sleeve, and her hands and face were the main issues now. A thin layer of skin didn't add much to her size, not enough to notice, but the glow was contained. Hopefully Raven could keep that up without a lot of thought. She worked on her face and watched Emma smile at her, seemingly proud.
"If we get you a pair of sunglasses you might be okay for the daytime. We'd need to check you in a darkened room to see if you covered enough for night, but this is progress."
"Good." Raven wanted to see if she could change more, but she didn't want to tip her hand here. She'd have to wait. They fell into another tense silence, as Raven didn't know what else to talk about while they waited for Raven to be summoned to the med lab again.
"If you seem suicidal it will make it harder for them to let you go. Can you cover," Emma finally spoke and motioned with her hands toward Raven's wrists.
"I'll try." Raven stared down at her hands.
"The gunshot, how did you get that?"
"So now we're taking a tour of my body?" Raven grumbled, feeling a bit too exposed.
"I'm just pointing out what the doctor is going to want to know." Emma's voice was a little colder.
"A rescue." Raven sighed and pushed her irritation at the personal questions aside. "I was shot rescuing someone."
"That was short and to the point. Will they accept that story?"
"No. I'll get a lecture about how weak I am and that I should have called if I needed something done. Then I'll be told once again how I'm brave, too brave, and I'm not equipped to save anyone." Raven's voice was bitter as she imagined this scene. They'd try to be gentle, but it would still hurt. "Then they'd want all the details and I can't give them that, because what I did wasn't really legal and they wouldn't approve."
"Did you save anyone?"
"Yes."
"Well then I'd say they're wrong. You did it, so you are obviously capable." Emma spoke softly and Raven looked up to see her former enemy give her a small smile. "It isn't like they never get hurt, even Jean with all her powers has been in a hospital or two hasn't she?" Emma tugged on her coat, which she was sitting on and then looked at Raven again. "You are a lot stronger than these people will ever know, but I know. You know it too. Don't let others put you on the sidelines, you don't belong there."
"You are stronger than that Darlin'." Another voice interrupted then and Raven's entire body tensed as she turned to see Logan walking up to them.
"Hey Logan." Raven glanced around the room a bit nervously. "Been here long?"
"Long enough to know you've got a scar you don't want people to know about." He sat down on the bench across from them. "Hank's about done with Scott. He's gonna want to see ya."
"Yeah."
"Was that why you left? One Eye and Storm being overprotective?" He sounded doubtful about that.
"No, it just didn't give me a reason to stay. I've never been an Xmen, not really." Raven wrapped her arms around her knees. "You know it. You saw how even Kitty was taken on missions, fourteen year old Kitty, when I was told to watch the mansion. Just in case. It was like I was ten every time a mission came up."
"The Professor was worried you'd get killed. Stormy wanted to take you more, she saw how you'd look at us when we left, but you had to be able to keep up in the Danger room sessions. That was his rule."
"And I never could." Raven was seeing this from a new angle, but she still didn't like it.
"We didn't get a chance to talk in New Orleans." He glanced at Emma and seemed to figure she belonged there, because he kept talking. "But you looked like hell, looking a bit better now."
"Thought you said I was cute." Raven smiled weakly at him.
"You were, but you also looked like you'd been awake for a month." Logan leaned forward, his voice softening. "Are you okay Darlin'? You been okay?"
Having him ask this with Emma right there made Raven freeze, her eyes wide as they looked at him. She was quiet a bit too long, and she knew it, before she answered. "Had my ups and downs." She made sure not to look over at Emma as she spoke. "I saw the Dallas coverage as I was getting ready for work one day. Was in San Francisco, I was eating pancakes and trying to pay the bills before leaving. I was…" Her voice trailed off. She remembered every detail of that morning, it was burned into her brain like all her other pains were. "God, it was hard, but even if I were home I wouldn't have been in Dallas with you. I would have still had to do that alone. I would have had to just watch you all die on the news."
"Oh," He looked down at his own hands. "That was a tough time for a lot of people. Kitty took a long time to forgive me for not calling sooner."
"I'll bet." Her voice was a soft whisper.
"Storm really laid into me after New Orleans. She didn't want to believe that you'd just walked away with nothing but a short letter." He sat back and started to go for his cigars, before stopping and smiling just a little. "Still willing to punch me if I smoke around you?"
"Yeah, I can make it really hurt now." Raven smiled a little, remembering their argument about his smoking years ago.
"I've been warned." He glanced toward the door. "Hank must be wantin' ya about now." Raven stood up. She could argue about this, but it would just make it more suspicious. Part of her wanted the team to know she'd changed, that she wasn't made of glass anymore, she was much stronger, but she wasn't willing to hold all her cards face up. Trust wasn't something she could afford to hand out like that.
"It was nice seeing you." Raven hesitated before putting her hand on his shoulder. "And that money you gave me, you have no idea how much that meant to me."
"I woulda just bought cigars with it, and I know how you feel about those." He patted her hand, before she turned and left, leaving Emma alone with Logan. She didn't say anything to Emma, but she did share a look with her, one that Raven interpreted to mean later, they'd talk later.
…………….
Raven was irritated. She glared at Hank as he moved closer to her again, clearly baffled looking, he wanted more samples of her blood. "Last one." Her voice was deeper, her eyes flashed, turning his animalistic eyes into demon eyes of red for just a moment. "And I'm leaving."
"We still don't know…"
"We know enough." It took an effort to not yell. "I know I'm different now, but its nothing to worry about and I don't want to spend the rest of my night as your lab experiment."
"But we need to know,"
"No WE don't." She held out her arm for the one last sample she'd allow. "So I'm going to have lunch."
"Good, I was just coming to get you." Emma spoke smoothly, announcing her presence and Raven turned to see the woman watching Hank taking Raven's blood.
"It turns to water before I get to the microscope." Hank complained.
"Not my fault you're so slow." Raven swung her legs to the side and slid off the table.
"Raven, you've got a secondary mutation there."
"Yes I do." She turned back to him.
"The Professor is going to want,"
"I don't give a shit what he wants. It's my body and I have a say to what happens to it. I'm done. I'm not even an Xman, so this," She waved her hands at the med lab. "This was just a courtesy, but I'm not playing any more."
Hank went quiet and Raven turned to take long strides out of the room. Emma just smirked and held the door opened for her. "Not a very pleasant patient are you?" Emma whispered at her as they walked down the hall.
"He did the same damned test five times. He wasn't going to get anything different, he was just wasting my time."
"I thought I'd rescue him by getting you out of there before you hit him." Emma smirked at her and motioned toward the elevator.
"I don't go around hitting people Emma." Raven remembered that one time she'd managed to hit the blonde though and a small smile came to her lips. "Just you." Well, then there was that man that she thought was Mystique that one time. Raven's grimaced a little at that memory. Maybe she did hit first and think later.
Raven's eyes widened as they made their way down another hallway after the elevator opened. She saw kids everywhere. She counted over thirty just in the halls alone and with each new face she saw the old ones. Jean running after Bobby after a stunt he'd pulled, Scott picking up his books after Hank accidentally knocked him over, Warren posing and preening, and then Tessa sneaking with Raven out the doors, hoping to not be caught as they finally got tired of being locked up in the basement and needed a night out. These new kids were everywhere. "Oh shit."
"What?" Emma turned to look at her and Raven didn't bother looking back.
"He's expanded." Her voice held dread. These kids would think the Professor was a saint and would eagerly wait for their chance to be used up, like he'd used Raven and Tessa up.
"This is relatively new. When my school closed down he reopened here and the students flooded in. I'd heard about it."
"That's great," She shook her head, "that's just great." Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Well, regardless, lunch is cafeteria style." Emma led them down another hall. "We should get something before the debriefing."
Raven noticed the weird looks she got from a few students as she picked up some food and she ignored it.
It was far too soon for her when Emma sat up a bit straighter and then stood up. "It's time." The telepath didn't look any happier than Raven. They grabbed the remains of their meal and tossed it in the trash on their way out.
……………..
It felt like they were sitting at the mythical round table. Raven looked around the table and saw the same people she'd flown back to New York with. The Professor was moving into his spot and the others stopped talking, showing respect to a man that didn't respect them. They had no idea about that though.
"This has been a disaster." He shook his head and sighed. Raven's fist clenched the arm of her chair and stared down at the table top. "Sixteen million mutants." His voice became a little lighter. "At least two of our own came out of that alive." Raven's jaw clenched and she looked up when the large monitor lit up. This room was so upgraded from what she remembered. The news had no sound, but the sight of the country she'd lived in from the air was unmistakable. "Genosha is gone."
"I believe everyone here is very aware of that already Charles." Emma snapped at him. "We hardly need your announcement, we were there." Raven nodded her agreement with the blonde. She didn't want to listen to a speech designed to make them feel, she was doing her best to not feel. It would have been nice to get out of this entirely, but she needed to understand. To understand why all those people died, and maybe the others or the Professor had something.
The Professor was watching the monitor and Raven stared at him instead. He looked so concerned, but Raven wondered if he even understood the loss or pain. "Did the two of you see anything?" Raven flinched as she remembered what she'd seen, just the inside of that classroom would be with her forever.
"Nothing useful." Emma took the lead. "It happened too fast. One moment I was getting ready to start class and the next." Her words trailed off.
"Raven?" The Professor looked at her and Raven just continued to stare blankly at the screen, seeing hints of streets she'd walked on. The Market filled the screen and she stared at the ruined roof and the burning. "Raven?" He repeated himself, but it wasn't until Emma rested a hand gently on her arm that Raven was able to look away.
"What?"
Jean looked sympathetic. "The Professor asked if you noticed anything before the attack."
"Ellie had tears in her eyes." Raven spoke softly and Emma's hand moved back and forth in a petting motion. Slowly she looked over at the blonde woman she'd gone into the high school wanting to beat bloody. Raven wanted to tell Emma to stop touching her, but she was the one that started this to irritate the Professor. She couldn't really stop it now. With a sigh she asked, "She did, didn't she?"
"I didn't notice." Emma spoke quietly.
"Well, from inside the classroom, that's all I could see." Raven's jaw clenched as she looked back up at the man leading this meeting. "And the death, the waves of it, didn't start long before we were hit. I didn't have time to take more than three steps between when I felt it start and when it hit us. It hit us first and then people kept dying."
"How did you survive? I can see how Emma did, but…"
"Actually Professor," Hank started to talk, but he was still looking at Raven a bit oddly. "I've found evidence that Raven has mutated again. Aside from the glow she had when we picked her up there are other changes. She created something she calls a portal in Genosha and her body is entirely made of water. Both of our survivors have acquired secondary mutations. I feel this warrants further study to see if something about the attack itself led to this or if the intense trauma of the situation is what forces the x gene to go further than it had before."
"What else can you tell us about Raven's mutation?" The Professor sounded interested. Raven didn't care, her eyes narrowed as she stared at him.
"How about we talk about what we came here to talk about. Who did this to Genosha and where are they?" Raven didn't bother hiding her contempt. "My mutation is my business." Her glare turned to Hank, who seemed once again startled by her hostility. "Hank if you act as my doctor, don't I get any confidentiality?" Her voice was softer as she said that. He looked down just a little, looking slightly guilty.
"We need to know these things." Hank was quiet as he said it.
"For teammates, but I'm not." Her eyes returned to the Professor, but she didn't miss Scott watching her carefully. "Let's just get this meeting over with. Genosha was attacked. Does anyone know anything more?"
"It came from Ecuador." Logan answered her when everyone else went quiet. Raven knew she never spoke up very much before, but she was a little surprised that talking earned her so many strange looks now. "Old bald insane bitch in Ecuador found and took over a stash of Sentinels."
"She's imprisoned here." Scott added and Raven turned wide eyes to stare at him.
"That monster is here?" Emma's voice rose in a way Raven couldn't let her own. "That monster is here?"
"Her name is Cassandra Nova." The Professor spoke as if a complete monster weren't being kept alive in this place. Raven stared at him, her eyes burning more and more brightly, to the point that Scott fidgeted in his seat.
"Raven, do your eyes do anything like mine?" He asked, interrupting her hate filled stare.
"No." She turned away from Charles and glanced at Emma, whose grip on her own chair made her knuckles white.
"Why is IT still alive?" No one answered Emma.
Raven's eyes turned to stare at Jean, then moved to Scott, before returning to the Professor. "You can't mean to actually try and keep her here. She killed," tears streamed down Raven's face, "them all. She killed them all."
"We can't sink to their level Raven." Jean spoke quietly, but Scott didn't say anything.
"Well then let me. I don't mind sinking once in a while." Emma interrupted them before Raven could offer her own services for this. For this monster Raven would be willing to do an execution as well.
"There is a lot we don't understand about her." The Professor interrupted this and Raven heard a small growl that actually came from her. Logan gave her a strange look but Raven ignored it and stood up, tossing the chair behind her violently. She ignored the crash into the wall.
"Oh yes, and here is the real issue. You'd rather people suffer than cut off a source of information. You don't care what happens as long as you know more than anyone else, you fucking bastard." Hank gasped, but Raven just took one step closer to the man she hated. "So this Nova woman could be useful, so you'll protect her. You are rather stingy with your protection Professor, so tell us why she's worth it." And Tessa's not, her mind finished to herself. "That bitch needs to die." Her eyes screamed at him that the killing shouldn't stop there, that he would be a nice follow up to it.
The Professor looked stunned as he stared at her. What did he think the hatred towards him was all Christy? Delusional bastard. "Cassandra Nova is a mystery. She shouldn't exist." Raven gripped the back of Emma's chair as she stood behind the blonde glaring at him.
"So lets stop her from doing that." Emma offered a quick solution, but it was clear the Professor wasn't going to consider it.
"You can't cage something like that and think everything will be okay." Raven spoke her voice cold.
"Chuck, she's pure evil. It would be better to just end it." Logan joined them and Raven watched as the Professor's face went a little red in anger.
"I am not taking votes." He glared at Logan. "Nova is not to be harmed."
Raven gritted her teeth and looked around the room. She turned back to the Professor and glared. "If you aren't willing to do what needs to be done, there is no point in sitting here and talking. I'm leaving."
She was almost at the door when he called out to her. "Raven, until Hank clears you to leave you can stay in a room on the south wing. Jean could show it to you later." The hidden message was don't leave. Raven sucked in an angry breath and kept moving. How was he going to enforce that?
Her steps down the metal hall echoed a bit, her long angry stride taking her quickly toward the elevator.
"Such short legs and yet you move so quickly." Emma's voice called to her. It stopped Raven and she waited for the blonde to catch up.
"Christy wanted to kill him." Her voice was cold. "I sometimes wonder if I should have let her."
"Oh, this is rather pure hatred." Emma pushed the elevator door for them. "I guess it shows me your acceptance of me in Genosha really was something special, in spite of the insults and attitude." They stepped into the elevator and Emma pushed another button. "Feel like telling me why you saved all your hate for him?"
"I told you." Raven watched the readout as the floor they wanted came closer.
"No, you didn't really." Emma's voice was softer. "Come with me to my room. They've set me up on the South wing, and it beats scaring the children with your trapped animal routine."
The room was nice, impersonal and motel like, but nice. Raven sat down heavily on the couch as Emma explored the built in bar. "Oh look, this is a good year." Emma stood up with a bottle in her hand. "Care for a glass?"
"No thanks." Raven felt tense and had a strong need to pace, but she did her best to sit still.
As Emma poured herself a glass of wine she spoke, "I've already been cleared to leave if I want to, but I've also been offered a job here."
"You'd be better off running for the hills." Raven watched at the blonde moved to take off her long jacket, leaving her in a halter top and leather pants.
"I love teaching and perhaps giving what you aren't willing to say, it would be best to have some here." The blonde took a sip of her wine and Raven just stared at her. Worry filled her, worry that the only ally she'd made so far here was being controlled. "But I haven't answered them yet. It would be believable for me to walk out the front door, angry at their lack of foresight in dealing with Nova." Emma leaned forward and started to unzip her boots. Flashes of memory ran through Raven's mind as she stared while those boots came off. "Now if you were to walk out the door I'm sure you wouldn't get far, but I can call a cab and leave whenever I want."
"What are you doing?" Raven glared at the blonde. "Rubbing in that I'm a prisoner again, even here." Her voice dripped with disgust.
"No," Emma stood up and unbuttoned her pants.
"What are you doing?" Raven's eyes were wide as she heard another button pop open.
"This time I'm giving you my clothes." Emma moved to unbutton another one and Raven cringed just a little. "Christy thought that was all she'd need to get out of the club. You have your full powers now, you could make it."
"I don't need your clothes."
"Now isn't the time to be shy." Emma's voice grew more commanding. "While they are too busy worrying about that monster is the time for you to walk out the door. I can call you a cab and you just need to walk out and get into it." Emma's light blue eyes burned into her.
Raven felt her eyes water as she stared at Emma, fully grasping what the woman was offering. Raven wasn't really trapped, because Emma wasn't going to let her be. "You can't erase,"
"I know." Emma interrupted with a sighed.
"I don't need your clothes." Raven swallowed her nervousness and stood up, to take a step closer to Emma. Closing her eyes Raven focused on the woman in front of her and memories that were burned into her mind, memories of this woman's body, how she moved. A slight intake of air made her open her eyes and Raven found she didn't have to look up to look into Emma's eyes. "Do I have it?" Her own voice asked and Emma nodded.
"That will be problematic, your voice." Emma started to walk around Raven, "But you look beautiful." A slight smile crossed Emma's lips. Raven just shook her head and couldn't help a little smile of satisfaction at her ability to do this.
Raven cleared her throat and tried again. "Get out of my way." It wasn't her voice, but still not Emma. Working again she got a bit closer. Emma just watched her as Raven got closer and closer.
"Christy said she couldn't do that." Emma spoke, the voice a match for what Raven was able to do now.
"She must have given up too quickly." Raven answered, thinking of Terrance and the voice lessons he'd given her for years. It was to make her training him in his powers less painful, to make it so she could actually sing instead of croak out lyrics. The arts were very helpful to shape shifters apparently. Why Mystique never told her that was a mystery.
Emma moved to call a cab and Raven took a few steps toward the window to stare out at students on the lawn. Once Emma hung up Raven glanced toward her and then back out the window. "They think he's a saint, but he's not."
"I'm staying here Raven. I have unfinished business." Raven looked over at Emma and could see the hardness in her eyes.
"Make it quick if you kill her. You don't want anyone to have time to stop you."
"It is strange to see that expression on my face." Emma didn't smile as she looked at Raven. "I can see why I can intimidate people with a look now."
They didn't say much else and when the cab came into view Raven took a deep breath and started for the door. "I'll call." Was all she said as she stepped out, closing it quickly behind her so that no one would see a second Emma in the room. Walking in the heels took concentration and the angry stride was hard to maintain, but Emma Frost was spotted leaving the mansion by several students.
"Leaving?" Scott's voice almost made her panic, but Raven's back only grew a little more rigid as she turned to face him.
Emma's voice was probably one of very few Raven could do, but it came out smoothly. "Really Scott, do you think I'd like to share a roof with the murderer of my students? Perhaps we'd have tea and reminisce on Sundays?" Disdain dripped in the voice. "Tell your Master that I appreciate his offer, but I have to respectfully decline." She opened the door and took a step out. It took effort to not collapse in relief as she sat down in the cab and it started to move.
He let her off in Manhattan and Raven slipped into a bathroom as Emma and came out as Raven. Raven caught the subway and just rode it as she tried to figure out where to go now. Her feet moved on their own and Raven found herself in front of a familiar house.
"Keys are in the envelope." A voice spoke and Raven turned to see Morgan giving her a letter. "You okay?"
"Sure." Raven gave Morgan a small smile, fake, just to reassure her. "You came all the way out here for me?"
"Irene loves you." Morgan shrugged a bit. "She wrote it down, but I'm supposed to say this." Morgan moved closer. "And I'm quoting here okay?" Raven just nodded. "Raven, I love you. Take my home and stay there. When the urge to run overcomes you, don't give in. If you start running now, you will never be free. It won't be easy, but just stay here and take the time to learn about who you are now. It isn't the same woman that stayed in this house years ago. She's stronger in many ways and powerful. She's also broken in a new way, and I'm sorry for that. Remember our talk about having to pick the lesser evil at times? I was faced with that choice for you and I'd rather you lived free then died enslaved. I made that decision for you, but I'm confident that it was the right one, even if it was a painful one." It was strange hearing Irene's words coming from Morgan, but even the way Morgan delivered it, the tone, was all Irene. Morgan took an awkward step forward and held out her arms. "Um, I'm supposed to hug you now." The clear discomfort on Morgan's face made Raven giggle. The way Morgan tried to hug without hugging very much was funny.
"She's torturing you, you know that." Raven teased just a little, while trying to ignore the words Irene had sent for just a little longer.
"I'm just not used to, well," Morgan grimaced. "I'm not a hugger."
"It's okay." Raven sighed and Morgan did something a little unexpected, she moved up to hug Raven again.
"It will be. You take care Raven." Morgan whispered and then stepped back, turning around and walking away. Raven could feel the key in the envelope, and she played with it through the paper as Morgan got in a car and drove away.
She stepped into the place and it was haunting how the same it was. Raven's eyes took in the couch Mystique had laid her on once, because Raven had collapsed after separating from Christy. Her eyes trailed through the doorway to the kitchen and the table Christy and Raven had sat at for that first Christmas dinner. "Oh Irene." Her voice cracked and the letter Irene wrote her was gripped tightly in her hand, still unread.
Raven had no bags to drop to the floor, because it would have looked very suspicious for Emma to walk out of the mansion with them. The clothes weren't a huge loss, but she'd also lost her sketchbooks, Tessa's teddy bear, and her old id's, which were hidden in the bear.
Raven took a week to develop a new life in her old home. She was now Raven Ellison, inspired by Ellie but hopefully vague enough to not be caught. Raven Ellison was a very tortured artist and didn't leave the house often. Irene had left her enough to live like that for a while and Raven needed the break from life.
It was a week, and as per their agreement Raven stared at a payphone far from her new home with a cell phone number running through her head. With a heavy sigh Raven dialed.