Disclaimer: AU to X3! Not making any money from this. Corrinth owns Stifle and Vixen, Blaze is mine, Marvel retain all rights to all other characters, all knowledge of US military comes from watching Stargate SG1!
Above and Beyond: Scene 3"Go on then," Blaze pressed, "I thought you wanted to get going?"
"Wait Laura," Gambit moved to stand between her and the one remaining bike. "Dis gotta end now, there too much goin' on. Jus' get it outta your system already mon Amie."
"Mon Amie?" Blaze laughed it off coarsely, trying to walk past him haughtily. He grabbed her arm to stop her.
"Non Cherie, I ain't waiting dis one out 'til you get your head straight an' forgive us."
"Us!" Blaze snapped. "Its you I have the problem with Cajun, not me."
"Sure it is Chere," Gambit argued, his accent getting broader as he got angrier. "You ain't feelin' guilty at all dat you were off wit' dat boy," he slurred the word 'boy' into an insult, making Blaze flush with anger. "While your friends an' les enfants all in trouble! Dey gonna be exterminated Blaze! Executed by de military jus' 'cause dey mutants!"
"I know!" Blaze screamed at him, "I know all that crap! I wasn't forgetting all of you, I was…forgetting myself. Shit Gambit, what you did really hurt me. Not because of Indigo either, but because…" she tailed off, dropping her guard a little for the first time. "Damn it, I can't explain it… I shouldn't have to explain it either, not to you Rem."
"You don't Laura…"
"Will you please stop calling me that?" Blaze demanded.
"Pardon Blaze," Gambit chuckled, rolling his eyes, "You don't get no less volatile Petite."
"You know when Ilehana told you to go read a dictionary to improve your vocabulary, she didn't actually mean it. She was only pointing out that swearing every two seconds during training was a bit uncalled for."
"Tres amusant Petite," Gambit replied, taking hold of Blaze's jaw gently between a finger and thumb. "The tattoos is fadin'."
"You think so?" Blaze sounded hopeful. The mottled lines that Indigo, the empathic mutant that Blaze had been involved with, had left all over Blaze wherever her had touched her were not supposed to be permanent. Yet Blaze had still been worrying that Indigo might have lied to her about the tangled copper colour vines like he had about other aspects of his powers. Certainly the Chinese dragon symbols he'd given to Stifle were marks her wrists would always carry.
"Sure," Remy smiled cheekily, "They blendin' in wit' the freckles."
"I do not have freckles," Blaze objected comically, giving Remy a playful punch on the arm.
"Are we goin' or not?" Gambit asked, rubbing his arm where she'd punched him.
"C'est maintenant ou jamais," Blaze commented flippantly, meaning 'its now or never'. They got back on the bike with Gambit driving and Blaze with her arms coiled around his torso. Remy kept the engine rumbling low as he carefully dropped the bike down the hillside. He felt Blaze rest her head against his back and smiled to himself.
"Hold on Petite! We got some serious catchin' up to do," he told her, and felt her squeeze him tighter in return. His smile broke into a grin as he revved the engine and flashed through the gears. The bike shot forwards down the last few meters of hillside and out across the flatter terrain. They flew over the landscape in hot pursuit of Stifle and Wolverine. It didn't take them long to catch up.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Charles Xavier watched his lean, blonde haired, blue-eyed daughter with a great deal of concern and even apprehension. He didn't doubt that she knew he was there, but neither of them made any attempt to speak to the other. They were living in purgatory, trapped in their own home and their own heads. GRSO guards patrolled the perimeter endlessly, armed with a melody of weaponry. There was no time of day or night when the Xaviers were left unwatched by their silent tormentors.
Both Xaviers wore choking collars that contained neural inhibitors that blocked their telepathic skill. Rigged with explosives in case of tampering, they also contained location transmitters. A border had been set up by the soldiers consisting of small receivers set into stakes and nailed to walls inside. That was the limit of where the Xaviers could go. Pass beyond those markers and the collar would issue a powerful, excruciating electric shock.
The animorphing Ilehana had opted to stand by her father when all her teammates were leaving to take the school's pupils into hiding. Now she spent her days patrolling the transmitter boundary as a wolf, pacing endlessly with the same ground-eating lope. Captivity was sapping her spirit, and worst of all even if she could get away, she would leave her father to bare the brunt of their captor's wrath. It was no kind of life, and it was breaking Charles' already tormented heart.
Now it was dark. Rain pelted the massive floor-to-ceiling paned glass windows in the room where Storm used to like teaching her classes. Of course Ororo was already imprisoned elsewhere, they almost all were, the X-Men. Lightning briefly silhouetted the sentries outside, but it was not of Storm's making. The illumination lit up the room, lifting the gloom that clad Xavier's daughter. Ilehana was dressed in a white vest top and grey sweatpants, with her blonde hair tied in a tidy ponytail at the back of her neck. Barefoot, feet shoulder-width apart, she blankly lifted weights in each hand. Devoid of the lower levels or any real way to stretch her legs, she had resorted to this form of training to keep fit. And, Charles suspected, to keep her mind numb. She dripped sweat, her brow mottled with the moisture as she gasped for air, pushing herself too far.
Charles struggled for something to say. How to express his concern without appearing disapproving or smothering to his independently minded daughter. Fortunately though, someone else had already found the words he was looking for, "Maybe you had enough workin' out, eh Cherie?" Lightning flashed again as both Xaviers looked in the direction of the voice. Vixen's weights hit the floor with a thud that reverberated through the building. At the back of the room Gambit flashed a charming smile, whilst besides him perched on a mahogany dresser, Blaze grinned cheekily.
"How did you…" the Professor started, as Ilehana asked, "What are you…" Bother tailed off, happy not to understand if it meant seeing a friendly face or two.
"We need a few bits," Blaze explained with a wave of her hand. "Have they got into the lower levels yet?"
"They have the use of the elevator," the Professor began, "But as far as we are aware they have not managed to open any of the doors in the subbasement itself. The adimantium shielding we installed, along with Beast and Iceman's anti-spyware programming, appears to be working so far. I wish we knew more, but Ilehana and myself are feeling a little removed from the world around us…" Xavier indicated to the metal collar around his neck with sadness in his kindly blue eyes. Gambit and Blaze glanced at each other, and exchanged a nod. The Cajun handed his former apprentice a package from a pocket on his coat, then twirled a lockpick in his fingers deftly.
"Then is 'bout time we do somet'ing 'bout that," he boasted confidently.
"Think I'll go take a peek and see what a mess they've created downstairs," Blaze decided.
"Don't get caught Cherie," Gambit warned her jokingly.
"Why? You not gonna come dashing to my rescue?" Blaze laughed in reply, and disappeared.
"You two are getting along extraordinarily well," Xavier commented lightly, a small smile tugging at his lips. Ilehana too seemed a little entertained, and the air in the mansion somehow felt a whole lot less oppressive than it had in a long while.
"Huh," Remy snorted indignantly, "Don't worry, it won't last. Mind if I be takin' a look at them fetchin' collars o' yours?"
"They are tamper-proofed, Gambit, and wired with explosives," the Professor warned him.
"You jus' stick wit' teachin' les enfants Professor, an' leave de explosives to Gambit, oui?" Remy was not phased in the slightest. His grin was infectious, as Xavier caught some of the thief's reckless spirit and nodded his agreement to the request.