At a complete loss for what Gambit was doing, Cyclops resigned himself to simply sit back and watch the thief at work. For fifteen minutes now he had been pawing his way around the crevices of one particular panel like a dog digging for a bone it knows is buried somewhere. Suddenly, he stopped and turned a mischievous grin to Ch'od, who was standing behind Cyclops at the moment. "Quite d'design my frien'. I recognize de work. Y'never tol' me you had contacts."
Ch'od laughed, "Who better to design a holding cell than a professional thief? Corsair's idea. Pretty good, huh?"
Gambit whistled which seemed to put everybody on edge. "Are you saying you can't get us outta here?" Bobby asked, edging his way over toward the panel Gambit had been eyeing seconds earlier.
"Not if I only had typical tools at my disposal, non."
"So with no tools that means..." Warren suggested from across the room. A room, Scott noticed that was beginning to get slightly claustrophobic.
"Who said I ain' got tools?" Remy laughed, slapping a hand on Iceman's shoulder and in turn steering him closer to the panel. "Tol' you I always got a card up my sleeve."
"And what card is that?" Bobby asked, now staring at the panel.
"You." Gambit answered. Bobby's eyes went wide with shock as he rounded on the Cajun.
"What d'ya mean me?"
"Simple Bobby. Cyc here can't blast trough dis panel and neither can I. Made outta tougher stuff dan dat. Amount of force we'd have to use would end up fryin' all of us in dis room in de process." Scott watched as Hank started to nod his head slowly in agreement, and he wondered if the good doctor was beginning to process Gambit's plan.
"Things shatter more easily when frozen." Hank muttered loud enough for most of the occupants of the room to hear.
"Zactly." Gambit smiled. "You freeze dis section of dis panel. Dat's where the locking mechanism is housed." He pointed at the particular seam for emphasis. "I put a small charge in one of my cards and slide it right in the crack and poof." He threw his arms wide. "The mechanism gone and we outta here."
"Then what?" Cyclops asked. "Obviously we need to assume that whoever put us in here is still aboard the ship. We need a strategy."
"Dat's yo business Fearless." Remy shouted over his shoulder while pressing Bobby's hands against the wall in the exact placement he needed. "I take care a' de hard part an' you boys can figger out de rest, I reckon."
I will not pace. Lilandra thought to herself, sitting on her portable throne in the make shift audience chamber the cruiser staff had appointed upon her arrival. The need to move, fidget, do something, was almost overwhelming. I will not pace. Empresses did NOT fidget, she distinctly remembered that lesson from her father prior to his abdication. She let out a silent snort. Father, she thought, had you dealt with things such as these I do believe you would've fidgeted as well. The news was not good, she didn't need an audience with Deathbird and her council to ascertain that. She had seen the live footage of the ships being vaporized, and she had seen the streak across the outreaches of space like a solar flare from an invisible sun. She knew what had happened. This was simply details and formality.
The clang of the doors startled her momentarily, though a lifetime of training did not allow her to show it. Deathbird was not taking having her kill usurped very well. A decorative urn on a pedestal next to the entryway flew across the room, smashing on impact with the wall. Not well at all. "Deathbird, I saw the mission did not..."
"Phoenix!" Deathbird's shout cut Lilandra off before she could finish the thought. "She destroyed my fleet." She whispered menacingly, stalking her way towards the throne like the predator she was. "She is going to take the Starjammer."
Relief flooded through Lilandra's veins, followed swiftly by horror. "A'nok, transmit a view of the Starjammer to the screen. Now."
The mad gleam in Deathbird's eyes continued to shine as she pointed her gaze toward the vid screen. Her chest rose and fell in time with each audible breath she forced through her clenched teeth. "It was mine." Lilandra heard her growl as the image popped to life in front of them. A line of X-Men were making their way back to the ship from the outside, too miniscule to determine who exactly it was. The rest of the ship was encased in a warm glow that looked deceptively inviting. The only indication of it's origin was the way it pulsed in time with the Crystal below. It made Lilandra definitively sick to her stomach.
"Um, guys that glow can't be a good thing." Kitty said through her microphone as they got closer to the ship.
"I believe it is Jean's doing," Storm replied. "Why she has encased the ship I do not know."
"Jean or Phoenix?" Logan's voice came through the comm link.
"Both." That last was Sam. "Ain't one without the other. She knows that, she's learned."
"Samuel I swear you are going to have to spill what happened while you were locked up in that rock." Betsy this time, with more of an edge than usual, Kitty noted.
"Later, Betts. Right now there's more to worry about." Kitty heard Sam reply.
The feel of the radiation coming off the ship was like sulfuric acid running down her skin. Kitty had never experienced molecular activity so physically or so painfully before. "Sam's right." She shouted as she forced the composition of the others to conform along with her, pushing her way through the haze of the radiation like it was slimy ooze holding her in place. "Not dying is at the top of my list right now."
He rubbed his hands together greedily over the sensor displays. Eight bodies approached the ship at an angle that would have them intercept with the crew quarters. This was fine. The life support systems were remaining fully functional while the rest of the onboard systems were going out of control. Lights were flickering on and off, the occasional feel of the gravitational system weakening, security and navigation diagnostics flickered feebly across the panel. Everything was perfect. She was going to tear this ship apart bit by bit. When she did he'd be ready, his turn and his time would come.
As it froze the metal of the door began to creak and pop, the sound of the sub zero temperature forcing the molecules to condense more than they naturally did. Particles slowed down, and ironically Bobby realized it would be the sudden and intense speeding of those very same molecules that would allow them to escape from this intergalactic broom closet. For the first time he realized how truly opposite he and the Cajun were, it wasn't just their personalities or their morals. They were truly genetic exact opposites, Bobby froze things by bringing the molecules as close to still as possible, and Gambit made things explode by forcing molecules to energize to the point of instability. No wonder they couldn't get along. Finally satisfied that the metal was frozen through to the opposite side he backed away. "Done." He muttered, moving to stand against the far wall that Beast and Ch'od together had proclaimed the safest distance from the blast.
"Bien," Gambit nodded, inspecting the door briefly before wiggling a card into the crevice between the door and the wall. "Everybody ready to say 'cheese' when de door go boom?" Apparently satisfied with whatever answer he implied from looking at them Gambit forced a flash charge into the card and leapt for the rest of the group as it went off almost instantly.
There was dust...everywhere and the noxious smell of burnt titanium, at least if Bobby had to guess what burnt titanium smelled like that would be his guess. "I love inhaling carcinogens in the morning." he heard Cecilia choke out and then as the smoke cleared he was able to make out the silhouettes, then features of his teammates. A brief head count and there was a name for every body and a body for every name which was good. He looked over to the wall and there was a big hole where the door used to be, which was better (though it meant dealing with the Cajun's almighty ego for awhile).
The lights from the hallway were flickering sporadically and Bobby was starting to realize that the lurching sick feeling in his stomach was not due to nerves after all. Something was going on with the ship. "Something is wrong." Scott stated behind him, verifying his inexpert opinion. "That blast should've sent somebody running, and the ship seems to be losing power." Bobby watched Scott swivel his head toward Gambit, who was just picking himself up off the floor and dusting off his beloved coat.
"Don' look at dis boy, I ain' got no idea what all dis is about." He jerked his thumb toward Hepzibah and Ch'od. "P'rhaps y' should talk to de people who run dis here ship."
Hepzibah hissed at Scott's unasked question. "Losing power, we are. Siphoning it off something is."
"We could be under attack?" Ch'od shrugged. Bobby watched Scott shoot him a look and the alien grinned. "Okay, we know we're under attack. I meant somebody outside might be attacking the ship, draining the power cells to keep us immobile."
It made sense, Bobby thought, but he didn't like the sound of it. There were enough problems with a possible traitor, okay probable traitor, on board. Outside attackers only made things that much more difficult.
"Do you think it's Lilandra?" Scott asked
"Unlikely, that is." Hepzibah frowned, slowly making her way into the hallway. "Simply shoot us Deathbird would. Our power they do not need."
"Subtlety's never been her cup of tea, our Lady Deathbird." Ch'od laughed following a bit more confidently after Hepzibah.
"So who?" Warren asked.
Ch'od answered with a whistle. "Oh Scott," he called from a window looking out into the space beyond. "You might want to take a looksee at what your darling wife is doing to our ship."
Bobby would have sworn he felt a lead weight drop into his gut, from about twenty feet up. If Jean was doing this to the ship that could only mean one thing, and that one thing was bad...very, very bad.
This battle was like one she had never fought, on or off the Astral Plane. The Phoenix was a being of pure raw existence. Things like emotion, physical gratification and sensation were all foreign concepts, though greatly enjoyed while being experienced. These were also things the Phoenix could never get enough of. Yet at the same time, this was different. This was not the unthinking monster of years past. This was a sentient, reasonable, though still frightfully powerful and needy entity. Worse, it was angry. Angry for being awoken from an enjoyable slumber. Angry at the being who continued to try to defy it. And most of all angry at Jean for fighting with every ounce of her being to keep the Starjammer from being crushed like an empty soda can.
Why do you protect them! It shouted at her as she kept the forces exerted on the ship from breaching the hull.
Because they are family, they are friends, they are innocent. She thought back.
They are in the way. It was frightening how this creature who could destroy worlds in the blink of an eye was so quick to toss aside things simply because they were "in the way." It made Jean sick.
That does not give us the right to destroy them.
Silence for a moment, the pressure lifted ever so slightly. Enough for Jean to breathe. Why? It wasn't so much a question as just the idea of a question being passed to her via thought. A search for understanding where there was none.
You protect the ones you love. You care for those you need. You need me. She felt the power acquiesce. I love my family. Again an acknowledgement of understanding. You kill them, you hurt me. You need me whole, not broken. We cannot fix things if I am broken. She tried to send the idea of "broken" tied in with emotions, hoping it would get the idea across.
Do we still kill the deceiver? This was somehow important, more so than Jean could comprehend. She had a funny feeling that it was not something for mortals to comprehend. Even if he is family?
Jean thought that over briefly. If he is the deceiver he is no family of mine. That seemed to be agreement enough for the Phoenix, it's strangle hold on the Starjammer dropped and rather than destroying the ship they entered it together as one being, of one mind. For the Phoenix it was the destruction of one who threatened the universe that she had sworn to protect and for Jean it was to punish the one who had threatened the safety of her family and loved ones. Upon realizing this Jean received a silent acknowledgement from the other entity currently inhabiting her body, their missions though different were the same. One body bringing about the end to two problems. It was satisfactory.