Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made by this work.
Kitty set down the mug of hot chocolate and plate of cookies in front of her friend who was curled up on a sofa in the den wrapped up in a blanket. Jubilee smiled appreciatively and reached held the mug enjoying the warmth it brought to her hands. Snatching a cookie, Kitty flexed her fingers and wondered just when the painkillers would kick in, though the dull headache she'd been suffering from had pleasantly passed.
"Feeling better?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah, thanks...I was just so in the zone, didn't even notice him. Then..." Jubilee said with a sigh.
"Big bada boom." Kitty said.
"Yeah you know me, never good with gore, nightmares for a week if I go watching a horror flick. But, I mean I just kept thinking what if I did that to Logan..." Jubilee meekly whispered, snatching a cookie to nibble at without any of her usual gusto for sweets.
"Hey, you were doing good till Secret Agent Man went startling you." Kitty said in her friend's defence.
"Is good gonna cut it?" Jubilee said in question to Kitty, looking to her doubtful of herself.
"Jubilee?" Kitty said slipping the authority she was well used to throwing around.
"Yeah boss?" Jubilee managed to joke, recognizing that tone.
"How nervous were you when you got to work on your first car, back at the shop?" Kitty asked pointedly.
"What? Rotating tires?" Jubilee chuckled.
"I mean the first big job, all on your head." Kitty said still keeping her tone firm.
"Figured I'd be sent back to run the counter, was scared I was gonna screw up big. I kept checking that I had the car on the hoist right, hell even dove for cover when Tommy accidentally dropped an engine in his car. Was just running brake new brake lines." Jubilee recalled with her embarrassment washed red across her face.
"But you didn't screw up, ya kept at it and look at you now. Someone dropped an engine, you got scared. Wanna find out where you'll be if you keep at it?" Kitty pressed.
Jubilee bowed her head and took a large gulp of her hot chocolate, snatching a cookie to wolf it down. Kitty knelt down to look up at her friend and saw a stubborn smile spread, leaning in for an impulsive hug.
"Thanks Kit Kat." Jubilee said as she returned the hug.
"Nab a bite, get some rest, hell go and grope Pete some. I'm going to go see what Secret Agent Man is up to." Kitty said, bopping her head against Jubilee as she found her way to her feet.
Taking the dishes to the kitchen, bit her lip in indecision as she washed them and enjoyed the soothing feel of the hot water seeping into her fingers. She'd been on a mission earlier in the day to only spend the rest working hard in a well meaning masochism. Her curiosity won out over her fatigue, drying her hands and heading off down to the sub basement. She found them all in the war room looking at a holographic wireframe of a nightmarish cybernetic spider.
"It's insidious." Henry said as she joined.
"The road to hell..." Miss Rushman intoned.
"Another perversion of science?" Henry asked as he turned on her not disguising his disgust.
"I'm sure you can see the medical implications." Miss Rushman challenged.
"Do not talk to me about medical implications, I've been here before and they put it into a gun. Oppenheimer truly said it best." Henry growled with rumbling thunder rolling from his chest.
"What is it?" Kitty asked from the door.
Looking to the latest to join them, Henry tapped at his touch screen and called up another image. This time a translucent skull showed a brain and eyes and the mocking grin of their own mortality. Woven around the gemstone, the filaments snaked out to slither through the mind as they split and spread. Reaching to claw at her head as her scalp crawled, Kitty felt ill.
"A cybernetic implant, the filaments invade the memory centres of the brain as well as the aggression centres. Here you see it implanting the optic nerve, becoming the interface for any post-op programming." Miss Rushman explained coolly.
"And that's..." Kitty couldn't finish her question.
"In Logan's head, and we're going to get it out." Fury said with a look to her.
"It's horrible." Kitty whispered, finding a seat next to Ororo who drew her near for a hug.
"That, as they say, is just the tip of the iceberg." Fury added.
"So that's what's making him sick?" Kitty asked.
The uneasy looks everyone at the table shared bespoke of something unsaid, something they were reluctant to tell. Fury looked to Miss Rushman, Henry to Ororo, all looking to weigh the matter over. Sitting straight and crossing her arms, Kitty bore them down stubbornly pushing back her disgust and fears to remind them she was no child to be coddled but a woman in her own right.
"Truth be told the Adamantium poisoning has probably helped the situation, from the one we've recovered it has an entire suite of countermeasures to employ if the, ahem, programming is being corrupted. From everything we've been told this is the situation that has been happening, he is trying to remember who he was." Miss Rushman explained.
"Will he still be, be Logan once it's removed?" Kitty asked, worry knitting her brows.
"Our experts say yes, but without the implant he'll be able to begin to heal from everything done to him. He'll be remembering what would be likened to repressed memories, memories he'll have to come to terms with." Miss Rushman flatly revealed.
"When do we start?" Kitty pressed looking around.
"How are your hands?" Ororo kindly questioned, lightly running her fingers over hers.
"Nothing I can't live with." Kitty said wiggling them.
"We'll start getting you ready tomorrow, try and get some sleep." Ororo urged, squeezing her hand gently.
Waiting until they were alone Ororo turned on Fury with a look that carried the threat of thunder and lash of lightning. Fury bore the brunt and met her without batting a lash. Reaching into his coat he pulled out what looked rather much like a phone as he laid it down on the desk, tapping a few keystrokes that had the projection above flickering before blinking out to reveal another.
"I take it you are why we cannot find him." Ororo said looking on the visage of Erik Lehnsherr.
"Should we have had need to call on him we have negotiated terms with him." Miss Rushman stated.
"Then it's true." Henry stated.
"Pardon?" Fury asked showing genuine interest.
"That the Cure isn't permanent." Henry said as he took his glasses off to rub his weary eyes, leaning back dangerously in his chair.
"Excuse me?" Fury intoned in the closest any would dare to label as disbelief in the man.
Looking to another for answers, Miss Rushman seemed to be the one to read between the lines as she took the phone-like device and tap away at the touch screen with several swipes. Suddenly upon the screen another face appeared though to most it was one they didn't recognize from their encounters in the past.
"This information is classified at the highest level, Subject Zero...known to you alias Mystique, Raven Darkholme. The first to be successfully treated for the Cure, reversing the inhibition of the X-factor. Now Agent Darkholme, she is assigned to the security of Erik Lehnsherr, alias Magneto." Miss Rushman said.
"You...found a way to undo the Cure?" Henry asked astonished.
"Miss Rushman, call Coulson and have him get a handle on this. Doctor McCoy, would you care to use your new clearance to inform my people everything you know on this. I want to know if there is someway I left a fox in my henhouse." Fury stated taking control of the situation.
With many questions still left, she decided they were ones that could wait for the time and excused herself. Walking to the lift, Ororo breathed a sigh of relief after exiting the forever too tiny elevator and looked to the school and her wards. A few lingered in the den, some in the kitchen by the clatters of dishes being washed and gossip being shared. The day had been one that just showed how many hours there were between sunsets, thinking of how much work she still had left unfinished. Retreating to her office, she figured if the mysterious Director Fury or the enigmatic Miss Rushman had anything else to add they would know where to find her.
After helping both girls to bed, Marie headed to the only place she wanted to be, at the side of Logan. She found she wasn't alone but was pleased to see Logan awake with a weak smile meeting her as she stepped into his bedroom. Moira had her stethoscope to his chest and and a thermometer pressed to his lips. On her futon she found Pete laying down keeping him company with Jubilee fast asleep with her head resting on his lap.
"How is he?" Marie asked as she slid into her chair, throwing her shopping bag down.
"...'m right here." Logan said softly.
"You'd just say you're fine." Marie countered, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek.
"Still fightin' me, I told him he had two choices where I'd stick this." Moira replied as she snatched out the thermometer to add the temperature down to her chart.
"I...hope you washed it first." Logan wheezed.
"How did it taste?" Moira questioned, tucking it back into her lab coat, Logan just mustering a smirk.
"Like shit..." Logan coughed.
"I did nea ask ye how ye felt, I asked ye how it tasted." Moira sniffed.
Watching the banter between Doctor and patient Marie curled up in her chair and felt a wave of relief wash over her. Lolling her head back she closed her eyes and fought against the fatigue that longed to drag her to the depths of sleep. Cracking an eye she looked to the engaged couple beside her and thought of her own little gift hidden down in the bag.
"Busy day at class?" Marie asked.
That Pete looked to be trying to find an answer had her worried, curling over in her chair to bear him down. Looking past to Moira, Pete ignored her arched eyebrow until some secret was shared between them. Easily taking his love up into his arms despite her mewling protests, Pete gave a nod to the door beckoning her to join. Her curiosity piqued, Marie turned to Logan full of question.
"Go, leave me a bit o' dignity, Doc Lady here ain't done yet." Logan whispered.
Smiling dumbly at him, she kissed him atop his brow and once to his cheek, his eyes lighting up as he looked on her. Slinking off slowly as their fingers slid apart, she walked backwards on until she nearly tripped over the coffee table but didn't care how foolish she felt for the chuckle it roused. Waving to him, she joined her friends out in the hall.
"What's goin' on?" Marie asked after the door had been closed.
Pete favoured her with a smile and though he was burdened, he tapped his ear and gave a nod off towards the stairs. Following after him Marie was lead off to the back veranda that offered a view of the manicured lawns and the distant carriage house. Sitting there already was Kitty with a red haired woman dressed in a business suit and skirt with her shirt unbuttoned bordering on being outright racy.
"This is Natalie." Kitty said in introduction.
"Hi." Marie greeted, reaching out to shake the woman's hand.
"I apologize for earlier." Natalie said looking on the slumbering Jubilee.
Looking to the newcomer in new light Marie wondered at her presence though decided to sit with Pete in one of the loungers. Somewhere in the school it sounded as though students were watching a heated sports match if the yelling was any indication, music and laughter carrying from the dorms in the usual ambiance she had long grown accustomed to.
"Thank you, she was just more scared of what she did than why it happened." Kitty said with a stretch and yawn.
"Someone mind fillin' me in?" Marie asked of the two.
"My employer and I came with information on Logan's condition, and to the treatment. Already having some insight to the difficulties your associates hadcome up with some ingenious treatment options when we interrupted Miss Lee." Natalie explained neutrally before Kitty could even finish biting her lip in indecision.
"What!? You, you know what's wrong with him?" Marie asked, hope welling within her as she looked to the newcomer.
"Those participating in the operation will begin preparing tomorrow, under the oversight of Doctor MacTaggert and Doctor McCoy. As long as Logan is stable it will be postponed to ensure the absolute success, though we are preparing emergency options." Natalie finished.
It didn't matter the cold way the mysterious woman talked or her vagueness, for the first time in a week Marie had hope that an end was in sight rather than the ever progressing ailment of her lover. Her knees fell out from her and she had to let the tight ball of grief she'd kept locked away out, crying her relief. Feeling hands upon her shoulders guiding her up, she looked to see Kitty there helping her off to a lounger and handing some napkins for her eyes.
"How long? Please..." Marie asked of Natalie who stared at her expressionlessly.
"I cannot venture a guess I am afraid, it is a delicate situ..." Natalie started.
"Asap, soon as I'm ready. Lee, me and Moira are gonna get back in the saddle tomorrow hon. I promise you that." Kitty said cutting off the woman next to her who looked to her with a hint of irritation finding her lips and wrinkling her forehead.
"Then I would advise you follow in Miss Lee and find some rest. I should be going." Natalie said excusing herself.
As buoyant as she felt Marie caught the hint of sparks between the two women, watching as Kitty glared daggers in Natalie's back as she left. Figuring that question could wait until the morning she fell down in her chair and tried to let some of the tension tied up in her unwind. Turning back and letting a long sigh out, Kitty smiled to her in a way Marie thought looked all too familiar from a time weeks before out on the driveway when she'd first pulled up in her car.
"New rival?" Marie asked with a nod to the door.
"Nah, Lee's got dibs on that. More of an aggravation, I can't pin it down but there's just something about that woman that just I dunno, something about her rubs me wrong." Kitty relented, snatching her can of pop to torture the tab.
"Who's her employer?" Marie pressed, her own curiosity piqued now that she had Kitty talking.
"Government spook, he says he knows Logan but don't expect him to talk. I better not say much more, probably get license to kill on me." Kitty growled, tearing the tab off.
"Pfft, Kitty Pryde backing down...never thought I'd..." Jubilee said, a heavy yawn silencing her as she stretched in the arms of her beau.
"I should have tucked you in when I had the chance." Pete said, leaning down to kiss her.
"S'not morning yet?" Jubilee asked looking around, a wave and a smile for Marie as she saw her.
"What's with the Mythbusters going on in the garage?" Marie asked of her likely culprit.
Jubilee buried her face in Pete's chest while he looked apologetic, Kitty smacking her head then as she dug for her phone from her pocket. Furious texting later, she climbed to her feet looking around to her friends.
"Nightcap? Water? Warm milk?" Kitty asked pointing fingers around.
"Nice way to change the subject, sparkling juice please. Hid them in past the mystery leftovers I think someone's planning on using for a science project." Marie said.
"Choco milk please." Jubilee said.
"A glass of water please Kitty." Pete added.
With their cohort off for some drinks, Marie turned on Jubilee and Pete trying to wile the truth out of them. That her name had come up in regards to whatever this operation was, she was more curious than ever now. Jubilee stuck out her tongue and then curled up with her head resting on Pete's lap.
"Hi, walkin' talkin' defibrillator in training. Paffed when I shoulda zapped I guess, promise I'll have it down pat, course it's a just in case cause you totally know Logan's to stubborn to need any pansy stuff like that." Jubilee rambled dismissively.
"They can't just...clear?" Marie said, making a gesture as some of her worry crept back into her.
"Kit Kat was all like, dudes pretty much got a fad a way cage around his heart, sounds like some Hipster blog she'd read." Jubilee grumbled.
"Faraday cage, quit playing dumb Jubes, I know you weren't hot for physics like ya were for history with Ororo but you still gave me a run for grades. Now, not exactly one but it's still a good enough analogy for back when Logan's class got to asking." Kitty rebuked walking in with a tray of beverages.
"Just glad they weren't there when it happened, yakin' twice in the same day will have 'em thinkin' I'm a totally wuss." Jubilee groused.
"Actually..." Pete said, looking down to his love.
"What?" Jubilee asked with a whimper.
"It's the opposite, there's a rumour going around saying you were learning some Ninja Death Touch..." Pete said smiling apologetically.
"What!?" Jubilee and Marie asked in shock.
"Kids were watching on the second floor apparently." Kitty explained.
"I am so getting Betsy to mind wipe the punks." Jubilee growled furiously, petulantly flopping over to cross her arms across her chest.
"You can do that in the morning, lets get to bed." Pete chuckled, easily snatching up Jubilee though she kicked and squirmed as he walked off with her.
Watching them leave, Marie and Kitty were left in a bit of peace and quiet out on the veranda. Enjoying a sip of her sparkling juice wondering which Kitty had grabbed for her, finding she'd been had. Sparkling wine instead, Kitty raised her own bottle in toast.
"To getting Logan back on his feet so you can find creative ways to knock him off them." Kitty said rather saucily.
"To friends when you need them." Marie replied, raising her bottle to then take a sip together.
Easing into her chair, Kitty looked thoughtful as she stared off to the starry sky above. Marie slipped from her chair to join her in the one that Natalie had once sat, working her own version of The Look at her friend, far less imitating as the original perfected by Logan but instead encompassing a simple request, Spill It.
"You know, maybe next summer you should take some post Sec par time, I know you're doing a lot o' courses in your free time but I'm sure it'd totally help with your duties." Kitty said attempting to sidestep the issue.
"And?" Marie pressed.
"And...well, you got enough on your plate so I guess I'll just talk to Ororo." Kitty relented with a huff.
"About?" Marie inquired, enjoying a sip of her cooler.
"Ninja Death Touch. The kids honestly just think it's cool...kinda disturbing that actually, but well...Jubilee's always been a bit sensitive about her powers. I had completely forgotten about it, water under the bridge and all that. Her and St. John, pardon droppin' that name, well...they were usually the ones we went looking for if anything was broke or burnt." Kitty started, rolling on in wistful reminiscing with a hint of sadness.
"When was this?" Marie asked intrigued.
"Few years before you showed up, way I heard it after the Professor and Erik had their rather large difference of opinions, well...the Professor kept the school kind of small. We can all see the First Class in pictures, I think we were all the start of the Second Class." Kitty remarked, pausing for a sip of her own cooler before looking to Marie.
"Who was all that?" Marie asked, by the time she'd shown up to the school it had been wholly a bustling place.
"Believe it or not, I think Bobby and me both tied for the first enrollment spots. Then Moira came with Theresa, always the baby of the bunch. Pete, St. John, and then lastly Jubilee. Mostly twelve going on thirteen. New to the truth of what we were capable of, plenty of accidents to go around. Used to try and do a bit of good natured ribbing to help but..." Kitty said, finishing with a wince at the memory.
"Broke or burnt?" Marie pressed.
"Yeah..." Kitty sighed.
"What happened?" Marie inquired, thinking of how Kitty was worried enough to talk to Ororo about whatever had brought up the trip down memory lane.
"Picture this, small scale home economics in the kitchen. Left to our own devices, cook book and whatever is in the cabinets and fridge. Pretty much making dinner, chicken roasting in the oven and got some veg steaming on the burners. Well...pilot goes out, worn out old stove from when Julia Child was new to television. St. John said he had it..." Kitty recalls.
"I'm...guessing it didn't end well?" Marie asked.
"By the time Scott made his way up after hearing the smoke alarm Bobby had put it out. Charred flash frozen chicken and snow peas and cauliflower. We all got a weekend detention for that for using powers out of class, so...we were always hard on John if he even pulled out his zippo." Kitty finished, dangling her empty bottle in hand.
"Jubilee?" Marie inquired with a poked finger stabbing at her friend's ticklish side.
"Nicknamed her Sparky for a good while, when we finally got her outta her shell Bobby joked we created a monster. She chilled out by the time you showed up but until then girl was a serious Valley Girl bubbly, surprise hugs and very touchy feely. We were still using floppies then, don't even get me started on the field day Bobby and John had anytime Scott asked if we had them out. Well, Jubilee must have nuked four reports by the time I got smart and kept seperate backups. That along with the second dvd player voided, well she wasn't allowed near the TV on movie night." Kitty hissed, hiding her face with her hands.
"I think I see where this is going." Marie confessed, reaching a hand to lightly tickle her friend.
"Bobby and me were the instigators really even if we didn't think we were being mean. Theresa was never mean but when her brand new movie we all agreed to watch that night gets eaten...ten years old, eh...moment she got in a hissy fit whole house new. Pete was always the peace maker but he got out numbered." Kitty reluctantly carried on.
"I think I remember sitting through that particular lesson now that I follow you." Marie remarked, even if the memory reminded her how alone she felt thinking it had been all for her benefit at the time.
"Picture it with just the six of us in the Professors office with Scott, Jean and Ororo all there too." Kitty groaned.
"I'll be sure to keep my eyes out, like you said...I don't think the kids realize but it'll be good to explain to them how easily it's to hurt someone." Marie said softly, thankful for the tales.
"I don't think we got any bullies, but it's always best to nip them in the bud. Betsy's pretty good on keeping an eye out for that way I hear it, but I know how much a few thoughtless words can really hurt someone." Kitty said softly, drawing her knees to her chest as she curled up.
"Do you mind if I get you and Jubilee to talk about that, if one of those talks is due?" Marie inquired.
"You're sneaky, but no I don't mind and I'm sure I could always get Jubilee to tag along too. Well, I think I'll go heed Miss Rushman's advice and get some sleep. Thanks again Marie, you're always nice and easy to talk to. I promise to nail this and get Logan up and about." Kitty replied, jack knifing to her feet.
"You're welcome, and thank you. I'm going to go kiss him goodnight and see if I can't find a few hours myself." Marie whispered, reaching up for a hug.
Wandering off back into the mansion looking for a nights rest, they bid another one last good night and wishes of sweet dreams as they stood in the hallway some rooms apart. The heart monitor sang his song as she crept in and placed a kiss atop his brow, Logan looking fast asleep already as he laid in bed with a fresh blanket over him. Slipping out of her days wear and into her flannel pyjamas, Marie curled up on her futon watching him for a while before finally shutting her eyes looking for some slumber.
Hearing the knock at the door, Ororo beckoned them in and put down her latest bit of paperwork she had been catching up on. Letting himself in, she offered him a smile at the courtesy thinking he the sort of man who had little use of niceties. Rising from her seat and offering him a chair, she took that moment to fix another cup of tea from a china pot on a hot plate and held it up in offer.
"No thank you, do you mind?" Fury asked instead, holding out a cigar.
"Actually I do, were we in the garage you might find me willing to keep a breeze about to blow that horrid smoke away so you could partake." Ororo said, settling down at her desk.
"I take it that's his desk I saw earlier." Fury said as he tucked the cigar away.
"It was the agreement we came to." Ororo explained, savouring a sip.
A honest smile split Nick's lips then as he chuckled, getting comfortable in the chair as he looked around to the photos on the walls. Ororo found herself warming to this side of the man she'd met only hours before, reclining in her chair as she held her china saucer and cup. A hint of a smile crept across her delicate features as she thought of her mentor doing the same in moments like this.
"Your henhouse is safe?" Ororo asked.
"Erik has always shown some residual aptitude of his mutation, chess pieces, cutlery. It always seemed to tire him that I was assured it was perfectly normal. Given that the man magnetically levitated the Golden Gate bridge I accepted that." Fury explained.
"How long have you had him incarcerated Director?" Ororo inquired.
"After the fall out we caught up with him after six months, kept an eye on him for roughly another six to see if we couldn't flush anything out with him. In the end it was my call to use now Agent Darkholme to bring him in, he didn't put up a fight. I think she was a little insulted by that, Hell hath no fury..." Fury said, watching the reaction of the woman across from him.
"You were really willing to...?" Ororo started, unable to ask the question thinking of how dangerous the man had been in his prime.
"I wouldn't say I don't have my ulterior motives in this. Logan was a friend, was often a complete pain in my ass, but I have some standing orders from a very long time ago that I'd like to clear off my desk too." Fury flatly stated showing not a twitch of muscle in his face nor flicker of his eye.
"The implant." Ororo supplied, Fury giving a nod.
"Need to know, and there are things on it that I need to know." Fury said, placing emphasis on every last of the few words he spoke.
Ororo set her cup and saucer down on her table and stared cooly at the man thinking how much black operations and military secrets had nearly destroyed them all. Thinking of how those men had come to her school, kidnapped her children. They'd taken her mentor, turned her friends against another and by the end seemingly killed only to awaken something horrible in a woman she considered her best friend. Though a light drizzle had only been called for, as her eyes washed white with the call of thunder sheets of rain fell against the school as she looked on this man offering with one hand only to take with another.
"Director Fury, I would like to impress upon you when it comes to this school, these children who are mine to watch over and raise as if they were my own that their safety is my paramount concern. If there is anything upon that implant that would put their safety into jeopardy then that is something I considering that I need to know." Ororo stated flatly to the man before regaining her composure.
Having not batted a lash the entire display, Nick rose to his feet and looked about to the children upon the walls and the faces he picked out having recognized them from some place or another, whether it be briefings or simply in passing on the news the rare moments of downtime he enjoyed. Finding his cigar from earlier, he pressed it to his lips and looked to her.
"I think that's a concession I can be willing to make, now if you'll excuse me I'm going to familiarize myself with your garage." Fury said, walking off without waiting for reply.
Sitting at her desk, Ororo watched him leave and with the shutting of her door she found herself smiling at the words muttered in passing, Hell hath no fury.
Author's Note : Thanks to all to everyone for reading and I hope you've been enjoying the cameo's. More to come soon!