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Post by Pyro on Jul 29, 2006 10:02:25 GMT -5
After he had come off the phone to Nightingale, John sat for a little longer at the computer, researching, researching, researching. He was getting surprisingly thorough at it, although he'd rather have actually been out there fighting the good fight.
Eventually, his stomach decided to put in a protest at having been ignored for so many hours and he realised he was going to have to eat. He headed back to his room to finish getting dressed, slow realisation dawning that Mystique hadn't been there when he'd woken up to the telephone call.
He felt a faint rush of disappointment which he didn't understand at all.
Out of habit borne from a couple of years of sharing room space with Bobby Drake, he pulled the bed covers straight. He couldn't believe that he'd woken up crying like a baby. All those nightmares to choose from, and that had been the one that woke him last night.
John pulled on his boots and dragged a comb through his hair. A hand to the jaw told him that he wouldn't do badly having a shave, either, but it could wait a little longer.
Having so dressed, he headed to the kitchen and fixed himself something to eat, which consisted of grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl that Python had kindly put out. Feeling particularly extravagant, he grabbed a couple of Kiwi fruit as well.
Munching on the banana, he headed through the corridors of Genosha. Once, not so long ago when Magneto had been here, he'd prowled these corridors at night, restless, uncertain of his place. Now he strode down them. They were HIS corridors to stride down.
He heard the sound of gunfire out in the training yard and wondered if Python was up doing some target practise: it wasn't unheard of. His feet changed direction and took him out in that general direction.
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Post by mystique on Jul 29, 2006 10:18:59 GMT -5
Mystique had trained herself years ago to work through a building with a gun in one hand. One could still maneuver about a building of course, and while she was very talented, she wasn't invincible. With a day to go until she had to get into NovaTeX with half the abilities she once possessed, Mystique was out in the practice yard, nude once more, this time finding random targets to blow into pieces with a very large, very loud Desert Eagle.
Running halfway across an open expanse, she landed a left handspring perfectly, immediately reversed into a standing backflip, turned, and fired at the bent alumium remnant of a door. The gunfire echoed loudly, surrounding her naked form with a breeze of smoke for a few seconds.
Mystique smiled, a bit arrogantly. It seemed she hadn't lost so much of her ability after all.
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Post by Pyro on Jul 29, 2006 10:26:42 GMT -5
John had come out expecting to find Python and instead found a very naked, very attractive lethally armed woman.
He did what any other red-blooded male would do.
Chick with guns, he thought, admiringly. Now THAT I can dig.
He leaned, watching her, in much the same way she had watched him the previous evening. Her nudity didn't embarrass him as much as it might have done had he not just spent the night in her arms, although he was consciously aware that someone like the Juggernaut might not be so subtle.
NUDE chick with guns. Hot damn.
She was a thing of beauty to watch; lithe and graceful as a cat, deadly as a jaguar and as sinuous as a constrictor. He knew that Magneto had always admired her and he knew he certainly did. Watching her like this made it all very obvious to him.
"Good morning," he said, across the silence.
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Post by mystique on Jul 29, 2006 10:34:10 GMT -5
Mystique took the opportunity to practice on a live target and turned in his direction, a few quick steps melting into a side flip with her legs tucked in close to her. As she neared him she stood, long legs carrying her yards closer in quick time.
Lifting a long pale arm, she pointed the gun at Pyro's head, no more than a few inches away. Her expression was neither playful, nor deadly. As in so many other instances, it was somewhere in between. She figured living as he had it wasn't the first time a gun was pointed at his head.
And maybe she just needed to remind him of who she was.
"Good morning yourself."
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Post by Pyro on Jul 29, 2006 10:38:20 GMT -5
Apart from the brief flicker of his eyelids, John didn't flinch at her pointing the gun at his head. His mind, however, was racing.
Then his instinct for survival kicked in.
There was the briefest 'click' as he activated the fuel glove and a small fireball appeared, contained within the palm of the hand that came up between his head and her gun. He could probably increase the intensity and velocity of the flame fast enough to melt any bullet that came his way.
Probably.
"I wondered," he said, in a very calm voice, "if you wanted a coffee, but I see you're busy."
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Post by mystique on Jul 29, 2006 10:43:02 GMT -5
Her lips twisted into a wicked grin.
Good show, John.
Mystique closed the space between them and kissed him roughly, fingers curling into his tshirt and pulling him against her. Just as quickly as it had come, it was gone. She let him go and brushed a bit of gunpowder off her upper arm.
"Follow me to my room, I'll get changed, and I want to show you something anyway."
She slipped past him through the door.
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Post by Pyro on Jul 29, 2006 10:48:53 GMT -5
He stood there for a moment, an almost comical look of surprise on his face. He then gave a short laugh, loosed his fireball into the yard and turned to follow her back inside the complex.
For everything that he was, she was coming to understand he had one quality that would stand him in good stead. He was fearless. Not many people would have stood their ground with the barrel of a Desert Eagle pointed at their temple, but give the boy credit where it was due, he had barely flinched.
He padded down the hall, past his own room and to the larger room that had always been hers when he'd first arrived, and for as long as Genosha had been standing for all he knew. He was aware she was a lot older than she looked: he'd never asked.
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Post by mystique on Jul 29, 2006 10:57:11 GMT -5
She shut the door behind him. The room was pristine and without memento, the laptop sitting on her desk. Paperwork was stacked neatly to one side. One photo was pinned to the corkboard, a scene of tropical flora backlit by an amazing sunset.
Mystique stepped into her bathroom and turned on the shower, rinsing off briefly. "When do you think we'll be leaving today?"
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Post by Pyro on Jul 29, 2006 11:00:02 GMT -5
He stepped into the room and glanced around briefly. He'd never once been in here and like any young man going into a woman's room, he felt a little awkward. Her question pulled him out of pseudo-adolescence however and back to the real world.
"I was figuring probably sometime late tonight. That'll give the girls in Baltimore time to find us a decent rendezvous point. Why do you ask?"
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Post by mystique on Jul 29, 2006 11:09:39 GMT -5
She didn't have the heart to tell him the reconn the girls had been doing was, for the most part, completed by Emma a day before. But then the White Queen had determined more than just positions and security setups, and it was good for Pyro to feel he had things under control, so she said nothing.
"Idle curiosity... I'll likely split from the group shortly after we arrive. I've brought with me the earpieces Erik and I once used on a particular... mission..." She stepped out of the bathroom, toweling her hair off. "It'll just be the two of us, but I think that's sufficient."
Mystique stepped over to the closet and pulled a man's white dress shirt and those same tiny black shorts she wore last night, slithering into it all. She noted he'd sat in her desk chair, and maybe for lack of better seating, or simply to torment him, sat in his lap, legs folded to one side as she pulled her laptop over.
"There wasn't time to show you last night..."
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Post by Pyro on Jul 29, 2006 11:13:16 GMT -5
Oh. God. How do I keep myself cool and composed under these conditions?
Just don't stand up.
Not just yet, anyway.
He blamed it on the shorts.
Putting a serious expression onto his face, Pyro almost cautiously put his arms around her waist to hold her steady as she pulled the laptop across. "Time to show me what?" he asked, his voice ever so slightly anxious in pitch and tone.
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Post by mystique on Jul 29, 2006 11:25:39 GMT -5
Mystique took full advantage of the contact, having enjoyed him with all the selfishness she could muster the night before. But now it was business, and his arms around her reminded her suddenly of Erik.
Not that Magneto and she had ever been anywhere close to lovers, perhaps in a time of need, but... their trust and mutual admiration of one another had made working with him seem such an intimate thing. Now that was gone.
She would gladly take John's touch as a substitute.
In a small clear plastic envelope sat a small silver disc. Mystique pulled it over with her fingertips and withdrew the prize she'd been keeping close to her these last few weeks. Slipping it into the drive, she directed it to autorun.
Her voice became very soft.
"John I must trust you not to tell anyone I have this. It would put us both in danger. I know you feel you can rely on those here at Genosha, and those you have recruited... but I hope you can rely on my experience to tell you otherwise."
The window expanded on the laptop screen, revealing complex blueprint schematics. It was obvious at first glance they could be zoomed in to reveal critical levels of detail. On the upper lefthand corner, a simple title in white on blue:
Code No. A0854-24.3 - Sentinel Programme
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Post by Pyro on Jul 29, 2006 11:29:55 GMT -5
John's attention which had previously been centred on one specific area of his anatomy was diverted instantly to the schematics on the screen in front of him.
"Holy hell," he breathed. "This is phenomenal. How the hell did you get hold of these?" He reached round her to put a finger on the mouse pad and scrolled down and around. "With this in hand, we could figure out a strategy to bring them down before they put so much as one metallic foot in front of us. This is incredible, just incredible!"
How easy it was to stir him to excitement, unlike the perpetually placid and stoic Magneto, John wore his passion and enthusiasm very much on his sleeve.
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Post by mystique on Jul 29, 2006 11:43:36 GMT -5
Mystique smiled very subtly, watching the screen. She was getting used to this sort of impassioned feedback from their new leader.. and swept away the thought that she might get used to it.
"It is my job to have it," she said, almost humbly. "I had fingers in the right places. This project has been going for atleast six years now. These schematics are over thirty days old, and no doubt some things have been changed at the last minute, but not much, it would take too much testing for any drastic changes."
She covered his hand with hers and steered him to a particular part of the plans: artillery. "Pyro look at those." It was the first time he'd heard her sound concerned. "That's what we need to be worrying about. If they DO show up... we have to be prepared to leave, or shut them down immediately. I'm unsure we have the latter option."
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Post by Pyro on Jul 29, 2006 11:53:03 GMT -5
He paid close attention to the section of the blueprints she guided him to, his lips moving just ever so slightly as he read what was there.
All the colour drained from his face.
"Maybe we should re-think this plan," he said, his voice tight. "We're so few in numbers, that if one of these things goes off on an attack run, we stand a damn good chance of being obliterated totally." He put his hand to his mouth and chewed on his thumb, a gesture she'd learned from him meant he was thinking.
"What do we have in terms of offense? Me, the Juggernaut, Python - Jane can probably cause some serious damage, Dead Man..." He shuddered. "Aurora and Nightingale. Fuck, we're the Magnificent Seven."
Rather randomly, he began humming the theme from the said-same film.
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Post by mystique on Jul 29, 2006 12:00:49 GMT -5
Mystique shook her head. "This is why I said I need all of you to stand back until I have the information we need. I am certain they are going to be looking for an excuse to show up, if they aren't already there."
"I just don't know... we don't have what it takes to get them down. Juggernaut could get them off their feet, no doubt, but he couldn't power them down. Dead Man is crowd control. Jane... what in the world would Jane do against these?" She knew the girl's abilities were useful, but nature over machinery was never a safe bet. "It's good for us to be confident. And we should be. But we must also be smart."
One arm slipped around his shoulder, making it a bit more comfortable for her to sit and him to see the screen. Her cheek rested against his forehead as she thought for a moment, fingers toying with the hair at the back of his neck.
"I think in time we could develop a strategy to work against these machines. But it won't be done in one day, and it won't be done when there are so many other factors involved. We need time. Pyro for now.. we might just have to be humble. Do our business, and get out."
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Post by Pyro on Jul 29, 2006 12:09:03 GMT -5
"Humble?"
His body stiffened momentarily at the very shocking thought. "Humble was the pig in 'Charlotte's Web'," he said, in a tone of indignant outrage. "We can't start doing too much humble. We've got a reputation to uphold." He relaxed again.
"But you're right, of course," he added. "I agree totally. We need to get in, do what we have to and get out as fast as we can. No going off on tangents. You go in, you get the information you need, we cause enough mayhem to put the place out of operation - and we get the hell out of there."
He stared at the blueprint and shivered. "Damn him. Trask, I mean."
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Post by mystique on Jul 29, 2006 12:17:32 GMT -5
Humility. He would learn it at the end of a great deal of pain. Mystique watched him for a moment, a look in her eyes that was almost sad. Her fingers brushed over his hair, forgetting for a moment the distance carefully laid between them. She only hoped she would be there when they took everything away from him. Then maybe he would learn there was a balance to be struck between pride and person.
She looked back to the screen. "I have more plans for him. Do not doubt that." The room was quiet for a moment but for the low hum of the laptop. Leaving the plans there, she drew her lips from his ear to his neck, and kissed him very softly. With Magneto, she would have left the room to gather her thoughts. Pyro split her open somehow, had a way of leaving her emotions, as his, burning on the surface. She just wasn't sure how else to deal with them.
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Post by Pyro on Jul 29, 2006 12:29:17 GMT -5
He closed his eyes as her lips brushed his neck. His head was awash with the impact of this, yet another thorn in his side, another obstacle on his path to achieve his goal. He wanted clear paths, yearned for everything to be easy, but he knew life wasn't like that.
John seemed to sense something sad in Mystique's touch and his eyes opened again. What did she know that he didn't?
The warmth that had been flooding through him since she had gone to his bed the previous night began to cool down as his semi-scrambled mind began to harbour any number of paranoid thoughts about her motives for being here. His admiration for her was unchanged, of that there was no doubt, but now his mind was injecting all sorts of negativity.
The only outward sign of his struggle was a momentary close of the eyes, a tilt back of the head, as though he would swallow the paranoia away.
"Schedule," he murmured. "You go in, do your thing, tell us when we can do ours, we meet up with you, and we hightail it. Sound right?"
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Post by mystique on Jul 29, 2006 12:33:59 GMT -5
Mystique nodded, thinking to herself. "That's about it. And when we get back, you and I can sit down and hammer through these blueprints. See who might be able to help... and who we could potentially bring in."
She stood, closing the file down and removing the disc.
"Let's eat."
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