Post by Pyro on Oct 16, 2006 17:19:33 GMT -5
Like many nervous speakers do, he spent a considerable amount of time over-analysing what he had said and discovering that in fact, he could barely remember what he'd said. Had he said anything even remotely sensible? Or had he simply stood there and gone "Wah wah wah" at his comrades?
The sick feeling in his stomach wouldn't go away and he doused it with some coffee, which only made him slightly less anxious and definitely more hyperactive.
Mystique slipped down the hall, running the backs of her fingers along the steel plate wall until the knocked lightly against the doorframe to Pyro’s office.
Crossing one ankle over the other she leaned a bit in the doorway and looked at their leader. A whispery smile floated over her lips. She ran a few fingers through her shoulder length red hair, and spoke smoothly.
“Very nice.”
He looked up from staring at the monitor, briefly startled by her appearance, but then relaxed into an uncertain grin. “Was it OK? I mean, you know how I feel about ‘addressing the troops’, I’m no speaker. D’you know, I actually can’t remember anything I said? I could have told them all about the colour of the sky or something for all I know…”
It was typical Pyro, slightly over-anxious and very clearly keyed up to the max.
“Feel bad about leaving Cain behind, he must be getting sick of this island. I know I am. Still…once you’ve checked out Sombra, I guess he’s gonna have plenty of opportunity to – uh – strut his stuff, right?”
Her smile grew a bit as she crossed catlike to the chair opposite his desk, and had a seat. Her arms folded onto his desk and she leaned over, her long body in a graceful arc. Mystique set her chin on her arms and looked at him.
“You sounded fine. Take a deep breath. You have no reason to doubt yourself. You are the leader of the Brotherhood, Pyro. That’s you.” She smiled. “Feel free to take a little pride in it.”
“Oh, I do,” he said, in an earnest tone. “I really do. I didn’t dry up. I know I said something and if you tell me it sounded fine…then that’ll do me.” Indeed, the knot in his stomach was starting to loosen and unravel. “And I’m looking forward to hitting New York and getting Dom. He’s a great guy. One of the closest things I ever had to a best friend outside the Institute, even though we weren’t in the same gang for all that long.”
He scooted his chair to the coffee machine. “Some of the good stuff?” he asked her.
She nodded a little. “Mmmm.”
Watching him move, she took a moment before speaking again.
“You look nice today. You know it’s not required of you to have a uniform. But I’m not going to tell you I don’t like it.” She laughed softly.
“I just figured I’d try to create an impression, do something different, y’know?” He had unbuttoned the white shirt completely now so that it was loose over the t-shirt. “I’m not trying to create any sort of uniform: I just – I dunno.” He grinned, sheepishly, then poured her a coffee, adding in the sugar he knew she liked. He tended not to sweeten his coffee; he reacted entertainingly enough to caffeine: if he started adding sugar to the equation it could be potentially disastrous.
“So, I figure the earliest start we can manage is our best bet,” he said, pouring his own refill and scooting back to the desk. “Do you want us to drop you off anywhere in particularly, or you gonna come to La Guardia with us?”
“That’s actually why I followed you. I don’t mean to be a shadow.”
“I want Aurora to come with me. She needs training, and I think her talents could be useful.” She paused. “I want to begin teaching her what I do. At least some of it. When we go out on these operations I’m alone, and for the most part I prefer that. But if I’d had someone to back me up in Baltimore, I may have been able to avoid…”
Avoid what. The mess you got in when Wade showed up?
“Well. I could have gotten out of the building earlier, and more cleanly.”
She paused, and the tone in her voice rang completely sincere into the space between them.
“But I wanted your thoughts on that. I haven’t spoken to her about it yet.”
He played with the handle on his coffee mug for a few moments and stared at the desk. “I’m still not sure on her, but you know more about the way her – uh – other self situation works, right? If you reckon she’s up for it – and if you think you need the backup, then take her.”
Pyro looked up at Mystique and smiled briefly.
“I’d have backed you up in Baltimore, y’know. If I hadn’t had that sudden crazy idea to hit the warehouse. D’you know, I’ve still never worked out what possessed me?”
Mystique was smack in the middle of a thought about Aurora when Pyro mentioned his role in Baltimore. Her head lifted a bit and she looked at him.
“You mean… but you told me you did that intentionally…” she felt the hair rise on the back of her neck. “During the argument.”
Had Emma taken that memory from him? Or was Emma possibly… to blame for the event in the first place?
He shook his head. “I don’t remember much of what we – uh – argued about,” he said. “But I have this very strong feeling that I just…suddenly had this urge to go do the warehouse.” He briefly closed his eyes, digging for the memory. “There was this thought.
Didn’t you come here to destroy the cure?.”
His eyes opened again, surprised at how clear the thought actually was. “I remember thinking…I made a plan, and if I deviated from it…” A soft laugh. “But hey, don’t bank on the accuracy of my memory, OK?”
She sighed. “It was so much easier when we could trust that at least Magneto wasn’t going to get hit up by a telepath.” Given that had been Charles and Jean, not Emma… but it still made her skin crawl.
“Are you certain there isn’t a possibility Emma put those thoughts in your head? She did come with us.” Mystique frowned a bit. “And she didn’t –do- anything while she was there.”
That startled the young man and his brows feathered together in concern. “Why would she have done that, though? I mean, everything was under control…maybe she was impatient? I don’t know. All I really remember is the pain in my eyes, the feeling when I lost control…and Bobby. Bobby was there. And he started acting really weird…”
Pyro rubbed his nose. “You suggesting she might have been acting under her own impetus? For her own reasons?”
Mystique sat back, and laughed at what he said. It was a little bitter. “Have you honestly ever been given the impression Emma works for anyone other than herself?” She sighed in frustration, shaking her head. “No… Emma was certainly there for her own reasons.”
She took a slow drink of coffee, her mind working quickly. “What was triggered by the warehouse exploding?” Mystique looked at Pyro again, thinking. “After the warehouse exploded… what happened. Did you ever talk to the others about what went down while you and I were… busy?”
“The attack came after the warehouse exploded – I think.” He was struggling to recall what scant details he had put together. “I’ve never really got the full…y’know. What went on. I remember that Bobby and I fought a Sentinel together. He got taken down, I left and Aurora picked me up. It’s all so hazy.”
He took a long pull on his coffee, his eyes briefly taking on a look of anger at himself that he couldn’t recall the full details. It was, he guessed, one of the memories that Emma had carefully and gently helped him to metaphorically sweep away.
“The Sentinels.” Her heart sank.
Dammit Emma I told you not to put me in this position.
“Frost finances the Sentinel program Pyro….” Mystique set her jaw. The colder, more businesslike woman he once knew returned with startling rapidity. “She’d have everything to gain from giving them a reason to fall into action. The need for Sentinels means she continues to get the government contract. Not only would she have the idle curiosity to see them in action, she might have lucked out and had a few destroyed- necessitating rebuilding projects and more manufacturing.”
Mystique got up, running her fingers over her hair. “Son of a bitch…” The guilt she felt at letting Emma come anywhere near the now quite fragile Brotherhood ate her from the inside. If she hadn’t let Emma in on the Baltimore project…
“She could have gotten you killed.”
He tipped his head onto one side, trying to assimilate all this new information. “Could have,” he said, surprisingly sagely. “But she didn’t. As it happens, I’d have surrendered to the thing if Bobs hadn’t shown up to do his Hero Boy thing. The tear gas…fucked me up something royal. I could barely remember my own name.”
She shook her head. “And she likely got Bobby involved as well. To bail you out.” Mystique laughed a bit. “You know for every reason to hate here there’s another to love her. Things are never simple with Emma. But I tell you… it will be a while until we work with her again, if I have any say in it.”
Looking back at him, she focused again. “I’m sorry, Pyro, if she ended up being a liability.”
He studied her carefully then gave a gesture that was somewhere approximating a shrug. “We can’t change what’s happened,” he said, rather philosophically. “Don’t apologise, that’s not something I can get used to coming from you.” A smile followed the words.
Running his fingers through his hair, he nodded. “Let’s think forward for now. We can deal with her as and when we need to.”
She smiled in response to his words. They liked one another to be strong. It seemed to unsettle either of them when the other was weak. It was just the sort of relationship she wanted from him.
Sitting down again, she turned her cell phone in her hand. “About Aurora. I want to work with her not only because I think she’s intelligent and has the talent to do what I need her to do, but because I think it might actually –help- the conflict she has with Jeanne-Marie.”
Mystique ran a pink tongue over her bottom lip. “There’s one more thing. I’d like to make some phone calls and see if I can obtain a certain piece of equipment. I’m not sure if she’ll trust me enough to go for it, but it would be between you and I.” She looked at the office door. “Can we talk alone for a moment?”
The door, thanks to Gill, had now mostly been repaired from where Cain had kicked it off its hinges. It didn’t shut tight, but when Pyro hauled up his chair and sat in front of it, it was certainly secure enough. “Let’s hear it,” he said, easily. “What do you have in mind?”
Mystique turned a bit to face him, recrossing her legs and leaning an elbow on the desk.
“There is a collar, it looks more like a necklace… it emits a shock volt that can render a person unconscious instantly. If she agrees to it, I’d like her to wear it with the control in my possession. So that in the event Jeanne-Marie appears in a moment that would be inopportune… he can handle her within seconds, non-lethally.”
She looked at him.
“It’s barbaric… but it might save her life. And give her an opportunity to prove herself she might not otherwise have.”
He couldn’t keep the look of distaste off his face, but was also thinking clearly. “That would be a pretty powerful piece of kit to have in our arsenal,” he said, thoughtfully. “I don’t know if I’m altogether thrilled by the idea – it sounds pretty terrible. But if you reckon it’s gonna help her, then we need every hand we can get.”
Pyro shifted position so he was sitting with one of his legs crossed beneath him, his regular thinking pose. “You know I trust your judgment,” he said, easily.
“I know you do. But this is your Brotherhood, Pyro. If you think there is a better solution… I’m not above believing I’m the only person with the right ideas.” There was a reason Magneto lead them, after all.
“I’m concerned for her. I’ve made her a deal where I’ve asked her to try her best to make peace with Jeanne-Marie. I believe the key to resolving the issue with her is to get Jeanne-Marie to work for us, as well. But that will come in time and with trust.”
“Then let’s try. At the very worst it won’t work and we find some other way of resolving the situation.” He got up from the chair and refilled his coffee – again. Angie had said, in passing, that she suspected Pyro existed purely on a blend of caffeine and fresh air.
He carried the jug over to refill hers as well if she wanted it.
“We’re gonna make this work. I’M gonna make this work,” he said, sounding proud and sure of himself.
She nodded as he refilled her cup.
“You are… we are.” She leaned in and kissed him briefly.
“After we’re done with Sombra. Provided nothing new comes up. Will you go away with me?” She almost blushed. If she weren’t that stunning shade of blue, it would have been easier to see. And she felt a fool asking him to run away with her as if they were… well, they were. Lovers.
“D’you know,” he said, giving her that surprisingly devastating smile that seemed somehow older than he was. “The idea of getting away from…all of this for a while is getting more and more appealing by the second.” He kissed her on the tip of the nose. “Appealing,” he reiterated, with a wicked grin.
The sick feeling in his stomach wouldn't go away and he doused it with some coffee, which only made him slightly less anxious and definitely more hyperactive.
Mystique slipped down the hall, running the backs of her fingers along the steel plate wall until the knocked lightly against the doorframe to Pyro’s office.
Crossing one ankle over the other she leaned a bit in the doorway and looked at their leader. A whispery smile floated over her lips. She ran a few fingers through her shoulder length red hair, and spoke smoothly.
“Very nice.”
He looked up from staring at the monitor, briefly startled by her appearance, but then relaxed into an uncertain grin. “Was it OK? I mean, you know how I feel about ‘addressing the troops’, I’m no speaker. D’you know, I actually can’t remember anything I said? I could have told them all about the colour of the sky or something for all I know…”
It was typical Pyro, slightly over-anxious and very clearly keyed up to the max.
“Feel bad about leaving Cain behind, he must be getting sick of this island. I know I am. Still…once you’ve checked out Sombra, I guess he’s gonna have plenty of opportunity to – uh – strut his stuff, right?”
Her smile grew a bit as she crossed catlike to the chair opposite his desk, and had a seat. Her arms folded onto his desk and she leaned over, her long body in a graceful arc. Mystique set her chin on her arms and looked at him.
“You sounded fine. Take a deep breath. You have no reason to doubt yourself. You are the leader of the Brotherhood, Pyro. That’s you.” She smiled. “Feel free to take a little pride in it.”
“Oh, I do,” he said, in an earnest tone. “I really do. I didn’t dry up. I know I said something and if you tell me it sounded fine…then that’ll do me.” Indeed, the knot in his stomach was starting to loosen and unravel. “And I’m looking forward to hitting New York and getting Dom. He’s a great guy. One of the closest things I ever had to a best friend outside the Institute, even though we weren’t in the same gang for all that long.”
He scooted his chair to the coffee machine. “Some of the good stuff?” he asked her.
She nodded a little. “Mmmm.”
Watching him move, she took a moment before speaking again.
“You look nice today. You know it’s not required of you to have a uniform. But I’m not going to tell you I don’t like it.” She laughed softly.
“I just figured I’d try to create an impression, do something different, y’know?” He had unbuttoned the white shirt completely now so that it was loose over the t-shirt. “I’m not trying to create any sort of uniform: I just – I dunno.” He grinned, sheepishly, then poured her a coffee, adding in the sugar he knew she liked. He tended not to sweeten his coffee; he reacted entertainingly enough to caffeine: if he started adding sugar to the equation it could be potentially disastrous.
“So, I figure the earliest start we can manage is our best bet,” he said, pouring his own refill and scooting back to the desk. “Do you want us to drop you off anywhere in particularly, or you gonna come to La Guardia with us?”
“That’s actually why I followed you. I don’t mean to be a shadow.”
“I want Aurora to come with me. She needs training, and I think her talents could be useful.” She paused. “I want to begin teaching her what I do. At least some of it. When we go out on these operations I’m alone, and for the most part I prefer that. But if I’d had someone to back me up in Baltimore, I may have been able to avoid…”
Avoid what. The mess you got in when Wade showed up?
“Well. I could have gotten out of the building earlier, and more cleanly.”
She paused, and the tone in her voice rang completely sincere into the space between them.
“But I wanted your thoughts on that. I haven’t spoken to her about it yet.”
He played with the handle on his coffee mug for a few moments and stared at the desk. “I’m still not sure on her, but you know more about the way her – uh – other self situation works, right? If you reckon she’s up for it – and if you think you need the backup, then take her.”
Pyro looked up at Mystique and smiled briefly.
“I’d have backed you up in Baltimore, y’know. If I hadn’t had that sudden crazy idea to hit the warehouse. D’you know, I’ve still never worked out what possessed me?”
Mystique was smack in the middle of a thought about Aurora when Pyro mentioned his role in Baltimore. Her head lifted a bit and she looked at him.
“You mean… but you told me you did that intentionally…” she felt the hair rise on the back of her neck. “During the argument.”
Had Emma taken that memory from him? Or was Emma possibly… to blame for the event in the first place?
He shook his head. “I don’t remember much of what we – uh – argued about,” he said. “But I have this very strong feeling that I just…suddenly had this urge to go do the warehouse.” He briefly closed his eyes, digging for the memory. “There was this thought.
Didn’t you come here to destroy the cure?.”
His eyes opened again, surprised at how clear the thought actually was. “I remember thinking…I made a plan, and if I deviated from it…” A soft laugh. “But hey, don’t bank on the accuracy of my memory, OK?”
She sighed. “It was so much easier when we could trust that at least Magneto wasn’t going to get hit up by a telepath.” Given that had been Charles and Jean, not Emma… but it still made her skin crawl.
“Are you certain there isn’t a possibility Emma put those thoughts in your head? She did come with us.” Mystique frowned a bit. “And she didn’t –do- anything while she was there.”
That startled the young man and his brows feathered together in concern. “Why would she have done that, though? I mean, everything was under control…maybe she was impatient? I don’t know. All I really remember is the pain in my eyes, the feeling when I lost control…and Bobby. Bobby was there. And he started acting really weird…”
Pyro rubbed his nose. “You suggesting she might have been acting under her own impetus? For her own reasons?”
Mystique sat back, and laughed at what he said. It was a little bitter. “Have you honestly ever been given the impression Emma works for anyone other than herself?” She sighed in frustration, shaking her head. “No… Emma was certainly there for her own reasons.”
She took a slow drink of coffee, her mind working quickly. “What was triggered by the warehouse exploding?” Mystique looked at Pyro again, thinking. “After the warehouse exploded… what happened. Did you ever talk to the others about what went down while you and I were… busy?”
“The attack came after the warehouse exploded – I think.” He was struggling to recall what scant details he had put together. “I’ve never really got the full…y’know. What went on. I remember that Bobby and I fought a Sentinel together. He got taken down, I left and Aurora picked me up. It’s all so hazy.”
He took a long pull on his coffee, his eyes briefly taking on a look of anger at himself that he couldn’t recall the full details. It was, he guessed, one of the memories that Emma had carefully and gently helped him to metaphorically sweep away.
“The Sentinels.” Her heart sank.
Dammit Emma I told you not to put me in this position.
“Frost finances the Sentinel program Pyro….” Mystique set her jaw. The colder, more businesslike woman he once knew returned with startling rapidity. “She’d have everything to gain from giving them a reason to fall into action. The need for Sentinels means she continues to get the government contract. Not only would she have the idle curiosity to see them in action, she might have lucked out and had a few destroyed- necessitating rebuilding projects and more manufacturing.”
Mystique got up, running her fingers over her hair. “Son of a bitch…” The guilt she felt at letting Emma come anywhere near the now quite fragile Brotherhood ate her from the inside. If she hadn’t let Emma in on the Baltimore project…
“She could have gotten you killed.”
He tipped his head onto one side, trying to assimilate all this new information. “Could have,” he said, surprisingly sagely. “But she didn’t. As it happens, I’d have surrendered to the thing if Bobs hadn’t shown up to do his Hero Boy thing. The tear gas…fucked me up something royal. I could barely remember my own name.”
She shook her head. “And she likely got Bobby involved as well. To bail you out.” Mystique laughed a bit. “You know for every reason to hate here there’s another to love her. Things are never simple with Emma. But I tell you… it will be a while until we work with her again, if I have any say in it.”
Looking back at him, she focused again. “I’m sorry, Pyro, if she ended up being a liability.”
He studied her carefully then gave a gesture that was somewhere approximating a shrug. “We can’t change what’s happened,” he said, rather philosophically. “Don’t apologise, that’s not something I can get used to coming from you.” A smile followed the words.
Running his fingers through his hair, he nodded. “Let’s think forward for now. We can deal with her as and when we need to.”
She smiled in response to his words. They liked one another to be strong. It seemed to unsettle either of them when the other was weak. It was just the sort of relationship she wanted from him.
Sitting down again, she turned her cell phone in her hand. “About Aurora. I want to work with her not only because I think she’s intelligent and has the talent to do what I need her to do, but because I think it might actually –help- the conflict she has with Jeanne-Marie.”
Mystique ran a pink tongue over her bottom lip. “There’s one more thing. I’d like to make some phone calls and see if I can obtain a certain piece of equipment. I’m not sure if she’ll trust me enough to go for it, but it would be between you and I.” She looked at the office door. “Can we talk alone for a moment?”
The door, thanks to Gill, had now mostly been repaired from where Cain had kicked it off its hinges. It didn’t shut tight, but when Pyro hauled up his chair and sat in front of it, it was certainly secure enough. “Let’s hear it,” he said, easily. “What do you have in mind?”
Mystique turned a bit to face him, recrossing her legs and leaning an elbow on the desk.
“There is a collar, it looks more like a necklace… it emits a shock volt that can render a person unconscious instantly. If she agrees to it, I’d like her to wear it with the control in my possession. So that in the event Jeanne-Marie appears in a moment that would be inopportune… he can handle her within seconds, non-lethally.”
She looked at him.
“It’s barbaric… but it might save her life. And give her an opportunity to prove herself she might not otherwise have.”
He couldn’t keep the look of distaste off his face, but was also thinking clearly. “That would be a pretty powerful piece of kit to have in our arsenal,” he said, thoughtfully. “I don’t know if I’m altogether thrilled by the idea – it sounds pretty terrible. But if you reckon it’s gonna help her, then we need every hand we can get.”
Pyro shifted position so he was sitting with one of his legs crossed beneath him, his regular thinking pose. “You know I trust your judgment,” he said, easily.
“I know you do. But this is your Brotherhood, Pyro. If you think there is a better solution… I’m not above believing I’m the only person with the right ideas.” There was a reason Magneto lead them, after all.
“I’m concerned for her. I’ve made her a deal where I’ve asked her to try her best to make peace with Jeanne-Marie. I believe the key to resolving the issue with her is to get Jeanne-Marie to work for us, as well. But that will come in time and with trust.”
“Then let’s try. At the very worst it won’t work and we find some other way of resolving the situation.” He got up from the chair and refilled his coffee – again. Angie had said, in passing, that she suspected Pyro existed purely on a blend of caffeine and fresh air.
He carried the jug over to refill hers as well if she wanted it.
“We’re gonna make this work. I’M gonna make this work,” he said, sounding proud and sure of himself.
She nodded as he refilled her cup.
“You are… we are.” She leaned in and kissed him briefly.
“After we’re done with Sombra. Provided nothing new comes up. Will you go away with me?” She almost blushed. If she weren’t that stunning shade of blue, it would have been easier to see. And she felt a fool asking him to run away with her as if they were… well, they were. Lovers.
“D’you know,” he said, giving her that surprisingly devastating smile that seemed somehow older than he was. “The idea of getting away from…all of this for a while is getting more and more appealing by the second.” He kissed her on the tip of the nose. “Appealing,” he reiterated, with a wicked grin.
