True Believers: Part Twelve
At the same time that Logan was in the elevator with Cable, sugesting a rational discussion of the situation, in hopes of balancing Scott and Jean's fears for his health with Cable's own stubborn--if justified--inability to step back and let someone else handle the threat in London, the exact opposite was taking place in the War Room.
"If you hadn't treated him like a six year-old who needed to be locked in his bloody room, this wouldn't have happened!" Pete snarled, pacing restlessly. Scott, the prime target of his anger, glared at him coldly and said nothing. "But that's a bad habit of yours, isn't it?" Pete continued nastily. "God forbid you should ever put aside the friggin' angst for a while. You're so wrapped up in your bloody guilt about all the ways you failed as a father that you react without thinking!"
Watching, Kitty scowled. She wasn't all that surprised by Pete's lack of tact, but he was being awfully ruthless, going right for the jugular like that. And she wasn't sure what to think about the fact that Pete obviously knew so much about the problems in Cable and Scott's relationship. Had Cable really confided that much in him? Damn it, Kitty thought in frustration as she watched Pete continue to pace, all the while carrying on a running stream of invective directed at Scott. I wish he'd settle down! If he kept on like this, they were going to have another problem on their hands in a minute or so. She'd known Scott for long enough to realize how thin his veneer of control was at the moment, how close he was to blowing his top. But Pete couldn't, or wouldn't, and was clearly enraged by the silent treatment he was recieving.
Pete came to an abrupt stop, gesturing derisively. "Fancy that, he's got nothing to say. I thought he'd at least try to justify himself." That hit a nerve, Kitty saw. Scott stiffened, his jaw clenching, and Kitty caught a flicker of malicious satisfaction in Pete's eyes as he continued. He was worried about Cable, she knew, but she suspected he was also enjoying himself in some perverse way. "So friggin' convinced you were doing the right thing, weren't you? You bloody ass, no wonder he doesn't trust you--"
Okay, that did it. She'd be the first to admit that Scott needed to be told off--and big-time--but Pete was pushing it too far. "Pete, what good does this do?" Kitty demanded, and got a glacial stare in return. "Glare all you want, Wisdom," she grated, not looking away. Fine, he's upset. He's got a right to be, but I'll be damned if I let him bully me. He'd been in a roaring snit since she'd stopped him from intervening when Logan had pulled Cable into the elevator. She'd had to all but sit on him to get him to listen to her explanation. Then, something had gone wrong between Cable and Logan, causing Cable to project the empathic jolt that had hit everyone in the mansion, and Pete's mood had gone from bad to positively rabid. Obviously, he knew more than he was sharing.
Standing behind her husband, Jean was glaring at Pete, but her eyes kept darting towards the door, as if she expected someone to come walking in at any moment. Kitty sincerely hoped it would be Cable and Logan. A blind person could see that Pete wasn't going to settle down until he saw with his own eyes that Cable was all right. Hell, she'd barely managed to convince him to let her phase the two of them up here to the War Room. He'd been ready to burn through the elevator doors.
"I realize we could have handled this better," Jean finally said, giving Pete a nettled look that suggested she thought he was more than out of line. "But you could have at least tried to explain, Wisdom--"
"Explain?" Pete growled incredulously, as if she'd just suggested he hop on one foot and cluck like a chicken.
Scott finally lost his grip on his temper. "Yes, explain!" he said harshly. "We could have avoided this, Wisdom, if you'd exhibited a little common sense instead of encouraging him in this--recklessness! I don't know how Kurt ever managed to integrate you into Excalibur--"
"Maybe because Wagner doesn't expect us to be bloody drones that jump to fulfill his every whim! Or to soddin' well go along with him if he's deluded enough to try and play God with our lives!"
"I always thought Kurt had his dictator-like side," Kitty joked rather weakly, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Pete glared at her for a moment, and then turned back to Scott.
"Seriously, Summers, are you always this much of an insensitive bastard, or did I just catch you on a bad day? You have no friggin' idea what's going on, but you keep shooting your mouth off--"
"Then tell us what's going on!" Scott almost shouted. "Damn it, you're as bad as Nathan!"
"I'll take that as a compliment, you--"
Click.
"Would the two of you shut the hell up?" Domino said almost pleasantly, the gun in her hand absolutely steady. Kitty gaped at her for a moment, startled by her sudden entrance into the conversation. Everyone had left her alone, figuring her silence and preoccupied air meant she was talking to Cable across their reestablished psi-link. "I think we've had our quota of senseless brawling for the day." She'd had Pete, who'd been slowly advancing on Scott, in her sights at first, but the gun soon shifted to cover Scott. And stayed there. "Wouldn't you agree, Cyclops?"
Jean straightened, going pale. "Put the gun away, Domino!" she said sharply, a faint, rose-colored glow surrounding her.
"Why?" Domino asked pointedly, glancing sideways at her. There was no humor in her expression, none at all. "Am I overreacting, Jean?"
Kitty winced. If I wondered who she blames for all this-- She didn't need to be a telepath to know that Domino had no intention of actually shooting anyone, but that wasn't the issue.
Jean flushed angrily at Domino's barely veiled accusation. But before she could answer, the door slid open.
"Aw, cripes," Logan growled, throwing out an arm to prevent Cable from following him into the room. Behind Cable, Dana and Sam shifted back and forth, trying to see what was going on. "I don't want to know, do I?" he asked disgustedly.
***
Realizing she was squinting at the screen, Cecilia frowned. I think I need my prescription checked. The thought almost made her laugh. She'd better see if the Shi'ar fabricators could manage eyeglasses. With her luck, she'd walk into an optician's in some mall on the day an up-and-coming supervillain decided to blow the place up. God, I'm getting paranoid. Either that or I'm just developing a really black sense of humor. Taking her glasses off for a moment, she rubbed her eyes and then returned her attention to the data on her screen.
She glanced over at the biobed occupied by Nate Grey. He had a mild concussion Dana had looked after--Cable had hit him pretty hard--but he should be waking up soon. Cecilia hoped McCoy wouldn't be angry with her for seizing the chance and giving the kid a once-over with the psi- scanners. The results had been--interesting, to say the least.
Side by side on the screen were the readings she'd taken from Nate Grey and the ones Hank had just taken from Cable. She'd assumed they would be the same. Maybe that had been a mistake on her part. Cable's mother had been a clone of Jean Grey, after all, and who knew what sort of manipulations the alternate-reality Sinister had performed on Nate Grey. Then there was Cable's inherited Phoenix-energy to consider, and it certainly had been far from dormant lately--
All of that could explain why their power signatures were so different. It wasn't a question of strength, Cecilia decided tentatively, but frequency, for lack of a better word. And her instincts told her the answer laid with Cable, not the kid.
Calling up Cable's medical file, she skimmed through it and smiled in satisfaction as she saw her hunch had been right. All the psi-scans she and Hank had taken after Cable had been hurt in Alberta showed the same variation when compared to Nate's. But when she called up the only other recorded scan, one taken about eight months ago, just before the Onslaught incident, the variation vanished.
"Fascinating," she muttered in unconscious mimicry of the Beast. She reached towards the companel, intending to call McCoy and get him down here to see this. He's probably still trying to deprogram the computer--
She heard a groan from Nate Grey's direction, but before she could react, the young telepath half-fell off the biobed. He held on to the edge of the bed for support, cursing under his breath as he looked around wildly.
"Whoa!" Cecilia said sharply, jumping out of her chair and going to his side. He looked more than a little shaky. "Take it easy, you're all right."
He focused on her, his left eye flaring with golden light. "Where is he?" Nate snarled. "Where's Cable?"
Cecilia took a cautious step backwards. This kid had power with a capital 'P' and very few scruples about using it. If she tried to stall, he'd probably pull the answer to his question right ouf of her mind.
"Stop tryin' t'scare Cecilia, sugar," Rogue said from the doorway. "Cable's still here in the mansion."
Cecilia couldn't hold back a sigh of relief at Rogue's appearance. I thought she was helping with repairs in the hangar--hell, I'm just glad she's here. His file says he gets along with her, maybe she can calm him down.
Nate didn't look satisfied. "WHERE in the mansion?" he persisted in a smouldering voice. Rogue raised an eyebrow and moved forward into the room, tilting her head thoughtfully as she regarded Nate.
"Good-lookin' bruise y'got there," she said with a straight face. Nate flushed, his anger faded into embarrassment as he rubbed at his jaw. "Ah'm afraid to ask, Nate, but how'd he--"
"Lucky shot," Nate muttered. Cecilia suppressed a smile. That sounded very much like typical male adolescent pride at work. Quite refreshingly normal.
"Lucky shot, huh?" Rogue gave him a deadpan look. "Pull the other one, sugar, it's got bells on it. You should've heard him comin', especially in the state he was in. If you didn't, you weren't payin' attention, and mistakes like that'll get you killed, Nate." She sighed. "Aw, hell, who am ah t'talk? Not like ah did any better."
"Why is he still here, then?" Nate looked baffled. "Who stopped him?" Rogue hesitated, as if she wasn't sure how to explain.
"You--didn't feel anything strange?" Cecilia ventured, but shook her head, annoyed at herself, before Nate could answer. "Of course you didn't, you were out cold." She filled Nate in on what had happened since he'd ended up on the wrong end of Cable's fist. By the time she finished describing the empathic backlash they'd all felt, Nate looked troubled.
"This doesn't sound good." An expression of concentration settled over his features. "Huh. That must've been one powerful jolt. I can still feel the disturbance in the psychic atmosphere. But Cable's usually so careful with his powers--afraid of wasting his strength." He gave Rogue and Cecilia a sheepish look. "Something like this, it's more MY style." He rubbed at his jaw again, ruefully. "I suppose I deserved it," he said grudgingly. "I probably would've done worse, in his place."
"Mature of you to admit that," Cecilia said, raising an eyebrow. Nate glowered at her, and she sighed. "I meant that sincerely, kid--Nate, so stop bristling. But if you feel that way now, why'd you go along with Jean in the first place?"
He looked uncertain. "I--don't know. She was so convinced it was the right thing to do--I suppose I didn't think it through very well."
"Seems t'be a common complaint today, Nate," Rogue said wryly. "So what're your plans?" He looked surprised, and she smiled. "You're always welcome, you know that, but ah'm sure you didn't intend t'end up here today. Once we get the hangar doors fixed, ah'm sure someone could give you a lift home--"
"I'll stick around for a while," he said, too quickly. "I want to talk to Cable before I leave, at least."
"Talk?" Rogue asked archly. "Just so long as that's all you're plannin'."
"Rogue, I'm not THAT much of a hothead."
"Glad to hear it, sugar."
***
Cable studied the scene in the War Room, bemused. Pete and Scott, looking like they wanted to rip each other's throats out. Jean, looking indignant. Kitty, who seemed very relieved to see Logan. Dom, holding a gun.
Dom, holding a gun? Maybe it was the headache, but he couldn't quite figure that out. Until a minute ago, she'd been a silent but comforting presence on their link. Then she'd pulled away suddenly, and he'd sensed a familiar emotion, a flare of the perverse irritability that usually preceded some sort of wild behaviour on her part. Feeling a little disoriented, he wondered who she was planning to shoot.
"Neena," Logan was saying with exaggerated patience. "Put it away. We've had enough fireworks for the day, don't you think?"
"Give me a break, Logan," she scoffed. "I was just making a point. Your fearless leader and James Bond here were about to have at it, and I didn't have time for anything but the direct approach." Scott flushed, but Pete snorted, clearly amused. Domino rolled her eyes at him, and then bent to replace her gun in its ankle holster.
Cable shook his head slowly. Part of him wished Dom had kept out of it. Not very filial of him, maybe. But he knew Pete's capabilities, and he was still angry enough that he would have enjoyed watching Pete wipe the floor with Scott. After everything that had happened, the mental image of his father getting his ass kicked was mighty appealing.
Straightening, Domino gave him a peculiar look. Sorry, she said across their link, sounding amused and oddly relieved. Next time I'll let them get a few hits in first.
He jumped, startled, and frantically pulled back from the link, to a safe distance. She gave him a worried look, but he couldn't even bring himself to send back a reassurance. For all his words to Logan about feeling obliged to explain, to tell her, he was starting to seriously wonder if he could do it. He didn't know if he could bear being caught up in the memories for a third time today.
"Nate, you all right?" Pete said gruffly. Cable nodded quickly, but Pete scowled, apparently not convinced. "You're sure?"
"One day your face is going to freeze like that, Wisdom," Cable said wearily. "I'm fine." Logan finally let his arm fall to his side, and Cable walked past him. He managed to make it to the closest chair without falling on his face, an accomplishment considering how he felt. Sitting down, he glanced warily at Scott and Jean, still sensing that same steely determination beneath their concern. He leaned back in the chair, feeling peculiarly forlorn all of a sudden. I don't have the energy to argue with them, he thought tiredly.
"Nathan," Jean said tentatively. "We're--sorry. We didn't mean for this to happen--"
"That's comforting," he said dully. 'This'? How much did she see? Domino came to his side, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. He flinched as the psi-link flared brighter with her touch, her emotions cascading down it like cool water, tender and concerned and promising that whatever it was, they'd deal with it together--
Flinching, he walled away the images from the flashback with brutal, desperate efficiency. He couldn't bear the idea that she might see how horribly he'd failed and not despise him for it. He didn't deserve that kind of acceptance.
Stop that, she sent. If we all got what we 'deserved', Nathan, the world would be a pretty miserable place. So quit brooding before I kick you into next Christmas.
The laugh that escaped from him had an alarmingly wild edge to it, and he sensed the growing concern in the room. But, still feeling a lingering humiliation at having lost it in front of Logan, of all people, Cable told himself harshly to snap out of it. He was NOT going to fall apart in front of an audience.
"Let's give these two some time," Logan suggested, breaking the silence. "We can find another place to thrash things out."
"Sounds like a good idea t'me, sir," Sam said stoutly, and Dana nodded briskly. The two of them had met him and Logan at the elevator doors, all but radiating their solid, unwavering support. Would that change, if they knew? Cable wondered bleakly. If he told them what having faith in him could cost them?
"Wait," Scott protested. "We haven't--"
"It can wait," Logan growled, the edge in his voice suggesting it had better. Scott glared at him, but finally gave a curt nod.
"Fine," he snapped. Cable stiffened as his father gave him a troubled look before stalking out of the room. Jean followed more slowly, glancing back over her shoulder several times. Cable was relieved she didn't try to speak to him telepathically. He was dimly aware he'd done something differently when he'd reopened the link with Dom. It didn't hurt anymore--or maybe his headache had just become so all-encompassing that he didn't notice. But he doubted the same would be true if Jean tried to link with him again.
Finally, the only ones left in the room were those who were 'on his side', to put it crudely. Pete, Dom, Kitty, Sam, Dana, Logan. "Thank you," he said in a subdued voice. The words seemed so inadequate. "I know you'd all probably be happier if I changed my mind and let someone else handle this mission--"
"That's the understatement of the year," Dana said. Her light tone couldn't quite hide her worry. "But it's your choice, not Scott or Jean's."
"Yeah," Sam said with a rueful look, putting his arm around Dana. "The hard part's gonna be convincin' Scott and Jean of that." He grinned. "Least you know you came by your stubborn streak honestly, sir. From both sides." Dana elbowed him, but his smile didn't fade.
"Multiplied by a factor of ten, maybe," Pete said dryly. "At least. But you're on the right track, Guthrie."
They were trying to lighten the atmosphere, Cable realized with a sigh. To cheer him up. Just lovely. "One of these days, Wisdom," Cable grumbled half-heartedly.
"I know, I know," Pete sighed. "But I look so bloody silly when I try to watch my tongue, Nathan." His expression going sheepish, he turned to Kitty. "And I always end up doing such a friggin' lousy job of it, too," he concluded awkwardly. "Pryde, I--"
Kitty shook her head with an aggravated sigh. "What am I going to do with you, you loony Brit?" she asked, sounding exasperated.
"Oh, I could think of a few things," he said with an attempt at a leer. She raised an eyebrow, and his expression turned mournful. "I could make a list?"
"A muzzle would be a start," she said caustically. "I was only trying to help, you know."
Cable frowned, thoughts of his own problems fading into the background for a moment as he noticed the obvious tension between the two. "Wisdom," he said, scowling at Pete. "Tell me me you didn't--"
Pete gave him a harried look. "And how the bloody hell was I supposed to react? You and him," he gestured at Logan, "in close quarters, with you in that kind of state--I thought we were going to end up washing the blood off the friggin' ceiling!" Kitty shook her head slowly, covering her eyes with one hand.
Logan, on the other hand, looked thoroughly amused. "I think the kid was worried about you, Nate," he said. "You been telling him stories?"
Pete bared his teeth at him. "I didn't say whose blood, old man," he said, quite pleasantly. Logan all but roared with laughter, and Cable sighed.
"Scott and Jean are going to be wondering what happened to us," Dana pointed out patiently after a minute or so. Logan managed to pull himself together, but he was still grinning widely.
"True, darlin'. The four of you get going, I'll be along in a minute." Dana swiftly pulled Sam towards the door. Kitty lingered, waiting for Pete, who was still eyeing Logan and hadn't moved an inch. Logan gave him a cheerfully malicious grin. "Don't you have some groveling to do?" he asked, jerking his head in Kitty's direction. Pete's expression grew positively evil, and Logan started chuckling again.
"Pete," Cable said wearily. "Trust me, it's not worth it. All you end up with is elevated blood pressure and hurt pride."
Pete grumbled something under his breath, and then turned away. "You need me, I won't be far," he shot back gruffly over his shoulder, and glared briefly at Logan before he followed Kitty out the room.
"Damn, but I like that kid," Logan said, shaking his head. "Hope 'Ro gives him a chance." Domino snorted, but Logan wisely chose to refrain from any further comment on that subject. He gave them both a searching look. "You two don't need any advice from me, that's for damned sure," he said quietly. "But you don't need to rush things here. We're about to head off on a mission, and now's not the time to being feeling obligated to bare your souls. Maybe giving it some time--"
"Give it some time?" Cable said with a strained laugh. "Time just makes things worse, Logan. Trust me! It's like throwing a stone into a pond. You can survive the splash, but the ripples--they're what get you in the end."
"Easy, Nate," Domino said softly. Cable realized he was shaking, that his voice had risen sharply. He saw the sympathy in Logan's eyes and writhed inwardly. Sympathy? For him? How could Logan feel that for even a moment, after he'd seen everything? "We'll be okay, Logan," Domino continued quietly. "Go sort things out with Scott and Jean." Logan nodded, and left the room without another word.
Silently, Domino pulled the chair beside his around to face him, and sat down. He stared across at her, torn, his mind racing, struggling like a rabbit caught in a trap. I can't tell her, I can't, but she's not just going to let this slide--
She reached across, taking his hand. "There's this story I know," she said casually. "Want to hear it?" He nodded, mutely. "Okay. Once upon a time, there was this young and stupid female mercenary. On one mission where she was sent ahead on recon, she let herself get distracted, and ended up getting captured by the enemy."
"Sounds familiar," Cable said hoarsely. He thought he knew where she was going with this, but he let her continue, ignoring that suspicion. This was a reprieve, in a way, if only a temporary one.
"I can do without the editorial comments, thanks," she said, mock-sternly. "Anyways, she was interrogated by the enemy--the stupid girl didn't say a word, by the way--"
"Of course not," Cable said with a faint smile. "She might have been stup--inexperienced, but she always had guts to spare."
Domino arched an eyebrow at the backhanded compliment. "Thank you. The stupid girl thought she was being very brave, but she found out pretty soon that courage could only take you so far." There was a bleak light in her eyes, and Cable squeezed her hand gently. "Fortunately," she went on briskly, "the stupid girl had friends, who knew she might grow out of being young, and hoped she might grow out of being stupid, too. So they broke their contract and went in to get her out. They did, but she was pretty messed up for a while. Most of her friends didn't know how to help, so they started staying away, because they were afraid of hurting her any more than she'd already been hurt."
Cable nodded slowly, remembering. Hammer had been hugely uncomfortable, G.W. frustrated and blaming himself for sending her in the first place. Grizzly--well, he'd stopped talking entirely.
"But," Domino said, "she had one friend who didn't give up so easily. The funny thing was, he didn't treat her any differently than he had before. He didn't try to cheer her up, or push her to talk about it. He was just there whenever she needed to scream at someone or a shoulder to cry on." Domino hesitated for a moment. "It must've been pretty hard for him, with how angry she got sometimes. But he never let her rages chase him away. Finally, one day, she lost it entirely and nearly took his head off. Literally. If he'd hadn't sensed it coming, she probably would've killed him. He hadn't provoked her or anything, she'd just needed to lash out at someone. And she wasn't satisfied with that. She stood there and ranted at him for a good half-hour, saying everything she could think of to hurt him. When she ran out of things to say, she told him to leave. And he did."
"I was afraid you were going to start throwing things," he joked weakly.
"Hmmph," she said, a flicker of amusement traveling down their link. "Anyway," she continued, her voice growing strangely hoarse, "like I said, he left. The girl stood there and stared at the door for ages. All she could think was that, in the end, she'd opened her mouth and said the exact opposite of what she really wanted." Domino snorted. "The stupid girl had too much pride for her own good."
"You mean she was as stubborn as a mule," Cable murmured.
"Now there's the frying pan calling the kettle blue," she said teasingly. A groan escaped from him before he could stop it, and in response, her lips curved in a wry smile. "Sorry, Nate. Couldn't help myself."
"Sure," he muttered, pretending to be irritated. "You just wait. One of these days, I'm going to teach you the battle language, and then I'm going to laugh at you for the next twenty years--"
"I'm going to hold you to that," she promised, her voice so soft that it was almost a caress. Cable flinched, fighting the urge to pull away from her. Too much, she was getting too close--"All right," she said quietly. "On with the story, then. The girl eventually broke down and admitted to herself that she wanted him to stay. But when she went after him, she found out he hadn't gone anywhere. She opened the door, and there he was, standing out in the pouring rain, waiting. You see, he was smart enough to know she had to make the decision on her own."
"Smart, huh?" Cable said roughly. He'd stood there, barely aware of the icy rain, a ball of dull agony where his heart should have been as he wondered if he hadn't made things worse. Even back then, he'd already cared for her more than he'd been willing to admit. And he hadn't been able to leave it alone, to let her heal in her own time. He just hadn't. Telepaths were born meddlers.
Domino heard him. "Yeah," she said softly, reaching out and touching his cheek gently. "I've noticed that." His eyes stung with tears that he couldn't seem to banish. "Anyways, years went by, and sometimes it was him who needed her help. A couple of times, it was even a matter of life and death. But she never thought there'd ever come a time when he'd need her as much as she'd needed him that night."
Cable swallowed hard, and forced himself to say it. "I guess--she was wrong."
to be continued...
[FOOTER]