Persistence of Memory
folder
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
57
Views:
7,465
Reviews:
68
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
X-Men - Animated Series (all) › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
57
Views:
7,465
Reviews:
68
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own X-Men Evolution, or any of the characters from it. I make no money from from the writing of this story.
43
Persistence of Memory Chapter Forty Three (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… now every time I
write about Lucas, I’ll be bummed.
*sigh * InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are nifty for archiving. J ProPhile, I’ll get you some smut soon. I promise.
;) Readers/Reviewers: I know there’s as TKD put it, a dearth of
smut in this fic and a really twisty plot, so the next fic will be less twisty
and have some more smut and maybe even an actual plot! In the meantime…thanks oodles and bunches
for reading and reviewing!
“Anything?”
Rahne
growled at Todd before answering. “I
told ye, if I smell anything, I’ll say something!”
He sighed
and stopped walking for a moment. “Damn
it. How hard can it be to find three
people on a flat stretch of ground?”
“Apparently,
very,” Rahne sighed. “Todd, look, we’d
best just go back to the house and call for Logan and Storm…They’ll know what
to do.”
“I know
what to do!” he snapped. “And I know
I’m going to give her hell when I find her!”
“Don’t,”
Rahne sighed. “That’ll just make matters worse.”
“I don’t
care,” he lied. “God, my legs hurt!” he
sighed, finally running down. Squatting
in the mud, he wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his face in the
crook of his elbow. “Damn it, why did
she do this?”
“Probably
scared,” Rahne replied, not joining him on the ground but standing close enough
to imply supportive comfort. “Think
about it, Todd. Why’d she leave
Mississippi? Why’d she come up here in
the first place?”
“She was
scared?” Todd hazarded sarcastically.
“We all left because we were scared!”
“Did you?”
she asked archly. “I thought it was
because you were lonely.” Before he
could snap off a reply, she started back the way they came. “I’m going back to the house and calling
Logan on the cel phone. The tracks run
out here and seem to double back for a ways.”
He stood
slowly, his legs aching from all the walking and running. “Rahne!”
“What?” she
called, walking backwards but hardly slowing her pace.
“A little
further? Please?”
She sighed
and stopped walking, closing her eyes for a moment. “No more then half a mile.”
“Thank
you.”
“Don’
mention it.”
Bobby
glanced in the backseat. “How long she been out?”
“The first
time I hit her, not long. Then I hit
her again and she hit me back and tripped and fell and passed out from
that.” Amara sighed and peeled one of
her gloves off. “I hate the weather in
this place. How can you stand it being
so cold?”
St John
sighed and shook his head. “I’m with
you there, give me heat any day!”
“Amar Lan Lance said tiredly, “it’s fifty degrees out.
This isn’t cold. This is chilly, at best.”
“Nova Roma
was never cold. Oillyilly,” she responded
before turning to look out the window at the passing scenery.
Bobby and
St John exchanged glances. “So, now
what?”
“Take us
back to the Institute and then get the Hell out of the way before she wakes
up,” Lance replied.
“You know,”
Bobby said carefully, merging into the traffic on Bayville’s main road, “you
guys weren’t more than maybe five miles from the house. Why’d it take so long?”
“She
wandered,” Amara said with a sigh. “She
kept going back and forth, like she was changing her mind or something.”
Lance
shrugged. “It was dark. She was probably just lost.”
St John
remained silent as the other three went on with their theories about Rogue’s
absconding from the mansion. He knew
how strong memories could be, how they could make you run when you should stay
and how they could imprison you when you should have left long before. Finally, during a lull, he said, “I think
maybe her reasons should be her own.”
Bobby shot
him a sideways glance. “Something
wrong?” he murmured.
“I’ll tell
you later.”
“Hey…” Amara sounded vaguely disturbed. “Is that Kurt?”
“Where?” They were at a red light at the main
intersection in Bayville. Bobby craned
his neck to see what Amara was pointing at.
“I don’t see him.”
“I
did. He just got into the car
with…” Lance stared. “I think that’s Wanda and Tabby.”
“Looks like
an Institute car,” Amara muttered.
“I’ve always wanted to say this…follow that car!”
St John
snorted. “I am so getting you new
movies for whatever Roman holiday stands in for Christmas.”
With some
difficulty, the Professor got out of the car.
Emma was none too steady on her feet, handling his chair for him as he
transferred into it. “You’d think you
could have developed telekinesis or levitation by now,” she muttered through
tight lips.
“It’s on my
to-do list.”[1] He let out a tired breath and closed his
eyes, scanning. Despite the slowly
closing holes in his memories, he had his full powers back. Or so it seemed to him. He could feel several presences, even hear
them in his mind, but he could not quite pin down who was who. Must be the new ones…I am unfamiliar with
their signatures yet… “It seems to
be okay,” he said almost cheerfully.
“Okay?” She sigh
“C
“Charles, I have a migraine that would kill a lesser person, psychic
backlash the likes of which you have never seen and my mind feels like
scrambled eggs. That is hardly okay!”
“I meant,”
he said dryly, heading towards the door, “that things seem okay in the house.”
“Hmph.”
“I said no
powers!” Paige yelled.
“I’m not
using powers!” Ray yelled back. “I’m
just trying not to get killed!”
“Paige,
shut it off,” Sam ordered his sister. “This
is getting out of hand.”
“No shit,
Sherlock!” She punched buttons
frantically. “I think I’m making it
angrier.”
Sam ducked
as a disc of metal went flying dangerously close to his face. “Paige…”
“I’m tryin’!” One of the monitors began beeping in what
sounded like a threatening manner. “Oh, no…”
Several of
the younger students were either crying or trying not to, hiding behind various
outcroppings in the current sim. “Oh,
shit…”
“Donna[2]!
Language!” Sam ducked another
projectile. “Sonofabitch!”
“I think I
got it!” Paige crowed. A loud pop and a
spray of sparks said otherwise. “No, I
don’t…”
Everything
came to a screeching halt, silence thunderous for a brief second before the
clang of metal hitting metal and muted swearing rolled across the Danger
Room. Then came the type of silence
that occurs after something Very Bad happens.
The kind where everyone looks at each other and says, “I didn’t do it!”
Leech sat
in the middle of the floor, a look of concentration on his face. “Fixed it,” he said quietly.[3]
Paige
sighed, weak with relief. “Thank God…”
“Paige,”
Sam said from below. “You are screwed…”
Everyone
to the dining hall now.
At the
sound of the Professor’s mental voice, everyone went very still. “Really screwed,” Sam amended.
The
Professor took it all in, including the bedraggled and slightly singed younger students fresh from the Danger
Room. “Where is everyone else?” The voices erupted in a cacophony of
accusations, apologies and worries.
“Silence!”
Emma ordered just loudly enough to cut through the noise. Her voice had an amazing effect on the
younger students, stupefying them all into silence.
Wanda,
however, was not easily cowed. “Kurt
and Kitty are in the med lab. Where’s
Beast?”
“Kitty?” the Professor frowned. “I thought she was at the hospital…”
“She was,”
Wanda said tiredly.
“Ah…” The Professor closed his eyes for a moment,
organizing his thoughts. “Emma, there’s
a list of phone numbers in my desk in the downstairs study. Start calling everyone on it. Tell them to regroup back here. Wanda, go tell Kurt that I’ll be there
shortly.” He paused. “Tabby, that baby needs to be changed.”
“Into what?”
she snapped. “I left his diaper bag at
the apartment and I’m out of the emergency supply I keep here.”
He
sighed. “Go with Wanda. Beast keeps some cloth ones in the lab. Apparently, they’re good for mopping up
spills. Paige, start a list of
everything that is wrong with the Danger Room.
Everything. Do not omit a
single scratch, nick or dent. Include
the energy expenditure from the power cells for the weapon simulations.”
There was a
general murmur of “Yessirs” before the older mutants dispersed.
Leech
raised his hand. “Mister Professor Xavier sir?”
“Just
Professor is fine, Dorian.”
“Just
Professor, sir…I’m sorry I broke your machine.”
“You didn’t
break anything,” he sighed kindly. “You
stopped it from breaking worse.”
“Oh…okay…” he
shuffled his feet nervously. “Can I…”
“You all may go. Try and confine yourself to the rec room and
your bedrooms until further notice, please.”
Once alone,
the Professor let out a long breath. “Everything
is back to normal…”
[1] Shrek
moment. “You didn’t kill the
dragon?” “It’s on my to-do list!”
[2] Random
mutant. Not a character to be mentioned
again, I don’t think.
[3] Okay, on Evo
he could take the power from the street lights and such as well as from mutants
but I’m not too sure about in the comics.
Since this is still an Evo fic even though it’s an AU, I’m going with
his Evo powers.
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… now every time I
write about Lucas, I’ll be bummed.
*sigh * InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are nifty for archiving. J ProPhile, I’ll get you some smut soon. I promise.
;) Readers/Reviewers: I know there’s as TKD put it, a dearth of
smut in this fic and a really twisty plot, so the next fic will be less twisty
and have some more smut and maybe even an actual plot! In the meantime…thanks oodles and bunches
for reading and reviewing!
“Anything?”
Rahne
growled at Todd before answering. “I
told ye, if I smell anything, I’ll say something!”
He sighed
and stopped walking for a moment. “Damn
it. How hard can it be to find three
people on a flat stretch of ground?”
“Apparently,
very,” Rahne sighed. “Todd, look, we’d
best just go back to the house and call for Logan and Storm…They’ll know what
to do.”
“I know
what to do!” he snapped. “And I know
I’m going to give her hell when I find her!”
“Don’t,”
Rahne sighed. “That’ll just make matters worse.”
“I don’t
care,” he lied. “God, my legs hurt!” he
sighed, finally running down. Squatting
in the mud, he wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his face in the
crook of his elbow. “Damn it, why did
she do this?”
“Probably
scared,” Rahne replied, not joining him on the ground but standing close enough
to imply supportive comfort. “Think
about it, Todd. Why’d she leave
Mississippi? Why’d she come up here in
the first place?”
“She was
scared?” Todd hazarded sarcastically.
“We all left because we were scared!”
“Did you?”
she asked archly. “I thought it was
because you were lonely.” Before he
could snap off a reply, she started back the way they came. “I’m going back to the house and calling
Logan on the cel phone. The tracks run
out here and seem to double back for a ways.”
He stood
slowly, his legs aching from all the walking and running. “Rahne!”
“What?” she
called, walking backwards but hardly slowing her pace.
“A little
further? Please?”
She sighed
and stopped walking, closing her eyes for a moment. “No more then half a mile.”
“Thank
you.”
“Don’
mention it.”
Bobby
glanced in the backseat. “How long she been out?”
“The first
time I hit her, not long. Then I hit
her again and she hit me back and tripped and fell and passed out from
that.” Amara sighed and peeled one of
her gloves off. “I hate the weather in
this place. How can you stand it being
so cold?”
St John
sighed and shook his head. “I’m with
you there, give me heat any day!”
“Amar Lan Lance said tiredly, “it’s fifty degrees out.
This isn’t cold. This is chilly, at best.”
“Nova Roma
was never cold. Oillyilly,” she responded
before turning to look out the window at the passing scenery.
Bobby and
St John exchanged glances. “So, now
what?”
“Take us
back to the Institute and then get the Hell out of the way before she wakes
up,” Lance replied.
“You know,”
Bobby said carefully, merging into the traffic on Bayville’s main road, “you
guys weren’t more than maybe five miles from the house. Why’d it take so long?”
“She
wandered,” Amara said with a sigh. “She
kept going back and forth, like she was changing her mind or something.”
Lance
shrugged. “It was dark. She was probably just lost.”
St John
remained silent as the other three went on with their theories about Rogue’s
absconding from the mansion. He knew
how strong memories could be, how they could make you run when you should stay
and how they could imprison you when you should have left long before. Finally, during a lull, he said, “I think
maybe her reasons should be her own.”
Bobby shot
him a sideways glance. “Something
wrong?” he murmured.
“I’ll tell
you later.”
“Hey…” Amara sounded vaguely disturbed. “Is that Kurt?”
“Where?” They were at a red light at the main
intersection in Bayville. Bobby craned
his neck to see what Amara was pointing at.
“I don’t see him.”
“I
did. He just got into the car
with…” Lance stared. “I think that’s Wanda and Tabby.”
“Looks like
an Institute car,” Amara muttered.
“I’ve always wanted to say this…follow that car!”
St John
snorted. “I am so getting you new
movies for whatever Roman holiday stands in for Christmas.”
With some
difficulty, the Professor got out of the car.
Emma was none too steady on her feet, handling his chair for him as he
transferred into it. “You’d think you
could have developed telekinesis or levitation by now,” she muttered through
tight lips.
“It’s on my
to-do list.”[1] He let out a tired breath and closed his
eyes, scanning. Despite the slowly
closing holes in his memories, he had his full powers back. Or so it seemed to him. He could feel several presences, even hear
them in his mind, but he could not quite pin down who was who. Must be the new ones…I am unfamiliar with
their signatures yet… “It seems to
be okay,” he said almost cheerfully.
“Okay?” She sigh
“C
“Charles, I have a migraine that would kill a lesser person, psychic
backlash the likes of which you have never seen and my mind feels like
scrambled eggs. That is hardly okay!”
“I meant,”
he said dryly, heading towards the door, “that things seem okay in the house.”
“Hmph.”
“I said no
powers!” Paige yelled.
“I’m not
using powers!” Ray yelled back. “I’m
just trying not to get killed!”
“Paige,
shut it off,” Sam ordered his sister. “This
is getting out of hand.”
“No shit,
Sherlock!” She punched buttons
frantically. “I think I’m making it
angrier.”
Sam ducked
as a disc of metal went flying dangerously close to his face. “Paige…”
“I’m tryin’!” One of the monitors began beeping in what
sounded like a threatening manner. “Oh, no…”
Several of
the younger students were either crying or trying not to, hiding behind various
outcroppings in the current sim. “Oh,
shit…”
“Donna[2]!
Language!” Sam ducked another
projectile. “Sonofabitch!”
“I think I
got it!” Paige crowed. A loud pop and a
spray of sparks said otherwise. “No, I
don’t…”
Everything
came to a screeching halt, silence thunderous for a brief second before the
clang of metal hitting metal and muted swearing rolled across the Danger
Room. Then came the type of silence
that occurs after something Very Bad happens.
The kind where everyone looks at each other and says, “I didn’t do it!”
Leech sat
in the middle of the floor, a look of concentration on his face. “Fixed it,” he said quietly.[3]
Paige
sighed, weak with relief. “Thank God…”
“Paige,”
Sam said from below. “You are screwed…”
Everyone
to the dining hall now.
At the
sound of the Professor’s mental voice, everyone went very still. “Really screwed,” Sam amended.
The
Professor took it all in, including the bedraggled and slightly singed younger students fresh from the Danger
Room. “Where is everyone else?” The voices erupted in a cacophony of
accusations, apologies and worries.
“Silence!”
Emma ordered just loudly enough to cut through the noise. Her voice had an amazing effect on the
younger students, stupefying them all into silence.
Wanda,
however, was not easily cowed. “Kurt
and Kitty are in the med lab. Where’s
Beast?”
“Kitty?” the Professor frowned. “I thought she was at the hospital…”
“She was,”
Wanda said tiredly.
“Ah…” The Professor closed his eyes for a moment,
organizing his thoughts. “Emma, there’s
a list of phone numbers in my desk in the downstairs study. Start calling everyone on it. Tell them to regroup back here. Wanda, go tell Kurt that I’ll be there
shortly.” He paused. “Tabby, that baby needs to be changed.”
“Into what?”
she snapped. “I left his diaper bag at
the apartment and I’m out of the emergency supply I keep here.”
He
sighed. “Go with Wanda. Beast keeps some cloth ones in the lab. Apparently, they’re good for mopping up
spills. Paige, start a list of
everything that is wrong with the Danger Room.
Everything. Do not omit a
single scratch, nick or dent. Include
the energy expenditure from the power cells for the weapon simulations.”
There was a
general murmur of “Yessirs” before the older mutants dispersed.
Leech
raised his hand. “Mister Professor Xavier sir?”
“Just
Professor is fine, Dorian.”
“Just
Professor, sir…I’m sorry I broke your machine.”
“You didn’t
break anything,” he sighed kindly. “You
stopped it from breaking worse.”
“Oh…okay…” he
shuffled his feet nervously. “Can I…”
“You all may go. Try and confine yourself to the rec room and
your bedrooms until further notice, please.”
Once alone,
the Professor let out a long breath. “Everything
is back to normal…”
[1] Shrek
moment. “You didn’t kill the
dragon?” “It’s on my to-do list!”
[2] Random
mutant. Not a character to be mentioned
again, I don’t think.
[3] Okay, on Evo
he could take the power from the street lights and such as well as from mutants
but I’m not too sure about in the comics.
Since this is still an Evo fic even though it’s an AU, I’m going with
his Evo powers.