Blueshift

Blueshift Chapter Sixty Six (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta…*sick* I shall call myself Mimi Berlin from now on… Maybe… eh, nah. InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink and Dracena are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting. :) ProPhile: GOOD LUCK! Morgan: *glomp * Readers/Reviewers: Okay, it’s going to be a bit longer than 70 but not making it to 80 chapters… *glomp * for reading/reviewing. :)

Rogue rubbed her arms in futility. “Motherfucker,” she muttered under her breath. “Hello?” She took a few steps further into the dark space, pausing when the surface beneath her feet crunched as if made of gravel. “Todd? Minerva?” A soft, snuffling noise teased at her senses, making her frown and hold herself more tightly. She was cold, to be sure, but more than that, she was certain she was being watched. “I swear, Todd, if you’re gonna try to scare me…”
“No,” came the faint reply. “I’m not gonna scare you…”
Rogue turned slowly, trying to pin point the source of the voice. “Keep talking, I can’t see you in here…”
“I’m at the end of the hall you’re standing in. Minerva told me to wait…wait here…” The chattering of his teeth was audible in the narrow, dark space. “God damn, it’s cold.”
“We’re in the basement of the boathouse. Didn’t you know?” She moved forward in what she thought was the right direction. The hall, very narrow and meant more as a way to channel the flow of storage boxes into the basement, did not afford much room for wandering. She moved a few feet and bumped into the wooden steps she had just stumbled down. “Damn it,” she breathed, turning carefully back around. “Keep talking, Todd!”
“I don’t know,” he managed, clenching his jaw and trying to keep his thoughts clear, “what she wanted with me down here. She said she needed help with something. I was leaving to… to… God damn it’s cold…”
Rogue found him at last, her booted toes bumping into his crossed legs. “Can you stand up?” she asked, feeling for his arms. “Give me your hands.”
“What’re we doing down here?” he asked, the damp cold seeping to his bones. He could feel his body trying to shut down again, seeking to protect his systems from the temperature. “I need to get warm…”
Rogue growled with the effort it took to lift his semi-limp body to his feet. “Come on. I don’t know what that twit wanted with us down here but we ain’t stayin’.” She gasped as he leaned heavily on her, draping both arms around her neck. “Todd, you gotta stand up,” she panted, amazed at how heavy he was. “I can’t carry you all the way like this…” She leaned her head back, avoiding his touch as he tried to right himself.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. His eyes were dimly yellow in the dark, picking up on the very faint sliver of light seeping through cracks in the ceiling which served as the floorboards for the kitchen. “Oh, fuck,” he groaned.
“What?” She pushed him to arm’s length. “You gonna be sick? I love you, baby, but I don’t do puke…”
“No…” He shook himself, twisting weakly free from her grasp. “I know why we’re here.” He disappeared into the dark, his dragging gait loud in the hall.
Rogue rolled her eyes up slightly and sighed. “Good, enlighten me. Philosophers the world over will thank you…” She followed the sound of his steps for a few feet then stopped short as he paused. “Todd?”
“Help me get her up…”
“What?”
“Tabby… help me get her up.”


Minerva closed her eyes, inhaled slowly, then opened her eyes on the exhale. “Done.”
Mars sighed. “You’re too optimistic. You know it’s not done yet.”
“As well as!” She sat down primly on the edge of the plastic chair, crossing her ankles and folding her hands on her knee. “The mutants are doing as they’re told and we’ll be rid of the interlopers by nightfall.” She sniffed almost haughtily. “You worry too much.”
“I don’t worry as much as I should,” he snapped. “That Amara girl was useless… so willing to obey the God of War but her lover tempts her away from my orders. And what of the girl who belongs to El? Why doesn’t he deal with her?”
“You sound like a petulant child,” Minerva drawled, stretching her feet and ankles, rotating and counter rotating them as if bored. “Amara served her purpose before. Your insistence on using her was foolish.” She stood then, not intimidated by Mars’s presence or scowl. “And El will bring himself down from his high place when he feels like it. Aikaterine is…intelligent,” she continued as if this was the highest praise and, coming from her, that was close. “She will do her job well. She understands about battle…” A small smile teased her lips. “Moreso than you.”
Mars growled, a purely animal sound, an clenched his teeth. Bright beams of light radiated from his eyes and hands as if he were glowing from the inside out. “YOU DARE TO MOCK THE GOD OF WAR!”
“Oh, shut up.” Minerva stood and tossed her loose, flowing dark hair. “That trick doesn’t work with me. I don’t fear Mars, son of Zeus, any more than I fear myself. If you’re done showing off, we still have tasks to complete before we can return Home.”
Mars seethed, his breathing ragged but the light fading from his eyes and hands, his stance still tense and defensive. “You will ruin this for all of us!”
Minerva smiled and reached out to brush some fine white powder from his shoulder. “You’re coming apart, brother dear. Seems like you’re the one who’s ruined, not us.” She looked at her fingertips and frowned. “You’re defective.”
Mars leaned close and narrowed his eyes. “You’re not long for this plane, Minerva. You’re limited in ability and you know it.”
“Maybe,” she smiled, “but at least I’m not defective.” She turned away from him pointedly and moved towards the lab door. “We have but a handful of hours before the final chapter is written to this tale, Mars. I suggest you calm yourself and join me at the Institute where we are to be observing and stop trying to become alpha male.”
“This is ridiculous. Why are we helping those we are meant to destroy?” he snarled, following her.
“These humans have an expression you should find apt… keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Minerva shot him a smile over her shoulder. “We help them now, edge the battle in our favor, and it will ease our way later.”