Reading Between the Lines
A New Mutants Fanfic by Brian Doyle
All characters are the property of Marvel Comics. This work is completely unauthorised.
No permission has been granted, no offence has been intended.
Part 2 - The Unanswered Question
The cemetery was empty now, the last car had pulled away, the last small group of people had long since started home.
A long black limousine drew up outside the gates and from it a group emerged, led by a striking blonde woman wearing a formal white suit that somehow seemed to be more severe than the black worn by her younger companions.
They were an unusual looking group. Probably the most unusual was the tall girl with a cloud of lilac hair barely contained by a veiled hat was turning her head this way and that on a neck that seemed to be too flexible to be quite normal. She was sniffing the air keenly, "Catseye smell deadthings Miss Frost... smell sadness too... ..Furface has been here... much, much sadness in her, and Sam Rocketboy here too and Machinechangeything... Others I know too. Why we here after they gone?"
"After discussion with the White King I felt it would be... inappropriate to intrude upon the main ceremony."
"Compassion for others Emma, that's most unlike you.. And Magneto for that matter."
The glare that the woman directed towards the speaker would have given pause to a rabid dog, and the tone was totally flat "That's _Miss Frost_ to you, Manuel. Incidentally, if I feel so much as the lightest touch of compulsive empathy whilst we are here, you _will_ regret it."
"Of course... Miss Frost." There wasn't an ounce of respect in the voice.
"A private tribute seemed best. We are here to pay our respects to a former Hellion. It is fitting we should be here for one of our own, no matter how briefly they were one of us."
The group arrived beside a grave, newly filled in. The plain gravestone simply listed a name, two dates and the words "Beloved son".
Certain they were unobserved Emma let her illusion drop, the others gasped slightly at the sight of the White Queen in white leather bodice and matching fur-trimmed cape.
"Why the shock? He was a Hellion as a well as a former student, that deserves the White Queen's attendance, not just Emma Frost."
"This one was never a true Hellion though, Miss Frost. Not in the heart"
"True Haroun, true, but he was _my_ student, and wore the uniform of the Hellions. That alone makes him more worthy than most."
"Douglas Ramsey as most of you first knew him, was a Hellion for a brief time, but he was a comrade, and that deserves some commemoration."
"Blond-top tonguespeaker dead? For good?"
Emma sighed, some things to so long to explain to some people. "Yes Sharon, he has died, and they have buried him here. We shall not be here for long, so perhaps a moments silence is most appropriate."
Dutifully her students adopted downcast gazes.
Curiously Emma let her mind reach out to touch the thoughts of her students. It was always interesting, and useful, to gauge their reactions to the death of a peer, someone they had known, if not necessarily liked. As with most teenagers, their thoughts were a confused collection of ideas and images, that only a trained telepath would be able to filter through and comprehend.
"thought he was a dweeb... kinda cute though, if you like the dweeb look... which i don't of course... well almost never... look on his face when he won at the poker table... suckers death though... I'll never let it happen to me I promise you... party in the private room later hope i remembered to tape melrose.."
Typical Roulette, as self-centred as a spinning top, but with a callous streak of self-preservation that was well worth exploiting. Emma made a mental note to ensure that the losses of the Stavros gambling consortium were exacerbated in the Club's favour again. She moved her psychic scan on
".. c'est La Mort.. this is no surprise.. mais il ne signife pas toujours le vrai mort, seulment un change tres profound... transmutation from one form to another... je me demande.. significant? Et maintenant?"
With an impatient sigh, the White Queen realised that Tarot had reached into her purse and pulled out one of her infernal cards from the deck she always carried.
"..the card i drew last time we met the lovers ..nothing came of it then.. now this has happened.. did it ever refer to him..."
Emma passed on with a mental shudder, Marie-Ange's obsession with her cards made her almost utterly unpredictable, a wild card in every sense, but her powers and potential made her worth the effort, so far at any rate.
".. death is not to be feared I know there is worse to face in life.. scent/physical memory; burning skin, scorched hair, friction-searing body in midair, ground impact, cracking of bones, feel of surgical steel, antiseptic ..fear makes life unliveable.. better to die for what you believe in than live a lie.. honour and sacrifice are never wasted, never pale skinned blond boy learning arabic dialect in minutes, then speaking together for long hours into the night.. how different childhoods had been.. traces of envy of the other clear in each... close family ties versus adventure and flight... a quiet voice stilled in the desert.."
How typical, Emma mused, sighing inwardly, under his tough exterior Haroun lived by his naive notions of honour and duty, almost a romantic. Still, that was what made him reliable to Emm... to the Hellfire Club.
".. xavier claims another life in pursuit of his dream... to dream the impossible dream... ramsey/john died warrior deaths... is that worth the price.. too late to ask them that... standing in front of pyre, sun burning on bare chest, smoke and soul rising could they have done any differently than they did being the people they were? ...impossible for john, unlikely for ramsey..."
This time her mental sigh was more of annoyance, this noble streak of Thunderbirds was getting to be an obstacle, a shame that Xavier had managed to vent off so much potent anger with so little for Emma to show for it in return.
"..a fool.. ..a truly pointless power... a truly pointless person... almost a flatscan.. didn't hit me/hurt me/could have..a yellow gloved fist raised, looming large in his field of vision.. then lowered, face turning away in pity/disgust/self-loathing weakness or better than me?... stronger? a fool better than a de la rocha..? no.. never.. just weak... just a fool.."
Ah, ever-reliable Manuel, it was always interesting to see a sociopath in the making, their thoughts were so refreshingly clear of remorse. A future Inner Circle member for certain, if she didn't have to kill him first.
The human element of me is not comfortable here, not on a physical level but on an emotional one. Sight of gravestone A tangible commemoration of an abstract concept such as death seems to be a human norm in mourning processes... An intriguing correlation, replacing absence of the animate, with a presence of the inanimate... A metaphysical construct to ponder later, after romp tonight perhaps, a moonlight contemplation is always refreshing. Must ensure to ask abstract image; fur friendship shyness about her feelings on the matter too. An alternate emotional standpoint would be worth factoring in for future reference
And this was just the part Emma could comprehend, she shied reflexively away from the deeper parts of Catseye's mind. Emma was always surprised at the richness and complexity of Sharon's thoughts. Her stilted mode of speech was as much because of the inability of the human language to express her thoughts as anything else. Her internal clarity and depth of thought was startling, as was her ability to balance animal and human ways of looking at the world. She wondered idly how Sharon and Cypher would have got on, if he had had a chance to apply his powers to communicating with her. "Intriguing" indeed.
Time to bring matters to a head. Lifting her head up, she turned to face her students;
"Let this be a lesson to you Hellions, Douglas Ramsey was prepared to give his life to save a team-mate. Whatever else we may think of Xavier's students, that was a noble action, and worthy of respect.."
She paused to let that sink in for a moment, she rarely gave praise, so it would grab their attention.
"..in its way. However, it is an example I hope none of you would be so foolish as to follow!"
That elicited shocked expressions from Haroun and James, the slightest of smug nods from Manuel, boredom from Jenny and both Sharon and Marie-Ange were typically unreadable.
"Hellions, we are engaged in a war, a battle between humans and mutants for control of the future. In a war the weak do not survive, but nor does the hero. In a war there is indeed a place for heroism, but there is also a place for pragmatism. In the long term it is better to be a survivor that others might see as a coward, than be a hero who dies too soon to be of use. The opinions of others can always be ignored."
"'He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day'. Is that it Miss Frost? What about the opinions of yourself, the one person you can never escape." Even without telepathy Emma could sense that James' self-control was slipping, his fists were clenching tight enough to deform steel.
"Then, James, you will at least be alive to feel miserable and wallow in self-doubt. That's an option neither your brother nor Cypher will ever have now." Better not to push THAT hot-button too hard right now, but it might stave off a more vocal response, mentioning his brother usually made him quietly contemplative. There was no such luck on this occasion though.
"You might ask yourself whether they would feel that way, Emma? You never met my brother, but you did meet Cypher. Do you think he could have lived with himself if he had not acted as he did? If he had let Wolfsbane die?"
Damn, she hated it when they used insight, logic could be argued around, insight was too emotional to shift.
"We'll never know now, James.... Mores the pity." Not her best comeback but it would do for the moment.
"Miss Frost, we came here to pay our respects. If you have no respect to show then I don't see why you came."
Emma was tempted to lash out with a psi-bolt, but her admonition to Manuel came back to her. If she resorted to a psychic attack over this, then they would doubt her sincerity in other things.
"We wouldn't be here if I felt no respect James. Of course I feel regret, Douglas could have been a valuable player in the human/mutant conflict, his skill with languages and computers could have been used to great effect, but he should never have been a field operative. Now his skills will benefit no one."
"They benefited the life he chose to save, Miss Frost."
"He should never have given him that opportunity. Some are born to fight, some are born to carry other burdens."
"I recall Sam explaining how much the same situation arose when Magneto took over the School, but he was convinced to change his assessment. Do you argue with the White King?"
Emma barked a short laugh, "I argue with my own reflection if I choose to James. Come, our work here is done. I would like a moment alone here."
As the others trooped back to the car, Emma stood alone by the grave. Almost reluctantly she sent her thoughts down into the earth, straining to see if there was the slightest chance of a brainwave activity. Cypher had merged with the alien Warlock on several occasions, who knew what might have resulted. Her thoughts came back unanswered.
Sighing, she turned and made her way back to the limousine, recomposing her illusion of normalcy around her again.
She tried to lose herself in her own thoughts, there were new students to interview, possible candidates for the Hellions amongst them. The blond boy from Monaco, some sort of energy projector by the sound of it, a girl from India with some sort of camouflage power, and another boy from somewhere far out in the part of the world she thought of simply as "Redneck USA" who could bench-press his father's pickup truck. New eager minds to shape, new skills to instil, new loyalties to foster.
And still James words came back to her "Do you think he could have lived with himself if he had not acted as he did?" and she wondered again. If the position were ever to confront her Hellions, to save themselves or save her... which would be the decision she would want them to take. She wasn't sure she liked the answers that presented themselves.... She wasn't sure there were answers that she _would_ like to such a question....
She reached the main gate as dusk passed into true night, and as the limousine drove off the cemetery was left to the ghosts.
5
A New Mutants Fanfic by Brian Doyle
All characters are the property of Marvel Comics. This work is completely unauthorised.
No permission has been granted, no offence has been intended.
Part 2 - The Unanswered Question
The cemetery was empty now, the last car had pulled away, the last small group of people had long since started home.
A long black limousine drew up outside the gates and from it a group emerged, led by a striking blonde woman wearing a formal white suit that somehow seemed to be more severe than the black worn by her younger companions.
They were an unusual looking group. Probably the most unusual was the tall girl with a cloud of lilac hair barely contained by a veiled hat was turning her head this way and that on a neck that seemed to be too flexible to be quite normal. She was sniffing the air keenly, "Catseye smell deadthings Miss Frost... smell sadness too... ..Furface has been here... much, much sadness in her, and Sam Rocketboy here too and Machinechangeything... Others I know too. Why we here after they gone?"
"After discussion with the White King I felt it would be... inappropriate to intrude upon the main ceremony."
"Compassion for others Emma, that's most unlike you.. And Magneto for that matter."
The glare that the woman directed towards the speaker would have given pause to a rabid dog, and the tone was totally flat "That's _Miss Frost_ to you, Manuel. Incidentally, if I feel so much as the lightest touch of compulsive empathy whilst we are here, you _will_ regret it."
"Of course... Miss Frost." There wasn't an ounce of respect in the voice.
"A private tribute seemed best. We are here to pay our respects to a former Hellion. It is fitting we should be here for one of our own, no matter how briefly they were one of us."
The group arrived beside a grave, newly filled in. The plain gravestone simply listed a name, two dates and the words "Beloved son".
Certain they were unobserved Emma let her illusion drop, the others gasped slightly at the sight of the White Queen in white leather bodice and matching fur-trimmed cape.
"Why the shock? He was a Hellion as a well as a former student, that deserves the White Queen's attendance, not just Emma Frost."
"This one was never a true Hellion though, Miss Frost. Not in the heart"
"True Haroun, true, but he was _my_ student, and wore the uniform of the Hellions. That alone makes him more worthy than most."
"Douglas Ramsey as most of you first knew him, was a Hellion for a brief time, but he was a comrade, and that deserves some commemoration."
"Blond-top tonguespeaker dead? For good?"
Emma sighed, some things to so long to explain to some people. "Yes Sharon, he has died, and they have buried him here. We shall not be here for long, so perhaps a moments silence is most appropriate."
Dutifully her students adopted downcast gazes.
Curiously Emma let her mind reach out to touch the thoughts of her students. It was always interesting, and useful, to gauge their reactions to the death of a peer, someone they had known, if not necessarily liked. As with most teenagers, their thoughts were a confused collection of ideas and images, that only a trained telepath would be able to filter through and comprehend.
"thought he was a dweeb... kinda cute though, if you like the dweeb look... which i don't of course... well almost never... look on his face when he won at the poker table... suckers death though... I'll never let it happen to me I promise you... party in the private room later hope i remembered to tape melrose.."
Typical Roulette, as self-centred as a spinning top, but with a callous streak of self-preservation that was well worth exploiting. Emma made a mental note to ensure that the losses of the Stavros gambling consortium were exacerbated in the Club's favour again. She moved her psychic scan on
".. c'est La Mort.. this is no surprise.. mais il ne signife pas toujours le vrai mort, seulment un change tres profound... transmutation from one form to another... je me demande.. significant? Et maintenant?"
With an impatient sigh, the White Queen realised that Tarot had reached into her purse and pulled out one of her infernal cards from the deck she always carried.
"..the card i drew last time we met the lovers ..nothing came of it then.. now this has happened.. did it ever refer to him..."
Emma passed on with a mental shudder, Marie-Ange's obsession with her cards made her almost utterly unpredictable, a wild card in every sense, but her powers and potential made her worth the effort, so far at any rate.
".. death is not to be feared I know there is worse to face in life.. scent/physical memory; burning skin, scorched hair, friction-searing body in midair, ground impact, cracking of bones, feel of surgical steel, antiseptic ..fear makes life unliveable.. better to die for what you believe in than live a lie.. honour and sacrifice are never wasted, never pale skinned blond boy learning arabic dialect in minutes, then speaking together for long hours into the night.. how different childhoods had been.. traces of envy of the other clear in each... close family ties versus adventure and flight... a quiet voice stilled in the desert.."
How typical, Emma mused, sighing inwardly, under his tough exterior Haroun lived by his naive notions of honour and duty, almost a romantic. Still, that was what made him reliable to Emm... to the Hellfire Club.
".. xavier claims another life in pursuit of his dream... to dream the impossible dream... ramsey/john died warrior deaths... is that worth the price.. too late to ask them that... standing in front of pyre, sun burning on bare chest, smoke and soul rising could they have done any differently than they did being the people they were? ...impossible for john, unlikely for ramsey..."
This time her mental sigh was more of annoyance, this noble streak of Thunderbirds was getting to be an obstacle, a shame that Xavier had managed to vent off so much potent anger with so little for Emma to show for it in return.
"..a fool.. ..a truly pointless power... a truly pointless person... almost a flatscan.. didn't hit me/hurt me/could have..a yellow gloved fist raised, looming large in his field of vision.. then lowered, face turning away in pity/disgust/self-loathing weakness or better than me?... stronger? a fool better than a de la rocha..? no.. never.. just weak... just a fool.."
Ah, ever-reliable Manuel, it was always interesting to see a sociopath in the making, their thoughts were so refreshingly clear of remorse. A future Inner Circle member for certain, if she didn't have to kill him first.
The human element of me is not comfortable here, not on a physical level but on an emotional one. Sight of gravestone A tangible commemoration of an abstract concept such as death seems to be a human norm in mourning processes... An intriguing correlation, replacing absence of the animate, with a presence of the inanimate... A metaphysical construct to ponder later, after romp tonight perhaps, a moonlight contemplation is always refreshing. Must ensure to ask abstract image; fur friendship shyness about her feelings on the matter too. An alternate emotional standpoint would be worth factoring in for future reference
And this was just the part Emma could comprehend, she shied reflexively away from the deeper parts of Catseye's mind. Emma was always surprised at the richness and complexity of Sharon's thoughts. Her stilted mode of speech was as much because of the inability of the human language to express her thoughts as anything else. Her internal clarity and depth of thought was startling, as was her ability to balance animal and human ways of looking at the world. She wondered idly how Sharon and Cypher would have got on, if he had had a chance to apply his powers to communicating with her. "Intriguing" indeed.
Time to bring matters to a head. Lifting her head up, she turned to face her students;
"Let this be a lesson to you Hellions, Douglas Ramsey was prepared to give his life to save a team-mate. Whatever else we may think of Xavier's students, that was a noble action, and worthy of respect.."
She paused to let that sink in for a moment, she rarely gave praise, so it would grab their attention.
"..in its way. However, it is an example I hope none of you would be so foolish as to follow!"
That elicited shocked expressions from Haroun and James, the slightest of smug nods from Manuel, boredom from Jenny and both Sharon and Marie-Ange were typically unreadable.
"Hellions, we are engaged in a war, a battle between humans and mutants for control of the future. In a war the weak do not survive, but nor does the hero. In a war there is indeed a place for heroism, but there is also a place for pragmatism. In the long term it is better to be a survivor that others might see as a coward, than be a hero who dies too soon to be of use. The opinions of others can always be ignored."
"'He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day'. Is that it Miss Frost? What about the opinions of yourself, the one person you can never escape." Even without telepathy Emma could sense that James' self-control was slipping, his fists were clenching tight enough to deform steel.
"Then, James, you will at least be alive to feel miserable and wallow in self-doubt. That's an option neither your brother nor Cypher will ever have now." Better not to push THAT hot-button too hard right now, but it might stave off a more vocal response, mentioning his brother usually made him quietly contemplative. There was no such luck on this occasion though.
"You might ask yourself whether they would feel that way, Emma? You never met my brother, but you did meet Cypher. Do you think he could have lived with himself if he had not acted as he did? If he had let Wolfsbane die?"
Damn, she hated it when they used insight, logic could be argued around, insight was too emotional to shift.
"We'll never know now, James.... Mores the pity." Not her best comeback but it would do for the moment.
"Miss Frost, we came here to pay our respects. If you have no respect to show then I don't see why you came."
Emma was tempted to lash out with a psi-bolt, but her admonition to Manuel came back to her. If she resorted to a psychic attack over this, then they would doubt her sincerity in other things.
"We wouldn't be here if I felt no respect James. Of course I feel regret, Douglas could have been a valuable player in the human/mutant conflict, his skill with languages and computers could have been used to great effect, but he should never have been a field operative. Now his skills will benefit no one."
"They benefited the life he chose to save, Miss Frost."
"He should never have given him that opportunity. Some are born to fight, some are born to carry other burdens."
"I recall Sam explaining how much the same situation arose when Magneto took over the School, but he was convinced to change his assessment. Do you argue with the White King?"
Emma barked a short laugh, "I argue with my own reflection if I choose to James. Come, our work here is done. I would like a moment alone here."
As the others trooped back to the car, Emma stood alone by the grave. Almost reluctantly she sent her thoughts down into the earth, straining to see if there was the slightest chance of a brainwave activity. Cypher had merged with the alien Warlock on several occasions, who knew what might have resulted. Her thoughts came back unanswered.
Sighing, she turned and made her way back to the limousine, recomposing her illusion of normalcy around her again.
She tried to lose herself in her own thoughts, there were new students to interview, possible candidates for the Hellions amongst them. The blond boy from Monaco, some sort of energy projector by the sound of it, a girl from India with some sort of camouflage power, and another boy from somewhere far out in the part of the world she thought of simply as "Redneck USA" who could bench-press his father's pickup truck. New eager minds to shape, new skills to instil, new loyalties to foster.
And still James words came back to her "Do you think he could have lived with himself if he had not acted as he did?" and she wondered again. If the position were ever to confront her Hellions, to save themselves or save her... which would be the decision she would want them to take. She wasn't sure she liked the answers that presented themselves.... She wasn't sure there were answers that she _would_ like to such a question....
She reached the main gate as dusk passed into true night, and as the limousine drove off the cemetery was left to the ghosts.
5