They Exist Only For Each Other

((An alternate universe fiction revolving around the lives of two struggling young prostitutes, Storm and Phoenix, trying to earn their place in the world whilst running away from it at the same time.

Rated 'R' for adult themes.))

            There was a creak of rust as the door to the dingy one room apartment on the middle floor of a block of pathetically built apartments was flung open angrily and the woman with the temper of a storm stepped in tired and frustrated amongst other things.

In an instant the alert mind of the red head that had been asleep on the sofa came to life, eyes snapping open with the fire of a phoenix.

            "Shit Storm!  What time is it?"

The tempered white haired African beauty flung down her keys on the grimy kitchen worktop and fell onto the couch at the red heads feet, letting some of her exhaustion and stress fade away.

            "Six."

Her roommate grinned teasingly.  "Mr Ransom again was it?"

The woman known only as Storm gritted her teeth, memories of the long night she had just suffered still horribly fresh in her wound up mind.

            "I swear to God if that guy didn't pay as well as he did I'd ram his own fat face up his own fat arse and leave him like that."

The woman known as Phoenix suppressed another grin.  "Your customer Storm not mines."

Thunder rolled overhead, bold and threatening.

            "Jeeze, control the temper would you?  Don't wanna get caught by the Patrol now."  She spoke with a hint of mocking sarcasm in her voice.

            "Fuck the Patrol."

Another roll of thunder cried out above them.

To this Phoenix sighed.  "Suite yourself."

She got up and let Storm stretch her long tense body out across the couch and finally within ten minutes fall asleep.

Phoenix amused herself by making breakfast for the two.

            As far as standards went life for the two young struggling women was pretty low, but not the worst.

            Storm's parents had disowned her at about the age of six and it was her only friend at the time, Phoenix, who took her into her home and made her her family.

Phoenix's family had consisted of her mum and older sister at the time.  They were both dead now.

But as dirty as their home was and as risky and lousy as their jobs were they always had and always would have each other, as long as the Patrol didn't get them, in their minds.

            "Storm?  Storm!"

At Phoenix's shouted the woman jerked awake sitting bolt upright and looking around with sharp blue eyes.

            "Do you want some breakfast?"

Storm moaned and lay her head back down on the arm of the couch.

            "Just toast."

Phoenix came to sit at Storm's feet placing two plates of food on the small coffee table in front of them.  Storm grudgingly sat back up again and took a slice of toast, quickly eating it.

            "It was a rough night wasn't it?"

Storm nodded, swallowing.  "I think I'm gonna have to drop Mr Ransom.  He's getting dodgier every time I see him.  He had a knife at his bedside last night."

Phoenix's face grew sombre.  It was a dodgy customer that had killed her sister.

            "Yeah, if you've got your doubts about the guy an' all…"

Storm took another slice of buttered toast.  "I think I'll take tonight off, I can't face another all-nighter."

Phoenix's shoulders dropped.

            "What?"

She shook her head, red hair rippling down her back.  "Well it's just the rents due next week and we're way short.  And we still own Mary money from last months bills."

Storm's chest heaved in a depressed and tiresome sigh.

            "You know if it wasn't for you—"

            "I think I'd go out and shoot myself.  I know, I know.  Thanks."

Phoenix threw her arms over her shoulders and kissed her only one true friend on the head.  Storm shrugged her off.

            "One day."

            "One day we're gonna live in the countryside and have a big cottage and a dog called Lassie okay?  For now we're paying our dues.  Anyway, I got errands to run so I'll see you later.  Just don't go shooting yourself out in the street, you'll make a scene."

            "No promises."

Again Phoenix kissed her on the head then left to do her errands.

            Phoenix hated collecting money from her regulars, mainly because she hated most of her regulars.  But if she collected enough then there was always the slim chance that they could both take the night off and get out of their every growing debt.

She didn't get very far in her rounds when she caught sight of a crowd of two men and a woman and was forced to take cover in a soiled damp alleyway, diving behind some over loaded dustbins.

            She hadn't banked on the Patrol being out again today but then they must have picked up Storm's thunder so it didn't come as a massively big shock to her, more of an unpleasantly.

Of course it would be her luck that they stop inches in front of her hiding spot.

            "Y'know I think Chuck got the signals scrambled again.  Can't smell the bloody weather bitch anywhere."

There was an impatient sigh.  "If Monsieur Charles say he felt de mutant den Monsieur Charles be right."

The female spoke up.  "He also said she could be anywhere within a ten block radius Logan suga' so you're just gonna have to be patient."

            "Okay Rogue, Gambit, one of you tell me how long we been tracking this bitch and her pain in the ass pal.  Almost a year, that's how long.  A year wasted lookin' for two lousy mutants when there's hundreds more out there."

The female grew irritated with the one she had called Logan.

            "Just keep lookin' and stop moanin'.  There's only so long you can keep hiding from the X-Men."

The protestant man growled but moved on with the other two.

            When they were gone out of sight Phoenix had to take five minutes to stop herself from shaking.  From the little information she had on the Patrol she knew they had somehow locked onto Storm's mutant signature and so through her they could maybe track them both down.  What they would do after they caught them Phoenix didn't want to know so she didn't intend on getting herself caught.

Scanning with her open mind she deemed it clear to go and stepped out of the dirty alleyway, still shaking and cursing.

She continued down the street she had been walking along, lighting a cigarette as she went and watching out for further Patrol members.  They seemed to have cleared away.

            Her next interruption laid a heavy fat hand on her shoulder making her drop her cigarette and whip around sharply.  She came face to face with the greasy haired fat cat bank boss, Mr Ransom.

Phoenix pulled away with disgust on her face as he grinned a greedy gap tooth smile.

            "Bad habit Ms Phoenix, could land you dead."

Phoenix glared at him whilst lighting another cigarette in annoyance at loosing her first.

            "Tell Ms Stormy I'll be dropping by later."

There was a hint of fire in her sharp green eyes as they narrowed slightly.

            "No you wont, she's done with you.  Go get your kicks somewhere else Ransom."

It was his turn to glare, eyeing Phoenix with a feeling of power.

            "I pay good money and I want what I pay for, okay?"

            "No not okay!  Go find another woman to get your money's worth from but leave Storm alone."

And with that she turned on her stiletto heals and went back home, forgetting about her errands.

            Tying her waist length jet black tipped white hair into a head high pony tail Storm finished her dramatic look with heavy black eye makeup and a pair of small gold thunderbolt earrings.  Phoenix was pacing the rough wooden floor over and over again, more than a little anxious as she watched her friend get ready.

            "The Patrol's getting impatient Storm, they got a lock on you last time you used your powers.  Ransom's looking for you too.  The rent's not worth it if you get hurt." 

Storm rolled her dark blue eyes before locking them onto Phoenix's green ones.

            "When have I ever been caught?  Never, that's when.  That's why I'm still standing here and I will still be standing here in six or seven hours eating toast with you on the couch like we always do.  Now come on, we got customers awaiting."

Storm took Phoenix's forearm and dragged her unwilling body out of the pitiful apartment block and down into the poorly lit street below.  They stood for a second just outside the flats and hugged briefly.

            "Just watch your back Storm."

Storm kissed her lightly on the cheek.  "Always do.  Any trouble and I'll holler, I promise."

Finally they parted after another hug and began making their way through the dark streets of New York to earn their pathetic livings.

            It was a quiet night for both girls; the streets were usually fairly lonely of bodies on a Sunday.

            More than fed up Storm sat on an empty dustbin in the mouth of a deserted alleyway making her way through a can of cold beer slowly.

She was ready to call it a night when she saw a noisy fumbling shadow make its way down the street ungracefully, singing slurry words to the sky.

It was a very drunk Mr Ransom.

Storm groaned as he called out to her, coming to stand (sort of) at her side.

            "Hey there Stormy, ma girl.  What brings your purdy lil' face out so late here in these awful, awful streets?"  He lent over and whispered to her, making her almost gag on the stench of his breath.  "You know, there be hookers and the sorts round these parts, you wanna watch yourself you know."

Storm pulled away, raising one amused white eyebrow.

            "Oh really, I haven't seen any myself."

He stumbled a little, coming to lean his heavy bulk on the brick wall at the corner.  "So what you doin' out here?"

She crossed her arms, standing further away from his foul body.

            "I could ask you the same Ransom."

He hiccupped and giggled.

            "Well you see now, you can see right?  Well you see the wife, well she went and gone and left me you see.  Shame in' it?  So me, I goes to meet me ol' mate whiskey here an' we been havin' a smashin' time…time, ah tell ye."

Storm for some reason she didn't even know about actually took a little pity of the wretched man.

            "Here Mr Ransom, I'll take you home, you can go see your wife and maybe—"

            "No!  No I wan' ma money's worth you hear you slapper?"

Storm backed off and frowned.  "Fine, you can go find your own way home."

She turned to leave when his fat ring clad hand reached out to grab her forearm roughly.  She whipped her head back round and tried to pull away from him.

            "Get off me you fat bastard!"

He growled and just as she wrenched her arm free she caught sight of something glint in Ransom's leather belt.  As he reached for the object a blaze of lightening formed in her clenched fist as a warning for him to back off.

But he didn't take the warning and before she could strike, the object, a sharp little dagger, was struck across her belly with the rage of a drunken man.  As she reeled back in shock he dug in again, dragging the knife through deep and long, parallel to the other gash.

            The sky above went berserk answering to her pain as she fell back into the alleyway amidst a veil of shadows.  Rogue streaks of lightening came down from nowhere one hitting Mr Ransom with enough force to knock him back into the road.

As she lay in the shadows, trying to take in what had just happened the ultimate brunt of the pain and shock hit her and with it sent a desperate message out to Phoenix.

            The red head was only a few blocks away pulling in her first customer of the night when she jerked back from him, grabbing her head in the sudden lash of pain.

            "No… Storm!"

Without another word to her would be customer she bolted down the quiet streets that led to Storm, her stilettos echoing out through the frosty night air.

            She wasn't the only one to pick up the signals of Storm.

            "You see that mon ami?"

The southern girl nodded to her Cajun partner as they watched a hail of lightening pour from the sky.

            "That's her alright."

The duo took off as fast as Phoenix had in an unknown race to see who would reach Storm's body first.

Phoenix won the race, reaching Storm long before the other two did.

She fell into the darkness of the alleyway, coming to her knees beside Storm looking down at her with a mixture of fear and dread.

            "My God Storm, what happened?!"

Storm tried to sit up and Phoenix slipped her arm under her shoulder blades, easing her up slowly. 

            "Him…"

Storm managed to point over to the sprawled out body of Mr Ransom as he lay across the street curb.

            "I'm phoning the police."

            "No!  They'll ask too many question—"

She broke off in a fit of horse coughs and Phoenix's stomach lurched when she saw the blood spill onto Storm's chin.

            "Lets just go home…"

Phoenix watched as her friend's white eyes closed over and she fell back limp in her supporting arm.

            "Storm?  Oh God Storm, please wake up.  We gotta get outta here, please."

A shadow fell over the two women and Phoenix turned her eyes in terror.

            "I think she be out for de count chere."

Her stomach lurched again in horrid realisation as she recognised the duo from this morning.

Her sharp green eyes took in a couple standing side by side clad in distinctive black and gold uniforms, each modified for the wearer with random X's marked onto their suits.

One pair of green eyes met another as the woman stood forward extending a black-gloved hand to Phoenix.

            "We're not here to hurt you hon', we're here to help."

Phoenix scoffed.  "You're the God damn Patrol.  All you're here for is to round us up and brand us.  Train us to fight the bad fight and all that crap.  Don't think so."

The severally injured Storm moaned in Phoenix's arms as she held her protectively.  The man spoke up.

            "Least let us help your friend 'fore she gets any worse.  You can leave us soon as she's better but I'm sure it sting if she died on you."

Phoenix faltered, knowing how right he was.  If Storm died she would have nothing, she would more than likely kill herself.

Scanning both their minds quickly she was forced to believe for now that these people were genuine even if she didn't have an ounce of trust for them.

            Reluctantly she moved aside and let the man pick up Storm in his arms where she lay limp and cold.

Following behind the couple Phoenix walked quickly as they led her to their territory.

In walking past Mr Ransom the southern girl gave him a swift hard kick with her knee high boots before walking on, not missing a beat in her stride.

((Chapter two up on request))