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[x-bamf.livejournal.com]

Marie and Kurt deal with some looters. It's not the typical experience and they actually may have made a difference in some people’s opinions about mutants. Set before this log.



How many more people were still trapped? Rogue felt thankful that most of the people she had come across were alive and looked to be repairable, but there had still been too many dead bodies. She had just found another one of the latter, when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning, she saw a couple teenaged boys toss a rock through one of the few unbroken windows remaining and disappear inside an electronics store. Bastards. It bothered Marie to see people try to profit from others' misfortune.

After handing the body off to one of the other people working the building with her, she took off in a run towards the store. Two feet later and she almost ran into Kurt as he ‘ported in front of her. “Sorry,” she said, her voice tense and both her hands clenched into fists.

He steadied her, then took in her obvious anger and glanced the way she'd been headed, frowning when he saw nothing that would obviously get such a reaction. "Rogue? What is it?"

“Looters,” she spat out. “And Ah’m gonna go teach them a lesson.” She stared at him defiantly, daring him to try and stop her.

She might be surprised at his reaction, coming from gentle Kurt. Tail lashing unhappily, he turned fully to glare that way. "We are going to teach them a lesson. And then take them to the authorities."

A hard glint entered her eyes. “Ah have an idea. Let me go in first, then ‘port in on my signal. Ah think these boys need to have the fear of G-d put into them.”

"Or of the devil, perhaps?" he replied, catching on. "I think that would be fitting." And I can make some good from my appearance.

Instead of returning to her initial run, Marie now moved as a predator stalking prey. After one final check of the scarf covering her head and her gloves as she reached the door, Rogue was ready for action. Composing her face to be the epitome of naivety and innocence, she walked into the store, purposely crunching glass under her feet so her presence would be noted.

The boys both turned towards the noise, one looking nervous, the other very much more confident. It was the second who moved towards her after a moment. "Hey, baby. You should be careful, out on a day like this. Find someone to look out for you."

Batting her eyes, Marie all but purred at him. “Aw sugah, you offering to protect me from the big bad men?” She slowly sashayed over to the two boys, watching as the nervous one backed off at her approach. Poking the other boy, her tone hardened. “Ah’m not the one who needs looking after.” Gesturing around the store, she continued. “On a day like this, you should be helping your fellow man, not trying to profit at his expense.” Stepping back, she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “If Ah were you, Ah’d be worried about the wicked being punished,” she said her voice rising so Kurt would hear.

There was his cue, loud and clear, and he stepped through the broken door, posture purposely crouched to make himself look more demonic, and glared at them silently with angry yellow eyes.

“Aw shit,” said one kid as he backed himself into a corner, his eyes widening in fear. His face had paled and he looked on the verge of passing out. Closing his eyes, he fell to his knees in prayer. Why had he let his friend talk him into this? “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’ll…I’ll go to church more if you just leave me alone!” he cried out.

Uncertainty entered the other boy’s eyes, but he stood his ground. “You don’t scare me,” he said, but his voice wavered a bit. Lunging for Marie, he planned on grabbing the girl to use as leverage with the creature that had entered behind her.

Unfortunately for him, he suddenly found himself choking on sulphur smoke and the "creature" standing between him and Marie, tail lashing steadily. "I would not do that if I were you", Kurt warned him in a low voice.

Marie smiled coldly at the boy, as he began coughing to clear the smoke from his lungs. Taking a few steps back, fear finally entered his eyes as he glanced wildly from her to Kurt and back again. “Who…what the hell are you?” he stammered.

"You can call me Nightcrawler", was the only answer he'd be getting. "And this is Rogue. You will treat her with respect."

The boy in the corner finally lost it at that point. Childhood stories his mother had told him about the devil ran rampant through his mind. A thud, and he was passed out cold on the floor. Somehow the other teen still had some defiance left through his fear. “But we weren’t hurting anyone.”

Rogue bared her teeth at the boy, her face twisting into a truly frightening sight. “You weren’t? Stealing doesn’t urt? How would you feel if this was your store? And some snot nosed brats decided to try and take advantage of a tragedy?”

Kurt stalked closer to him, playing the role and playing it well. "Let me guess. You think the owner has insurance, yes? And taking from him will do no harm in the end? But how do you know that?"

The boy thrust his chin in the air, despite the fact that his insides were quaking. He was a man and men did not back down, even when the devil and his consort had you backed into a corner. Though apparently, standing his ground also included losing most of his ability to speak. "Because…because…" was all the boy could manage to say.

Kurt looked at him contemptuously. "You cannot explain it, because there is no explanation. Thou. Shalt. Not. Steal. Now... what should we do with you?" He glanced at Marie, half-questioning whether there was anything she wanted to say.

“Ah know just what to do with the likes of you,” she said while advancing on the boy. “Ah think my friend here can show you what happens to bad little boys.” Grabbing the front of his shirt, Marie lifted him off the ground as through he were a feather and raised him in the air, shaking him none too gently before bringing his eyes level with hers. “Or maybe Ah can.”

"Or", Kurt continued, with another step or two closer to the terrified boy, "we could let you walk out of here. But I think we would need a reason to do that." As opposed, of course, to dragging him straight to the police.

Marie realized at that point how lucky it was that Kurt had come with her. With the state of her nerves, she probably would have knocked both boys around, blinded to the fact that they were just kids. Setting the boy down, she looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to make his case.

He stuttered, falling to his knees to look up at both of them in petrified appeal. "I-I... we'll put it back. All of it. A-and... we won't ever steal again?" There was a note of pathetic hope in his voice and Kurt, suddenly tired of the pretense, leaned down to pull him to his feet, more gently than his previous behaviour.

“Ah think that’s a start,” Marie said. Something in the boy seemed to have shifted and she suddenly felt very tired. “And try to remember in the future that appearances can be deceiving. After all we,” she gestured to Kurt and herself “are the ones who stopped you from doin’ wrong.” Pointing at the corner, she continued. “You may want to check on your friend as well. We’ll be watching.” The boy’s jaw dropped open as she floated up and out the door.

Kurt turned to follow her, stopping only once in the doorway to turn and offer the firm warning, "Remember." And then he was gone.

As soon as they recovered from the shock of the encounter, the boys went to work collecting the glass they had broken and straightening items on the shelf. When another group of teens came by later to try and loot the store, they chased them off. And later that evening, when the owner of the store returned, they were rewarded with hugs and tears of relief for their efforts. For years to come, they would both dream of the blue man and the girl who flew.