xp_logs | The Gates: Stay The Course (Reply)

After getting word from Charles, Nathan continues to scan Smichov looking for Mystique (not that he knows what he'd do if he found her again). Medusa distracts him from his delusions of having a plan.

He wasn't sure why he was bothering.

Charles had been very clear that the Czech government had very definitively turned down the X-Men's help. There was no real possibility of the team sneaking in quietly, not given the heavy military presence and the very nature of the security around Smichov. There would be no sanctioned capture of Mystique anytime soon, and so where she was really didn't matter.

Except that it did. Nathan leaned on the railing of the balcony, letting his mind roam over the neighborhood. If he could find her, if he could incapacitate her... he could walk out of the ghetto with her. Maybe. If he could get Moira to send the plane, get Mystique back to US soil...

And the moon. Don't forget, Nathan, you want the moon on a silver plate, too. Damn it.

Angelo had let Medusa into the room and directed her to the balcony when she'd come seeking Nate. She breathed in the cool night air, walking over to set her hands on the balcony railing. Most nights, she would have allowed her hair to dance according to her will, but tonight she allowed the breeze to dictate its movement. "What do you expect to find?" she asked quietly.

"Expecting to find? I don't know. Hoping..." Nathan sighed and straightened. "This woman who's here," he said, "she's... dangerous. Very dangerous. She could provoke a serious incident very easily."

"I have heard of her," Medusa said softly. "Though I have not had the...pleasure of a more personal experience." She turned her back to the balcony and leaned against it. "I presume that this is going to make things more complicated."

"Quite possibly." Nathan shook his head slightly, though, his lips pressed tightly together. "I don't know what she really wants. She hides her thoughts too well - I think it has as much to do with her power as whatever training she's had." He let the air in his lungs out on a sigh, thinking of Kurt. Bet you're going to wish you hadn't let her get away when you hear about this, Kurt...

"She's not trying to incite riots," he said, when Medusa didn't fill the silence. "Judging by what I saw, at least. But emotions are so raw here. I don't think anyone can manipulate them without risking an explosion."

"It will not take a large spark to light the kindling now," she said solemnly. "And I fear that once it is lit, it will not stop until it burns itself out."

"I'm not used to being in the middle of this sort of thing and not being able to do anything," Nathan muttered, staring out at Smichov. "I know we're here to see what's happening, to bring back evidence... but it feels so futile." He took a deep, slightly unsteady breath, and told himself that he was really not displaying the right optimistic attitude here. How was he going to expect her and the other three to feel at all hopeful about what they were doing if he was talking like this? "I'm more used to direct action," he confessed, forcing a smile. "Subtlety's always been a hard lesson for me."

"You are used to running in to save the day." She paused, pushing the strands of hair the wind had blown in her face out of the way with a sigh. "This is a much more challenging way of helping. You rarely ever see the direct effect of your work and must trust that what you do matters and is making a difference."

"That's something I'm learning, too." He squared his shoulders, straightening further. "Well, then," he said more briskly. "I should probably stop breaking my brain trying to find one well-hidden shapeshifter in the middle of all of this. Shall we go see what we can with those damned MREs for dinner?"

Medusa delicately wrinkled her nose as she headed towards the room. "I think you would have better luck with Mystique."