Mark & Amanda, backdated to Sunday the 10th

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After seeing Jay, Mark finds comfort with Amanda.


For all that he'd come to experience since joining X-Force, few encounters had left Mark as drained as his one with Jay did. He managed to make it down the hall from Jay's room before he fell against the wall with a quiet sob. He had convinced himself - deluded, he corrected - that the four victims of Blaquesmith's menace were alive the whole time, and the confirmation that they were, at least physically, crushed him more than their deaths would have. Slumped on the ground, Mark withdrew Esther from his pocket and sent a quick text to Marie-Ange and Jubilee. He desperately needed some stress relief from friends who weren't so wrapped up in their own ennui.

The sob had been quiet, but the infirmary wasn't exactly a noisy place and for the witch currently curled up in one of the chairs in the waiting area, any noise that didn't fit in with the usual was something worthy of attention. Slipping from the chair, she made her way down the hall until she found Mark. One look was enough to answer the 'are you okay' she'd been about to ask, so instead she slid down the wall to take a seat next to him. "Hey."

It was hardly a surprise to find her here. Mark rested his head on her shoulder, desperate for some physical affection. "Are Dani and Garrison and Pete as fucked up as Jay?" he asked simply.

She shifted slightly, slipping her arm around his waist. "Yes and no," she replied. "Gar and Dani look pretty much the same, but they're messed up any way. Pete..." She sighed a little. "I dunno, Mark. Something's breaking in him, tearing him up, but I'm not sure what." Now it was her needing comfort and pressing herself against his warm body. "I was so sure he was dead and when I saw he wasn't, nothing else mattered. But it does."

"So no extra metal pieces or skin bleaching?" Mark's arm slid over Amanda's shoulders. "I don't even know what to do here. I knew they were alive all along. But seeing Jay now . . . He's so different and I don't know if there's much Jay left. And worse, he knows it, too." Almost the polar opposite of when he returned to the land of the living, he recalled.

"No, tho' Dani's got a hell of a scar on her throat. 'S messing with her voice a bit." Amanda was grateful for the cuddling - she'd been away from her team for far too long. "Jay... yeah. I saw him out there, saw him take off Apocalypse's head with those wings of his. He's really not the same person any more. I'm not sure if he's going to be able to cope with all this - they've already got him secluded so he doesn't hurt anyone. Or himself."

That's sure working, Mark thought wryly. "He nearly took off my head, too. 'Til he saw who I was. Remind me to thank Remy to teaching me how not to get killed. So Pete's got a selective guest list, Jean told me. He talkin' about getting back to work already?"

"Yeah." Amanda sounded unhappy about that. "This is Pete, king of putting everything into his work. Even when he's in a fucking wheelchair, he can't stop." She paused, and then added. "And people wonder where I get it from. Between him, Remy and Wanda, it's not like any of them look after themselves."

"I'm shocked. 'Our jobs are more important than our fuckin' health,'" Mark mimicked, and the fake sound of Pete brought a little chuckle. "I hope you at least can slow yourself down a bit, yeah?"

The witch had snorted a little at the mimic. "Yeah, I think so. If only so I don't wind up in the bed next to Pete. Bad enough I lost my head when I saw him there - Morgan saved my neck with that one."

"Who are we goin' after next? Sabretooth and those fuckers that attacked them in the first place?" They'd had such great luck tracking them down in the first place. "Rip out some spines and healing factors ourselves. Make India look like high tea." It shocked Mark himself that he actually meant what he said and wasn't being facetious. And if he felt that way, he couldn't imagine what Amanda did. His hold on her tightened.

"Depends on what Remy gets from Pete - he's doing the debrief." Amanda had been angry for so very long, all she could feel now was tired. Tired and a little distant, as if she'd frozen off part of herself. "We'll probably have to profile these other bastards, the ones who were at the commune, and check on what's happening there now Apocalypse is dead. Poor fuckers - they were just minding their own business and got chewed up like they were dog food." Her voice dropped a little. "I think I killed at least a couple of them myself - it was them or us."

Mark had long since gone past the point where such casual admissions of killing through self-defense could rile him. "More sins Apocalypse answered for. Anyone know how he escaped SHIELD in the first place? Not a very auspicious beginning for them, to let the second-most notorious mutant terrorist escape."

"Breakout by Sabretooth and the same fuckers who went after Pete and the rest," Amanda replied. "Looks like Shiro was right after all. At least now he's out of the way for good."

"A learning experience for all of us." He wished he could be angrier that the combined mutant forces hadn't given into savagery when they'd first had the chance, but he was too emotionally exhausted to. "I suppose you'll be staying here 'til Pete's let out?"

She nodded, head bumping his slightly. "'M not letting him out of my sight again until he tells me to bugger off himself," she replied simply. Then she snorted. "Of until Dr. Dracula decides to teleport me out."

"So long as you remember to eat and sleep and all that. Ten bucks say that Pete'll fling us across the world again in no time, so better get it while you can." Esther beeped and Mark checked it to see responses from Jubilee and Marie-Ange. The former's text had him smiling. "I'ma head home, then, and stop Jubilee from wasting her money on this godawful blouse. Lemme know if you need anything, yeah?"

She squeezed his waist with the arm she had slung around him. "Don't worry about me," she replied. "Go save Lee from another fashion disaster." Then on impulse, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "'S good to have you home."

Mark stood and helped Amanda pull herself to her feet before wrapping her in a tight embrace. "You, too."