xp_logs | Fifth Column: Magna Hungaria

The X-Men make their way to Budapest and plan for some heavy action the next day.

"I know there are about fifty different filters installed, but I think we're technically not supposed to smoke in here."

Lil rolled her eyes as she pulled a cigarette from the carton in her hand. "We're not sneaking out of class to light up in the bathroom. You wanna go without, be my guest but I need a fucking smoke before we get off this goddamned plane." A lighter appeared and a short moment later, the Amazon was sucking in a long inhale to calm her nerves.

Jim hesitated for a moment, then sighed and pulled out his cigarette case. His nicotine-craving and slight anxiety over the trip momentarily allied to point out that, in the grand scheme of things, there was no substantiative difference between one cigarette and two.

"This should be interesting," the telepath remarked, extracting a cigarette and lighting up for himself. "I've never been to this place. The school, I mean. I'd sort of like to see it when it's not under threat of terrorist-attack. Although since there aren't many places not under attack when I visit I guess there's no reason this one'd be any different."

"I've never been outta North America, so what? It's just a school," the tall blonde said plainly, leaning against a wall as she smoked. Her own anxiety wasn't 'slight' in the least - a place full of psis of all natures. Just want she needed to put her even more on edge during what was bound to be a stressful mission. "We live at a school. You looking to pick up classroom decorating tips?"

Jim wasn't familiar enough with the woman to pin the source of the sharpness, but he suspected it was situational rather than personal; attitude was always a good defense. He marked it and took a drag. "No, there's a reason I only do one-on-one lessons. I'm just interested in the standardized psi program. For one, I don't meet a lot of telepaths not Xavier-trained, or at least -honed. Besides, education is the first step towards legitimization. I mean, in the legal use and prosecution sense. As far as I know there are no legal provisions for it yet, and I'd like to know what they plan for that, if anything." The telepath rubbed the back of his head. "The legal implications make my head hurt. If the Preservers hadn't gotten there first we might still have ended up going to deal with the people on the opposite end of the spectrum. Sooner or later, anyway."

Big words made her head hurt. Lil watched the telepath in front of her, only half listening to him ramble on as she took puff after calming puff from her cigarette. "Having a panel of living lie detectors on a jury would make it damn hard to get away with murder," the Canadian finally replied on a long breath. "'Course, then you gotta worry about manipulators fucking with people's heads in a courtroom and making them think what they're not really thinking and pfft," she blew a raspberry with her tongue. "There goes the legitimization you're looking for."

A speaker next to the two hissed to life suddenly. "Tell me my instruments are glitching and you two delinquents are not smoking in the back of my pristine aircraft. You have got to be kidding me." Forge's voice was incredulous, the irritation conveyed even through the intercom.

"Sorry," Jim said automatically. He glanced at the cigarette in his hand, then the intercom. "Though since we're talking about Big Brother-paranoia, this strikes as a pretty timely example."

"There are two types of paranoia," Forge's voice replied from the speaker. "Total and insufficient. Don't make me send Ororo back there, children. I will, you know."

"Hey, Tiny," Lil chimed in, banging on the wall next to the intercom. "Next time you get bored, build a fucking cigar room on here and we won't have to play junior high. Otherwise, I'll be glad to find a locker to stuff you in."

"The plane has a smoking area. It's on the starboard wing." Forge's response was colored with amusement. Needling the giant Canadienne was becoming a more enjoyable pasttime with each training session.

"Yeah? I thought it was wherever you parked yourself given the amounta smoke coming out your ass," she quipped back, blowing a cloud at the speaker.

Jim, erring towards self-preservation, chose to devote his mouth to his cigarette rather than repartee. This was a definite improvement over pre-mission jitters, at least insofar as it was distracting Lil. And at least one part of him was amused; Cyndi had decided principle alone was enough to bring them to Lil's side. It was hard to muster the will to call for maturity with one of his personalities yelling Hell yeah, damn The Man! Kid! Forge! Whatever, he wants to make us put out fire!

"My darling Lillian," Forge's amused voice responded, "I'll have you know that my ass is listed among one of our greatest strategic assets. In fact, the leading contender for an official codename was Commandant Hotass von Sexypants, but it wouldn't fit on the name tag. Such is my burden to bear. Speaking of butts, if you and the Hallermeister could finish yours up soon, we're on landing approach."

"Um, sure." Not one of Haller's personalities had been crying out for that mental image, and now one or more of them were wondering if stubbing out in his ear could make them unthink it.

Lil rolled her eyes then gave the intercom the middle finger while taking a final drag from her cigarette before putting it out. With her palm. "Hey, Captain Hotpants," she called out, tucking the finished butt behind her ear to wear as a badge of rebellion instead of tossing it in the trash, "Peter near you?"

Forge's voice could be heard, muffled as if he was passing over a headset. "Lil wants to talk to you. No, she's the blonde one. No, not the hot one, the tall one."

There was some half-audible comment about the quality of Forge's eyesight. "Yes, Lil?" came Lakatos's deeper, amused-sounding voice.

"Coupla things," Lil started, unable to keep the impish smirk from her lips. "When we land, I wanna tour of the place sans all the academic babble. Second, my ass is much hotter than his. Third," the giantess tossed a wink in Haller's direction. "When he turns this thing off, I want you to tell Bits for Brains that he's got an atomic swirlie coming his way. Got it?"

"Glad to know that my initial impression of you as a woman who plays rough wasn't wrong."

Shaking his head, Jim put out the last of his cigarette on the sole of his shoe. "You know," he remarked to Lil, "I never got a chance to go to high school, so I skipped the whole normal teenaged experience part, but since coming to work at Xavier's it hasn't felt like I missed much." He hesitated, then added, "But I do agree about your butt."

---

The briefing in the basement command centre of National Police Headquarters had finally broken up. There would be another in the morning, just prior to deploying the teams that would take each identified Preserver into custody, but for now, the X-Men were left to their own devices for the night. Some had remained in the command centre, looking over the plans for the next day. Kurt, rather surprisingly, found himself sharing the elevator back upstairs with Lakatos, who was eyeing him a little more coldly than the norm.

Kurt eyed him right back, with no more warmth and - truly - no guilt. "If you have something to say", he said with stiff politeness, "perhaps you had better say it."

Lakatos snorted under his breath. "If you're expecting insults or a confrontation, I'm sorry to say you're going to be disappointed," he said. "But I'm not going to pretend that I'm happy to see you included in this briefing. And yes, I may indeed make sure that my role in the operation doesn't depend on your ability to stay on-task."

"The child would have died", Kurt said coolly. "I did what was necessary... but you need not worry about my focus in this. I do not imagine we will work together so closely again."

Lakatos gave him a slight, tight smile as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out into the hall. "So that's the argument. The end justifies the means - or the mistakes, rather. How fortunate for you that you have a child's life to hold up in your own defense." He went on before Kurt could respond to that. "As for whether or not we'll be working together - this is going to be a complex operation, dependent on a great many people doing what they've been told to do at the right time." A lot could go wrong, with simultaneous raids, but it was worth the risk to make sure that they picked up all of their targets.

"I will follow my orders." He returned the smile, with just a touch of bared teeth. "As you say, in this case all will depend on everyone doing so."

"Then I'll hope your behavior in New York was an anomaly," Lakatos said, not quite curtly. The simple fact was, he had gone to Westchester with his - and his country's - hat in his hand, and it wasn't his place to critique the X-Men's personnel decisions. "For the sake of the operation. And your teammates."

"It may not be that it will never happen again", he said flatly, "for reasons as good as the one that day. But it will not happen this time."

Lakatos shrugged with a humorless smile. "I really have no choice but to believe you." At least there will be enough of your teammates there to pick up the slack if need be. "There is a great deal depending on this. Beyond the fact that they're targeting an admirable endeavor."

"The Preservers do have a habit of targeting admirable endeavours", was the quiet response, "but I agree with you on that. There will be much lost if they succeed this time."

"You say all the right words," Lakatos said, "but I have to wonder if you really understand. We could solve the immediate problem, the direct threat to civilian lives, by shutting down this new Centre, sending all of the students home. Even if it was only for the duration of the crisis."

"But it would be a great setback", Kurt noted. "If it were to reopen, there would still be danger, and the students... how many of them would be willing to come back?"

Lakatos didn't respond to the rhetorical question. "I've read about the Little Rock Nine, here in America, all those years ago. The young telepaths enrolling at the Centre are similar - they're standing up in the public eye as who and what they are. In some respects things are easier for them. Budapest is not Little Rock. But the threats they face are worse, I think. I just wonder," he went on, "if deep down, you understand why they chose to stay, and my government allowed it. Because from what little I've seen of you so far, you seem to see the trees before the forest. The immediate threat, rather than the long-term good."

"Perhaps I do", he allowed. "I am not a leader, Mr. Lakatos. I have been pushed into the role, sometimes, when no one else was available, but it is not for me. If I had stayed at home, I would have been my brother's second and never wished for more, and here... I go where I am sent."

"I suppose there's nothing wrong with knowing one's limits." If there was an edge to the words, it was a barely noticeable one. "So long as you defer to those who do take the long view." The elevator came to a stop, the doors opening on the lobby. "Now, if you'll pardon me, I need to make some phone calls."

"Of course." It was perfectly polite. "And may we all have success tomorrow."

---

"Hopefully it will be very quiet back here," Peter said, leading her through the halls of the Centre for Psionic Studies. "Or should I be apologizing for that?" he went on, the corner of his mouth tugging upwards. "That you came all the way to my country to help, and will be sitting in an office watching everyone else have all the fun?"

"I don't mind a little action now and then but I hope for the sake of your country and the students here that there isn't too much fun to be had," Lil returned, slipping her arm playfully through his as they walked. She offered him a little smile, not sure if she was crossing some boundary though not particularly caring. Nerves were on edge everywhere and it helped to have a few moments of lightheartedness before they were thrown into the fire.

"Me too," Lakatos murmured, almost under his breath. He seemed perfectly unbothered by the sudden increase in proximity; in fact, there was fractionally less tension in his posture than there had been a moment before. "This kind of fun... well, the less of it the better, really. I wish militants of both stripes would leave us alone. It's not as if we're an expansion-minded country."

Long fingers ran idly along the inside of his forearm from wrist to elbow. "Agreed. And while I'm all for entertainment, I can think of much better ways to have fun," Lil chuckled. They'd had only serious conversations since landing in Hungary - posts and positions and tactics and planning and meetings and while yes, the situation was serious and should be treated as such, the blonde was finding that she enjoyed Peter's presence more and more.

His lips twitched again. "You manage to be a serious distraction, Lil, you realize. I ought to be at the command center, overseeing the muster."

Lil's lower lip pouted sweetly. "But you promised me a tour," she reminded him gently, tracing her nail along the inside of his wrist in a tight spiral. "If you really hafta go though, I'd understand." It was the business they'd entered, the life they'd chosen. "I guess I could just explore the grounds myself."

"I really should." He didn't make any movement to pull away, however, and they continued down the hall in a companionable silence for a minute before he spoke again. "Have you ever had palinka?" he asked, almost idly.

"Palinka?" she repeated, butchering the accent. "That somekinda brandy, right? Hearda if but no, never had it." Lil continued to press close to him, pleased to have a few more minutes of normalcy and peace; probably the last they'd have together until the trouble had passed.

"When this is all done," Peter said, "you and I should have a toast. Maybe several toasts." He actually laughed, then looked as if he'd surprised himself. "It's been something of a stressful week." He put his hand over hers, squeezing gently.

Lil's eyes sparked as she bit her bottom lip almost coyly and nodded, causing the long gold curls to bounce. "I think that sounds like a perfect idea," she told him, returning the pulse. "I'm gonna hold you to that, though. No use trying to worn your way outta it later, got it?"

"I wouldn't dream of it," he assured her, lifting her hand off his arms, and, with a mischievous look in his eyes, bringing it to his lips briefly before releasing her. "I'll even bring the palinka."

She'd never been a woman of subtlety. Or patience. When Peter's hand slipped from hers, Lil leaned in, curling her fingers around the back of his neck and pressed her mouth against his for a warm and promising kiss.

When Lakatos finally drew back, his eyes were mischievous again, and he bit his lip for a moment, regarding her. "Positively dangerous to my sense of duty," he commented.

Smirking, the giantess stole another kiss before pulling away; her fingers skating from his neck down to the buckle of his belt. "Come back in one piece and I'll show you just how dangerous I can be."