xp_logs | Fifth Column: Border Fortress

As the Blackbird departs Budapest, the past and the future are both invoked.

They flew out after dark. There had been more debriefings to attend, more questions to answer, and by the time it was done, it made more sense to wait and make a discreet exit. Between the darkness and the clouds - naturally-occurring cover, as Ororo was still in no condition to be altering the weather - few, if any inhabitants of Budapest noticed the graceful black plane that lifted off from the Hármashatárhegy airfield, gliding down almost silently from the mountain and then turning to follow the curve of the Danube.

Nathan, sitting in the copilot's seat, stared out at the lights of the city, absorbed. A brief smile tugged at his lips as they passed the great bulk of the Parliament building, lit up in gold, as if in defiance of what had almost happened. It was the postcard picture, the one in all the tourist brochures, and it tickled him. "This is a beautiful city from the air," he said to Forge.

"Certainly more so than trying to appreciate it in the middle of an 80-mile-an-hour car chase with terrorists," Forge agreed, recalling the events of a year and a half ago. "And it's a young city, technologically speaking. Did you know they've only had electric lights for a hundred years? A much less... cluttered technosphere. Amanda probably has a field day with places like this."

"Young in some ways," Nathan said, "very old in other ways. Two thousand years ago, there was already a settlement here. The Romans turned it into a town." He paused, trying to remember. "...Aquincum," he finally said. "One of their border fortresses." He found himself smiling again, cryptically. "The boundary between one world and another. The world the Romans wanted to create, and the world that was."

"Everything evolves," Forge replied, taking the jet in a slow banking turn westward, "I see no reason why a city shouldn't. Even if its people insist on taking the slow path."

Amber's words had remained with him. The passionate desire to force change on the world - it wasn't too different from ideals he often found himself revisiting. But looking down on the city, he thought about what Nathan had said. The Danube had once been a border – a barrier between one civilization and the next, one tribe and another, delineating arbitrary lines separating nations. And now, it was part of one unified, beautiful city.

"Sic transit gloria mundi" he quoted with a shrug, levelling the jet out and guiding the Blackbird towards the dark horizon.

"More like fortes fortuna adiuvat," Nathan murmured, leaning forward to get one last look at the Parliament building. "Somewhere down there, there's a Prime Minister probably looking over a draft of a 'stay the course' speech, and a whole bunch of telepaths who aren't the type to go running back home." He knew. He'd been one with their minds, after all. "I wish them well. And I wager you a week's worth of coms shifts that we'll see that Centre open on time, even if they have to borrow someone else's building."

"Sucker bet," Forge admitted, but with a smile. "Now, if you wanted to put a bet on our annoyingly invulnerable Canadienne comrade and the good Mister Lakatos..."

"Oooh, gossip. The very best way to while away the long in-flight hours.."