Mutation Sternutation: Marie's Turn

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

After the exhibit, Marie and Kurt meet Amanda at Finnegan's to catch up.


"...so that was probably the most entertaining part of the exhibit. The look on Crystal's face when that kid decided she looked delicious. Ah mean, the art wasn't bad, but how often do you get to see a princess get attacked by a toddler?" Marie said, surprised at how relaxed it felt to just be...hanging out.

Amanda snorted in amusement, luckily having finished sipping at her drink in the meantime. "Oh, I would have paid money to see that. Hopefully there were some pararazzi lurking around."

"I believe they tend to follow her, when she is not disguised", Kurt said helpfully. "So the chances are good."

"Very true," Marie said before taking a sip of her own drink. "So what's new and exciting in your life?" she asked, tilting her head towards Amanda. "Ah know it's got to be more exciting than mine at the moment."

"You'd think, wouldn't you?" The witch shrugged. "Apart from wacky powers interactions during a fake exorcism, 's all been quiet on the Western front. Ange is busy with Epis since Nate's got his hands full looking after JP, and even the bastards are keeping their heads down." Something in her face hardened. "When our own people aren't joining them. You hear about Doug joining the Hellfire Club?"

Marie's eyes widened in surprise. "No. Ah...well, you know Ah haven't been really doing a good job of keeping in touch with people. How?"

Kurt glanced sideways at Amanda but kept his silence. He knew only what she or Wanda chose to tell him, about the goings on at Snow Valley, and he hadn't heard this about Doug either.

"Emma's doing. She's brought him in as her Knight and she's dragged Manny back in too." Amanda started groping in her jacket pocket for her cigarettes, then realised it probably wouldn't go down well with her current companions and stopped, nervous fingers reaching for the beer coaster instead and starting to shred it. "Doug says they're doing it for good, but he doesn't know that place like I do. What happens to people there."

"Ah'm sorry Amanda. Ah know...what with Manny...and what happened. G-d, this can't be easy for you," Marie said, reaching out a gloved hand to squeeze Amanda's hand. "And they probably think they can change things, but Ah wonder if they know what they're getting themselves into."

The squeeze stopped Amanda in mid-shred of the coaster and she gave Marie a grateful, if somewhat hurt-looking, smile. "Well, they're big boys and they want to think they know what they're doing. And as I learned a long time ago, I can't make people do what I want them to. Just pick up the pieces later."

Marie waved her hand at the waitress to get the group another round of drinks. "That's part of life Ah think. Just like bones are stronger after they break, sometimes folks have to break a little in order to grow stronger. It sucks to watch though."

"So I've been told," Amanda said with a wry expression. "Any way, enough to stupid plonkers." She picked up her drink. "Anyone got any good gossip?"

Once the gossip runs dry, Marie meets Garrison for a quick bite that turns out to be quicker than planned as she finds herself with a brand new problem and a much less pleasant companion.


Waving to Kurt as he dropped her off at a small Italian bistro, Marie walked into the restaurant, scanning the different tables of people enjoying an early dinner until she found the table she was looking for. Marie paused, gave a slightly hesitant wave, then made her way over to take a seat across from Garrison. "Been waiting long?" she asked, as she picked up the menu resting on the table in front of her.

"Not sure. What day is it, eh?" Kane twitted her gently. Actually, he'd only sat down a few minutes before, but there was something on a genetic level that he couldn't resist teasing Marie, and she was just as aware of it. "You find this place? It's, what, ten minutes from my office and I've never been here before."

"The power of Google," Marie replied. "And that's usually the way it is anyways....when you live or work nearby a place, you get complacent and go to the same places over and over again."

"Oh, so I'm getting complacent now? Sheesh." Garrison huffed theatrically. "For that, I'm totally sticking you with the bill."

"Arm wrestle you for it?" Marie said, a totally innocent look on her face. Noticing the waitress coming out of the corner of her eye, she smiled. "Of course, we should probably figure out what we're getting before we start arguing over the check."

"Always with the super strength. You know, it indicates a low moral character to specifically look to humiliate larger men with your powers. Low moral character." He repeated slowly, with a grin. He popped his menu open and scanned it quickly, settling on the aglio e olio due to the odors coming from the kitchen. It beat the hell out of the sandwich from the cafeteria. There were many things the FBI did well. Cuisine was not amoung them.

He waited for her order and the waitress to leave before talking again. "So, Miss X-Man Sometimes Leader, how are you doing following the rumble in the jungle, eh?”

"Not bad actually. For a mission that went off the planned track, it turned out pretty good if Ah do say so myself. Not even a concussion on the team. Except Logan, which doesn't count. And Ah had a trainee to look after who Ah actually managed to keep out of harm's way," Marie said with a smile, settling back comfortably in her chair. Picking up her glass of water, a strange looked passed over her face briefly after she set it back down.

"Yeah, we do seem to be deploying a lot of the trainees quickly. I wonder if we're getting overstretched at the core of the team." Garrison mused, sipping from his own water. "No Cain. Polaris, Dazzler and the rest on the west coast... that's an awful lot of power subtracted from the available options."

It was a discussion that they'd had before. The X-Men represented a vast amount of power, but it was spread out over a very small number of people; almost insanely small considering their operational model and the kinds of deployments that they made. One blown mission could cripple their ability to respond to threats for months, if not longer.

"We're managing fine for the moment," Marie said. "Ah mean, we also have a lot of trainees who are ready to be more with a nicely rounded batch of powers, 'specially since we've got some folks who break a lot easier these days." She tilted her head slightly. "Plus, Ah mean, technically we could call on the West Coast folks in an emergency, if we really got in over our heads."

"True, although in my experience, over our heads tends to come all at once and without warning." Kane said, leaning his forearms on the edge of the table and considering. "Mind you, if we end up with enough of the trainees and the new kids coming in, they might need another CO for the team. That a cap you're ready to wear?"

Marie blinked in surprise, though she wasn't sure why. It...made sense. Sort of. But she wasn't sure she was ready for that kind of responsibility and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Ah don't know. Ah'm not the most senior person anyways. Would probably make sense for it to be someone..." less crazy "...else."

"Scott and Miss Munroe seem to trust your judgment. I know most of the X-Men have no objections with the option of working under you." The latter was delivered with a slightly wicked grin. "Think about it, Bulleuh. Logan's got experience but still is a concern keeping his head in the field. Nate's way to burnt out to do it any more. Jean's got dual responsibilities with the medlab. Kurt's dropped the ball against the Brotherhood. Sam's missed a ton of time in the field. I'm tasked to go back to Alpha Flight one day soon. Everyone else is either too young, too inexperienced, or just not suited to a leadership role."

Garrison shrugged, picking up Marie's discomfort but mistaking it for her usual issues with actually taking praise. "You've got both field and training experience, you've led missions with different groups, you've got a solid base of tactical experience for your age, and you keep your head in a crisis. If I was Scott, god forbid I lose being so young and pretty, but if I was, you would be the best long term option as a new field leader that I'd consider.

Marie's cheeks turned pink, an embarrassed flush spreading across her face and down her neck. "Ah don't know that anyone else sees it that way..." she said, trailing off and wishing she was some place, any place but at the restaurant having this conversation. She went crazy to often to be selected for a leadership position and she knew that was how the team leaders saw her as well. Someone unreliable, who at any moment could get overwhelmed by the stress of her own powers. A second after that thought passed her mind, a puff of dark smoke filled Marie's chair and she disappeared, the scent of brimstone in the air.

To Kane’s credit he didn’t scream. In fact, the Canadian’s eyes only widened as the restaurant turned to look at his table, where the smoke wafted towards the street and the rotten eggs smell hung in the air.

“Um,” He peered around him, even looked under the table. Getting up and crossing over to her side didn’t help anything. “Marie?” He said quietly, as if maybe it was his own eyesight that was the problem. “Marie?”

Feeling immensely stupid, he looked down at the chair she’d been sitting in, now occupied only by the napkin that had been on her lap. He looked around again to see if anyone was still watching and lifted up the napkin. “Marie?”

“Okay, that was stupid.” He said to himself as he dropped the napkin on the table and pulled out his cellphone. “Yeah, this is Garrison. I need someone to track Marie’s phone location on GPS. Yeah, right now. She just disappeared in the middle of lunch, and unless it’s because she was really desperate to stick me with the check, we need to make sure she’s alright.”

----

Marie gasped for air, her hands reaching out to clutch for something as she felt nothingness for a moment...then relief. Solid ground. The feeling of a chair under her grasping hands. Opening her eyes didn't do much to help her breathing as she glanced around at a familiar, though unexpected, location. How did Ah get here? Sure, she'd been at the Brownstone many times. And she distinctly recalled starting a meal with Garrison several miles away only moments before. Inhaling again, she noticed the faint smell of brimstone lingering in the air.

The blonde girl standing a few feet away tilted her head curiously. "Just checking," she said delicately, "but I think if you're sucking people's souls out with your fingers and stealing their powers, I'm going to have to tell someone about it."

Turning slightly, Marie blinked. The person standing across from her was capable of teleportation...but brimstone was more Kurt's thing, and she didn't see her half brother standing around anywhere. "Illyana?" Marie said, though the name came out more as a question than a statement. "Ah know this is going to sound like a strange question...but do you know how Ah got here?"

"Um," Illyana said, "you just, you know. Poof." She waved one hand explanatorily. "I thought it was that weird guy with the tail -- " yes, she knew Kurt's name, but it was one thing to know and another to be bothered -- "but I didn't see him or anything."

"Yeah, uh," was Marie's well thought out reply. "Poof. Ok then." Possibilities started running through her head. Had her powers expanded? Was she now absorbing people's abilities and life force without any kind of physical contact. A slight look of panic cross her face to accompany the barrage of thoughts flowing through her mind.

"Are you having some kind of mental breakdown?" Illyana asked. "If you are, I'm going to call someone for you, because suicide is a tragedy unless you're a criminal and probably you aren't."

"Ah'm just...Ah shouldn't be able to do that," Marie replied, fishing in her pocket for her cell phone. "But calling someone...that's probably the right thing to do. And, um, you aren't feeling funny or anything are you?" Think Marie. Stop panicking. Call Jean. Get to the medlab. Just breathe damnit.

"I'm feeling fine. You look kind of sick, though. Or is that your natural skin tone?" Illyana peered at her, then shrugged, pulling a Sidekick out of her back pocket. "I can call Sofia for you if you want."

"No, that's ok. Don't know what Sofia would do with me. Ah'm just gonna call Dr. Grey. Then, uh, get myself back to the mansion for a check up." Finally finding her phone, Marie sighed with relief as she dialed as quickly as she could manage.

The blonde girl shrugged. "So long as you don't go postal 'till you get outside, that's fine by me. The old guy down the hall complains if you break stuff, though."

"Ah'll do my best," Marie said as she started making her way out of the building. "Jean? It's Marie...something's wrong with my powers..."