Age of Apocalypse: Interludes

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After the briefing, Remy, Wanda and Haller have a little grown up chat.



"So... dere is something not right here. How de hell could dis place's, well, us, fuck everything up so badly?" Remy's eyes tracked the horizon, on the cluttered roof of the Muir Island facility. Dark clouds were brewing, more rain coming down over the ocean.

Jim rubbed his forehead, inwardly wondering the same. "If there is an infinite number of outcomes for every decision we make, and an alternate world is created by each possible variation . . . then yeah. I guess it's inevitable that there is a universe where every possible thing went wrong."

"Hmm..." Remy said non-committally, not convinced it was that simple. Apocalypse might be the face of it, be he wondered if there was something else in play. A mole in the X-Men? Someone trusted on the inside who joined Apocalypse's army and was able to hide it, sabotaging every plan? That could still be the case. "Rachel's instincts aside, dis is not an ideal team. Angelo's a cool head in a fight, but he doesn't have de killer instinct for dis kind of work, Molly is still a kid, and a naive one at dat, and- well, no offense Haller, but you not exactly Remy's idea of a front line telepath. Dis is going to be very far from a traditional X-Men fight."

Wanda had been sitting quietly to the side in an attempt to fight off the raging headache she had developed the moment they had stepped foot in this alternate world. This would be the second time over not a long period that she had been removed against her will from her own world; her body, and her powers, were protesting.

"I daresay this shall be one for the record books," she said, eyes opening at last. "I am trying to see how we can manage to cobble together a victory with just the handful of us. The us in this world failed - are we so different from the ones that came before us?" She breathed out a sigh. "For our sake, I hope so."

Jim sighed. "We don't really have a choice at this point, do we?" He glanced at Remy, conceding the man's earlier point. "Based on what I'm seeing in these memories I'm -- not really up to the standards Rachel's used to, but this isn't my first dance. I'm not a combat 'path and I'm not going to try. If a fight comes, I'll stick with telekinesis. Use me for comms if necessary. I can only do one or the other, but with who we've got right now coordination may outweigh offense -- especially with Molly to look out for." He gave Wanda a tired look. "Is Snow Valley stuck over some kind of dimensional aberration? Lately it seems any time we have contact something is fucked with space and time."

"Dat leads into my second point. De last couple of times we've gone through dose weird gateways to other places, Gambit's been de one to come out. I can't trust dat not to be de case here." Remy said, looking at Haller. "You need to take a look in here."

The telepath blinked, then realized the ramifications of Remy's concerns. If Gambit had been loosened in the transition and was waiting to stab them in the back -- or worse, the persona somehow been imported separately, like what had happened in D.C. . . . Jim gave Remy a mute nod.

He entered Remy's mind warily, feeling a phantom twinge of pain as he did, but a scan showed -- nothing. No chinks in the wall that separated the two identities on earth, nor any evidence of tampering that would indicate a hidden trigger. The last foreign influence he sensed was the remnants of the psychic template he'd given the man to combat Gambit's influence in the demon's world.

"You're safe," Jim reported, withdrawing his mind. "I can feel the architecture of Gambit, but it's dormant -- no activity inside, no influence from outside." He frowned. "Could it be because only our minds traveled here?"

Remy sighed heavily. "I don't know. Everytime dat I think I start to understand de rules wit' dis, dey change. I was worried dat dere might be an... influence there, and if dat was de case, I trust Wanda to annihilate me before Remy have a chance to blink."

"Without hesitation," she responded and perhaps it would be considered creepy by someone who didn't know them but her voice was warm despite her words. It was because she did care for Remy - and everyone else's well being - that she truly meant them. Wanda stood and joined the two men and leaned on the wall, eyes distant. "The Wanda that was here - her memories are dripping into my own. Bits and drabs after the initial rush. She ..."

Wanda shook her head. "There was no Chthon here in this world. She never had that struggle. I find myself almost ... envious. Except for the whole being dead aspect." And, she thought, the sudden stabs of 'memory' of the other version and Magneto. On friendly terms. Loving.

And the grief when this Erik was killed. That was proving hard to both ignore and turn away from.

"It's . . . similar on my end," Jim admitted, crossing his arms. "Here, my mother kept me. No manifestation trauma, no mental disorder. And Betsy was never blinded, so Kwannon was never an issue. Maybe that's why Dr. Essex isn't--" He caught himself and cleared his throat. "Well, in some respects things were better . . . right up until they weren't."

"Looks like Remy was de same, only... he never got all de way clear of Gambit. Ended in charge because everyone better qualified or trusted ended up dead or turned." he shook his head. "We can't let dese memories compromise us. It was Xorn dat ultimately sent us here, and I don't think he'd do dat just to let us or dis world die for nothing."

"Well, here is one thing," Wanda offered, turning to fully face the two men. "The enemies that knew these versions of ourselves will either be expecting them to be dead or, if expected at all, will be expecting these people that are not us. I do not know if I am more powerful than the Wanda Maximoff that was here but I am different and that will be an edge I fully intend to use."

Jim nodded. "I don't bring much of an advantage, I'm afraid, but I agree with Remy. Xorn may not have what I'd call relatable priorities, but I don't think he'd spend life needlessly, either. There may be differences between our selves here, but in the end it seems like we hold most values in common. If we've been brought here to do what they couldn't . . . I'm all right with that."

"Guess dat's decided den." Remy nodded. "Right, let's get to work."

__________



Angelo and Rachel have a conversation that needs to be had.



Angelo and the other newcomers had been shown to their sleeping quarters, such as they were - the room had a bed and chair, and he supposed that was all that was really needed.

He wasn't trying to sleep, not yet, instead sitting in the chair and waiting for Rachel. He was reasonably confident she'd be along any minute.

As if on cue, there was a knock on his door a minute later. Rachel had just shown Remy, David and Wanda into the room next door once they were done with their little private tete-a-tete, and she was really looking forward to hunting down Kurt for a hug and some shut-eye. But this conversation, she knew, was one that had to be had.

“Jello, it’s Ray.”

He stretched over without getting up and opened the door. "Come on in, Chis. I've been expecting you."
“Uh huh.” She came in and shut the door behind her before flopping to the floor and using it as a backrest. “Okay, shoot.”

"First thing", he said quietly, "there's something I've got to tell you. Chis, I... from the memory dump I got when I came here, I think your Jellybean's dead. Frank, too."

Rachel shut her lids over eyes that had clouded over and breathed evenly for a while. When she opened them again, her expression was shuttered. “S’pose that happened after I left. They were stationed on the Wall, I believe. Shit happens all the time there.” People died there every other fucking day, it seemed. “What was it this time?”

"They ran up against War." A flash of pain crossed his face at the memory of War looking like a girl he'd loved, even if it wasn't his world. "Frank tried to hold her off so the others could run and got his back broken. Your Angelo went back to and get him."

“Bloody idiots,” she murmured, no heat behind her words. Rachel traced Angelo’s face with her gaze, as though committing it to memory, before averting it by pulling her knees up against her chest and resting her forehead against them. “Yeah, even here you were a self-sacrificing idiot. Not the first time Jellybean’s pulled that kinda stunt. Guess his luck finally ran out.”

No tears escaped her eyes, but the dull ache in her chest was back. Who knew who else had perished in her time away from home? From one heartbeat to the next, the need to find Kurt and make sure he was safe increased tenfold. But the young soldier merely lifted her head and propped her chin up on a knee.
“Thanks for telling me.”

"It would've been wrong not to", he said softly. "I mean, someone would've, I'm sure, but... if you're coming with us, they might not see you to get the chance, and I know he would have wanted you to know. And now I guess we should talk about what else just happened."

“Sure.” They both knew she was going to end up dead at the end of the mission, one way or another. “What do you want to know?”

"What exactly happened when you found Xorn?" Angelo asked. "I mean, what... what did he say or do, that meant you couldn't come back to ask first?"

“Dude gave me an ultimatum. Decide there and then or fuck off and leave him alone,” she shrugged. “Not the most accommodating person.”

"I've heard", he said wryly. "I guess for him, letting you find him and not vanishing on the spot counts as accommodating. So did he choose us, or you?"

“I suppose I should be grateful I found him at all,” she agreed weakly. The redhead eyed Angelo, mentally replaying the conversation she had had with Xorn with a stab of guilt. She could not tell him what she had agreed to. “I did the choosing… sort of. He kind of plucked the choices from my head. Why?”

"I just wondered, because the choice seemed sort of... random, except for me and Remy. Especially Molly. But then, you did say you were basing it off what you knew from here."

“Tactics,” she shrugged. “I needed a full team. Cannonball’s a powerhouse here and he has flight abilities. Scarlet Witch has chaos manipulation – nuff’ said. Legion has the telepathic abilities that I lost and he’s more than capable in the field with his TK. Molly…” Rachel trailed off with a slight chuckle. “I know her as Rosie – a good friend to have in battle. Invulnerable, a good marksman and packs a helluva punch. Don’t know how I missed the resemblance to Molly, but I s’pose that’s the biker helmet Rosie’s pretty attached to…”

"Well, at least she's got the invulnerability and heavy hitting", Angelo said with a nod. "Although she still tends to pass out if she pushes her strength too far... but anyway. I guess I just wanted to hear it from you."

“M’sorry for dragging you into this, Jello,” she sighed, and shifted as though to get to her feet. “There anything else you want to know?”

"No." Abruptly, he pushed himself up, took the two strides to her chair and dropped to hug her tightly. In her ear, "I know what you're going to do. When this is over."

With an odd, sad smile he could not see, Rachel turned her head to rest the ear against his chest, wrapping one arm around his waist and giving it a squeeze. “It’s all right, you know. Many others have gone before me.” And if Korvus had anything to say about it, “I won’t be alone.”

"It's not all right. But I know there'll be no talking you out of it, there never was, about anything." And it was that or never go home.

“Nope, not really.” She hugged him tight before releasing him, taking a step to peer up at his face. “But it’s worth it, no?”

"To save your world? Yeah, I guess it is." He managed a slight smile. "At least it'll be for something."

“It’s all I could ask for,” she said, and reached up to tousle his hair. “Come on. It’ll be all right.”
"Hey." He pulled back, making an effort at a joke, and smoothed his hair back down. "We won't forget you, you know that, right?"

“It’d be pretty sucky if you couldn’t even bother to remember the monkey that breaks into your place, you know that, right?”

He swatted her casually. "Yeah, that's you all right, and I get the hint."

“Good.” She nodded meaningfully towards his bed. “Think you could get some rest now?”

"...well, I could try." He moved obediently in that direction. "Not the easiest place to rest in, but you know that."

“I’d rather have you well rested before I drag you into the most dangerous place on Earth right now.”
She opened the door and paused with a hand over the light switch. “Thanks, Angelo.”

"You're welcome." The words weren't enough, he knew, but they were sincere for what they were worth.

Unexpectedly, she grinned at him, a rougish, devil-may-care smile that flashed brightly for a second before she disappeared into the hallway in a quick flurry of footsteps.