Log: Cain and Alison, 2:30am-ish, Sunday morning.

[x-juggernaut.livejournal.com]

In which the resident pop star and the walking engine of destruction deal with the day's events and come to terms with concepts of sacrifice, maturity, and Second Album Syndrome.



It was sometime past two o'clock am, she knew, although she hadn't checked as she'd pulled on some clothing and wandered downstairs for some tea. The search for tea had turned into boots and a coats being tugged on and soon enough Alison was walking outside in the hopes that the cool night air might clear her thoughts. Thankfully, she wasn't at the point where she only wanted to cry, although if it hadn't been for the fact that she'd been drawn out of that earlier...

A faint booming sound drew her attention however, inconsistent with the usual breeze and crackling of leaves underfoot and every other nighttime walk sound she knew and expected to hear. She stopped long enough to locate the direction and turned off the main trail, until she realized that it was coming from the quarry.

Under the shadow of the sheer rock walls, a boulder the size of a school bus vibrated, then wrenched free of the years of sediment cementing it in place. With a cry of unrepressed rage, Cain Marko heaved it up above his head like an Olympic weight lifter, spinning and releasing it to soar into the quarry wall, exploding like a bomb and sending a small avalanche down the wall.

Bare to the waist, Cain kept lashing out, shattering anything he could get his hands on. Anger and frustration welled up inside him, demanding an outlet before he drove himself mad. While releasing his aggression in the quarry before had been therapeutic, this was more - an outright expression of pure rage.

The ground underfoot shook with each strike and Alison was careful to not go too close to the edge, slowly making her way towards more level ground. The sound of pebbles and stones rattling about was constant, broken regularly by the far more loud explosions as Cain vented his anger. She tripped once on the way down, staggering a few feet as another large boulder hit the quarry wall, but kept going steadily anyway.

Cain paused for a moment, knuckles resting in the dust that was settling around his feet. He wasn't even breathing hard, or sweating at all. Dammit, he swore silently. Ramsey was a good kid - one of the few. Whatever had prompted him to do something so... flat-out STUPID...

The world shook again as Cain drove his fist into the ground, opening up a large crack. Wedging his fingers in, Cain heaved, splitting the ground beneath him. Using his fists like a sledge, Cain hammered away until he found himself standing in a shallow fissure, knees-deep in rubble. Plowing his fists through it like a frustrated child in a wading pool, he reared his head back to the sky, letting out a primal scream of frustration.

When he lowered his eyes, he caught a glimpse of blonde hair up on one of the paths leading down into the quarry.

Alison, he recognized immediately. Shit...

The scream would have caused anyone to clap their hands to their ears and probably run for it at that. Alison just kept walking, keeping her attention on the path a bit more sharply after tripping like that once, hands in her pockets. She didn't even look down, instead giving Cain the time to finish venting as much as he needed to. The slow shift in the soundscape that followed the scream did register however, and by the time the pebbles had silenced, Alison was standing at the edge of the quarry, looking within for Cain.

Taking a deep breath, Cain projected his voice upwards. "Don't come down!" he called, "I'll come up." No telling how unstable that path was going to be. Trudging through his self-created demolition site, Cain made his way to the rock wall, looking at the scarred granite and shale. "Up it is," he mumbled, plunging his fingers into the rock and hauling himself up the rock face one arm's length at a time.

She didn't bother answering, instead just staying there, peering down for a bit as he clambered up the sheer surface. It was a beautiful thing to watch, in a way and she did just that, noting that he didn't even bother to pick an optimal route - just went straight up the wall, without a single pause.

Limb over limb, Cain fought gravity all the way up the cliff. Each time his hands struck into the stone, his mind interpreted the sound as a gunshot, and his brain kept forcing images of carnage into his mind. He'd seen people shot before, children younger than Doug killed. But this - Doug was a GOOD kid, dammit. And he had it in his damn fool head that he HAD to martyr himself without telling anyone - Cain's hand came through to empty air, as he slapped the top of the cliff. Pulling himself up, he flopped onto his back, looking up at the night sky. Slowly, Alison's blonde head entered his field of view, and he became acutely aware that he was shirtless, covered in silt and rock dust.

"Um, evening." he mumbled.

"Evening," she answered softly, looking down at him. She tilted her head to the side a bit, taking in his appearance, a small smile tugging at her lips despite the mood she was in and everything else in general. He had that look about him that made her want to ruffle his hair. She sat down next to him, drawing up her knees close as she looked down for a moment, the shadows of the quarry not masking the fact that he'd been here a while in the least. "You've been at this for a while, haven't you?"

Cain checked his wrist, finding it bare. "Shit," he breathed. "Lost my watch. Few hours, I s'pose." Sitting up in an approximation of Alison's pose, the effect would have been comedic if not for the ruby gem protruding from Cain's chest casting a faint crimson glow over his forearms, its blood-red flicker no more obvious than a tiny candle, yet indicative of the big man's emotional state.

"Kid's going to be okay, Doc Bartlett said?"

"Yes." Alison sighed, resting her chin on her knees. She didn't even have the heart to crack wise about it being better for him that he be okay, at this point. "Going to hate being awake in the morning and hurting some, but he'll be fine. He was wearing the Kevlar after all. I guess the bullet's impact is what stopped his heart," her voice wobbled over the words, "when he went down." She remembered only too well what kind of damage those bullets did.

"Hey, hey, hey..." Instinctively Cain reached out, wrapping an arm as gently as he could around Alison. "Long as he's going to be all right. Wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known that asshole was going to try and take a shot at the kids to get at you." Only acutely aware of the dirt he was raining down on Alison, Cain tried to laugh.

"Stupid damn kid," he chuckled. "which class is it that teaches everyone around here all about this stupid 'noble sacrifice' crap and keepin' everything all bottled up instead of goin' for help? 'Cause I'm picking Ramsey for straight As in that one."

"He took a shot at my bodyguards to get my attention before I went into hiding, didn't he? Of course I knew he'd sink to that to get my attention," she pointed out acidly, before stopping to take a deep breath, not caring in the least about the dust and leaning against him without a second thought.

"It probably didn't occur to Doug that the precognition involves possibilities only, not the absolute way things will go." She sighed a bit, closing her eyes, silently grateful for being able to be far calmer about this than she normally would have.

"It's why I went into hiding, you know?" The words were nearly inaudible. "That was my one single fear. Not that I'd get shot. That someone I cared for would get hurt instead."

"They say the guy's behind bars now," Cain remarked. "Caught it on the news before I headed out. Something like that, guy ain't likely to get bail for shooting a kid. Bad as it sounds," he quipped, "small comfort is that your big problem's over."

"But," he continued, "now you see why I got so damn pissed at you the other week."

"Haroun pointed that out to me. That I could go out and not worry about the guy, now. I'll have to go testify at his trial, though," she murmured, suspecting they'd be throwing everything they had at him to make sure he went behind bars. "There'll be older charges too. Attempted murder, stalking, murder by lying in wait." Alison stopped, looking ahead, above the quarry and the tree line and at the sky. "The list goes on, really."

She bit her lip at she pondered his last words. "I know - but I think if Doug had been in another school, with a similar kind of circumstance, he'd have done the same damn thing."

Cain nodded. "No kidding. Kid's too damn noble for his own good. He believes in Chuck, you know? Wanting to make the world a better place for everyone. Doing that whole Helix whatchamacallit, that Red Cross thing, and now this." Cain scowled.

"Ain't right, though," he continued, "kid's what, sixteen? Who the hell does he think he is, making some grandstand play like that without telling anyone?"

"Just HeliX. Though I may suggest to the kids they turn it into a Foundation soon. And Doug's seventeen. Honestly Cain, think back to when you were that age. I think you have your answer right there, really. Teenagers." She actually managed a low chuckle at that, even though her throat tightened at the thought of what might have happened if the bullet hadn't hit Kevlar.

Cain snorted derisively. "When I was his age, I--" he thought back quickly. Not much came to mind except repeated shouting matches with his father, which usually ended with a 17 year old Cain sitting right about where he was now, looking to get away from it all.

"When I was his age," Cain continued, "we didn't have big anti-mutant riots, or this school, or people taking potshots at pop stars. We had separate-but-equal, MLK, and Elvis still had a number one single." He laughed. "I didn't give much of a crap - well, I gave a crap about Elvis - but the rest, that was all Chuck's scene."

Cain snickered briefly. "I remember him coming in once, black eye and split lip. Some townie had jumped him in the parking lot because he went to the 'colored' counter in the diner. My dad, man, he was mad as hell. But that's Chuck. Didn't care what happened to him so long as he did the right thing."

Cain turned his head to Alison, cold resentment in his eyes. "It didn't turn him into a damn martyr, though. Which is exactly what Ramsey was trying to make himself into. Dammit, it just don't make sense."

"I came out as a mutant because it was the right thing to do." And she'd hate the consequences with a passion, fought them every step of the way. But she'd never wanted to take it back, to get a second chance at not saying a thing. "I did it because someone had to do it. Don't know that it changed much in the end but - there you go." She didn't have any perfect answers to give him, no explanations that would magically make it all better.

"The only person who knows why he chose to do things that way is Doug and I get the feeling it'll be a pretty muddled explanation by the time we pry it out of him." Her lips thinned for a moment, anger flickering to life. "He's not going to pull a stunt like that again."

"Damn straight he's not!" Cain barked. "I swear to god, I hear him even talk about trying some shit like putting one of those uniforms on, and I'll knock some sense into him myself." At Alison's pointed look, Cain raised his hands defensively. "Look," he explained, "I ain't too keen on YOU doing it, but you can at least hold your own. Shit goes down, what's Ramsey going to do, talk someone to death?"

"I hate it when people don't realize exactly how scary his power can be." Alison gave him a wry look, shaking her head to forestall any objections on that point. "God, I hope he just graduates and goes out there to live and never looks back. All of the kids, I hope for that so much. But Doug's power could potentially make him the most perfect intel man this side of creation. What the world is to a speck of dust, he is to a data specialist. He can speak any language. Read body language. He's got the potential to be one of the scariest hackers out there. I - could go on for a while. It's been frustrating to just watch him knock himself down each time because he doesn't have an obvious offensive ability."

She slid Cain a wry look. "Think about it this way. How can you fight someone in close combat when they can predict your every move? Doug could do that. With the proper training." She shrugged and hunkered down again. "I just hope he picks something else. Anything else, really."

Finding no argument there, Cain just nodded. "Something like that'd keep him in the rear with the gear, ain't bad. But this - " he stammered, looking for the words before punching the ground lightly. "Shit, he's a smart kid, and he didn't even see the obvious answer to the whole thing. He sees himself gettin' shot trying to save the Sinclair girl, why don't he just make sure SHE wasn't there, huh? Two birds with one stone."

"I'll bet you anything that some of Marie-Ange's drawings and notes referred to other possibilities. Someone else being shot, maybe another student, maybe me. The most recurrent vision must have been the one with Rahne. Betcha he wasn't seeing himself being shot. Just her. That's why he took the precautions he did - don't change anything, don't allow any other variables. That way he could have as much control of the situation as-" she stopped, biting her lower lip. "Damn. It makes sense. Unless you consider that if he'd told us we'd have just set up a nicer trap and had Lorna there to catch the damn bullet." She flopped back to rest on her back, looking up at the sky. "Catch 22. He doesn't have the training to actually map out the possibilities and make full use of the resources at hand."

"Then get - " Cain stopped himself from actually suggesting someone TRAIN the kids for that contingency, then shook his head. "Jesus, we almost lost a kid today. A damn kid."

"Two. The bullets from that kind of rifle rip through a person, normally." She said automatically and then clenched her teeth, glaring up at the stars, ignoring the shiver that ran though her at the thought of what might have happened if there had been no Kevlar vests on location. "I really hate guns."

"And you think you guys are going to change the world so this crap won't ever happen again, huh?" Cain said, then held up a hand to stall the inevitable comeback. "No, don't answer that, that wasn't fair. You can't plan for everything, not without keeping everyone locked in a little box where they can't live a damn moment free."

The line of questioning reminded him of his conversations with Remy about security, and the ongoing need to balance the risks associated with the school with the trouble of keeping a healthy living environment. "Someone said Ramsey even wrote everyone goodbye letters. Pretty damn morbid, if you ask me."

Alison looked at him pensively. She was going to hug him for backing down on that one. Probably when she got up to go back to the mansion, but she was definitely going to hug him. Dust and all. "He did. I got one. Miles too only I intercepted that first - he wants to read it though, so we'll see. He's been a lot calmer about this than the other kidlets were." She never, ever wanted to get an email like that again.

"Jesus Christ," Cain spat. "Lot of consideration there, sending your suicide note to a little kid." Cain tilted his head to look at Alison. "Just tell me you're not going to let Miles think Ramsey was being heroic or anything. That you guys aren't going to give him some medal for risking his neck or some shit like that."

"Miles thinks well on his own." Alison shook her head, smiling a bit, the look in her eyes softening. "We talked about what happened and he thought about it for a while, and then told me that the only reason he wasn't kicking Doug in the shin for being a stupidhead is that he figured everyone else would be yelling at him already. I think he's planning to just hug him in a few days, and make him promise not to do that again."

"Good." Cain stared out into the night sky for a moment in silence, then sighed deeply, dropping his head to his chest. "Ain't it funny," he asked, "how a body can be so stupid at seventeen? Whole life ahead of him, and he's willing to give it up for his friend. You just-" Cain's voice broke, and he looked away. "What kind of choice is that? At seventeen? Shit, I got fifty years on the kid, almost, and I can't say I'd put myself in his place."

"If you lost your invulnerability through some freak accident, and someone took a shot at Miles while you were right next to him, the only one close enough to change something - what would you do?" The words were softly spoken, Alison gazing up at the stars once more. "You don't have to answer that one out loud, really. Just me thinking out loud."

"I don't know what I'd have done in his place. Don't think I could have carried through with all of that, though. In fact I'm sure of it. It kinda says something about Doug that isn't all about being stupid as well though, doesn't it?"

Unconsciously, Cain's fingers brushed the gem in his chest. He hadn't been much older than some of the kids in the mansion when it had changed his life. Thinking of it gone...

"Something like that happened," he said cautiously, "I figure I'd do the right thing. I mean - it's simple there. Kid's liable to a whole lot more good to the world than one cranky old fart, right?" He gave a weak smile. "But Ramsey - I tell you, how the kid can be so damn foolhardy and yet... I dunno, admirable in a way."

Cain lumbered up to his feet, kneading his hands and looking down into the quarry. "You know, every night since you told me, you know, about what you want for Miles if you - y'know... every night I keep asking myself that question. Would I do whatever it takes to keep him safe?" After a small pause, he looked over his shoulder at Alison. "Damn straight. There ain't no line I wouldn't cross to keep that kid safe. You got my word on that."

"I know." She rose to her feet slowly, feeling oddly serene as she smiled at him. She'd know that all along, really, from the very first times she'd seen him interact with Miles. And the little boy knew it as well - they'd talked about it after all, when she'd sent him to Cain after the episode with Betsy-who-was-Kwannon in the hallway. "Miles knows he's safe with you, too."

"Yeah, well..." Cain kicked a rock down into the quarry, watching it bounce down off of the walls and into the rubble. "Let's make sure it don't need to come to pass, right? We got folks here what can take a bullet if they need to - Guthrie, the Russian, rest of you got to be a hell of a lot more careful. Them fancy uniforms saved Ramsey's life today," Cain pointed out, "but what if the next guy comes with more gun? If you're bound and determined to play soldier, be a soldier. Not a hero. Heroes don't come home." The words echoed in Cain's head, he'd heard them every time he saw guys back in the war being zipped into body bags.

I'm not a solider. She still believed that, though arguing the point wasn't one she was inclined to do. "I'm not a hero, Cain." Alison's voice held a hint of wryness and she walked to the edge of the quarry to stand by him. "I'm just - doing what I can. And I have a whole lot to live for," she added fervently, dusting herself off a touch before putting her hands in her pockets.

"Well, good." Cain quipped with a touch of humor. "You young'uns oughta remember that the next time someone gets all depressed and broody and starts writing bad poetry and whatnot." Cain coughed into his hand, the words "...secondalbum..." barely audible.

"Bite me," she beamed up at him and winked, even though she knew only too well that some of her second album could have been better, now that she was a few years older and had more experience. And oh no, that had reminded her of the talk with Wanda and the whole Remy biting his butt thing and she looked down, desperately trying not to break out into a fit of giggles.

Arching an eyebrow at Alison's snickering, Cain had to crack a smile himself. He spared a quick glance down into the quarry, giving an idle thought to how he could have been so focused on destruction not ten minutes ago, and was now only inches away from snickering madly without reason.

"Youuuuuu..." Cain crooned in a raspy voice, "are the niiiiight to meeee". Unable to get the entire line out, he dropped to a knee, laughing until he had to gasp for breath. "Good GOD," he wheezed, "you have to admit, that wasn't exactly a Greatest Hits candidate there..."

"I was a stupid kid back then," she answered with aplomb, before giving him a smug look. "And you still remember all the lyrics to every song of that album, don't you?" Alison decided that looking insufferably pleased about that was only fair, the fact that her shoulders were shaking with silent laughter only ruining the image just a bit.

"Hey," Cain responded defensively, "when the only place you can get caught up on pop culture for ten years is a truck stop between Layafette and San Antonio, and the only choices on the tape rack are Alison Blaire and the best of Judas Priest - hey, a man can only listen to 'Turbo Lover' so many times, y'know?" Cain fidgeted slightly. "Besides, most of the stuff ain't that bad, y'know. No Patsy Cline, but these days, what is?"

Ha. She knew it. "Ask Jamie to give you the new stuff I've been working on since I got here. Not much of late, but up to six months ago there's been a few good songs laid down to track. A bit different in style, but hey, you gotta grown and all, right?" Alison grinned at him innocently. "More lyrics for you to memorize and all."

"Hey, yeah!" Cain beamed, "I'll... um... yeah, if I've got time." He mock-coughed, patting his chest a few times before realizing he'd left his shirt in tatters down in the quarry. At least he'd left the shield in the boathouse - the boathouse!

"Crap, I gotta get back without anyone seeing me like this." Cain looked furtively down the path, although the mansion wasn't visible. "Suppose I could cut back by the dredge tailings, and swim back..."

He was much too good for her ego, really. "I'll walk with you, why not?" She shrugged a bit and waggled her fingers, light dancing at her fingertips. "It's dark out. Anyone wanders by, I can light up enough to ruin their vision long enough for you to get out of their sight anyway, if you like."

Cain nodded. "Thanks." He wasn't overly comfortable with the idea of folks outside of Alison, Miles, Doc MacTaggart, and now Amanda knowing about the gem. He definitely wasn't comfortable with Charles being kept in the loop about it. Attempting to be subtle, he crossed his arms over his chest as he walked with Alison down the winding gravel road down and around the back side of the lake. "Ain't like anyone sane's up at this hour. Unfortunately, the sane folks here I could probably count on one hand."

She chuckled at that, not bothering to light their way. The moon was high enough and their eyes had adapted to the darkness long ago. "Are you sure you'd even get up to five?" Alison kept an eye out just in case anyone decided to hop out of the bushes for whatever unwise reason one could possibly have for doing that, considering who she was walking with. "Dunno, seems a bit ambitious to me."

"Well, up until today, I'd have put Ramsey among 'em," he began, "but there's a few got their heads on right. Much as I hate to say it, I think the few of 'em that got their own little action group together have the right idea. Not everyone has to dress up in tight black leather and chase badguys to change the world." He couldn't resist getting one little dig in.

"Yeah, they are doing good, aren't they? I'd have offered to represent them right off the bat if it weren't for the sniper," Alison smiled at the memory of the day HeliX had been officially started. She cheerfully ignored the dig, taking the concession about HeliX instead as worthy of her attention.

"And now?" Cain asked. "With that particular monkey off your back, you ever think you might get back into the spotlight?" As they rounded the corner of the lake, Cain could see the lights of the boathouse. Of course Remy would be still awake, he cursed. "Could be a real kick in the ass, getting an honest-to-goodness celebrity behind their cause."

"I don't know. I'd have said that was all I ever wanted but now that you're asking - I just don't know anymore." She glanced further ahead, at the mansion. "Miles has a good life here. And he doesn't need to hide what he looks like or what he can do." And there wasn't, she belatedly remembered, a label who would be likely to want to sell her records out there anyway. Just being a mutant had been enough to get her blacklisted before, and using her own label to publish her own music seemed cheap somehow.

Cain nodded, coming to a stop at the boathouse steps. He smiled briefly to himself when he heard the sounds of the television inside. "Well, ain't like you don't have time. And more than enough to keep everyone busy." Noticing his windbreaker sitting on his porch chair, he picked it up and absently slipped it on, zipping it up over the gem in his chest. "Figure it'd be a waste of time wishing to be not so busy, huh?"

"Yeah. And there's not enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do, actually. Even if it's not being on the road or everything else I used to do." She reached up to tug at the windbreaker lightly until he bent over, just enough for her to have the reach she needed, and then curled up the sleeve of her coat to take a good swipe at the dust on his cheek. "Thank you." She kissed the less dusty spot lightly, before releasing him. "For being you."

Cain blinked silently for a moment, utterly flustered. "Yeah, well, I suppose I ain't good at being anyone else. You, uh, sleep well and stuff." He gave a little wave as Alison headed back up to the mansion, then shook his head. Not willing to interrupt whatever Remy was watching, he slid into his porch chair, tucking his hands into his pockets and rocking back and forth, just staring at the reflection of the stars in the lake.