xp_logs | Haroun and Bridge, Saturday afternoon

Haroun and Bridge get acquainted, and manage to get along much better than Haroun and Domino. Bridge then offers to do a rather important sort of favor for Haroun. Maybe it's the Christmas spirit.

Moira had stuck her head in a couple of hours ago and offered him a book to read. Bridge had taken it gladly - it was a historical novel set in medieval England, and a pretty good one, too - and was nearly two hundred pages into it already. It was a good distraction from sitting here listening to Nathan's ragged breathing. The fact that he knew Nate was going to be released back to recuperate in his own room if the late afternoon blood test showed the virus levels were still down didn't change the fact that he still sounded awful.

Moira had been in here after that, as well, sitting at Nathan's bedside for the better part of the last hour. Bridge had continued to read his book, not wanting to bother her, especially when she'd actually dozed off for part of that hour. She'd left again a few minutes ago, and now it was just the two of them again. Bridge had to wonder what Dom was doing, but he wasn't about to get up and go looking. There hadn't been any suspicious-sounding explosions, after all.

Haroun walked into Medlab quietly, making his way to Nathan's bedside. Nathan's guest made him blink in surprise but he did not speak - in favor instead of taking the other visitor's chair and settling in for a few hours of vigil. Unable to contain his curiousity, Haroun lifted his gaze to examine the other man. He couldn't be anyone other than this Bridge character Nathan had mentioned a time or two beforehand.

Bridge realized that the newcomer was here for a while - there was a definite air of settling in to the way he'd sat down - and looked up from his book, regarding the younger man thoughtfully for a long moment before he offered an amiable smile. "Haroun, right?" he asked, keeping his voice low.

Haroun nodded. "And you would be Bridge." he said, no questioning in his tone, but also keeping his voice low out of deference for the man they were both watching over. "Field-commander of the Pack and holder of Domino's leash."

The smile grew. "I have that questionable privilege, yes," Bridge said, placing his bookmark carefully and closing the book. "Did I say privilege? I meant chore that keeps waking me up in a cold sweat at nights..."

Haroun couldn't help but grin at that. "I commend your bravery. Lesser men would be destroyed at the very notion." His mood visibly blackened at that, but he rallied gamely. "You have a good team."

Bridge was startled, but pleased by the compliment. "We were better with him," he said, inclining his head in Nathan's direction, "but I think we're adapting to being without him. Gradually." Hadn't hurt to kick Hammer out on his ass. He could even look back on that with a certain amount of pleasure now.

Haroun grinned. "I kept up as best I could with your exploits. Always wanted to meet you guys, but never had the chance. Then I had my run-in with Domino, and that, as they say, was the end of that."

"I heard about that." Bridge grimaced a little, then shook his head. "If I ever started apologizing for Dom, I'd be at it all the time, so I'll save my breath."

"Smarter than me..." came a hoarse, cracked voice from the bed.

Haroun looked down to Nathan. "Save your breath, old man." he told Nathan with a surprising amount of concern. "Rest and heal. Don't mind us, we're just getting acquainted."

"And hell," Bridge said with a subdued grin. "You at least can have faith that I'll behave, right? Given that I'm never the one that gets us into trouble..."

"Right..." Nathan opened his eyes to blackness, then shuddered and closed them again. "There any water?"

"Just a sec," Bridge said, setting the book aside and getting up. He laid a hand on Nathan's arm to tell him where he was, then held the cup of water for him. Nathan reached up hesitantly until the tips of his fingers came in contact with the straw, and Bridge couldn't help but hurt for the flash of frustration that crossed his friend's face.

Haroun just looked angry, but kept his commentary to himself. He watched Nathan sip at his water, and then took it when he indicated that he was done and put it on the end-table next to the bed. "If she's that much trouble, why keep her around? Yes, her mutation's incredibly useful. Yes, Nathan rescued from a life of sheer Hell. Explain it to me?" he asked Bridge.

Bridge gave him a patient look, but leaned over Nathan again, noticing that he'd drifted off again in the space of those few seconds. "Her mutation is incredibly useful," he said, going back to his chair. "She is absolutely cool-headed under fire and does not quit until the job's done. She can outdo every one of us except Sleeping Beauty over there for sheer stubborn willpower, and she's the most loyal person I know. Even if she only gives that loyalty to a handful of people."

Haroun nodded. "And all of that makes sense. Guess it's enough to counteract the alcoholism and the sheer amount of shitheadedness she brings to the table." he said with a shrug. "In case you hadn't noticed, she's far from my favorite person on the planet. Thought you might be able to help me understand her. Nathan's very fond of her, and Nathan's a friend of mine. For him, I make this effort."

"I'm a bit biased," Bridge said with a shrug. "Admittedly, it wasn't my idea to buy out her contract in Hong Kong seven years ago. And to be honest, I thought Nate had lost his mind."

Haroun nodded. "Biased or no, you're the best chance I have at understanding her, and by extension, him." he said, nodding his head at Sleeping Beauty between them. "She offends me on several levels. As a Muslim and as a man."

"It's defensive," Bridge said after a moment. "The drinking, the attitude, the sleeping with anything with two legs. She doesn't remember anything but the fighting pits, Haroun, and she started 'performing' when she was eight years old."

"And I understand that. I even vaguely feel pity and sympathy for her. But it's been, what, ten years? Fifteen? Maybe twenty?" he said, voice still quiet but getting hotter.

Bridge raised an eyebrow. "Seven," he said quietly. "Almost eight. She's twenty-two." He glanced at Nathan thoughtfully. "You know, she will not fuck around on a job. Not even a little. If there was one thing he did manage to teach her, it was that. But when she's not in the field..." He sighed a little. "Nathan couldn't handle the idea of trying to beat the attitude out of her, even figuratively. He tried for about the first six months. It wound up with him shit-faced drunk and--" Bridge bit his lip, then went on much more quietly. "Shit-faced drunk and letting himself lose a bar fight with six Russian army officers, because he thought he was acting like one of his fucking instructors from Mistra."

"Someone really should have." he said quietly. "Good people have been hurt because of her. Nothing I can do about it now, though. Fucking luck power - I can't even lay a finger on her."

"If you can believe this, she is getting better," Bridge said. "Since he wound up here, she's had a lot more responsibility with the Pack. I'm not trying to cut her any slack for what she pulled with you, but it was backsliding, in a sense."

Haroun shrugged. "If you say so." he said diffidently. "I'll have to take your word for it. So how is business anyway?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Booming. Now that our usual employers are over the fact that we don't have the Big Name over there fronting us anymore, the offers are coming back in at their usual rate." Bridge tilted his head a little, sighing. "We've not been taking as many as we could have," he murmured. "Knowing Mistra's watching us."

Haroun nodded again. "Makes sense to me. Keep the jobs coming in but lowering your profile. Smart move." he said admiringly. "And hey, if this X-Men gig doesn't work out, think you've got room for one more?" he asked with a smirk.

Bridge smiled a little. "We do have very unusual recruiting methods," he said with a faint chuckle. "Hell, when Nate and I decided we needed a team... well, it was only David we recruited in anything resembling the normal way. The others just sort of... appeared."

Haroun smirked. "Excellent." he said. "So far, though, the X-Men seem to be where I need to be. But if that ever changes, I'll give you a call. Fair?" he asked with a grin. "Even if it means that I need to work with Domino."

"I like to tease Nate that we're a good example of Xavier's dream," Bridge joked. "Although our fifty-fifty mutant-human balance is a little off now..."

Haroun shrugged. "Yes, but you could be adding a cyborg in addition to humans and mutants..." he suggested with a wink.

Bridge chuckled, then blinked suddenly. "Hell, we're almost at a gender balance now, too. The women are catching up to us, with Ani there now. There's a scary thought..."

Haroun couldn't help but grin at that. "Can't complain about that." he said. "Not one bit. Anyay ... how long are you going to be in town?"

"I don't know." Bridge looked back at Nathan, frowning. "Until I'm sure he's going to be all right or all hell breaks loose back in Berlin, I suppose."

"I take it you folks don't have an op going on? Because while I can't pay you much of anything, there is something I'd love for you guys to do for me..." he said with an embarrassed look.

Bridge blinked. "No, nothing current. What did you have in mind?"

"It's kinda personal. I have family back in Marrakesh, and I have a devil of a time getting any word from them while I'm here. I can't go back, I've been banished. If you guys could, maybe, from time to time, deliver some personal items for me..." he asked.

Bridge made a thoughtful noise. "We have a safehouse in Rabat," he said. "Local couple looks after it for us. If you send whatever you want sent to us in Berlin, we can pass it along to them and they could see it gets delivered to your family." He shrugged, smiling. "Not a big deal. You can thank Nate for developing all of these local contacts - I don't know how he picked them, but we've never had a single one turn out to be less than trustworthy."

"Done." he said, sniffling to hold back tears at the sheer amount of relief he was feeling. "It has been hard on them as much as it has been me. Thank you, Bridge."

"Glad to help. Do me a favor, in return?"

"Name it." Haroun said gratefully.

"Keep an eye on him for me?" Bridge smiled a bit sadly. "Feels very wrong, you know, being restricted to running over here whenever he happens to get himself into trouble. I've been too used to watching his back." He looked at Nathan, silent for a moment. "You obviously know about how he rescued Dom. You might not know that he did more or less the same sort of thing for me. I was bleeding to death on the side of a road in upcountry Cambodia, and he decided to play Good Samaritan."

Haroun nodded. "I didn't know that. He's a good man, despite the "guests" in his head and his habit of spraining his brain. But I would do this even if you were not aiding me in getting messages back home. He's my friend."

"Good to know. And believe it or not, the brain-spraining is new..." Bridge paused. "Well, sort of."

"I heard that..."