NOVEL NEXT Iris and Me
“Do we have an understanding, Kurt Wagner?” The alien voice purred.
“Whoa.” She comments, suitably impressed.
Chapter 70 : Dawn of a new era (I am that kind of woman)
Chapter 70 : Dawn of a new era (I am that kind of a woman)
“English Tea Time” Tea house, Manhattan Mall, Koreatown, Manhattan, New York, 5th of May, 15:34, in Kitty Pride’s mind
Even if she was expecting it, Kitty was still a bit startled when Jean, Scott and the two strangers suddenly slumped a bit on their seats.
It wasn’t much, really. If she had to draw a parallel, it would be as if the four of them had decided to collectively take a nap at the same time and their body had gone slack.
Which was an issue on its own.
“Why is she also gone?” She muttered, eyeing the one who was calling herself Weaver.
The contrast between her red and white polka dress, all prim and proper, and the featureless white mask with its big, legerly upslanted, eyes was amusing, especially since the eyes in question were now half-lidded.
It looked like a fabric of some kind though. Kitty was absolutely bewildered that one could manage to pull off facial expression with simple that.
If she had to be honest with herself, that mask creeped her way, way less than Aamon, scratch that, Prodigy’s own.
It almost seemed alive, for lack of a better world. During their conversation, it had repeatedly pulled out a large array of facial expressions.
Too many, if you asked her.
I don’t like this.
“Maybe she wanted to tag along?” Rogue hasarded, the southern girl eyeing the two masked individuals critically.
Kitty snorted.
“After the most lurid description she gave?” Kitty pointed out, gesturing in the girl with the creepy mask’s direction, “She must be mental, wanting to experience that for shit and giggles.”
“Maybe she’s thrill-seeking?” Rogue wondered aloud.
“Great, Scott was right and those two are nutcases.” Kitty drawled, her eyes rolling so hard she almost managed to hurt herself.
“Nah, they were too composed.” Rogue denied, shaking her head all the while, “Don’t tell me you didn’t realize that they couldn’t have cared less that we outnumbered them at any point?”
“Well,” Kitty smoothly started, “Even if I had been as delusional as our now slumbering golden boy, I would have lost a lot of confidence in that hypothesis once they did the trick that managed to scare Kurt shitless.”
Wordlessly, the two friends shivered as they remembered those voices.
Judging them, castigating them, damning them.
The loss of control, total control, even of her ability, had been one the most disturbing experiences of Kitty’s life.
As if summoned when you thought about him, Kurt teleported next to Kitty on the booth’s edge.
“What happened?” He whispered, his eyes shifting over the four seemingly asleep individuals and his two rather nonplussed friends.
“What, suddenly remembered that you were part of the team? So nice of you, Diablo.” Rogue drawled, her annoyance palpable.
Kurt winced while Kitty threw a look at her friend.
“Easy, Rogue.” Kitty defended the skittish teleporter, “You know he didn’t want to come, asked several times that we back off and she,” The brown haired girl gestured toward Prodigy once more, “Did that creepy voice-thingy of her.”
Rogue looked archly at the teleporter.
“It’s just…” Kurt started, “Don’t get this the wrong way, but I’ve been living with my powers for so long that I don’t even remember what it was like before.”
With difficulty, he repressed a shiver from crawling up his spine.
“And suddenly, I couldn’t do anything.” He continued lamely, “No powers, no running, no acrobatics, no moving, no speaking, no nothing.”
“Yeah, talk about a ridiculous power.” Kitty grumbled, her arms folding on her chest, “And she apparently shares Jean’s gift.”
The silence fell on the three as they mulled over that.
“For one, I’m glad she’s on our side.” Rogue remarked.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to piss her off.” Kitty agreed with emphasis.
“I mean,” Kurt hesitated, “Are we really sure it’s not a trap though?”
“What do you mean?” Rogue asked.
“Well, they could pretend to be heroes and…” The teleporter started.
“Jean would have busted her.” Kitty pointed out, “You know that the cat has been out of the bag since January, her empathy makes her a top-notch lie detector without her even trying.”
“Yeah and I would’ve really liked to know that before learning it out of the mouth of a stranger.” Rogue grumbled under her breath.
Kitty snorted.
“Don’t tell me you’re still annoyed that she knew that you were totally lying about you and Freddy?” The brown haired girl teased her friend.
Rogue sputtered.
“What if…” Kurt started.
The two girls interrupted their cat-fight before it could start, directing interrogative looks toward the teleporter.
“What if we just, I don’t know, took a peek?” He continued after a beat, gesturing toward the two supposed heroes.
“What do you mean?” Kitty asked, her brows furrowed.
“Just take a look,” He insisted, his hands clasped before him, “If we know how they look, if one day they do bad things, then we could stop them, maybe?”
The two girls traded an incredulous look.
“Oh, hell no.” Kitty answered forcefully.
“I don’t want to learn what that girl that is apparently prideful enough to moniker herself something like ‘Prodigy’ would do to my ass if I unmask her, thank you.” Rogue said, googly eyed at their skittish teammates.
“Seconded.” Kitty agreed with the other girl.
“But it’s probably our best shot!” Kurt protested.
“Ok, listen Kurt,” Rogue answered, her annoyance showing, “I get it, you’re pissed at her for what you learned about your origins back in January. You blame her because you've been feeling like shit since but I also recall you whining about not knowing since I’ve met you.”
She gestured helplessly around.
“Now you know, so please, get the fuck over it because you’re really starting to get on my nerves with your moppey mood.” She carried on, “And, ultimately, that doesn’t count as a sufficiently solid argument in my book to try to pry the secret identity of someone who could probably mope the floor with the five of us even on our best days.”
“Scott doesn’t trust her.” Kurt pointed out, his cheeks getting hotter.
“Scott is a prideful arse whose ego has been repeatedly wounded by someone whose methods and ethics he doesn’t abide with.” Kitty drawled, “The girl you’re speaking off took the manor in less than five goddam minutes with a parlor trick and he can’t get over the fact that he has been both useless and a human shield in front of the professors because she played her cart right.”
Kitty shrugged in annoyance.
“But guess what?” She carried on, “Nobody is perfect, we got our ass handed and we learned an important lesson. That we’re not invulnerable and we can still get ridiculed by one individual with a relatively clever plan. We’re not the worse for wear, Rogue can finally snuggle in a broom closet with her boytoy at school, I’m not sleep phasing anymore and you know who your mom and daddy are. And all it cost us was a few drops of blood.”
Blessedly for her, Kitty was far enough from her friend for her to hit her after her rant.
“But what if she uses our blood to do something bad?” Kurt insisted, “We wouldn’t even know who she is!”
Trading once more an annoyed look, the two girls seemed to come to a conclusion.
“Whatever.” Kitty sighed, “You want to do something? I’m washing my hands of it. But I’ll be the first to throw you under the bus if that miraculously backfires.”
“Ditto.” Rogue said, her arms folding on her torso, “And it’ll be two against one.”
Kurt growled, stomping his foot.
“Fine, have it your way.” He ranted as he started to make his way to the other side of the booth, “You’ll thank me later once all this…”
The poor Kurt never got to end his sentence.
“You should listen to your more level-headed friends, Kurt Wagner.” A multi-hued voice interrupted all of them.
All of their thoughts, all of their movements, all of what they were.
In her field of view, despite being suddenly unable to move once more as the three found themselves judged once more by all the virtues, sins and womens on Earth, Kitty saw something that suddenly filled her with dread.
Where previously there was just a slit to drink and eat from that barely gave a glimpse of Prodigy’s mouth, there was now a real mouth.
An inhuman mouth.
With very sharp teeth and way too many of them.
“You see, my sister is very kind.” Carried on the voices at the same time as Kurt was, apparently, transported back to his starting position on the mutant’s side of the booth by telekinesis, “She’s a kind woman indeed. If she got to learn what you tried, little imp, she’d probably laugh, make a silly pun about you having a crush on her and forgive you after that.”
The voices paused and the creepy mouth grew wistful.
“Even when they are bad people, she always seems to regret showing them their proper place when we hunt.” The voices carried on.
And boy wasn’t that a loaded sentence.
“A kind woman, who wants to make the world a better place no matter what it takes, which is why your white knight of a friend can’t stand her.” The voices kept going, “But she’ll do it and it’s going to work because I have her back, and the others too. There will be plenty of hunts but we are going to be victorious.”
The creepy mouth smiled, an unnatural thing that stretched way too far as the mask’s eyes crinkled.
“A kind woman, who suffered very much and still does, and only wants a tiny bit of privacy to enjoy in return. But even if you were to take it away from her, she would remain kind and probably still choose to help you the day you need it the most.” The voices continued softly.
“So, you’re going to sit down and do nothing, Kurt Wagner, because, while my sister is not that kind of woman who would hurt you back if you did something to her...” The voices ended and the eyes and mouth suddenly got dead serious.
“I am that kind of woman.” The voice was now eerie, crystalline, alien and star-filled, evoking the vastness of the space.
And so, so very ominous and full of barely repressed violence.
“Do we have an understanding, Kurt Wagner?” The alien voice purred.
A beat passed, the silence defeaning as the mouth kept smilling politely toward Kitty and her two friends.
As soon as Kitty felt her body under control, Kurt ‘eeped’ once more and teleported away.
Kitty trembled like a leaf, her eyes darting toward her friend to see if she had endured the ordeal any better.
Rogue hadn’t, her eyes wide and teary.
“I trust that you didn’t plan any more unpleasantness, darlings?” The voice asked.
All Kitty could do was to shake her head.
And pray extremely hard that the four would come back as soon as they could.
She wasn’t sure if she could hold her bladder very long when faced by that creepy mouth smiling smugly at her.
***
Unspecified location, unspecified time, the Astral Plane
My consciousness expands and I’m aware that I’m missing my most trusted companion by my side.
Iris has, of course, stayed behind to watch over Gwen and I’s bodies in case something happens.
But I’m feeling a bit alone, after all this time spent sharing one aspect of my mind with someone so close to me.
My ‘eyes’ flutter opens and I take a look around us.
The vicinity is as fucked up as always, rocky islands floating on the horizon under a purple sunset, marshmallow clouds casting blueish shadows on the orange grass.
Yup, the Astral Plane alright.
I’m still holding Gwen and Jean’s hands, but they’re not really there yet.
We are, also, all very naked and tethered to something far, far away beyond the borders of this realm.
Strangely, I can see something inside Gwen’s belly that stops my attention for a beat.
It looks like a strange, twisted version of a web, anchored all around her insides and pulsing gently with some kind of power.
Her matrix maybe?
I avert my eyes from Gwen’s figure as she starts to stir, clothing her with but a thought in a simple white dress as I drop my grips on everyone’s hands.
I fashion myself the same kind of midnight blue dress that I wore when I met the Phoenix for the first time.
I’m acutely aware of the fact that my lower belly is burning right now, under the fantasized fabric.
He is coming, of that I’m sure.
The two others start to move and my attention snaps back to them.
Something prompts me to frown.
The both of them have something murky shining through their Astral bodies at head level.
It’s barely noticeable in Jean but Scott is filled to the brim with it.
My eyes widens.
Sonova…
With barely an effort, I seal Scott’s Astral body for the time being.
His Astral body freezes amid a dodecahedron of psychic-stuff.
I’d rather not take any chance right now.
“What…” Gwen starts as she glances around.
“Welcome to the Astral Plane, Gwennie.” I peppily answer her unasked question, barely hiding my own jitters at the idea of being back here, “And yes, it’s always as fucky as it looks right now.”
The blond looks around in wonder, all googly eyed and mouth slightly agape.
I step next to her easily while her eyes rest on the islands floating away on unseen breeze.
“Whoa.” She comments, suitably impressed.
“It’s a sight, isn’t it?” I say gently, bumping my shoulder into hers, “Everybody’s dreams across a whole universe, mashed together into one place.”
“It’s incredible.” She answers dreamily.
I softly put one of my hands on her shoulder.
“Now, Gwennie, I want you to listen carefully.” I tell her slowly, “The Phoenix is coming, I feel it. When he arrives, I want you to do just like me and only answer when He speaks to you, do you understand?”
“Yes, Aria.” She answers back, serious mode back on.
I nudge her playfuly.
“Now, enjoy the sights while it lasts.” I tell her with a smile.
Gwen beams back at me, her eyes already roaming around.
Pretty…
“Scott!” Jean cries.
Obviously, her timing is perfect to ruin my mood.
I turn myself back to a distraught and still naked redhead, her eyes locked on Summer’s temporary prison.
“Relax, Jean.” I tell her before she steps closer to the dodecahedron, “He’s fine, just frozen for now.”
“Why?” She asks, her attention snapping back to me.
I sigh lightly.
“First, take a deep breath and cloth yourself, please.” I gently tell her.
She blinks owlishly before looking downward and promptly flushing.
“How…?” Jean starts, her hands instantly covering her privates, “How do I do that? And who are you?”
Right, I’m unmasked here.
Bollocks.
With a thought and a flash of white, I subject Scott and her to the same suggestion I put everyone under when they discover my identity.
“Prodigy of course,” I answer with a little tilt of my head, “But I suppose you could call me Aria since you saw me in my golden glory. You won’t be able to tell anyone though, I tend to value my privacy.”
I gesture toward her as she keeps alternating between gapping at me and looking back to Scott’s frozen form.
“As to how to cloth yourself, you’re a telepath and we are, ultimately, in a realm tied to the mind. Simply will it?” I explain to her.
She frowns, closes her eyes for extra focus, and the next second she’s in a white blouse and jean combo.
“Nicely done.” I say with a little smile.
“What happened to Scott?” She asks, her hands dropping from their previous position.
“Notice how he has some things murking his Astral body, specifically his head?” I tell her while gesturing in his direction.
She glances and does a double-take.
“What is it?” She asks softly, eyeing the gray-brown-sickly yellow teint slowly cycling where his brain should be.
“External influences, compulsions maybe, I’m not sure.” I answer her, “I’m going to ask the Phoenix about it, He knows more than me.”
I take a breath.
“Because I’m afraid you have more or less the same, Jean, you just don’t see it yourself.” I explain.
We lock eyes and I see a deep fear in them.
“Don’t worry, dear, He’ll do something about it.” I sooth her gently, “In the meantime, since Scott is more afflicted and because I’m careful, I’ve put him in stand by while we wait for your Patron to come.”
“Will He really come?” She asks, a bit doubtful.
“Trust me, He is already on his way.” I assure her.
That’s, of course, the moment the Phoenix choses to alight Himself on a tree that wasn’t there five seconds ago.
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