Letonia - 6/10

Letonia
6/10

Scully lay spread eagle on middle of the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She hadn’t moved since she’d unlocked the door at least an hour earlier. Intricate white on white designs resembling water dragons chased each other around the room. Her damned hair lay spread around her.

Outside, the rain continued to pour. Inside, the hunt raged on.

A hesitant knock came from the door.

When no answer presented itself, the person knocked again, harder, instead of going away like Scully had hoped. Keeping her silence, she hoped who ever it was knew how to take a hint. There wasn’t another knock, but Gambit called into the room. “Can I come in chere?”

“I guess.”

Gambit poked his head around the door. Taking in Scully’s still form, he eased the rest of the way in, and stood uneasily by the foot of the bed. “The gals were wonderin if you’d like to go shopping with dem,” he started. Slightly unnerved by Scully’s silence and the fact that she hadn’t as much as glanced at him, he paused. “Dey say dat dere’s stuff you need, no matter when you leave here.”

Silence.

“Look, it’d mean a lot to Stormy if you go with dem. She’s worried bout you.

“De Professor and Betsy offered to pay for all your stuff and everything. Betsy’s loaded too.”

One of the dragons was about to run into the lighting fixture.

“Sure. Why not?” She said as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. Looking at Gambit, she finished, “Tell them that I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

It wasn’t like she had anything better to do.

Smiling at her, he nodded his assent and left the room. She was going to need things for when she left, even for the short time longer she was going to say. There wasn't really anything she could do here, short of hack into their computer system, and she was pretty sure that that wasn't a task she was up to.

There was nothing she could do about her hair until she got it cut. She ran a brush through it, and instinctively went to check her reflection. She got all of two steps before she remembered that there weren’t any mirrors in her room. She bent to pick up the pair of cross trainers which sat by the door. She hoped that she was presentable. If they wanted her to look good, they they’d just have to give her a mirror.

The sneakers didn’t fit quite right either.

Scully padded down the stairs, the shoes clunking slightly. She found Betsy and Ororo waiting for her at the front entrance. Ororo handed Scully a coat and collapsed umbrella.

A black car pulled up by the front steps. Logan waved at them to hurry up from the front seat. He didn’t look happy.

“Shall we go?” Ororo asked.

“I really do wish that there was a better shopping centre in the area,” Betsy sighed as she unfolded her own umbrella, and opened the door. “Not that the Fendor Centre isn’t decent, but there really is so much better out there.” Storm motioned for Scully to go ahead of her. Scully stepped outside, stopping under the overhang to open her umbrella. She was half way to the car before she noticed that Ororo wasn’t holding anything over her head. She was just holding her umbrella by her side.

And that she was perfectly dry.

Scully felt her feet root to the ground. The rain seemed to be falling around the regal woman, as if she were surrounded by an invisible shield. Logan honked impatiently, startling Scully. She took one last look at Storm, then walked the rest of the way to the car, and collapsed into the rear passenger side seat. Betsy was already sitting shotgun, her face a study in disinterest. Ororo sat gracefully beside her. Scully half expected to see her hands leave wet marks on the pale grey interior. Before Scully and Ororo had had a chance to buckle up, Logan screeched towards the gate, muttering something under his breath about how rock, paper, scissors was such a childish game, and one should never be held to anything bet over it. He looked wet. Apparently, he’d just run out to the garage to get the car. His hair stuck up from his heads in two dark spikes.

The mall, when they got there, was huge. Logan dropped them off by the front doors. “I’ll meet you in the food court at four,” he said.

The three dashed into the foyer, not bothering to open the umbrellas for such a short distance.

“Where to first?” Ororo asked Scully.

“Ummm, clothes or shoes would be a good place to start,” answered Scully, gesturing towards her not-quite fitting outfit.

“Before we take you anywhere, you’re getting a haircut,” Betsy told her.

Feeling slightly self conscious, Scully raised a hand to her head. “Sure.”

“Come. I know where there’s a decent place in this mall.”

*

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Scully asked the hairdresser for the upteenth time. The man ignored her. At first he’d reassured her, but had quickly tired of it. Betsy had dragged them through the mall, ignoring all other stores, before arriving at the Sealan Spa. She’d walked right up to the front desk and asked to speak to the owner, who had happened to be in. A dark haired man had greeted her by name, air kissing her cheeks. Scully had only heard part of their conversation, she and Ororo had lingered near the entrance, but it seemed to her that Betsy had offered him much more money than a haircut normally cost the FBI agent, and told him to use his best judgment. She’d then headed off to get a massage.

Now, sitting in the dark green chair with locks of her hair lying brightly against the white and black checkered tiles, Scully knew that the extra money had been so that he wouldn’t listen to what she wanted him to do. He’d refused to chop her hair off back to the way that she’d kept it for the last seven years. First, he’d cut it all to one length, then turned her around and spent a great deal of time looking at her. Just before he’d started to really creep her out, he’d spun the chair back so that she was facing the mirror once again. He had then proceeded to cut all of her hair, save the front sections, shorter. That wasn’t when she had started to freak though. She’d assumed that he was just going to cut a very deep bangs section.

Then he brought out the bleach and foil.

Answering all of her questions with ‘Just wait and see’s and ‘You’ll love it!’s, he proceeded to bleach out the longer pieces of her hair.

Which brought her up to now, sitting in the surprisingly comfortable chair, plotting revenge against Elisabeth Braddock while waiting for the bleach to dry. When he finally removed the foil, she was slightly surprised. He must have used a different sort of bleach.

Rinsing her hair once, he then proceeded to separate the lighter portions into pairs of sections. He knotted each pair around each other, then flicked the tail back over her head. The ends matched up exactly with the rest of her hair. He filled his hands with mouse, and ran them through her hair. He then showed her step by step how to dry it so that it wouldn’t fall flat, pouf out, and so the pale streaks would fall evenly throughout the red. Scully was slightly impressed. She never would’ve though that something like this would look good. It helped that instead of going white or a hideous shade of yellow, her hair was a tawny gold where it had been bleached.

“So, I know what I’m doing after all, no?” Her hairdresser asked with a smile.

Scully smiled back. “I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten your name.”

“Joseph Boscaretti.”

“Well then, Joseph Boscaretti, I must say you know your way around a pair of scissors.”

“Here’s my card. You really should come back some time, you have wonderful hair.”

Betsy appeared at Scully’s shoulder.

“How was the massage?” Scully asked.

“Very relaxing, thank you,” Best replied, flicking her purple hair over her shoulder. It occurred to Scully that the three of them would be very noticeable, just on account of their hair.

Just then Ororo joined them, her nails freshly manicured. “I like your hair, Agent.”

*The two of them certainly have good timing*

//What makes you think that timing had anything to do with when we showed up, Miss Scully?// Betsy asked.

Scully jumped slightly. She hadn’t said that outloud, had she? Even if she had, Betsy was over there at the till with Joseph, working out the total bill. Had anyone even spoken?

//You were broadcasting, Agent.//

Now Scully was sure that no one was actually talking. It was more of an echo in her head.

Ororo was looking at her with some concern.

//Relax. You look like you’re about to blow a gasket.//

//You have no idea what’s going on?// There was a slight pause. Scully felt a slight tingling low in her skull. When the voice started again, it sounded slightly annoyed. //The Professor did say that you were almost impossible to read. At least now we know you have no trouble receiving.//

Scully cautiously thought back. //Sending? Receiving? You’re a telepath, like the Professor claimed to be?//

//You know, for someone with your expertise. . .//

//I don’t believe in everything. And the Professor never proved to me that he was a telepath.//

//Your confusion and anxiety, combined with your natural shields, made it impossible for him to contact you. He had tried to calm you, but it didn’t work. That’s pretty impressive, considering that he’s one of the most powerful known telepaths in the world.//

//You don’t seem to be having any problems.//

//You’re in a much better frame of mind now, but I can still only sense your general mood and the thoughts that you broadcast.//

//I don’t know when I’m broadcasting. I don’t like the idea of people knowing what I’m thinking.//

//Once you’ve been around telepaths for awhile, you’ll build up shields so that you don’t do it any more.//

“Ororo, Scully, are you ready to go?” Betsy asked. Scully started. She hadn’t even noticed what was going on around her.

//Don’t worry, it gets easier with practice.//

//I thought you said you couldn’t tell...//

//You jumped a bit. I’m a ninja, I notice these things.//

//Ninja?//

//Yes. I’m a ninja. Ororo was a street thief, and she used to be worshipped as an African Goddess. Remy’s a sneak thief. Bishop is from the future. Sam’s never going to die. Logan is a guinea pig for the Canadian government. He has no idea who he is or where he comes from, even how old he is. Rogue has pieces of everyone that she’s touched since she was seventeen floating around inside her head. And you are a dead FBI agent whom the government would give a lot to get their hands on right now.//

//What the. . . For starters, who are Bishop, Rogue, and Sam?//

//Look, you’ll meet them later. They should be back late this afternoon. We can trade life stories then.// “Shall we shop?”

*

Scully took a big bite of her large chocolate-mandarin frozen yogurt. Piles upon piles of bags and boxes lay scattered around the food court table. Not all of it was hers, but she had enough stuff to last her a very long time. Of course, that would mean that she wouldn’t get to do this again any time soon. It had been forever since she’d gone on a shopping spree. At first, she’d felt a bit guilty about eating up so much of another person’s money, but Ororo had convinced her that nothing they could buy today would put as much as a dent in either Xavier’s or Betsy’s wallet. The first thing that they’d done was get her an outfit to wear for the rest of the day. At Scully’s insistence, it was relatively low key, much resembling her earlier outfit, only fitting. Silver and blue cross trainers, pale khaki cords, a bright blue t-shirt with a logo of some company which she’d never heard of on the front, and a blue-black jean jacket. She had a messenger bag as well. She was using it to carry her smaller purchases, like nail polish, make up, jewellery, and a wallet.

Though why she needed a wallet when she had no money was beyond her.

They’d even gone to the music store, and a handful of CDs, some that she wanted, others which had sounded interesting and were recommended to her by the other two, were tucked firmly inside the bag.

She took a good long look at all of the stuff sitting around their table. She had no idea how they were going to carry it all out to the car. When they’d been shopping, they’d simply shoved bags into one another, but when they’d sat down, they’d pulled out their purchases to go through again, partly to make sure that they hadn’t missed anything important, partly just to look at their stuff again.

Scully felt giddy. She was hyper. She was the stereo typical girl on a shopping spree. She felt kinship with these two women.

And that was very much against her will.

The bags were never going to go back together, she could tell just by looking. Scully now had almost everything that she could need. Shoes, boots, hats, jeans, pants, shirts, underwear, pyjamas, sweaters, t-shirts, skirts, dresses, formal wear, semi formal wear, even tank tops.

They hadn't let her buy even one suit though.

And they’d need to get all of it, on top of what Ororo and Betsy had bought, out to the car.

If Logan showed. She glanced at her watch. It was now quarter to seven. He’d said that he’d be there at four.

*Maybe he got tired of waiting and left. We didn’t even get here until a little after six.*

Not that she’d minded waiting here. They’d eaten supper, Scully once again consuming more than she thought humanly possible, and barely feeling full, chatting about nothing. Betsy was just now cracking open her fortune cookie, and Ororo, having finished her pita, was draining the last of her milkshake.

Scully felt the tingling at the base of her skull that she was starting to associate with telepathic activity. “Is Logan coming in now?” she asked Betsy on a hunch.

The other woman looked slightly surprised. “Yes. You heard that?”

“Not exactly. It tickles when you do that. And who else are you going to be contacting but our ride?”

“He’ll be here in about five minutes. I told him to leave the car by the doors and come help us drag our stuff out.”

Ororo grinned. “I’ll bet he was happy about that idea.”

“He’ll be even happier if he has to wait for me to finish my fro-yo, won’t he?”

“You know, Scully, you’ve only just started that. It wouldn’t be good if you ate it too fast and got brain freeze, now would it?”

“My thoughts exactly. You know, this is very good. You guys should have one too.”

*

When they got back to the Mansion, the sun was starting to go down. It had stopped raining while they were in the mall, and the sky was perfectly clear. Red, orange, pink, yellow, and violet radiated through the air, tinting everything with gold. Scully felt the tingling again, and Bobby came out the door when the car pulled up. He headed strait for the trunk and started pulling out bags. Before climbing out of the vehicle, it occurred to Scully that she didn’t know what he did. Putting a hand on Ororo’s arm, she whispered, “What’s his power?”

“Robert can manipulate and create ice.”

“Oh. That one I’m going to have to see some time.”

“I’m sure that if you ask him. . .”

“Are you sure that that wouldn’t be weird?”

“He won’t mind. He loves to show off. Come, let’s get our stuff inside.”

When all the bags were inside, Remy made an appearance. Ororo shot him a bit of a glare, which he returned with innocent eyes. “How your day go?” He asked Scully.

“Great. We got everything we needed.”

“I’d certainly hope so,” he said, gesturing to the piles sitting in the front entrance way.

“Scully, why don’t you show them them the thing with those pants with the buckle.” Though everyone else was confused at Ororo’s words, Scully knew exactly what she was talking about. Feeling slightly like a school girl, she grabbed the right bags and ran up the stairs.

//There’s a bathroom you can change in, third door on the left.// Betsy told her. Scully found it without any problem. She switched clothes, pulling on the pants which had a built in belt with a back-pack type buckle, which Betsy had insisted she buy, and buttoned the sheer silver-white shirt over a tank.

She headed back downstairs, wondering why she was this excited over clothes. All of the windows in the house were open, letting in the smell of fresh rain and wet grass. When she reached the stairs, her euphoria started to fade.

Something was wrong. The voices were silent. Now she could see that the front doors were standing wide open, and the piles were unattended. Standing in the entrance way, she could see another vehicle parked haphazardly outside. Listening carefully, she thought that she could hear sounds of movement from her left.

She walked through the doorway. Moving partway into the room, which seemed to be some sort of living room, she saw everyone gathered around two newcomers. The first one to catch her eye was a huge black man with an M scarred over his one eye. The other was young, blonde, and laying something down on the couch tenderly. His face was strained. Gambit looked like someone had punched him in the solar plexus. Ororo had silent tears running down her face. Scully just stood there, watching. Bobby looked up from whatever lay on the couch, seeing Scully. He moved back. The others, sensing his movement, glanced up. Of some unspoken accord, they moved back as well, leaving Scully a path to the couch. Gambit alone stayed where he was, crouched on the floor. Scully slowly moved forward in the fiery light, apprehension eating her. There was no hope on any of the faces as she walked. They just wanted something official.

Lying on the couch was the still body of a young woman. Her face was calm and peaceful. Even before she was at the couch, she knew that the girl was dead. Brushing a strand of white-streaked dark brown hair back from her temple, she saw a single bullet hole.

She’d been executed.

A red mark ringed her neck. It looked as if she’d been chained. Looking at the two men who had brought the girl in, she saw a similar bruising pattern on them.

“I’m sorry,” Scully said softly, ever so softly.

Gambit, holding one of the girl’s gloved hands, didn’t make a sound, but something fell over his eyes.

Tenderly, he kissed the girl once on the lips.

Ororo let out a choked sob.

Scully backed out of the circle. She didn’t belong there. She headed up to the room that she had been assigned. The chill in the fresh air was at odds with the blazing gold of the sky. Behind her, people who she barely knew mourned for a lost comrad. She must have been close to them. Been an equal partner.

Feeling the strength leave her legs, she sat partway up the stairs and watched the sun set.

Nightfall wasn’t long in coming.

«Previous Next»