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In all his life, he could not remember such pain. Even the disease had not taken such a toll on him. He'd experienced months of never-ending agony, and then, nothing. Oblivion had been blissful. But the woman who loved him was not willing to give him up so easily, and risked everything to use her powers to resurrect him, infusing his corpse with electro-magnetic energy. For a few minutes, it had seemed as though her efforts had been futile, but as the energy suffused throughout his body, it slowly ignited a fire within. The flames, which had once been his playthings, revived their master and consumed him entirely; he had been rejuvenated, but they were the only things keeping him alive. He could no longer shut them off, and it hurt.
To borrow a cliché, the master had become the slave. The flames had given him new life, but he wasn't sure the price was worth it.
St. John knew there was no use moping about it now. That had happened three months ago, and since he hadn't killed himself yet, he didn't think it was likely to happen anytime soon. Better to worry about the present and all its myriad concerns.
"We're broke," Mortimer announced succinctly, in a rather matter-of-fact tone. "Either we make some fast money now, or we take it. I don't see many other options."
Eileen sighed and rubbed her temples. She was well aware of the group's financial situation, but Toad always harped on it in front of the others, which made her look weak. This was irritating.
"I've been working on that," she replied sharply, casting him a glare of displeasure. "A contact of mine may be offering us a job in the next few days. Is that good enough?"
"I suppose," Toad muttered. He looked down at his fingernails and tried to avoid making eye contact with her. In his view, she'd taken the position that was once---and deservedly---his. He didn't like taking orders from a woman he'd once underestimated and mistreated.
For her part, Phantazia was disheartened by the recent low morale of her team. They'd gone through a dry spell, as all for-hire groups do, but it had sent them into a dissatisfied funk. Sabre was obviously bored, which could be a prelude to desertion; speedsters were notoriously restless and fickle, and he was more prickly than most. His female partner would probably follow him if he left, which would leave Eileen's team seriously understaffed, so Phantazia was determined to keep them both.
"Matt, Joy," she addressed them, and they turned their heads to look at her. "Make sure the plane is ready for flight."
"Why?" Sabre asked lazily. He was lying sideways across a comfortable old lounge chair, and amusing himself by looking at the others while his head was upside down. Commando II sat primly beside him, but said nothing.
"It's not like we're going anywhere," Sabre complained, gently nudging his partner with his foot.
"We should be ready for when we do go somewhere," St. John interjected testily. "Get your ass moving."
The speedster was on his feet before his movement even registered with the others, and Commando II slowly got up too.
"Yassuh," Sabre replied with a mocking salute. "When you say 'jump', suh, we say 'how high?'" He ran out of the room at high speed, leaving a noticeable breeze in his wake, and his partner jogged out behind him, casting an apologetic glance on his behalf at the rest of her teammates.
"Where did you find that little jerk, Eileen?" St. John inquired with a scowl, and she laughed.
"Mystique found him, and recruited him. I just located him after he didn't make her team's final cut."
"Ever wonder why he didn't make the cut?" he grumbled, but she could see a hint of a smile on his face, which was as cheery as he got these days. The endlessly burning flames often made it difficult to see his expression or determine his emotions.
"He was inexperienced," Dominic spoke up, from his seat at the back of the room. "He didn't know how to or want to work with a team, but I think he's learning. And Joy helps keep him in check."
"He's important to the team," Eileen emphasized, "so it's worth it to be patient and keep training him. Just trust me on this one."
St. John closed his eyes, and the flames on his body momentarily subdued themselves, a sure sign that he was relaxing. "I do trust you," he replied with a sigh. "More than I do anyone else."
Dominic lowered his head and turned away, lest the others see the deep unhappiness on his face. There had been a time when St. John had trusted him implicitly, when they'd been inseparable, and the greatest of friends. Circumstance had then driven a deep wedge between them, due to political and moral differences, which had culminated in the incident at Boston. St. John had decided to prevent his former teammates from achieving their goal of assassinating Senator Kelly, and had died as a result of his actions. This had been bewildering and upsetting to Dominic, but he'd been able to let go of the pain and get on with his life; and then suddenly St. John was resurrected, and the two men were forced to deal with the situation. Eventually, they'd reconciled, but only warily. Now neither particularly trusted the other, and their friendship often seemed more like a professional working relationship instead of genuine camaraderie. St. John had enough on his mind that this didn't really bother him too much, but it distressed Dominic to no end. He wanted things as they'd been before, although it was clear there was no going back.
The others were getting up to leave, which startled Avalanche out of his musings.
"Where's everybody going?" he asked Toad, but Mortimer just rolled his eyes at him.
"If you spent more time listening and less time moping, you might be more useful!"
Pyre looked at them both with a wry grin as he left the room. "He's always been like that; cut him some slack."
Dominic supposed he ought to be grateful for the defence, but there seemed something almost mocking in his friend's words, which stung. He shrugged, to make it look to the others like it was no big deal, and went back to his room to quietly entertain himself.
Eileen was pleasantly surprised to catch her contact on the phone.
This is a first, she thought to herself with amusement, but immediately stepped into her professional persona when she spoke.
"Is there any news about the job you'd mentioned?" she inquired, with what she hoped was the right amount of detachment mixed with the proper dose of interest.
"Yes, actually," the calm voice on the other end replied. "Originally I'd thought that the moment of opportunity wouldn't come for a few more days, but I've since learned that it has to be done very soon. DARPA is very nervous about the security of the building, and will be putting in a rather impressive system within the next day or so. If we don't move now, it may be too difficult to break in."
Phantazia bit her lip. Her team might not have time to prepare for such a last-minute excursion, and her contact seemed to think so too.
"But since this is so sudden, I might have to go with another group…" the man said with a smug slickness that Eileen had to admire.
"No, we can handle it," she replied firmly. "My team is experienced and has enough power to manage any job. You can count on us, sir."
"That's good to know. I'll expect you to report back to me once you have the device, but don't waste my time by calling if you can't get it. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," she answered in a neutral tone, although inwardly she was irritated by his dismissive manner and obvious mistrust. She wished him a pleasant goodbye, but muttered rude things about his parentage once she'd hung up. Then, after taking a few moments to calm herself, she got up to organize her team for departure.
"I don't like going out on such short notice," Toad fretted once they were airborne.
"I thought you were so keen on getting some money," St. John reminded him via two-way radio. Pyre was unable to sit with them in the plane because of the risk posed by his ever-present flames, so he flew ahead of the jet, using manipulation of heat to keep himself aloft.
"There are better ways to do it," Toad retorted irritably. "Robbing a bank would be much more practical." Avalanche had to agree, though he kept his sentiments to himself.
"It's also an excellent way to be hunted as petty criminals," Eileen pointed out. She was piloting the plane, but could sufficiently multi-task to converse and explain the mission to the others. "We're not about that. We are legitimate businesswomen and men."
"Who just happen to frequently fall on the wrong side of the law," Pyre finished, amusement obvious in his voice despite the crackle of the radio. Sabre laughed.
"So what? We do this job, get paid, and don't have to work for another few weeks or so. Sounds pretty good to me."
"We take a risk every time we go out there, Matt, you know that," Commando II said quietly, and he shrugged.
"And we take risks every time we go outside. Just existing carries risk. Don't get so freaked out about this, Joy."
"As fascinating as this conversation is, we really ought to be concentrating on plans," Phantazia cut in firmly. She didn't want to alarm the others, but rushing quickly into these sorts of situations unnerved her, especially when she considered the safety of her team. "St. John, can you see anything ahead of us?"
"Yeah, you guys will be coming close to the buildings soon," he reported back. "I'm waiting for you to get here before heading down."
"Excellent. Hold position, and we'll be there shortly."
Raven Darkholme was a practical woman. She knew what she wanted, and ensured that she took careful steps to get it, whatever 'it' was. Currently, she was interested in a weapon recently developed by DARPA; it was a powerful little device designed to disintegrate organic matter whilst leaving inorganic materials intact. She could think of several ways that this would be useful to her various operations, and decided that it would be hers. For some time, she'd pondered how she could get it, using information she had access to from one of her secretive government identities, but had to admit that she wasn't looking forward to the legwork of stealing such an item. Getting lazy in her old age, she supposed. However, her surveillance activities paid off when she heard that an old rival of hers had hired 'Freedom Force'---she always laughed at them calling themselves that---to steal it for him. Her life had suddenly been made much simpler; all she had to do was let them get it out of the building, and then take it from them. She didn't doubt that this would be easy.
Having landed and parked the plane a half-mile from their target, Phantazia was cautiously leading the team towards the building. She had ordered Pyre to stay behind because he was likely to attract attention, and he was to keep watch and listen on the radio in case he was needed as backup.
"Good luck," he told them regretfully as they headed off, and he cast a wistful look at Eileen, though she didn't notice. He knew he would be a liability in a stealth mission, but he hated allowing his comrades to go into the unknown without him, especially when Phantazia was among them. She was very capable, but he still worried about her.
Phantazia had problems of a different sort.
"It's too dark," she frowned, struggling to see their path and their destination.
"Should've brought the Aussie after all," chuckled Sabre, though Toad quickly hushed him.
"Didn't we bring enough lights?"
"It's my fault," Commando II replied dejectedly. "I should have remembered to store them in the jet. But I've got a couple of lights that I always carry in my pockets."
"Oh, for the love of--!" Phantazia snapped. "I don't believe this. This is worse than amateur….we should have been better prepared."
"We should have had more time to prepare," Toad grumbled, and Avalanche grunted his agreement. Eileen shook her head disgustedly a few times, and then turned to her team.
"I'm going to teleport over there and check it out. The rest of you wait here, and stay quiet."
Instantaneously, she transformed herself back to her natural state, a form of electro-magnetic energy, and conducted herself right into the main building ahead. She could not risk re-materializing inside in human form, for fear of being seen, so she hurried around on the wiring system, searching for anything relevant to their mission. Unfortunately, there was an extensive security system in place, which could prove to be troublesome once the entire team went inside. They would have to get in and out quickly, so it would be useful to find the location of their quarry.
Found it, she noted silently to herself after a quick search, and hurried back out the way she came, hoping she hadn't tripped any security alarms that might have been sensitive to EM energy. She returned to the team's location, and re-materialized herself in human form in front of them.
"I saw it," she announced, though she was considerably less jubilant than the others might have expected, given the news.
"Why didn't you bring it back with you?" Sabre asked with some exasperation, as though it was the most obvious question in the world.
"Because I couldn't become solid in there, and wouldn't risk touching it anyway. I could severely damage it with my energy emissions," she replied calmly, not quite ready to lose her temper at him.
"That's a real bitch, love," Pyre said over the radio. "You need my help?"
"No, stay put until I call you," she told him. "The rest of you, come on. We're going to get that thing if it kills us."
"That's what I'm afraid of…" Toad muttered unhappily as they began to walk towards the buildings again. Avalanche nudged him roughly, and put a finger to his lips.
It took them five minutes to reach visual range of the buildings' perimeter, by which point some of them were feeling decidedly less optimistic about their chances.
"Why can't I just run in there and take out the security cameras?" Sabre whispered, and Phantazia sighed heavily.
"Because I don't think you're ready for that yet. And if something unexpected happens, you'll be there all alone." She turned to Avalanche, who seemed to be milling about impatiently. "Dominic, dig us a tunnel under the fence."
"If you wish."
Ordinarily, the use of Avalanche's powers was spectacular and loud, punctuated with flying debris and large amounts of matter tumbling in every direction. This time, he was attempting to be subtle, which required considerably more concentration and a controlled effort. His work was slower than usual, but the results were favourable, and Eileen felt confident that they hadn't been detected. The team went down into the underground tunnel, and walked with a fair degree of comfort under the fence and into the grounds of the compound, coming out in a shadowed area of land. Phantazia congratulated Avalanche on his good work, and then began to calculate the best possible route to get to their target.
A sensor went off in the cyborg's machine-enhanced brain, and he immediately jumped to his feet. "Someone is attempting to penetrate the security perimeter," he announced calmly, and his companion laughed.
"Like it'll get them anywhere. And don't talk like such a robot, Frank, I know you don't have to be like that."
"Come on then, Blob," the cyborg replied tersely, often irritated by his partner's chatter. "I'm detecting several intruders, though something is blocking my sensors…a field of energy, probably. I can't get a good lock on them because of it."
"Okay, okay…" Blob grumbled, slowly getting up from a comfortable spot on the couch. This job was generally to his liking, mostly because he was able to lounge around and relax pretty much the entire time. The area was quiet, although they'd been warned that it might attract activity if anyone found out about the buildings' contents; he supposed that things were finally going to start happening…
"All right, here's the plan," Phantazia told the others quietly, drawing them closely around her. "I'm going to teleport in, and I'll open a door for the others, so we won't be making noise by breaking in."
Avalanche had been looking forward to smashing in the door, and silently grumbled to himself at the lost opportunity.
"Matt, Joy: you'll be staying out here to keep watch and act as back-up if needed."
"What the hell is this?" Sabre demanded. His voice was barely above a whisper, but everyone could hear his anger. Eileen glowered at him.
"If you need to question my authority, you need more training and experience."
"We'll be listening on the radio if you need us," Commando II assured her, although she too sounded disappointed.
Phantazia nodded, and gestured to the others. "Let's go."
As Avalanche and Toad carefully made their way toward the main building containing the DARPA weapon, Phantazia transformed herself into energy again and went inside. She re-materialized into human form once indoors, and after taking a few moments to orient herself, found the door and opened it for her teammates.
"This way," she urged the others, and they followed her, keeping a wary eye on the cameras and any potential security defenses. They were making good time, and were nearing their target, and then a mechanically-augmented voice ordered them to stop.
All three looked around, but could not see anything in the darkness.
"Keep moving," Phantazia urged in a low voice. "That may just be a generic security measure."
"No, that voice is familiar," Avalanche muttered. "It's Fr…"
Their conversation was interrupted by a shot of plasma that landed only a few feet away from them, exploding a nearby crate into splinters.
"I don't like to shoot into the dark, but you're leaving me no choice," the voice warned, and they could hear the sound of reloading ammunition.
"It's Frank!" Avalanche whispered urgently. "The Commando!"
"Oh, him," Toad groaned, shaking his head. "Wonderful."
"You've encountered opposition?" Pyre asked over the radio, and Phantazia irritably shut hers off. "Not now, Pyre!"
"Hurry up and come on out," suggested a new voice, one that was very familiar to them all. "Robbie the Robot here is getting pissed!"
"Blob!" all three muttered in unison.
"This is not good," Phantazia complained, and put a hand on Toad's shoulder. "Mortimer, I need you to find the device and bring it back. We'll keep these guys away from you."
Toad ducked and cringed as another plasma shot came too close for comfort. "Fine. Hurry up and beat them."
Hoping it was too dark for them to see him, he leaped away in the direction Phantazia had told him he'd find the weapon. The Commando's sensors unscrambled themselves enough to inform him that a target was moving in another direction, but he couldn't hit it, much to his irritation.
"Dammit, Blob, I don't know how many there are!" he snapped, and opened fire with conventional bullets in the direction that his malfunctioning sensors told him he'd find the rest of the intruders. Avalanche instinctively ducked behind some crates, unsure if he wanted to test the limits of his armour under a hail of gunfire, while Phantazia transformed herself slightly and simply allowed the bullets to pass through her. She turned her radio back on, and ordered Sabre and Commando II to join them in the building.
"We're going on the offensive," she told Avalanche. "And I'd really prefer not to hurt anyone, if possible."
He nodded, and the two of them carefully left their hiding places to get closer to their opponents.
"Maybe nobody's really here…it might be some kinda trick to fool us," Blob suggested, which gave the Commando momentary pause. It was at that precise instant that the floor suddenly rose up in a wave, and crashed into them with considerable force.
"I said not to be so rough!" Phantazia cried out with dismay, thinking about the frightening possibility of the two men lying crushed beneath the debris.
Avalanche shrugged. "That won't hold them for long."
Moments later, Blob punched his way out of the wreckage, followed by a slightly battered but incredibly angered cyborg. Sabre sped up behind his teammates and joined them as they watched the two government men free themselves and search around for the people that had done this to them.
"Quite the mess," Sabre smirked, and ran over to Blob and the Commando before Phantazia could stop him. His intention was to use his super-speed to play hero and punch out the cyborg, but the debris slowed him down considerably, and the Commando was faster than he looked. Sabre yelped when he realized he'd been caught, and fell to the floor when the Blob roughly hit him.
"Matt!" Commando II exclaimed when she arrived on the scene moments later, catching sight of her comrade lying prone on the ground.
"Stay here," Phantazia ordered her. The younger woman looked distraught at the prospect of leaving her friend, but did as she was told.
Phantazia stepped forward and stood in plain view of her opponents.
"You!" the cyborg remarked irritably, tapping his eye sensor with his one good hand. "I should have remembered how you used to scramble my systems."
"Yes," Phantazia replied coolly, glowering at them both. "Just as I'm jamming your weaponry now. You're useless. Give me back my teammate, and I'll release you."
Blob laughed loudly, very amused that he recognized all his opponents. "This geek? Who'd want him?"
"We are on a job here, Blob," the Commando reminded him, sounding more annoyed by the moment. "They cannot be allowed to escape."
"Whatever," Blob sighed, and tossed a tiny object at Freedom Force.
Suddenly, all hell broke loose. The device exploded right in front of them, in a blinding flash of light and screech of noise. Phantazia screamed and collapsed, her senses completely overwhelmed, and she lost her control over the Commando's mechanical systems. He chuckled quietly, running diagnostics for potential damage, while Blob slowly made his way over to their incapacitated opponents. Avalanche was on his knees, vomiting from the sensory overload, and Commando II was sitting with her head in her hands, dazed. Of all of them, she'd been the least affected due to her mutant reflexes and faster reaction time, and she was able to leap to her feet as the Blob approached.
"Pyre!" she shouted into her radio as she nimbly dodged Blob, "we need you now!"
"On my way," he acknowledged. Realizing there was no chance of subtlety now, he burned his flames brighter and flew faster than he'd ever moved before, impressing even himself. It took only moments for him to get there and burn a hole through the wall to gain entrance, and he glared at the government men.
"What did you do to them?" he demanded, gesturing a fiery hand at his injured teammates. "Are they going to be all right?"
"Eventually," the Commando replied, leveling his gun arm at the newest intruder. Pyre stood his ground without flinching, and didn't attempt to dodge the shots, which harmlessly passed through him.
"Damn," the Commando muttered, certain that he didn't like this development.
"You have two choices: I can burn you to death, or you can get the hell out of here," Pyre informed them, still glaring. He was floating in mid-air with his arms crossed, doing his best to project an aura of toughness that he wasn't sure he possessed any more.
"Pyro?" Blob exclaimed incredulously, suddenly recognizing the burning man in front of him. "But you're…"
"Dead, yes. I'm aware of that. Now get moving."
Reluctantly, Blob and the Commando walked quickly out of the building, hoping that their former teammate wouldn't attack them from behind while they were surrendering and vulnerable. Pyre followed them, firing gentle shots behind them to make sure they weren't planning to return, and then turned back to his comrades.
Commando II was kneeling over a moaning Sabre, and then went to examine Phantazia when Pyre returned.
"How is she?" he asked anxiously. He wished he could go to Eileen and hold her as any concerned friend---or lover---might, but he hadn't been able to get close to anyone since his fiery rebirth. Two feet away from a person was as near as he dared go.
"She's still out cold, but she doesn't look hurt," Joy replied. "She was just shocked by that thing."
Thank goodness for small favours, he thought to himself with relief, then turned to Avalanche, who was sitting against a pile of rubble and attempting to recover from his experience.
"How are ya, Dom?"
"Got one hell of a headache," Avalanche muttered, though he tried not to let the others know how queasy and uncomfortable he felt.
"Sorry to hear that. Take your time getting up; I don't think those guys'll be coming back anytime soon." St. John surveyed the room from mid-air, shaking his head at the extensive damage the building had taken during the fight, and then realized that he couldn't see Toad.
"Where's Morty?" he asked curiously, and everyone shrugged. There was always the worrisome possibility that Toad had been crushed by the endless debris, or was trapped and hidden from view, so Pyre decided to look around in case he could find him. There was no use needlessly alarming the others before beginning a serious search. With a deliberate fiery flourish, he turned in mid-air and soared upwards for a more panoramic view, and then flew down the hall into the next big chamber. And it was there that he found Toad, DARPA weapon in hand.
"Hey, you got it," Pyre praised with a relieved grin. "The others could use some help, so let's get back to them."
"Right," Mortimer replied, tucking the device under his arm, and he limped behind Pyre.
"Something wrong with your legs?" St. John inquired, noticing the unusual way in which Toad was walking. Toad didn't actually walk so much as hop, owing to the unusual bone structure of his limbs, but currently he seemed to be having problems doing even that.
"I ran into some automated resistance while I was getting this thing, and got a bit of an injury," Mortimer said ruefully, shrugging at his companion. "But it's nothing. Don't worry about it."
"Just so long as you're sure…" Pyre replied distractedly, though he took another long look at his teammate in order to properly gauge Toad's wellness.
Avalanche was on his feet, and struggling to carry Phantazia in his arms. She was now conscious, but still dazed and very disoriented, so Pyre couldn't resist standing near them and giving her a sympathetic glance. It was frustrating to him that he couldn't help the others with their troubles, and that this meant he couldn't fully pull his own weight on the team. Commando II had pulled Sabre to his feet, and was helping him to walk, though it irritated her to see Toad wandering off ahead on his own, carrying the weapon but not assisting with any of his wounded comrades.
"Where are you going?" she asked him resentfully, but he didn't stop walking/hopping.
"Just going to put this in the plane," he called back, and she scowled, muttering a few choice curses under her breath as Sabre stumbled in her protective embrace. Pyre noticed the commotion and came over to investigate; he observed Toad hurrying away, and furrowed his brow. He took off like a shot and was hovering in front of Mortimer in mere moments.
"I'm not gonna let you steal our toy, Raven," he said coldly. "Just put it down."
'Toad' stood up straight and slowly shifted every cell in his body until he'd reverted back to his true form, that of an elegant blue woman with an enigmatic smile. "Bravo, St. John. I'd missed you during your unfortunate absence." She looked him in the eye and smirked, which successfully annoyed him. "And just how are you planning to stop me? I know you would never hurt me."
For a moment he was absolutely infuriated by her smug comments, and raised a hand, as though to blast her with his flames. But he turned away from her, an expression of resignation on his face.
"You're right. I wouldn't."
Mystique started walking again, hugging the weapon tightly to her chest. It had been as easy as she'd thought, and quite the pleasant night's work. The fact that she had upset St. John in the process was both delightful and discomfiting; she was still angry at him for ruining her plans in Boston, but he had also been her friend---
She didn't even have a chance to exclaim her surprise when someone slammed into her from behind, knocking her to the ground. Commando II had taken her off-guard and had managed to pin her, though Raven had decades more combat experience and quickly threw off her opponent.
"You won't get away that easily!" Joy grunted, staggering the metamorph with a hard punch.
"How dare you!" Mystique snapped, enraged by the young woman's audacity. Raven let loose with a sharp kick that might have broken bone had it fully connected, but Commando II's mutant reflexes and natural fighting skills enabled her to dodge the worst of it. To Mystique's dismay, several members of Freedom Force had come out to watch the fight, and one picked up the stolen weapon. No one said a word, although it was clear from their expressions that they expected their teammate to emerge victorious. This was infuriating to a woman as proud and skilled as Mystique, and she lunged again at her opponent, managing to catch the side of Commando's head with a rough elbow. "Dammit!" Joy cursed as she hit the ground. Her teammates murmured quietly as Mystique stood over her, smiling coldly, and Avalanche stepped forward with the intention to intervene.
"No," Eileen muttered to him, resting her reeling head against his shoulder. "She can handle this."
In one fluid motion, Commando rolled out of Mystique's way, and was up on her feet, lashing out with a kick that knocked Raven to the ground. Breathing heavily, Joy put one foot down on Mystique's neck, pinning her.
"Do you give up?" Joy asked in a low voice. "You're surrounded anyway."
"I know that, child," Raven replied irritably. "Yes, I know when I've been beaten. Perhaps I should have kept you on my team after all."
"She's smart, Joy. Keep an eye on her," Pyre warned from his vantage point, and Mystique glared at him.
"You keep quiet. I thought you had more class than to set your attack dog on me."
"You've got no cause to complain about class, Mystique, when you impersonated a member of our team and tried to walk off with our weapon. What did you do to Toad?" Phantazia demanded with barely-controlled anger.
"What do you think? He was a member of my team only a few months ago; I wouldn't harm him. He's sedated, in a storage closet. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be leaving."
Raven rolled her eyes when several members of the team laughed at her suggestion. She hadn't been expecting them to actually let her go, and clearly they had a lot to learn about dealing with opponents. She was half-tempted to teach them---most of them were former friends and allies of hers, and could use the help---but rightfully suspected that they'd be hostile to lessons from someone they weren't overly fond of at the moment.
"I think we should let her go," St. John suggested to Phantazia, only to be subjected to surprised stares from everyone present, including Mystique. He sighed. "Look, we all know that nothing will hold her for long. Just lock her up in Toad's closet to give us a head start to get away with the merchandise, and she can go her own way once she gets free. Sound fair?"
"Why, St. John, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were still my friend," Raven exclaimed with mock surprise, and he cast her a sour look. Phantazia thought it over pensively for a few moments, then shrugged.
"All right. Mystique, show us where Toad is, so we can get this over with."
"Certainly. Right this way, children."
"Joy, you were so awesome! Kicking ass all over the place! Great job," Sabre enthused as they headed back to headquarters. He put a friendly arm around her, and she smiled politely.
"Thanks. I'm just glad you're okay. That everybody's okay."
"Well, things started out poorly, but we managed to salvage it and get everything we needed in the end," Phantazia conceded. "Not the best way of doing things, but not a failure, either." She was sitting in the front passenger seat of the jet, having decided that she wasn't well enough to fly it home, and allowed Avalanche to act as the pilot. Toad was resting comfortably on a small cot at the back of the craft, and the others were keeping their celebrations subdued so as not to disturb him.
"How are you holding up, St. John?" Phantazia asked tiredly, tapping her radio when she received no answer. "Hmm, he must have turned it off. Matt, see if he's still out there."
A quick glance out the back window revealed that Pyre was flying nearby, albeit lagging far behind the jet. "He's around," Sabre shrugged, and returned to conversing with Joy.
I'll wait until we get back to talk to him, then. He seems moody about something, Eileen thought to herself with some resignation. Unfortunately, leadership required her to do more than just order the team during battle, and left her responsible for her colleagues' emotional as well as physical well-being. It was an ominous burden to bear, but one that she was determined to live up to, so Phantazia settled back in her chair and began to think about how she'd approach the topic with Pyre. In the meantime, she turned her attention to the view outside the port window, watching the pinks and yellows of the rising sun with quiet appreciation.
There's something special about every sunrise, she mused to herself. Symbolic. A new beginning.
