Demon Bear: Not Even Scratched

November 17, 2017:

A few hours after the Demon Bear attack on the mansion Illyana finds a grumpy Nate in the medlab

The X-Men Bunker

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions: Cyclops, Nurse Annie. Quentin Quire

Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

Nate battle with the Bear obviously didn’t go very well. Quite a blow for his ego, too, since he considers himself one of the most powerful beings on Earth. But he went into the shadows already psychically injured and with his powers depleted.

Still, it stings.

But not as much as the cracked ribs, dislocated shoulder, bruises all over and frostbite burns due to the supernatural cold. They almost had to drag him to the medlab, too. He was in a foul mood and insisting on making sure everyone else was found first.

And so Nurse Annie’s ‘Worst Patient Ever’ is back to the infirmary, looking deeply unhappy. Shirtless, bandages everywhere, somewhat drugged too. But mind is clear enough to be able to talk (and pester) telepathically to other people.

Not to Illyana, though, her odd demon-ish mind is always hard to find and impossible to read. Which is distressing since Illyana is the one Nate is most worried about, the one that went into the Shadow and the one that ‘died’ in those visions Dani showed him.


For her own part, Illyana has no idea that Nate's worried about her. She doesn't know what he saw. She experienced something different, something perhaps even more personal. And she's still not sure how much - if any - of it was real.

It's strange that the last place anyone would look for Illyana is her actual room, but that's where she's been, undisturbed, and that's where she is now, as her blue eyes open and the pentagram of white flame surrounding her flickers and dies, leaving her in darkness. She sits motionless for a few more moments, then heaves a quiet sigh and climbs to her feet. Stretching her arms over her head, she works her neck to one side and then the other to get the kinks out.

She looks toward the door, and her lip curls. If she stays in here any longer it'll count as /hiding/, and she can't allow that. Pulling on a pair of sneakers, she walks out into the hallway, leaving the door to slam behind her. For a second there's the impression of a glowing sigil on the old wood of her door, and then it fades to nothing.

Illyana moves purposefully through the Institute until she reaches the lower levels, then makes for the infirmary. There's someone else she should check in on, and this is his natural habitat. Slipping in, Illyana leans against the wall, kicking up a foot behind her to brace herself, and folding her arms. Unlike Nate, she appears physically unhurt, and she's dressed all in black - tee shirt, short shorts, tights and sneakers. "I keep finding you in here." She says, by way of a hello.


Yes. They keep finding him there. Laura and Illyana are making it a running gag.

Seeing the blonde, though, makes Nate jump off the bed where he was… not resting, but he was there.

"Yana, you are…" damnit, not even scratched? He was so worried at least she could be a little hurt. "… so fucking smug," he finishes. Stopping himself just short of giving her a hug. "Good to see you made it out in one piece. Why the hell did you leave your sword behind?" Pause. "I was worried. Freaking fake Dani had a lot of fun showing me how the Bear tore you to pieces."


That gag would be funnier if it wasn't so true. For a being of his power, Nate spends far too much time being put back together.

Illyana smirks when her arrival makes Nate jump, because that's what she does. But the look of amusement on her lips isn't quite matched by the look in her eyes.

"Some of us know how to duck." She tells Nate, as her gaze takes in the bandages that are all over him, before flicking up to meet his eyes as he comes worryingly close to hugging her. "At least you're not missing any bits." She tells him, which is about as close as she'll come to telling him she's happy he's not more badly hurt.

"I needed an anchor." She replies with a shrug, about to continue when Nate speaks again. She looks faintly surprised, then her brows draw together thoughtfully. Whatever it is, she files it away for later with a shake of her head. "You should know I'm not that easy to get rid of." She stretches her arms out to either side with another smirk. "See? Not a mark on me. Can't say the same for you." She tilts her head, a curious light sparking in her blue eyes. "What did it do to you? Killing fake-me wasn't enough?"


"No, I knew it was an illusion," replies Nate. Meaning he was almost sure it was an illusion. Almost totally, absolutely sure. ALMOST. Okay?

"I might have attacked it a few times," replies Nate. "Bear hit back. Plus it was all cold as hell and now I have frostbite burns. And then it tossed me out pretty hard, hurt my shoulder on landing."

"You didn't get him either, did you? He wrecked the mansion, injured some people and then left. One of the students, Quire, with the stupid pink mohawk, got badly injured. But I suppose we did enough damage it didn't finish the job." Pause. "Is Scott alright?" He asks trying to sound casual. 'Cause… it is not that he cares, just curious.


Illyana's eyes narrow just a fraction. It's almost like she doesn't entirely believe him. Better test, to make sure. "Did fake-me at least put up a decent fight?" She asks, as if the prospect of hearing about her doppelganger being torn to shreds by a bear doesn't bother her in the slightest.

Who knows, maybe it really doesn't?

Illyana nods when Nate describes his efforts. "Hitting it doesn't work." She says, shortly, then grimaces. "I wish it did. It's probably expecting us to be grateful it wasn't worse. Hoping that next time we'll take what it's offering." That's getting close to a subject Illyana doesn't want to discuss, so she moves on quickly.

"No, I didn't kill him. Like I told Ray, I'm not sure what killing it would do to Dani, which makes things more difficult." She sounds more annoyed than worried, but she's quick enough to answer Nate's question. "Scott?" She snorts lightly. "He looks better than you." She tells him with a quick grin, before adding more seriously. "I got him back out before he got broken." She shrugs. "Can't let the boss get eaten, how would that look?"


Nate nods. It was why it was somewhat convincing. The illusion of Illyana fought like Illyana. Probably taken from Dani's memories. "Telepathy had some effect," he comments. "At least it seemed reluctant to face me in a direct fight on the mind planes." But eluded his attempts to force the confrontation easily, too.

"I am sure you did it because he is the boss," replies Nate, smirking a bit. Then he retreats a few steps to grab his boots and put them on. No telekinesis, which is not a good signal. "I think now you are here I can say for sure no one got killed. Now I just need to get out of here without Annie noticing."


Illyana doesn't look convinced. "Maybe, but we have a house full of telepaths. The Professor. Jean. Ray. Betsy. Quire. You. Did I miss anyone?" She doesn't wait for an answer, it wasn't really a question. "Dani knows that, and the bear still came here. Didn't pick us off one by one. I'd like you to be right, we need /something/ that works." Something for Illyana to brood over later.

"Hey, now he owes me one. That helps too." Illyana's not willing to admit she went after Scott for anything other than her own reasons. Even though considering what Scott saw in the bear's shadowy realm, SHE probably owes HIM one right now.

As Nate gets his boots and prepares to sneak out, Illyana raises her eyebrows at him. "Seriously? We're sneaking out? Are we twelve?" The smirk is back on Illyana's face. "All right, I've got it covered. But." She holds up an imperious hand to stop his preparations. "You're putting a shirt on, first."


"Quire fought back like a cornered rat," comments Nate, considering. "Pretty sure he did some damage. I had no idea he was so strong."

They are totally sneaking like twelve year olds. Angry Nurse Annie manages to make everyone feel like twelve. Also, she stole his shirt and jacket. To be honest she had to cut the shirt to strips, since it was covered on frozen blood, badly shredded and sticking to his skin in parts.

"For fucks sake, I don't need a shirt. I have so many bandages I am almost wearing a pullover made of bandages." It is true, too!


Illyana doesn't so much as blink when Nate objects to her shirt requirement. Instead she just pushes off the wall with her foot and casually takes a couple of steps to one side, coincidentally placing herself between him and the door.

"Nate." She tells him in the tone of someone patiently explaining a simple concept. "That doesn't make it a good look." She grins. "And no-one will believe Annie let you out. Just wait a minute." Illyana looks to one side, and a small portal opens. Sticking her arm through, she adopts a thoughtful look as she rummages around, and then finally, triumphantly removes an oversized flannel shirt in red and black.

Yes, it appears that Illyana has just raided her brother's wardrobe from long range.

"Put that on." She tells Nate as she tosses the shirt to him. "Try not to bleed on it, Piotr might want it back." She's all heart, but she doesn't mean it. Probably. Looking far too self-satisfied, Illyana makes a complicated gesture with her hands, pauses thoughtfully, then nods. "We're good. She won't see you as long as you're with me. Let's go."


"I could hide the shirtless situation under a telepathic illusion," protests Nate weakly. Maybe, he feels pretty drained, and the drugs do not help his focus. So he will accept Illyana's solution.

Piotr's flannel shirt is not really Nate's style, so he remains skeptic about the whole 'believe Annie let him go'. Hmm, Annie never quite 'lets him go'. But it covers him well. Actually Piotr is one of the few men in the mansion that is larger than Nate. By three inches and thirty pounds or so.

"You could teleport me out, too," he adds, grumbling. "I need coffee," as usual.


Illyana's dubious look is probably eloquent enough, but she still feels the need to rub it in. "If you were together enough to do that then you wouldn't have to sneak out." She tells him, a bit tartly, and doesn't move from her position guarding the door until he makes moves to put the shirt on.

She looks just a little bit smug when he finally gives in. "So we've gone from escaped hospital patient to lumberjack." She decides. "It'll do." She steps out into the corridor, then sticks her head back in to answer Nate's grumbling. "If you can't climb a flight of stairs to the kitchen I /will/ teleport you. Right back here. Come on." Her head vanishes back into the corridor with the rest of her.


Nate grumbles at her quite accurate evaluation of his current telepathic capabilities. "Smartass," he mutters, but lacking any malicious tone.

They could also have taken the elevators. Cruel demon lady. But nevertheless Nate manages to escape the infirmary wing and climb up all the staircases to the main building of the compound. He only looks a little pale after the effort. "Thanks. Owe you one, blondie."

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License