Imminent danger: Spontaneous Combustion

March 30, 2018:

Alex returns from Vorokhastan. Scott and Illyana are there to greet him with a ton of sympathy and mad social skills.

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

Scott's presence in the sub-basement lately has been updates, planning and monitoring Brotherhood and Trask Industries ongoings. The immediate issues at hand aside from Darcy Lewis' incarceration being those. He is waiting for a call back from Agent Carter there before proceeding or making it a concern.

A swivel in the rolling chair and he pushes a key down, done with his after-action-reports and follow ups for current other loose ends. A break required.

The PA system kicks in as he speaks, "Who is in the med lab? Nevermind I will come to you." A question that anyone in the subplex will hear. He isn't awaiting a response though already moving from the war room on down the hallway, he looks better now post-Frenzy & Twins beatdown. Some discoloration on his face and left arm still in a sling but he doesn't look like one giant walking bruise anymore at least.

Scott isn't in uniform this morning, hes in pair of work out pants, tanktop and trainers.

Having reported directly to the med lab, Alex is still clad in a simple white shirt and Genoshan Loaner Slacks. His backpack leans precariously near the lab entrance. He'd stopped leaving messages for an urgent pickup right around the time he got in touch with Lorna, and had briefly dropped off the radar again, having heard that Scott was medically indisposed.

Naturally, Lorna left names and details out of the retelling, thinking Alex would not be particularly understanding to find her siblings culpable.

As for his own injuries… The radiation burns are mostly healed, and he'd ditched the bandages entirely before the flight back to New York. Hours of staring and whispering while flying coach across the Atlantic have desensitized him a bit to reactions. Seated upon the end of a patient exam table, he waves an arm and offers a crooked grin, "Hey, bro. Didn't know you were up and about, already."

Illyana has just finished a long, hot shower following her construction efforts in Limbo and is feeling considerably more human - figuratively and literally. Despite the hour she's looking forward to nothing more constructive than falling into her bed upstairs and sleeping the day away. Time can be screwy in Limbo and she'd completely lost track of it while she was working. Scott's cryptic question over the PA system makes her curious, though, and she decides sleep can wait a little longer.

Glancing at the pile of clothes waiting for her, she wrinkles her nose and banishes them, another stepping disc delivering clean replacements. It's only a couple of minutes later that she's making her way to the med lab, dressed in a slightly oversized, black Xavier Institute hoodie and equally black leggings. She feels she's earned the right to dress down today.

Sticking her head through the door, hair still damp, Illyana's gaze flicks to Scott before settling on Alex. "What happened to you? Or is this brotherly solidarity?"

"Illyana, Alex." Scott acknowledges both of them. There is a lingering stare on the Russian as there usually always is, it is as though the elder Summers half expects trouble to spark up or that she'll just sprout horns. A light smile appears, barely touching his feature as he proceeds to give his brother a full once over.

"What happened to you?" No comment about his own injuries. "I must have missed a report."

"And no, solidarity in this particular instance is coincidence."

Alex smirks. Or sneers. Hell, maybe it's a genuine attempt at a smile, and quips to Illyana, "It's cliche', I know, but… You should see the other guy." More tired than bitter-sounding, so probably not a sneer.

Glancing back to Scott, "Pretty long convoluted report, honestly. Logan and I got jumped on our little team-building vacation…" He draws a deep breath, and just heavily exhales away excessive detail, "Anyway, ended up in the middle of nowhere, Vorokhastan."

Turning his head to better display the ruined half, he gestures, "Turns out, this is the kind of thing that happens when I absorb an unstable reactor and a psychotic mutant."

Jerking his chin toward Scott, he inquires, "What happened with you? Lorna was… vague."

Illyana tends to take little notice of the extra scrutiny that she seems to get from the leader of the X-Men, but today seems to be the exception. With a slight frown, she surreptitiously raises a hand to her head, fingers probing gingerly beneath her bangs as if she's actually looking for those horns Scott's so worried about.

Maybe it's all just for effect, because a moment later the sudden look of concern has vanished. Illyana moves over to another of the beds and boosts herself up to sit on it, drawing her legs up after her and folding them tailor style, her arms resting lightly on her knees. "As long as he looks worse than you, it's a win." Illyana replies lightly to Alex, but keeps quiet as Alex makes his report.

At least until Lorna's vagueness is mentioned. There's a quiet snort from Illyana's perch. "I'll bet she was." If anyone looks her way, Illyana just shakes her head to excuse her comment, her own attention mostly on Scott. Wondering how he's going to answer that one.

"Do I even want to ask more? As soon as you said Logan and I… " Scott sighs though the idea of Alex absorbing an unstable reactor has him looking up again, inspecting what radiation burns he can see.

"It is cliche and I imagine he was very hard pressed to look worse than you."

"Yeah… " A sideglance to Illyana at her commentary on Lorna, harmless as it is the subject of Polaris hanging in the air causes a moment of akward silence for him.

"Make sure you fill out a report on this Vorokhastan trip, Alex. Every detail you can recall. If anything swings around to bite us on the ass… I want to be prepared."

"Illy, hows the project coming along?" /the/ project. Limbo house flip edition.

"Well… I guess to be fair he sort of … dematerialized. So 'worse' is some matter of debate." Alex gives a dry snort of a laugh, with some clearly forced dark humor levity he doesn't expand upon. He's had to drop a good deal of naivete' in the past few months, and is disinclined to delve into whining about it. There's a whole laundry list of New Alex traits like that, really.

"But it -was- a win," Alex confirms.

Nodding back to Scott, he considers, "Well, we were separated for most of the time. Haven't even had a chance to compare notes with Logan. For my part, shouldn't be much ass-biting. Uh, couple confirmed deaths. Trashed cold war era power plant. One John Doe missing from a Vorokhastanian medical facility."

Abruptly interrupting his own report preview, Alex inserts: "Some -specific- reason everyone's being sketchy on details on Scott's thing? Am I being insensitive for pressing the issue, here? 'None of your damn business, Alex'?"

"No body?" Illyana says, in a deliberately suspicious tone, tilting her head thoughtfully to one side as she considers Alex's declaration of victory. "OK, you can count that one. At least until he comes back." She smirks. "You always want to see the body, even if they're a pain to get rid of." She's probably just teasing him. Probably.

Glancing back at Scott, he might just note a slight hesitation in her reply. After all, she didn't take the time to check her handiwork over, and it's suddenly looking like that might have been a bad call. Not that she's going to admit to less than total confidence in the results. "Ready for you to take a look." She very much hopes.

Alex's interruption of himself draws a quiet snicker from Illyana. "I'm not answering that one." She says, conversationally, looking to Scott again. "That one's all yours."

"Dematerialized?" Scott frowns. His right hand free of his sling lifts up and sets on Alex's shoulder, an odd moment of sympathy, "You're laughing but… you okay?" That whole 'vanishing in to thin air' could be death for all they knew, all Scott can assume and he hopes not. Killing anyone is never easy even in self defense or for the greater good. Unless your name is Logan.

"I'll ask Logan, been meaning to talk with him anyways."

"Just what you can, get it down and if you need to talk. I'm around so are the others, Jean is especially good with this sort of thing."

"It's not a secret I am just not putting it on a billboard." He picks up where Illyana refuses to explain, "We need a secure location outside of normal boundaries. Illyana has offered to be our realtor… in Limbo."

As soon as Scott begins speaking on subject he realizess Illyana didn't exactly mean the aforementioned but his condition.

A lowly sigh and his head swivels enough to give her a flat look, oddly its playful, "I need more coffee." He explains, "No, Alex, the Brotherhood and I had a disagreement. It's in the files, every single word of what transpired. We're likely to have many more as well, harsh ones."

Alex begins with a grim Stoic Summers nod. Knowing Scott well enough, he doesn't wax poetic on being perfectly content to disintegrate this particular mutant many, many times again. "Yeah, I'm… Good, I guess. I mean, I … had made a friend." Close enough. "And pissing me off was his actual goal, so he killed her right there in front of me."

"So…" He considers for a moment, "That's where I need a little time to process, but I don't expect much second-guessing regret that he had a decidedly bad plan to show up."

Eyes narrowing a bit, he makes an overly open-ended inquiry, "The Brotherhood?" He briefly recalls a poor life experience with a 'The Sisterhood'. These sorts of organizations clearly cause problems. Holding up a hand before a response can be made, he adds, "I'll look in the files."

"Good news you'll like…" Alex transitions, reaching up a hand to tug down his T-shirt enough to reveal the unique lack of blue-black material beneath, "No containment suit, no exploding. Think it ended up ditched in a hotel room, but don't worry. Didn't have my name and address in it, or anything."

"And we still haven't discussed rent." Illyana puts in on the heels of Scott's words, although the way her eyes narrow a little is at odds with her casual tone. It's not like Scot to misread her. He looks better, but if he's not over his injuries… Illyana nods. "I think you do." She tells him, unfolding her legs and slipping down from the bed she'd claimed. "I'll even get you some." She offers, and vanishes in a flash of light.

It might be unusually solicitous of the blonde demoness, but… Illyana's not the go-to person on the X-Men for sympathy. It's not really a secret that the list of people that she genuinely cares about is a short one, and she rarely if ever forms attachments to people she's just met. So while she might have told Scott he was on his own explaining his altercation with the Brotherhood? He's on his own providing comfort to Alex over the death of his 'friend', too.

She'll be back when there's no danger she'll have to give emotional support, no doubt.

"Sorry to hear that Alex. If you need me, I'm here but you know me, you know that if you really need to explore this emotionally, speak to the Professor or Jean. Maybe even Ororo or… "He won't say Lorna, not right now even though shes been close with Alex in the past they have a turbulence yet she would have been a suggestion if not for current issues.

"I am here though." A quiet clearing of his throat as though he realizes Illyana is standing there, witness to a near touchy Summers brother moment. It's gone already for Scott though. Kicked aside like a muddy soccer ball.

"Rent? What possibly would be rent there? I doubt we have enough black nail polish and eyeliner to meet your requirements." Scott grins at Illyana or at least where she just was. Nothing left there now but empty space.

"She probably would have spontaneously combusted if we hugged." Then again Scott might have also.

"Rest up, brother. We'll catch up soon. I need to have a 'war council' call soon anyways."

Like the vanishing act of Illy - Cyclops too is off. Footfalls heard departing in the hallway outside the medlab on his way to meet with Doctor Bruce Banner. Schedules to keep. Busy busy rabbit.

Illyana goes home.

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