Just Like Old Times (John, then open)

[Bobby Drake]

> " It seems you’ve had some commandos to deal with. Well done."

Bob opens his mouth to say “It was John and Rogue, really” before realizing what a ridiculous thing that would be to say – of course he’d had little to do with it; he hardly needs to point that out. Which, in turn, makes him want to point out that he had taken out one of the commandos… one of the shiny ones, even!... before realizing how childish that would sound. So he just nods, and grins. "Yeah, it’s good to have friends." There. That didn’t sound too bad. And it was even true.

> " How bad is he? Would giving them to him help us or hinder us? "
> " I’d let ‘im give it a shot, Stormy. "

Rogue’s reply is… odd. It doesn’t sound like her, not completely. It sounds more like – Oh. Right, of course. They’ve been… together. Of course he’s in her head again. I knew that. It was just surprising, is all.

Well, surprising and unpleasant. Bob struggles with jealousy about them, um, touching, and guilt over being jealous, and resentment over being left in the cold – literally as well as figuratively – and a host of other feelings he can’t even begin to articulate, before finally just shaking them off and focusing on the mission. People trying to kill him for unexplained reasons is actually easier for him to worry about, especially now that Storm’s around.

Which brings him all the way back around to her question, which is harder than it should be.

One option is to tell the truth… John’s injured, possibly concussed; sending him into a firefight would be irresponsible. But he can tell he’s already annoyed Rogue by insisting on the medlab; if he insists again that John isn’t at full capacity and should be checked out before he goes into action, he’ll annoy her further – not to mention piss John off. Which, granted, feels as natural as breathing sometimes, but right now he’s not sure he can take it – it’s hard enough already to feel like he belongs here without further alienating his oldest friends.

But if he goes along with them, and somebody gets hurt… or if John gets hurt, again… he’s not sure Storm will ever trust him again. He wouldn’t, if their roles were reversed. And much as he doesn’t deserve to be an X-Man right now, he can’t face the prospect of having to step down.

Ultimately, he realizes he’s asking the wrong question... it doesn’t matter who he sides with, it matters what’s going to happen. And from that perspective, the answer’s pretty obvious. "I was just saying we should get John down to the medlab, make sure he’s gonna be OK. With both you and Rogue running interference, I’d say we can get there without too much trouble, whatever they throw in our way. So I’d say hold onto ‘em until we check him out. After that, we could use the extra firepower to finish tak – "

The rest of his sentence is swallowed by a strange thudding noise, a little bit like an explosion, that seems to shake the building. Wonder what that was? Sounds like it came from the subbasement…

[Pyro]

< But…would it b’safe down there?
< It’s hardly safe up here, now is it?
It’s another odd thought, with all the madness raging around them – the explosions from outside, Ororo’s particular brand of home improvement, the crackle of gunfire elsewhere in the Institute – but shit, those two are loud when they get going, aren’t they? And… ouch, it stings. And it’s not good. They shouldn’t be fighting. He might not be sure about much else right now, but one thing he’s resolute on is that.

(At least, he thinks it’s that. It sits neater than saying he doesn’t want to see Bob lose to her).

”Entertaining as it is, watching you two fight over who gets to play nurse and when” – and no, don’t look at Bob then. No. Those thoughts have no place here, and he’ll know what you’re thinking about… Just. Don’t. – ”Like I said… I’m fine.”

***

John’s focused on Ororo throughout her re-cap, a perfect example of resolute attention paying, complete with the almost-from and serious little half-nods that show yes, he really is paying attention… though all of that no doubt has more to do with the fact that it’s taking most of his brain to concentrate rather than genuine rapt consideration of what she’s saying. He grins with something (disturbingly?) like pride (though it’s hard to tell, the beam slightly lopsided and… not quite right) at the mention of the commandos, looking for all the world like he’s an overgrown kid itching to point out to teacher which ones he dealt with, and the grin widens at Bob’s words – ”Yeah. Powers’re nice…” (and okay, he’s not thinking straight and probably shouldn’t have gone with the first half, but whatever; it’s a mixed blessing, because thinking straight he’d have had too much pride to admit Bob had to save his ass) ”But friends with guns? Absolute bloody lifesaver” – before going as mega-watt as he can get away with when the flamethrowers are mentioned.

< I’m not certain you’re fit to be using them right now, though
The noise that comes out is a suitably deflated-sounding ”Bzzuhhwhu?” which turns, predictably quickly, into an indignant ”Seriously, what the fu…” which is (probably luckily) cut off by Ororo turning the question to Rogue and Bob. Which is another blow because… hello! He’s right here. He knows he’s fine, and he’ll tell her as much…

… if he can get a word in edgeways. Rogue’s vote of confidence wins her a smile and a mouthed Ta, Roguey.. which again is almost cut off by Bob’s reply, which goes down less well.

John gets a number of half-sounds out, trying to cut in, before just overlapping Bob. And it feels bad, for reasons he can’t quite figure out just now, to be trying to drown him out, to deliver the pointed scowl at his no vote, but… well, he’s fine. Why can’t they just see that? ”I’m still here. You could ask me, y’know… I’ve been beat up worse’n this and kept going. I can handle the fucking flamethrowers…”

It’s about then an explosion goes off somewhere below… and after the initial rush of surprise his features re-set back into gung-ho enthusiastic. ”See? S’not over yet, and" - his tone becomes something slightly nearer mocking, just to drive home the fact that he's echoing their words, and they can't take them back - "you need the firepower.”

[Bobby Drake]

> "Entertaining as it is, watching you two fight over who gets to play nurse and when. Like I said… I’m fine."

Something in the undertone of that is more rewarding for Bob to hear than it has any right to be, what with things being as they are, now… it’s going to be Rogue who “plays nurse” in the end, and he knows it, and there’s no point in setting himself up to alienate both of them any more than he has to. So Bob just shrugs. John’s not fine… but maybe he’s close enough.

> " Yeah. Powers’re nice…but friends with guns? Absolute bloody lifesaver "

Bob twitches a bit at the beginning of that sentence, then does a double-take at the end of it, briefly speechless. He looks the sentence over again carefully, searching for the hidden barb, the sarcasm, the jagged piece of glass snuck into the chocolate cream… and finds nothing. ’Friends,’ huh? Well, OK. I guess I can live with ‘friends’. Beats ‘enemies.’

He offers a tentative smile in response, before the conversation turns to flamethrowers and concussions, and is truncated suddenly by the sounds from the basement. He shrugs, looks back at Storm. "Guess you get the tiebreaker vote, boss."

[Ororo Munroe]

> I’d let ‘im give it a shot, Stormy.

> So I’d say hold onto ‘em until we check him out.

> You need the firepower.

She raises an eyebrow at ‘Stormy’, but considers both choices. Ororo rubs her temple with a gloved hand for a moment. I miss being a carefree pickpocket sometimes. It was certainly a simpler existence, though the day Professor Xavier had brought his first two students and saved her from Farouk had changed her life.

The disturbing implosions from the basement catch her attention. Shit. The last thing they needed was for the sub-basement to suffer any damage; it was going to cost enough to restore the upper floors. Storm wasn’t even exactly sure how Xavier had originally installed the sub-basement. It had been in place since her first day at the school… Doubtless the story was somewhere in the main computer.

> Guess you get the tiebreaker vote, boss.

Storm displays a rare moment of indecision. If I don’t return the throwers to John, he might not be able to defend himself or others at a critical moment. If I return the throwers to him, he might burn the entire building down. She chews a lip for a second, but her final thought clinches it. I’m not certain we’ll have anything but blueprints to work with after tonight. We need John’s offensive capabilities.

She shakes her head, and pulls the pair of flamethrowers out of her bag. “Please try to avoid torching the building. I’d prefer we at least have a skeleton to rebuild from… though that may be too much to ask for, considering the circumstances.” An eardrum-shattering explosion from outside punctuates her statement.

“We need to go see what’s happening in the sub-basement. Those sounds can’t be good. On the way, we can regroup in the medical lab and do a quick scan of John’s head.”

Storm’s eyes turn white, and she tilts her head slightly. “Everyone… watch yourselves.” As she turns on her heels, the wind picks up, blowing pieces of paper and other small objects around the room.

[Bobby Drake]

(( OOC: So I think this thread ends here, and picks up here:
100mtoanchorage.proboards98.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=medlab&thread=1170043478&page=1
archive away! ))