Freefall
Epilogue: Any Port in a Storm
"So," Scott said, "where exactly are we going?"
They'd set a course back into the States, skimming low over the countryside to stay under the radar nets. Mystique was sitting up in the copilot's seat and seemed to have shaken off whatever knockout drug they'd used, although she was letting him do the flying. There was a darker blue shadow across her temple that might have been a bruise.
Magneto sat behind her, hands on her shoulders. He'd spent all but the first few minutes of the trip up front in the cockpit; Scott thought the sight of Charles unconscious and drawn unnerved him. Certainly it unnerved Scott.
Mystique glanced back at Magneto for approval, who nodded.
"The base is in Maine," she said. "In sea cliffs with no easy access from the land side. The plane will be out of sight except from above."
She didn't seem to like the idea of taking them there. Scott couldn't say he blamed her. A temporary truce was one thing, but this seemed like admitting they'd be seeing a lot of one another over the next weeks. Months. Whatever.
"You know, you don't have to do this," Scott said.
"Would you rather we left you to fend for yourselves?" Magneto asked.
"We can take care of our own," Scott said.
"Yes, you and Charles have done such a good job of that," Magneto said.
"Don't you ever quit?" Scott said. "Don't you ever get tired of trying to rub it in when you're right?"
"It's so rare that anyone admits it," Magneto said. He smiled at Mystique. "With the exception of other 'bad guys,' as young Pyro called us."
"Pyro?" Scott said. "You mean John."
"Do I?" Magneto said. "That's not what he says."
"John's got a little bit of an attitude problem," Scott said.
"How interesting," Magneto said. "Perhaps he just hasn't had very good relationships with authority figures."
Scott smiled despite himself.
"You are nobody's authority figure," he said.
"Perhaps not," Magneto said. He looked, strangely enough, almost hurt. "I'll go check on the others." Scott could hear the door closing behind him as he left.
"It's like having a very bizarre stepfather," Scott said after a minute.
"He'd like to hear that," Mystique said.
"You are not repeating that," Scott said. "Or I'll kick you in the head."
"You're welcome to try," Mystique said. "But you might want to wait until some of the others have been patched up. I don't think there's room for you on the floor in the back."
"So is this a truce?" Scott asked.
"Are we at war?"
"We're certainly not on the same side."
"You insist on believing that there are more than two," Mystique said. "Here, let me fly. I know where I'm going."
He let Mystique take the controls and watched as they banked more to the north, the morning sun no longer in his eyes.
"Go and see to your children," Mystique said. "I'm all right alone."
Scott went back to the cargo hold, and stood in the door, momentarily unnoticed. Magneto was sitting at the back of the plane, apparently telling some version of the story of what had happened in the base to Rogue, and John. They were watching him in fascination. The other kids were strapped in, looking around with the general interest of children out of pressing danger.
Ororo and Charles were stretched out on the deck. Kurt made his way between them with care.
"We go to a safe place now?" he asked.
"Yes," Scott said, hoping it was true.
"Good," Kurt said. "Some should rest." He glanced over at Jean, pointing with his tail. She was rummaging through the medical kit; Scott could see that her hands were shaking. Logan came up behind her and took the kit out of her hands.
"Sit down before you fall down," Logan said.
"I'm okay," Jean said. "I should keep an eye on Storm and Charles."
"I can do that," Logan said. He steered her firmly to the row of seats and pushed her down. "Sit. Rest. Stay off that leg."
"Okay." Jean nodded and started to strap herself in. Logan turned and met Scott's eyes. Scott nodded, slowly. Thanks.
"Shouldn't you be flying the plane?" Logan said.
Scott looked at him over Kurt's shoulder.
"I think I'm where I need to be," he said.
Rogue looked up at the two of them and frowned, one of Charles's expressions.
"Don't fight," she said.
"This isn't fighting," Logan said. "You've seen fighting."
"This is them getting along," Jean said. "Believe it or not."
"We're all going to have to do that," Rogue said. "Get along." She looked at Magneto, who raised an eyebrow.
"Don't you trust me?"
"You tried to kill me," she said, with little trace of her usual accent. "That doesn't inspire a tremendous amount of confidence."
Magneto shrugged.
"Not lately," he said. They seemed, Scott thought, to be sitting just a little too close together.
John watched the two of them, frowning. Bobby frowned, and glanced at John, as if to say, are they fighting or . . . John shrugged and looked back at Rogue and Magneto, who were still watching each other.
"You're weirding me out," John said.
"Sorry," Rogue said. "Am I being somebody else again?"
Magneto looked amused. Bobby scowled.
Scott rubbed his forehead. His headache was coming back.
Jean smiled up at him. She held out a hand to him, and he came to sit beside her. Her hand on his seemed almost fever-hot, and he wondered about that, but he was getting too tired to wonder much.
After a minute he put his head on her shoulder. The plane's engines hummed. If he didn't think about how wrong it was to hear the rise and fall of Magneto's voice over the hum, it was just another old familiar piece of background noise.
"It's just temporary, right?" he murmured, leaning on Jean. He wasn't sure if he meant Charles in Rogue's head or staying with the Brotherhood or the feeling that they were all falling and falling and hadn't quite hit bottom yet.
"Everything's temporary, Scott," she said, her hand on his hair.
He hadn't decided if he thought that was comforting or not before he fell asleep.