Disclaimer:  The characters in this story belong to Marvel Comics, to
whom I have no connection.  No copyright infringement is intended.
Please don't sue me, I'm not worth much.  This work of fan fiction was
produced by me, and is not to be archived or posted elsewhere without my
permission. Thanks.

All comments are welcome at  montage@geocities.com

Cold Relations Part 4/?

        Scott sat at the table next to Hank and Ororo; Betsy sat across from
them.  All of them were staring at nothing in particular and eating
their breakfast.

        Nobody had said a word in the fifteen minutes that they had been
eating.  Hank sat his fork down, "I think that we need to discuss what
we're going to do about Bobby and Emma.  Sean and the students can't
very well take on the Hellfire club, or whoever it is who has them.  And
breakfast is just way too quiet without Robert here to freeze someone's
orange juice or make fun of Scott or do *something*!"

        "He makes fun of me?" Scott asked, sounding more than a bit surprised.

        "Constantly," Storm replied dryly.

        "That is not the point!  We need to think of some way to help him.  We
can't just leave them there," Hank pointed out.

        "What do you want to do with only four people here?  Or did you forget
that over half of the team is gone?" Scott stated.

        Hank sighed, "Not a whole lot, I suppose.  But we can't just do
nothing."

        "I'm sorry, Hank.  I know you and Bobby are close, but there's nothing
we *can* do until we have at least a *few* more people to go.  I wish it
were different, but our hands are tied."

        Henry got up and silently exited the kitchen, leaving the rest of them
in silence.

* * * * * *

        Emma sat in the corner of the cell, silently cursing God for putting
her in the situation she was in; and Bobby for being an ass.

        Neither of them had spoken to the other since their fight the night
before.  They had been sitting in opposite corners, sometimes glaring
one another, sometimes feigning sleep; but most of the time they sat and
stared at nothing.  At the moment Emma was watching Bobby make small ice
sculptures of animals.

        Their powers weren't gone, just dramatically reduced in strength.
Enough so that the only person's thoughts Emma could read were
Bobby's...and even then she had to try harder than she normally would
have.  She imagined Bobby was having a deal of difficulty in his
creations.  Not only did they melt minutes after he produced them, she
could feel his frustration.

        ~Frost, get out of my head!~

        Emma jumped as the thought ran through his mind...and hers.  She hadn't
even realized that she had been reading his thoughts, even if she wasn't
paying much attention to them.  She glanced at his face, but quickly
turned away at the icy glare that greeted her.  She'd never seen him so
angry.  Not even when she'd refused to show him how to further his
powers.  But aside from the anger there was a fear...of a thought he was
afraid that she had read.  She raised her eyebrows and cut off the
telepathic link with him.

* * * * * *

        "Would you please shut up?  Your endless prattling and nagging is
giving me a headache!"

        "Well excuse me, oh high and mighty Lord," her sarcasm was blatant.

        "I'm sorry, it's been a bad couple of days."

        "I'm sure it has," her eyes flashed and she tossed something onto the
table in front of him before turning to stride from the room.  She would
have been quite disconcerted if she had turned and seen the smile on his
face.

        He stared at it for a few moments before reaching for it.  The door
opened and someone approached him.

        "We have a problem," the young man looked up at the person who'd
entered, drawing his attention from the object in front of him.

        "What might that be?" the man asked as he sat down.

        "The fact that Miss Frost's friends know where she is," the man said
angrily, "I don't know why you insist on messing with her, why not just
kill her and be done with it?"

        "She has her uses to us," the elder man said pointedly.  "Her friend,
on the other hand, we could easily dispose of.  He is of no use to us
that I can see."

        The other man nodded, "Unless,"he leaned forward,"We could use him to
pursued the White Queen to work for us."

        His companion smiled, "I like the way you think, boy.  Tessa said she
seemed quite fond of him; I think perhaps it will provide the
proper...incentive...for her to do as we say."

        "She is mine when we're done with her," the younger man said, "as we
agreed?"

        "Of course my dear lad, is that not the reason you have decided to join
me in my objective?"

        The other man nodded grimly as the other stood and turned to go.

        He picked up the object in front of him and turned it over; his left
brow rose slightly, "Death?" he made the comment to no one in
particular, his voice sounding oddly amused.

* * * * * *

        Emma looked up at the figure that stood before her.  whoever it was,
they were clad in black with a hooded cloak that covered most of their
face.  A member of Shinobi's little toy Hellfire Club?

        "Do you need something, or did you just come to watch me suffer?" the
edge in Emma's voice could have cut glass.

        The person took a shocked step back as though she'd reached out and
smacked them, which she was considering at the moment.  She decided to
see if she could get the person to slip and reveal the reason they were
being held; or better yet, who was responsible.

        "If you're going to stand there mute as a tree and stare, you may as
well leave.  I can guarantee that nothing wonderful is going to happen
that will entertain you."

        When the figure simply stood and stared at her, she let out an
exaggerated sigh and turned away from them.  She noticed, from the
corner of her eye, that the person turned to glance at Bobby quickly
then turned back to her.  After a few more moments they turned and
ascended the stairs to disappear from sight.

        "Are you always so charming?"

        Emma turned to glare at Bobby.  It was the first thing he had said to
her since the night before.  He wasn't looking at her, but at the drops
of water that he was freezing as they dripped from the ceiling.  Each
one fell to shatter almost soundlessly on the floor in front of him.

        She didn't say a word.  He looked at her expectantly a minute or so
later.

        "Yes," she said, glad she'd been able to keep her temper in check.  He
frowned.

        "Go to Hell, Frost."

        Emma's smirk was malicious, "It's gotta be better than this."

        He turned away from her in anger...or had she hurt his feelings?  She
couldn't tell.  She almost felt bad...almost.

Just a note to anyone who would like to archive this (or already is): if
you need me to send you the parts as I finish them instead of getting
them from untold-l YOU NEED TO E-MAIL ME AND TELL ME!  I don't read
minds, unfortunately:)  Same thing if you already asked me to archive it
and you need the previous parts sent; if you haven't gotten them yet,
they're not coming for some reason and you need to let me know.  Thanks
again to all of you who have taken the interest and time to archive it!
I appreciate it:)

Thanks also to all of you who've mailed me to tell me what you think.
I'm sorry if I didn't reply; nothing personal, but I've had a LOT to do
lately:)

~Montage~