Subject: [OTL]: (alt. Angel/Psylocke/X-folk) Rebuke (PG-15; sequel to Twist of the Feathe Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 17:12:44 -0700 (PDT) From: Phil Hartman will1@earthling.net Rebuke by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: Jake and Jesse are mine. The rest are Marvel's. It's all fiction. No money is being made off of this. Etc. NOTE: Some language, thematic elements, imagery, etc. ... NOTE 2: AU. Sequel to "Twist of the Feather," although you don't have to read that to understand this ... ------------------------------------------------------- 9/8/2003: X-Mansion Medlab: 06:34 hrs EDT: ------------------------------------------------------- His tongue was thick. His tongue wasn't supposed to be thick. If he was dead, as he'd expected he would be by now, then it should've been made of light. Assuming he'd gone up instead of down, and - - no. She'd stopped him from drinking himself into a painless state, where the tumors couldn't keep eating away his concentration. Which meant, much to Warren Worthington the Third's chagrin, that he was still alive. "Sonofabitch. I'm even feeling better somehow - kind of," Warren mumbled as he tried to roll over in bed - he'd been on his stomach, apparently. He bit back a scream when one of his tattered wings - still attached, which he'd seriously NOT anticipated, a slowly-giddy part of himself retorted - bumped the metal guardrail of the medbed. "Pain. Good. Focus," Warren groaned as he managed to roll over and sit up. He was gratified to find that he was wearing boxer shorts under his hospital gown, and looked across the room. Five people with very angry faces glared back at him. "You selfish, masochistic, suicidal idiot," Jean Grey-Summers sniffed, dabbing at her eyes as her husband Scott put an arm around her and glared at their mutual classmate and teammate. "Good morning to all of you, O People Whom I Never Asked To Save My Life. Didn't the sick-ass black pus and the massive molting hint that it was a little too late to drag me in here?" Warren snarled. He hadn't WANTED to die, but the cancer had spread throughout his body in a matter of days. The fact that it had apparently started in his wings had been a particularly terrifying and yet appropriate smack upside the head, as far as Warren was concerned. #Cut a deal with Apocalypse, drugged and captive or not, and you pay in spades. I'd been feeling like crap since May, and when I dumped Betsy, I figured I didn't deserve to go on. Maybe I just wanted to die with dignity,# Warren reflected, feeling guilty as the other original X-Men and Charles Xavier glared back at him. "That is such a sorry excuse for avoiding medical treatment! And don't yell at me for reading your thoughts, Warren. You're broadcasting all the way to the first floor," Jean shot back. "Damnit! I didn't ask for your pity, all right!? I didn't want my wings hacked off again, and I wasn't going to drag Betsy through the emotional agony of sitting by my bedside! This wasn't suicide, it was a choice!" Warren snapped. "It. Was. Cruel. You used your image inducer and a hell of a lot of cologne to make us think you were reasonably healthy. Warren, we're your closest friends. Why the hell wouldn't you come to us? Do you think we're Hodge? Jesus, the last thing we want is for you to lose your wings again," Bobby Drake pleaded. "It was also tactically unwise and terribly unprofessional, not to mention just plain shitty. Don't look at me like I've been replaced by a Skrull, mind-controlled or possessed. I'm allowed to be pissed off every once in a while," Scott growled at the now-gaping Warren. "Besides, Warren, you need to remember that your high-paid doctors aren't mutant specialists. Your 'tumors,' while undoubtedly horribly painful, disfiguring and highly disturbing, weren't cancer," Hank McCoy said, scratching his muzzle as he gave Warren a medical chart. Warren looked at it, expecting to see the ruling of sarcoma that his private doctors had issued. Instead, his eyes bulged as he read, "'... temporary nodal contaminant displacement, resulting in tumor formation' ... 'massive orifice-displacement of contaminants' ..." "Surprise. It turns out that your 'tumors' were the result of your body manifesting a powerful healing factor," Hank said, smiling for the first time - which meant that yes, he did look much like a giant blue tiger. "Holy shit. So all of this pain and crap I've been suffering through for the past two weeks wasn't terminal cancer, but my body binging a load of garbage. Oh hell ..." Warren groaned, facepalming. "Warren ... I'm sorry I went off on you. But you really overreacted to all of this. You really thought you couldn't come to us?" Jean asked in a calmer tone. "After everything else I've been through, Jean, maybe part of me just wanted some rest. I know, I know - I'm a dumbass. I should've trusted - oh God. Not now," Warren stammered as the shadows started to roil. Betsy Braddock stepped clear of the shadows and sat beside Warren's bed, taking his blue hands in both of her finely-manicured ones. "Hello, Warren," Psylocke said, giving her ex-boyfriend a surpisingly warm smile. "Hello, Betsy. Thanks for not letting me wake up with a hangover in my apartment," Warren said as he tried to be polite - the previous evening had been something of a blur, after he'd gotten a bottle of Scotch and decided to get a buzz on. But there was one thing he was pretty sure of. "Betsy, I've been a complete, absolute and utter asshole. I pushed you away months ago because I thought we'd never work out. And now I've found out that I've got a healing factor, when I thought I had cancer. So if you want to hit me and walk out, please, go ahead," Warren said. He deserved it, after all, he thought. She'd fallen for Neal Shaara after they'd joined Storm's "X-Treme" team months earlier. Instead, Betsy grabbed Warren's gown in both hands and pulled him to her, kissing him deeply. "Neal is just a very good friend. We spoke last night, and realized that while we can confide in each other, we're not lovers," Betsy said after they'd come up for air. "You and I, on the other hand, faced Kwannon, Sabretooth, the Crimson Dawn, Magneto-as-Erik-the-Red, and bloody Apocalypse. You gave up a piece of your soul for me, Warren. You got me through the bloody insanity I faced after my powers were switched at Akkaba. If you think for one instant that your mistake is going to end our relationship, you either truly think little of me, or you're an even bigger idiot than I presumed." "Uh - Door Number Two?" Warren pleaded, managing a tearful smile. The other original X-Men slipped out, leaving only Xavier to blush a bit as Betsy kissed Warren again. "Elizabeth, perhaps after you two have talked, we can check your shields as you'd asked?" Xavier offered as he walked out with his cane. "Certainly, Professor," Betsy said amicably. Xavier left, allowing Betsy to grin wickedly at Warren. ~Surprise,~ she sent telepathically, enjoying the shocked look on his face as he "heard" her. "But - your powers - how - Betsy - mmMMMPH -" ~Hush, love. Rest now, and remember: TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS. Like your girlfriend, for one, hmm?~ ~Oh God, I don't deserve you.~ ~That thinking was what got you in trouble the last time. You're a good man, Warren, just horribly insecure. I must say, that's more than a little surprising. I thought you got over that?~ ~... Maybe this is my version of a midlife crisis. OK, so I do deserve you.~ ~Better. ~My name is Warren Worthington. I'm a good person, I help rescue kittens, and darnit, people like me.~ ~Don't push it, Warren. I hate SNL.~ ~As if John Cleese is high art?~ ~Philistine!~ ~Hey, I felt for the dead parrot.~ ~Birds of a feather?~ ~Ha. I'll show you how dead I am ... and thank you.~ ~Bloody lackwit. You're welcome. Now move over. I want snuggle time.~ ~I'm wounded!~ ~That's why you should be thankful I'm a telepath. I can soothe those nerve endings ...~ ~I'm more thankful you're an incredibly beautiful woman whose capacity to forgive is only exceeded by her - oh, my. I almost went very sexist there for a moment.~ ~It's not sexist if I decree it's not sexist. Remember, mine are real. Now rest.~ ~... I love you, Betsy.~ ~Love you too, Warren.~ ------------------------------------------------------- NOT the end ... ;)