Emma Frost is tired of trying to be good (ice_queen) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-08-13 10:48:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, anya corazon (spider-girl), emma frost (white queen), logan howlett (wolverine), nathan summers (cable), scott summers (cyclops) |
Who: Cora Mallory, Logan Howlett, Emma, Nate, and Scott Summers
Where: Chez Summers
What: fixing the bodyswap
When: 1:30 am Sunday
Warnings/Rating: PG-13 because everyone is cranky
Status complete
Emma was asleep on the floor, her soldering iron still in hand. She was close to finishing, but she couldn’t stay awake a moment longer. She looked exhausted, even in sleep, and there were deep, dark circles under her eyes. A pile of empty water bottles and dirty plates sat in the empty bedroom all around the machine.
Nate smiled as he approached Emma, eyed the whole area, then gently took the iron from her. He then began to quietly work. And a few minutes later, then nodded. Finally. He could feel the air somehow growing rarer, and the very moment approaching. And he sighed and gently reached over to wake his mother. “Mom? It’s time to wake up. It’s time to make this work.”
Then quietly. “Professor. Call directly to Cora’s phone, in three minutes.”
Equally quietly. “Yes, Nathan.”
Emma frowned and rubbed her face, startling a little. “Oh, oh God, I need to finish-” She looked at the machine. “You finished it, didn’t you?”
Nate nodded. “You were sleeping and I knew the final fixing as well as you did. We went over it enough the last day, once we knew how to do it.” He smiled and hugged her. “Now, we just need to get Cora here, wake up her telepathy, and then... zap.” He smiled faintly at her.
“Hope so.” Emma said, stretching out. “Oh God, my back is horrible.” She stood up. “I need to wake Scott and leave a note for Logan, I don’t want him charging through the house like an asshole.”
“Makes sense. I’ll call Cora in and get her here and we can reconvene in like five or ten minutes?” He waggled his eyebrows, his Cora-shaped eyebrows, at his mom.
Emma nodded, stroking Cora’s hair softly. “I’m sad I never got a chance to braid your hair. I suppose I’ll just have to wait a few years and subject your sister to it.” She rubbed her face again, stumbling to the bedroom. “I’ll meet you both back in the empty bedroom.”
***
She sighed and dropped her mental illusion as she walked into the bedroom. With his heightened senses she was certain that Scott was already awake. Any noise seemed to bother him. “Scott?”
Scott sat up in the bed, rubbing his head with a groan. God he hated Logan’s body. “Yeah?”
“We’re going to run the machine again.” She sat on the bed, taking one of his hands. “If it works you’ll likely find yourself next Velma, and Logan will be here. I just wanted to let you know, so there would be no surprises. I’d appreciate it if you’d be in the room when we do it, so I can explain things to Logan.”
“I’ll get dressed.” Scott slipped out of the bed. He might has well give Logan some dignity.
Emma nodded. “I get the feeling that I don’t want to know what state you’ll wake up in.” Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “But I just want this done and over. I’ll call a cab for you both before we begin.”
“That’s a good idea,” Scott finished dressing, then grabbed a pair of cuffs from their special box, and smirked. “In case he goes into some sort of homicidal rage.”
Emma laughed. “What, so I can piss him off worse?” She kissed Logan’s cheek, her fingers brushing over the side of his face. “I’d love the opportunity to work off some of the frustration of this week. I just hope I’ll get the opportunity to do so in a more enjoyable way tomorrow morning.” Or afternoon, at this rate. “After you shower in bleach.”
“Bleach might be a little painful,” he pointed out, helpfully.
Emma snorted and kissed his forehead. “We all have to suffer a little, love.” She pulled away from him, straightening her clothes. “Let’s see if Nate has Cora here yet.” She pulled out her cell phone and started to dial the cab company as she walked back to the room with the machine.
***
Nate smiled as he watched her go, then the phone call to Cora kicked in and he waited until the phone picked up. “Cora, this is Nate. Ready to end this bodyswap? I think the machine is ready.” He smiled as he said it.
“Hi!” Cora was managing okay, but she was still greatly relieved that it was almost over. She was so ready to be herself again. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Want me to get Professor to give you a life? He’s got the bodyslide engines warmed up.” He smiled to himself, bouncing at the idea of fixing this and being with her.
“Yeah, that would be great.” She couldn’t hear Harry or her mom up yet, and biking would take longer than she wanted, even with Nate’s legs to pedal her there. “Let me just leave a note in case mom and dad wake up.”
“Okay!” He waited for her to leave the note, and a few minutes later, she was materializing there next to him. “Hey you.” And he hugged her, before leading her toward the back room.
Cora signaled to Nate (and Professor) when she was ready, hugging her friend, and following him eagerly. “What do you need me to do?”
“Just relax.” Emma said with a smile, reaching out telepathically. She cordoned Cora’s mind off from Nate’s powers, then slowly reactivated them. It was hard work, especially for Emma’s already exhausted brain, but she kept them under control long enough to flip the switch.
The machine nearly took the last of her energy, and she was leaning on the wall when the switch finished, but it had worked, as far as she could tell. “Nate, Cora, is everything alright?”
Nate smiled then and stepped to his mother and kissed her cheek and as he did so, energy flowed, washing tiredness away, and headache, and fatigue. His power embraced her for a moment, rendering her body and clothing as fresh as if it had woken just from a long sleep and showered and washed.
“I am feeling great!” He smiled over to Cora then.
Cora smiled, smoothing her hands down the front of her clothes. Short-ish. Curvy. Her hand reached up to pull her hair over her shoulder. Yep. “It’s all good.”
Snikt! Logan’s claws popped as he was jolted awake and then standing upright. His mind rushed to catalogue all the smells that were hitting him. New ones and old ones and ones that washing just didn’t get rid of.
He growled.
Emma turned to diamond and moved between the kids and Logan. “Don’t be an asshole. There’s a cab coming for you.”
Nate sighed. “Logan, the body swap has been reversed. Go home. Your body was treated with respect in this house and I ask that you respect it in turn.” His voice was gentle, and not hostile. And he poked Cora with his mind, speaking quietly. Say hello to Logan, Who is sometimes nice and not annoying. Sometimes.
Cora smiled, tilting her head as she peered around Nate and Emma at the Wolverine. She waved, girlish and innocent, and mostly harmless. “Hi, Logan! I’m Corazon.”
“Hey,” Logan said. His claws sheathed, and he grunted at Nate. He really didn’t give two fucks about anything right now, not the least of which was being polite. “Next time you get the bright fuckin’ idea to mess with somethin’, think twice about it. This coulda gone a lot worse. Brains meltin’ out ears, flippin’ the switch from good to evil, fuck, makin’ people think they’re twelve year old girls.” Which was apparently the worst fate. Ever.
Emma rolled her eyes. “There’s a cab coming for you, I suggest you make sure you’re in it.”
Nate sighed and stared at Logan, no emotion in his voice. “If you ever listened to your own advice, you might be a reasonable person to make that speech, Logan. But now is not the time to argue this. Go home to your girlfriend. Please.” And Nate held onto his temper, despite himself. His power had not been used in a week and right now? That was tempting.
To Cora, he spoke softly. I’m sorry. Normally he is a lot more sane and calm around younger people. He meant no offense to the wording.
"Go to hell, Summers. You're more stuck-up and self-righteous than your father an' that's sayin' a whole lot." A week's worth of frustration was bubbling up, and he'd had it up to his neck with anything related to the Summerses. He sneered, and resisted the urge to punch Nate. It would feel really really good and accomplish nothing but make him even more self-righteous. Sometimes Logan thought the world would be better off without the Summers bloodline.
He turned to go.
Emma wasn’t sure how she could get a headache in her diamond form. She assumed she was imagining it because she was so irritated. “Nate, take your girlfriend home.” She was too tired and cranky to deal with any of these people right now.
We should have made him think he was a twelve-year-old girl, Cora thought at Nate, when Logan had gone. She didn’t care if Emma overheard that particular thought, but she didn’t say it out loud in case Logan’s super ears were still listening. The world would be a less grouchy place.
She slipped her hand into Nate’s, and tugged him toward the door, giving Emma a smile over her shoulder. “Thanks for everything.”
“You’re welcome.” Emma said, shedding her diamond form. “Thank God the cab’s here.” She rubbed her eyes, ready to sleep for a week.