Wow, for once I have nothing to say, weird . . .

OUTFOXED

Chapter 10: All Snowed Up With No Place to Go

He was cold. That was the first thought that came to Todd Tolanski’s mind as he regained consciousness. And wet. But where exactly was he? His head was throbbing, all he remembered was the snow rushing down toward them and then an intense heat. Maybe he had hit his head. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at white - there was a huge dome of snow above him and a blanket of it below him, or maybe the dome was to the right of him and he was laying on the side of it, or . . . it was too hard to tell, all he could see was whiteness and it left him feeling incredibly disorientated.

Voices caught his attention behind his back - he closed his eyes again and listened carefully, not really wanting to be part of the conversation but definitely wanting to hear it. Todd had figured out that sometimes you actually learned more that way.

“Like, what are we going to do? How are we going to get out? ” Asked Kitty, sounding as though she was going to cry.

“It’s okay Kitty. I’m sure we’ll figure something out.” reassured Jean hurriedly, not sounding much more confident herself.

“Never mind how we’re going to get out, how’d we get in here in the first place?” asked Evan. Todd had been wondering that himself - domes of snow that protected people from avalanches just generally didn’t spring up out of nowhere.

“Who really cares? We’ve got more important things to worry about,” snapped Jean, losing her generally calm demeanor, “I can’t get Scott or Kurt to wake up.”

“Or Todd or Angeline for that matter.” came Lance’s voice from the opposite corner.

“Look, it’s yer fault we’re here in the first place. You worry about yer team and we’ll worry about ours,” replied Rogue harshly.

“Like you should really talk about team loyalty,” said Pietro coldly.

“Shut up, Pietro.”

“Dammit,” came Jean’s voice again. She must have really been frustrated about something, this wasn’t like her, “The communicators are broken and so’s Kurt’s watch.”

“So?” asked Evan. She must have shot him a dirty look. “I mean, what’s so bad about that?”

“Two things. Firstly, I can’t get a hold of the professor telepathically. I think were too far away and if the communicators are broken we’re at least going to be here for a night. And second of all, if Angeline regains consciousness, don’t you think she’ll wonder about Kurt being, oh, I don’t know, BLUE AND FUZZY!?” Jean was definitely losing her composed manor.

“I really don’t think she’ll care,” came Pietro’s reply, he obviously wasn’t taking Rogue’s threat to shut up too seriously.

“And why’s that?” came Rogue’s voice, dripping with contempt.

“If you haven’t noticed, she has a tail.”

Silence followed the simple statement, reverberating into infinity. The dome became quieter than soundlessness. This was just too good to pretend to be unconscious through. Todd stood up and walked over to where they were standing, almost nonchalantly.

Angeline did indeed have a thick, red tail with a white tip which was almost completely tucked under her body as she lay there, curled on her side, her chest rising and falling with the heavy breath of sleep. She also had pointed ears - barely visible through her curly hair and yet definitely there once you had noticed them.

She stirred and groaned, stretching her arms behind her head and opening her eyes, which widened immediately when she realized she had an audience. Her hand moved along her tail with slight horror but she recovered almost instantly.

Jean was the first to speak, “Who are you?”

Angeline opened her mouth, but Kitty cut in, “She’s a mutant hunter.” Her voice was malicious, vindictive, devoid of the hopelessness that was present in it seconds ago.

“Waz . . . a mutant ‘unter.” Angeline admitted, bowing her head, “A long time ago . . . but zis iz now and we ‘ave other zings to take care of. Zis dome could collapse at any second,” she said matter-of-factly, changing subjects. She held out her hands and sprayed from them a fine mist which froze almost instantly as it touched the walls, coating them with a layer of ice.

Everyone just stared at her, it was unbelievable. A mutant had been living amongst them, been friends with them, and they hadn’t even known. She focused her attention on Scott, who had turned an ashen gray. A pool of blood had left a dark red stain on the snow below his leg. Todd had to admit that he didn’t look all that healthy. Angeline put her fingers to his neck, her ear to his chest, and finishing by feeling his forehead and her own. Kitty frowned in her direction, obviously not trusting Angeline, but Jean held her shoulder, keeping her back.

“‘is pulse iz weak, breathing iz shallow. ‘E’s freezing cold. Jean, Evan, can you come ‘ere? I need your ‘elp.” Reluctantly, they joined Angeline, “Jean, I need you to hold Scott’s leg up so I can stop ze bleeding and set it - wiz your powers preferably, zat way I can get a good ‘old. And Evan, can you let out four spikez about zis long?” She held out her arms to show the length she wanted.

Evan stared at her blankly. He was thinking what they all were. She was a mutant hunter; she knew their powers; she had arrived in Bayville, a place with a high population of mutants, for no apparent reason a week ago. They knew nothing about her and she seemed to know everything about them.

“How do you know my power?” he asked, hesitantly.

She smiled mysteriously and paused before speaking, ripping off her left sleeve. A dark red scab was slashed across her upper and forearm, “Well you did do zis to me last Friday, but your power, all of your powerz, are ze reason I came to Bayville. I wanted to prevent zis.”

“An avalanche?” asked Pietro.

She laughed quietly, “No, not zis specifically, but zis . . . ” she searched for the word and her eyes fell to where the two groups stood, a visible barrier between them, “zis divide, zis unexplained ‘atred for each other. It’z ze same everywhere I go. You zink we would all stand together, wouldn’t you? Instead we build barriers. Are we zat ashamed and unsure of who we are?”

Todd just stared. She was right. Deep inside he knew she was right, they all did. No one had ever laid it out that plainly before them.

But that was stupid, she didn’t understand the fights they had been through, the hatred, the competition, or what it felt like to lose - to feel inferior - to envy someone that should have the same privileges you did - to live in a house while someone else lived in a mansion - the jealousy - it was all very real when you dealt with it every day.

Or did they? Were they just little kids caught up in a play war that would end when the neighborhood mothers called, like when he was a child? Were they just unwitting pawns, manipulated and soon to be tossed aside? Were they worth even less than that? Not just the Brotherhood but the X-men too. Were they struggling against the same blinding current?

“I know who I am,” replied Kitty, bitingly, “I also know I will never be on the same side as someone who tried to kill myself and my team.” She stared cruelly in Lance’s direction.

“Your own team’s just as bad. Zey won’t ‘elp me save ‘im.” Angeline said quietly, Todd had to strain to hear her. She glanced quickly at Jean and Evan, then back down to Scott, “And ‘e’s on your idiotic team. Teams, ” she scoffed, “are nothing. Zere just anozer way for us to hide.”

Kitty glared indignantly while Angeline knelt beside Scott and began trying to help him herself. Bright red blood gushed over the bandage that was once her sleeve. She spoke to herself, “It’z no good. Ze bone has to be aligned or ze bleeding won’t stop.” She sighed and tried again, grunting a little with the struggle.

Jean and Evan knelt beside her and began to help. The dome was silent except for the sickening crack of Scott’s femur popping back into place, which echoed back at them fiercely as Angeline set the leg. She took off her coat and placed it over Scott’s chest to warm his vitals.

“You know what, Angeline?” Kitty said her name as though it was taboo, “You can stay here and play nurse and act all nice while you’re planning on killing us anyway, but you’re right, we do have powers. I have powers. And I can get us out of here.”

“‘ow long can you ‘old your breath?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Anger was present in Kitty’s voice, but there was something else, too. Panic. She was afraid of Angeline.

“Look, zere may be five feet of snow on top of zis dome and zere may be fifty, do you really want to take zat chance?” Kitty fell silent.

Angeline lit a small blue fire right beside where Scott and Kurt lay, checking the latter’s breathing and covering him with her sweatshirt. Todd immediately felt the heat pour over him and instinctively drew nearer, as did everyone else. It was then they realized the fire wasn’t large enough for them all to crowd around it and stay warm.

“Look,” said Rogue, “It’s Lance’s team’s fault we’re trapped down here. We should have the fire first.” The x-men nodded their agreement.

“It was an accident,” said Pietro. He and Rogue really didn’t get along, even more so than the rest of the team, “He didn’t mean to cause an avalanche. Why should we all freeze? Why shouldn’t we have a fire, too?”

Angeline was standing on the outside of the circle, a look of disgust on her face. “Take your damn fire, all of you.” Her voice was bitter. The fire beside Scott leapt higher and she started another about ten feet away - between where Pietro and Rogue were arguing, causing them both to jump back in surprise. “I’ll be over at ze other end if you need me.”

For the third time that day, they all fell silent.

To be continued . . .

Urg, exams are going to drive me mad!!!!! MAD, I TELLS YA, MAD! (Ahem . . . sorry, back to the fic.) I know Kitty seems a little O.O.C. but I figured that in a crisis she really seemed the most likely to be the first to snap. Jean’s a tad O.O.C. too but she’s just worried about Scott. ^_^ See you at the next chapter (hopefully)! You know the drill, REVIEW!!!! Chp 11