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=BH= The Lake - Deep Forest - Abandoned Mining Facility
It's chilly out, but not so cold that quiet solitude at the lake is not a preferable option to the refinery at present. Mystique sits silently at the edge of the dock, legs crossed under her and spine held straight as she watches the dark surface. The moon is large, shining overhead and sending silver to reflect off the tiniest of ripples, and a clear sky makes the constellations overhead clearly visible.
Pyro's approach isn't subtle in the least. He snaps twigs, crushes leaves, even hums a bit on his own way out to the lake. It's not even until he reaches the end of the path that he recognizes he's not alone. The humming stops abruptly, and he pauses, before stepping onto the end of the dock. "Sorry, didn't realize anyone else would be out here."
Mystique does not move with Pyro's approach, save for a slow turning of her head to watch him as he steps up onto the dock. She's silent for a long moment and then inclines her head in an allowing nod.
Pyro hesitates a moment before proceeding out onto the dock, dropping down to sit on the wood. "Bit colder up here than back there," he says, zipping his jacket a bit tighter against the wind.
"I should think that would not be a problem for you," Mystique suggests, still unmoving save for the tracking pivot of her head.
"Yeah, well, not so much around here," Pyro says, taking the comment for approval. The lighter appears in hand, and a small ball of flame appears in his palm, radiating more heat than its size would indicate. "Hate winter. Specially around Christmas. Supposed to be 90 degrees about now. Anything new up here?"
"You would have to ask Magneto," Mystique answers cleanly, turning her face toward the warmth of the flame. "Your control is quite good these days."
"Yeah, well, fine-tuning's about all the practice I can get in down there," Pyro shrugs. He gives the ball a spin, setting it slowly rotating about on his index finger. "Haven't had a chance to talk to him yet. Masia's probably told you guys about the last thing. Got a couple other things in mind. Needed to get Toad to recharge my suit, though, so figured it was a good time to come back."
"I see." It's somewhat unclear what it is that Mystique is seeing, but her nod is firm in the fact that she is seeing it.
Pyro sits there, watching the fire in front of him, running through his lists of activities. "Was...there something wrong with that?" he finally asks. "I thought it was pretty ace idea."
Mystique's gaze snaps suddenly to Pyro with the quickness of one pulling their attention back from distraction. She blinks at him in momentary confusion before asking, carefully, "Why should there be something wrong with that?"
"Didn't think there would be," Pyro's response is just as careful, wary even. The spinning stops, the fireball just hanging there as he examines her. "You just...seem kinda short, so I'm hoping I'm not on your shit list or anything."
"Is there a reason you should be?" Mystique's gaze remains even and unblinking, mildly suspicious in return.
"Not that I can think of," Pyro says, a bit more confidently than he's perhaps feeling.
"Excellent to hear," Mystique answers, and there's a dry edge to her voice that perhaps resembles bitterness as she turns back to the expanse of the lake.
"Okay," Pyro says, quite ready to drop the subject. The ball resumes a counterclockwise spin, and the lighter clacks open and closed a few times. "Magneto's around then?"
"I do not know."
Pyro blinks in surprise, a "Thought you knew everything around here," escaping before he thinks better of it.
"I have been away," Mystique offers by stiff way of explanation.
"Ah. Washington again?"
"New York."
"Didn't know you were down there. Things go well?" Pyro divides the fire in two, the balls opposite each other in curcuit around his upright hand.
"No." Mystique does not react to the pyrotheatrics going on next to her.
"Oh." Again. Surprise. "Anything you want me follow up with?" Pyro asks. "Since I'm down there, I mean. Not that you couldn't do it yourself, of course."
"Not particularly," Mystique answers, words carefully spaced and precise. "I believe I have managed to make quite enough of a stir for the time."
"We're getting pretty good at that, I guess." Pyro says, letting the lights wink out. "Maybe if we stir stuff up enough, thing's'll eventually change."
"Things always change." Mystique does not sound particularly hopeful.
"Yeah, well, anything we can do to help evolution out a bit."
"Do you think that is what we are doing?"
"Yeah, something like that," Pyro shrugs. "Showing humans the future. Give the ones who don't accept that a little...incentive. Or push them out the door."
"Truly." The word hovers somewhere between statement and question, and after a moment Mystique finally turns to fix her gaze on Pyro. "You feel successul, then?"
"Depends on which day you ask," Pyro rolls his eyes. "Today's pretty ace. Other days...yeah, feels like we're spinning our wheels."
"But today," Mystique echoes with a sort of quiet amusement, "is ace."
"Today's ace," Pyro grins, not afraid to poke at his choice of words.
"Good to hear," Mystique murmurs, and her gaze fixes once more on the lake ahead.
Pyro pushes up to his feet. "Well, I guess I'll let you get back to...whatever you're up to."
"Of course," Mystique allows, and as he stands she falls silent once more.
Pyro shoves his hands in his pockets. "G'night then."
"Good night, John."
Pyro runs into Mystique, hoping for a bit of affirmation, and picks something else up instead.
It's well after dark, and Pyro's slipped through the fence to stand amid the construction site, abandoned for the night. Tonight, there will be no killing, nor maiming.
A large upscale, condo complex, or so claims the sign out front. The framework of the place is now completely finished, representing several months of work, and they've begun to fill in the gaps. Pyro huddles against a wooden, temporary wall, shivering against the night chill, not daring fire that might be seen before he's ready.
Cain does not feel the cold, or if he does he's not letting on. "What exactly are we doing here?" he asks, eyes scanning around alert for trouble. "Because if you've called me here to help you bury bodies I'm heading home now."
Pyro glances up, leveling the other with a stare. "Oh, please. You think I bother /burying/ people?" he asks, pushing off his perch and heading toward the structure. "Cremation. Which sounds pretty nice about now. So damn, bloody cold," he growls, wiping a nose, dripping from the cold, on his sleeve. "Okay, so this foreman was hiring week or so ago. Nice little ad in the paper, 'Mutants need not apply.' Figure we'll set him back a bit. Thought you might knock down this frame a bit better'n I could," he says, in final explanation, giving the metal a soft rap with his knuckles.
Cain rolls his eyes. "Let me get this straight," he replies striding forward - without thought for stealth. "You're asking me to play wrecking ball?"
"Oh, come on," Pyro replies, a smirk to his face and tone. "Don't even try to tell me you won't enjoy every minute of it."
"You're buying the drinks afterwards," Cain informs sternly, his eyes skimming over the structure in front of him in an attempt to work out where best to strike. "You want this thing flattened right?"
"Preferrably with enough rubble to keep 'em cleaning up for weeks." Pyro seems to be enjoying this supervisor stuff. "And sure, get this done, and we'll go get ourselves rotten."
"I don't think you've got enough cash for that kid," Cain remarks dryly. "I haven't been able to get properly drunk since I was younger than you." The Juggernaut takes a few steps back, circling around the building to be, then with a sudden burst of speed he charges into a steel girder - which collapses sending chunks of concrete crashing down into the portable office set up for the site foreman to use.
"Sucks to be you. We'll give it a go, though." Pyro smirks as the first crash sounds out, and the little office ceiling folds into itself. From within the folds of his coat, he pulls out a spraypaint can and begins marking letters out on the far wall. "MUTANTS CAN BUILD THINGS TOO!"
Cain makes another assault on a structurally supporting wall, causing the beginnings of the building to begin leaning at a disturbing angle. "We should have done this during the daytime, the more people who see the better," he declares loudly.
"Yeah, no," Pyro says, glancing over his shoulder from his work of art in progress. "Didn't want people inside. Show them it's not all /just/ about hurting people. And besides, /you/ might be able to just walk away, but I rather like being on this side of freedom."
"I'm pretty good at making sure people get the hell away from somewhere," Cain informs with a narrow smile. "And I guess this means I can't leave a few explosives under the rubble to make the clean up more interesting?" With a chuckle he waits, leaving the building to adjust to it's new position while he circles - plotting his next attack.
Pyro finishes the dot on the exclamation point, then steps back to survey his handywork. He gives it a nod, then turns to give the building a look see. "Couple more good shoves, and you've earned yourself a drink," Pyro says, approving of the swaying structure above.
Cain snorts with disapproval. Then, taking a few steps forward, he reaches out and gives one hard push to an innocuous girder. For a moment it seems like nothing has happened, then with an almighty crash the building to be topples over. "Easy," he notes.
"Not too shabby," Pyro states, watching as the building begins to come down. "Well, set the owner back a bit, maybe get the foreman fired. Small steps. Anyways, cops should be here any minute. How 'bout that drink?"
"Don't worry about the cops," Cain says with a shrug - busy dusting himself off. "I've paid someone to have a breakdown on the main road between here and the nearest police station. Should take another few minutes for them to arrive." Striding confidently through the wreckage, Cain laughs loudly. Then with a wolfish grin he adds "Shame we can't knock the guys house down too while we're at it."
"Brains /and/ brawn. I'm impressed," Pyro snarks at the man, before slipping out through the fence. There's a couple by-standards, staring in shock. "Might want to get lost," he calls at them, a jerk of his head indicating the shadowed frame of Juggernaut behind him. And just like that, they're hurrying down the sidewalk. See, not everything /needs/ fire to solve it. It's just more fun that way.
Cain shrugs his massive shoulders. "Practice makes perfect," he informs. "When you've been ruining people and causing carnage for as long as I have you learn a few tricks."
Pyro gives an allowing nod. "I'm still getting used to this planning ahead thing," he admits, setting a brisk pace away from the demolition site. "More a charge in and burn til everything stops moving kinda guy."
"Well either you'll grow out of it, or you'll get to spend a long time pushing up daisy's," Cain replies with a deep chuckle. "You got any more jobs lined up? I ran into this guy, creates a cold kind of fire, who I thought might be worth trying out. Doubt it'd be worth bothering Magneto without knowing he'd be up to it first though...."
"Fire is not supposed to be cold," Pyro sniffs at the thought. "Dunno. Guess I could meet him. See what he's like. Test him out a bit. Nothing official. Magneto'd probably kill me for that."
Cain pulls a scrap of paper from his pocket and offers it to Pyro. "Names Ian, think you can reach him on this number," he suggests. "Kid has a bit of an attitude problem, but nothing he can't be broken out of."
"Attitude can be good," Pyro comments, taking the paper, glancing then shoving it in his pocket. "Yeah, I'll give him a call. See what he's got."
"Once you teach it a little respect," Cain adds with a shrug. "So, to the bar?"
"To the bar, big guy," Pyro agrees, pointing past the man at the cross street before turning to head toward a small hole-in-the-wall pub.
Pyro and Cain smash some things up. And they don't even kill anyone!