MUTANT AGITATOR

Emma was often at the institute late at night, in her office, and she wasn’t exactly surprised to find Betsy in the break room. She’d just been passing by, on her way to where she knew she’d find Scott overly involved in his own work, when she heard Betsy’s voice and paused in the doorway. Crossing her arms, she studied her appearance with a small frown. “Is sweating a requirement?” She asked coolly, but it was far from an immediate rejection. 

“No, but it may happen whether you like it or not,” she replied. Betsy knew that she couldn’t rely on her powers alone, especially now that the people who stood against them had the technology to neutralize the x-gene. She would have to learn how to fight well and fight through the nausea and lightheadedness that came along with prolonged exposure to the tech. 

Peter should have been sleeping at that time of day, but Foggy’s words were keeping him up. Suffice to say, Foggy was a bit surprised to see Peter walking about the apartment when the sun was high in the sky. Sure, there were questions, but none that he wanted to answer honestly, so he figured he’d get out and just walk. Fresh air would do him some good, he hoped. He knew a sad soul when he saw one, so Peter made his way to the woman on the bench and carefully sat down in a space beside her - with hands clasped and in his lap, he looked up at City Hall before turning to her with a half smile on his face. “Y’know, I think they’re open.” It was an attempt at a joke, one he wasn’t quite sure stuck its landing.

Betsy raised an eyebrow. “You ever been inside?” she asked. There was a certain atmosphere in City Hall now and she wasn’t sure if it was just something she felt because she was doing the work that would certainly earn her a lot of hatred or because there was something seriously off with the city’s administration. She wanted to get a second opinion, but she didn’t know of anyone else who had gone in there, and certainly not anyone else who would see the world differently than she did. Most mutants would balk at going anywhere near a government official these days. 

It took Scott a little while to figure out that she was talking about Gabe. It didn’t seem worth pointing out that he was a grown man at that point and not a kid. So he picked up the file and thumbed through it until he had a picture and a name.

“Want to take a field trip and help me confirm that suspicion?” Betsy could get into his head, and if Scott managed to get her just close enough to do it without tipping anyone off…that was a hell of a start.

Betsy nodded. “Yeah, sure. His address is in there.” Betsy had needed a pet project, so when she realized that there was a real-time problem that could have a tangible and immediate solution she absolutely had to insert herself. She was annoying like that. 

Betsy put down some files on Scott’s desk. “I’ve been keeping my eye on a few agents that have been particularly...” Betsy tilted her head back and forth trying to find the right word. “Well, the best I can come up with is shitty. Might be some help in figuring out who picked up that kid you like,” she said, tapping her knuckles twice against the file before sitting down in a chair across from him. 

Logan didn’t show his surprise. He nodded, his brow furrowing. “I’ll go take a look. You know to keep an eye out, but we got to let Scott an’ the others know about this right away.” 

She poured herself a generous measure of whiskey. “Scott already knows,” she said, sounding more dejected than anything else. “We’re not going to find him.”

Betsy was at the school way too late that night, running scenarios in the Danger Room and prepping for her class the next morning. She stood in the break room making coffee, staring into the depths of the coffee maker. A light sheen of sweat covered her face and neck from working hard, and she rolled her shoulders out, trying to coax the stiffness from her joints and muscles before she went back down there. “You could come down with me,” she said, pouring herself a tall mug of black coffee. “It’d be like old times,” she said, turning to look in the doorway. 

Betsy hadn’t been living District X very much these days. It was just easier to stay within those walls, to pretend like that was all that was out there. The fact of the matter was that if she walked outside of District X, she was going to be watched until she walked back in, and if they could, they would keep eyes on her if she made it within those walls, too. Still, she knew she had to keep going out there if she was going to continue with her activist work, though it had slowed down considerably. No one was listening to her. As she sat across from City Hall, her folder in her hands, she knew that it was pointless anyway, that she was never going to get what she wanted from the government. It didn’t stop the rejection from stinging. 

Chris’ eyes flicked down to the top of Betsy’s head, but he didn’t say anything. He knew she was right; so, instead, he gave her upper arm a gentle, acknowledging squeeze. They were all freaking out about the current situation, wondering if this was the new norm. How long would this last? Would it get worse? All Chris could do was honestly accept what was happening, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t hopeful. When Betsy sat up so she could look down at him, he took her fingers with his own and played with them absently, “Sorry, babe…” Pity they didn’t know anyone who could manipulate time. A scoff of a laugh escaped him at her next words and he shook his head, “You still considered it. That counts.” He paused. “You wanted to live with me?”

A hand went to Betsy’s back when she rested back down against him, and it soon traveled up to rest in her hair, burying itself completely. He massaged the skin there, softly, slowly, with just the pads of his fingertips. The movement wasn’t enough to knot her hair. At least, he hoped. “Okay… You’re gonna have to get up, then. I think once I’m up and moving I’ll, uh… Wake up more.” The small smirk that had made the effort to show itself, hurried back out of sight when Betsy said that she was worried about him. “I won’t wander.” He knew what she meant. “I just need to get some things together and then I’ll go talk to Scott. He only knows me as Officer, so it’ll be a little bit of a surprise… Unless you told him already?”

Betsy had lived through some of the worst shit she could imagine, and that was saying something. For herself, as with many psychics, visions of what she could do with her powers was haunting in the extreme. She knew that if she was going to get the help of people like Emma and Jean, it would be extremely difficult to stop them, but at what cost would that power come? It would be helpful for a moment, and then what? What would they do with all the power they acquired? The option was fraught with too many what-ifs and impossible decisions for her to feel comfortable doing anything that would increase the amount of authority she had. She couldn’t be trusted. “I just said I didn’t,” she replied, a crooked smirk on her features. “Aren’t you listening, babe?”

Even though he hadn’t seen a lot of Warren, Logan had heard enough from Scott to not be surprised at the information. He nodded gravely and made a soft noise between a scoff and a laugh. “Figured. He’s been sayin’ shit that didn’t make much sense. Not if he were himself.”

“I had to put him in the hospital,” she said, cracking open the bottle and walking towards his kitchen. “When I went back there to check on him he was already gone. Nothing I could do to stop him.”

“I don’t think they’d let us stay that long,” Chris replied, knowing full well that Betsy knew what he was talking about. He didn’t want to be a killjoy, but it was only a matter of time before NOVA decided to bust down doors in the search of mutants in hiding—if they weren’t doing that already. “Don’t tell me you don’t know anyone who can freeze time,” he teased, wondering if she did actually know someone with that ability. It would be incredibly helpful right about now. At her comment, Chris nodded and brushed a thumb across one of her cheeks. “So itchy,” he laughed. “Wolf hair is the worst. And I shed so much I could make my own clothes.”

When Betsy decided to shift back down against him, Chris ran his hand up and down her back in slow circles, as if trying to lull her back to sleep. “Oh no, what ever will we do?” He teased back, smile evident in his tone. The silence grew between them as they lay there and he couldn’t help but to close his eyes once more. Sleep would have taken him again if Betsy hadn’t broken the quiet with her words, words that only brought silence on Chris’ end as he thought about that for a moment. They were going through this. This was real. They were being targeted. “Yeah… It is,” he punctuated his words by holding her a little tighter, embracing her warmly and closer against him. “But, hey… It can always be worse, we could be packing.”

“Don’t ruin this,” she said, her voice soft. She didn’t sound hurt, just dejected—she knew the truth about their situation, but she still wasn’t willing to believe that it could hurt them here. She wanted just a moment, just a single moment where she could feel like she wasn’t going to be hunted down like a dog and dragged to a slaughterhouse. Betsy knew that it didn’t help anything to pretend, however, so she sat up just a little more to look at him. “Not anyone who can do it well,” she replied, frowning at him. “Disgusting. I knew there was a reason I didn’t want to live with you.” 

Chris hadn’t expected to fall asleep, especially not there, with Betsy draped over his body, acting as a pillow between her and the sofa. The television was on, just softly enough to be heard through the silence of the apartment. The apartment that was probably no longer safe, but he was in the process of moving his stuff to the vacant warehouse he had been using to lock himself up during that time of the month. His sleep hadn’t been the deepest, so Betsy rousing herself awake caused him to open his eyes and groan as he rubbed them shut.

“If you don’t wake up, I won’t wake up, and I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” he replied teasingly. Chris wrapped an arm around Betsy’s waist and with the other, put the T.V. on mute - the low sound was only an annoyance to him. “Well, looks like it’s your lucky day because I have absolutely nothing planned for the day… Maybe the whole week, actually.” He then smiled, though it was the kind of smile as if he had just heard a rather corny joke. “I would sprout fur, but that can get too hot sometimes.” The hint of a smile could be heard in his voice as he started to run his hand up and down Betsy’s back.

Betsy wrinkled her nose in displeasure. “Yeah, but then we can stay here indefinitely.” She sighed. “If only one of us could freeze time or something. Then we’d never have to deal with anything else.” Betsy shifted forward as Chris wrapped an arm around her, a crooked smile on her features as she reached one hand up to twist a strand of his blond hair around her slender fingers. “I’d imagine it gets itchy, too,” she replied, the light smile playing across her features matching the one on Chris’ lips. 

His own coping mechanisms were terrible, he’d be first to admit it, but Logan’s stubborn indulgence in bad habits seemed to negate that understanding. Still, he frowned at the thought of Betsy drinking herself into oblivion and took the bottle from her. Gesturing for her to come inside, he stepped back and waited until she was in the apartment and the door was closed. “What happened, darlin’?” 

Betsy shifted her jaw, her usually composed and cold features surprisingly readable—at least, in comparison. She still kept her lips in a relaxed, thin line, her eyebrows barely moving, but her eyes flicked back and forth and her jaw couldn’t seem to stay still. “It’s Warren,” she said, swallowing once. “He just—” She sighed. “He’s still Archangel.” 

Betsy had reluctantly become a part of District X, though she was still on the fence about the whole thing. She found it hard to believe that walling themselves up like they were a medieval castle was the best way to approach their current problems, but she wasn’t coming up with any new solutions, so she wasn’t going to try and fight the way things were going. Instead, she would help where she could, and that had to start by talking to Scott. Betsy couldn’t keep big secrets, not anymore. She leaned against the doorway to his office, her arms folded tightly over her chest. “Warren’s gone off the deep end. He’s a serious threat.” 

Betsy had been so exhausted lately that she was falling asleep at the worst times, certainly worse than usual, at least. She woke with a start, sprawled across Chris on his sofa. She immediately popped her head up, running a hand through her hair groggily as she tried to gain her bearings. “Oh, god, I fell asleep here,” she mumbled before dropping back down so that she could bury her face in his chest. “Wake me up...” She paused. “Never, I’m not going to wake up again.” 

Betsy took a deep breath and let it out slowly before knocking sharply on Logan’s door. “Logan? It’s Betsy,” she called through the door. “I have whiskey. And I had a bad day.” Her frown cut into her features as she leaned against the doorframe, holding up the bottle when he opened the door. “Can we get drunk and pretend that things aren’t fucked up?” 

warren turned his head slightly as he heard the familiar voice before turning his body to face her. “depends on the day.” he said with a soft smirk. warren definitely wasn’t an angel he never was and most of the time he thought the nickname was stupid but hey it was better than being named after a bird. the man sighed as he saw the guard turn off the dampener and the bright purple energy fall from betsy’s arm. 

“what are you going to do? kill me? didn’t work out so well the last time.” he said, mocking the girl as he took a step closer to her, his wings dragging on the ground behind him. “why would i end it? they deserve what is coming b.”

“you should have never come here.” he was only causing problems now, not only for betsy but for everyone. some miserable part of her wished he was still dead. some other miserable part of her wanted to kill him again. she had so easily been drawn back in by his charm and his gaze that she had forgotten how terrible it could get, how awful it was when he became archangel. it was enough to make her ready to get in a fight.