Illyana and Pyro | Backdated to 9/4
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ax_mainIllyana has a terrible idea, which turns out to be not so terrible. So she follows it up with an even worse one.
This was a terrible idea.
Normally, there was some ambivalence in her mind, and when in doubt, she was starting to employ the "what would Kitty say" rule to help her decide. Granted, she didn't always get that right, and even when she did, she didn't always follow her friend's imaginary advice, but it helped.
This time, she didn't even really have to ask herself the question. She already knew it was a terrible idea. She was just going to do it anyway, because she couldn't quite get the smirk on his face as he wound fire around his fingers out of her head.
Besides, she was still kinda pissed off at Tommy about the whole American Horror Story thing.
And so, Illyana found herself in the catacombs of Limbo, trying to scry for Pyro. It wasn't as easy as she'd expected - for some reason, her scrying pool refused to focus in on him at all. She was about to give up and write it off as an undo-able bad idea when finally, it zeroed in on him walking down the street.
Illyana stood up, brushed off her shorts in case they'd gotten any dirt on them from the ground, and disappeared in a flash of light. No point waiting. She was going to do it, anyway.
Pyro was headed out for a grocery run when there was a flash of light, and suddenly, that hot blonde from the other teenage mutant team - Magik, Eileen had said - was standing right in front of him. He'd instinctively lit the zippo he'd been playing with, but when he recognized her, he killed the flame - although he kept the lighter in his hand. Just in case. "Hey," he greeted her, his confusion as obvious in his voice as on his face.
"Hey." Right, she really hadn't sorted out what she was going to say once she found him, had she? "Umm...well, you said you'd see me later? So I figured maybe it'd be okay if I made sure that happened."
Right. Pyro's eyebrows raised in surprised acknowledgement, and then he was smirking again. She really had loved his fire, huh? "Good figuring. I like it. Magik, right?"
"How'd you - oh. Phantazia, right?" Illyana nodded and smiled, reassured by the fact he didn't seem annoyed she'd showed up. "Yeah, Magik. I should probably stick to that. And you said Pyro?"
"Yeah," he confirmed, now amused for a different reason. She didn't sound like she usually went by her mutant name, but like... "What, you don't trust me with your human name?" It was mostly funny because he didn't give a shit about her human name, yeah.
Illyana's eyebrows rose and she smirked. "I don't see you handing out yours."
"Because I don't use it," Pyro replied with a shrug. "They're names the flatscans gave us, they're not our real names."
"Pretty sure mine's my real name," Illyana replied, considering what he'd said. There were other names Belasco'd given her that she wasn't so fond of, but Illyana didn't have any negative connotations in her mind. Magik was what she did, not who she was.
Pyro shrugged. "Whatever." She wasn't the only one he knew who didn't get it. "You want to go steal some beer and have a drink in a park?" The grocery run could wait.
Illyana blinked, then grinned. "Yeah. That sounds pretty good, actually."
"Come on," he nodded for her to follow him, pushing his hands into his pockets. "You often do this? Randomly pop in on strangers? I'm not complaining," he added with another smirk.
"Hey, you practically invited me," Illyana tossed back as she followed along. She shook her head, though, and smiled a little self-consciously. "That was a pretty cool trick with the fire," she said instead.
"It was," Pyro confirmed, his smirk widening slightly. "Pretty and cool. Also just a preview."
"Yeah, I watched the final event." Illyana shook her head and grinned. She'd had an awesome view of the fire from her scrying mirror, while she waited to 'port Tommy and Kitty out. "Massive property damage. The place looked better afterwards."
"Well, now I'm jealous," Pyro retorted. And curious, too. "You all stuck around?"
Illyana shook her head. "Nah. Speed and Shadowcat went to check for hard drives. I popped out to watch and get them out once they were done."
"Oh, right," Pyro nodded. Speed was the Q wannabe and Shadowcat would have to be the other cute girl. "Told you they wouldn't find shit. You got them out okay?" He hadn't been there to control the fire anymore, and they were mutants. Of course he hoped they'd gotten out okay.
Oh yeah, everyone was fine." Other than annoyed that they hadn't found anything worthwhile, but she figured that went without saying. It was nice of him to ask, though. "What about Phantazia?" She hoped so. She'd kind of liked the other blond, even if Tommy hadn't exactly been impressed.
"Oh yeah, she's fine," Pyro confirmed with a nod. "Don't tell her I said that, but I'm not sure there's a force in this universe big enough to take her out." Eileen was... something else. And he didn't even mean her (kickass) powers so much as her spirit.
"Sworn to secrecy. She seemed cool." She grinned. "Other than taking out her own teammate. Does she do that often?"
"Too often, if you ask him," Pyro answered, amused. "Here," he nodded at a liquor store across the street. "You wait for me outside, keep the runaway teleport ready?" It was phrased as a question because she could come inside with him, if she wanted. He had no idea whether she wanted to be in on the actual theft.
Illyana shook her head. "Easier if I come along." After all, even if they caught it on some kind of camera, it's not as if anyone'd recognize her here, and they could literally grab the beer and go. Somehow, she doubted Pyro'd be all that phased by Limbo, but she could make it quick.
"Sure thing," Pyro agreed, and pulled his hood up. Hey, he didn't live too far away; better if no one saw his face. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked into the store, directing her straight towards the fridges holding the beer. People were less likely to look too closely at a couple - especially since she looked, well, nice and sweet and all those good things - than at a single guy in a hoodie. The other trick was to look like you belonged, and he seemed perfectly at ease in the store. He grabbed a couple of six-packs and handed her one; better steal too much than not enough, right?
Well, that was unexpected. Part of the act, she was pretty sure, but she wasn't about to complain. Illyana took the beer and grinned. "Don't panic," she advised, just on principle, then called up a circle of light and 'ported them out.
They arrived in Limbo where she'd hoped they would, and she looked over at him to see his reaction. It was bare, craggy, with only traces of low grey-ish greenery creeping over the rocky landscape, and a dull haze of smoke hung in the air. Small, lizard-like demons scurried around here and there, looking nearly like their earthly counterparts until you realized that some had excessive numbers of legs. Most importantly, though, it was liberally strewn with ash from the jets of fire that spurted out from crevices in the rock.
It wasn't his first rodeo, Pyro wanted to answer. Did people really panic when they got teleported? But before he could say anything, the flash of light had come and gone, and they were... somewhere. Somewhere that looked pretty deserted. Somewhere that didn't look like it belonged on earth, not pre-apocalypse, anyway.
Pyro opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by a jet of fire nearby, and he couldn't help the happy chuckle at the unexpected sensation. "Where the fuck are we?" he asked, his tone full of wonder.
"Limbo." Illyana smiled. Much though she hated to admit it, there were parts of Limbo she missed. A lot. Yeah, it'd been hell, literally, but it had all made sense in a way that Xavier's still didn't. "Demon dimension. Sort of the way station of my teleports. It doesn't all look like this," she admitted, "but I figured..." She shrugged, unsure how to finish the sentence, exactly, then pushed on anyway. "I figured you'd get it."
"Demons," Pyro stated somewhat doubtfully. He'd only ever believed in the fire part of fire and brimstone. Guess it was time to revise that opinion. "Is that what those guys are? Demons?" he asked curiously, crouching by one of the lizards with way too many legs. Although since they might be demons, and this place looked dangerous, he'd pulled his zippo out and flicked it open and lit with his free hand. Fire at the ready if the little critter tried to take a bite out of him while he had a closer look.
Illyana grinned, a little. "They come in different sizes," she warned him. "But yeah. That's a little one." She came over and crouched down beside him and reached out to stroke her fingers over its head. "These are harmless - well, unless you get between them and their food - they don't like that much, and they've got pretty sharp teeth. But they aren't all."
"'Course not," Pyro acknowledged, closing the zippo on its flame to reach out and stroke fingers on the lizardy demon's head. "You can't call a species demons if they're that cute." There were bound to be bigger, badder, uglier demons out there.
lllyana's smile widened. "Exactly." Maybe this hadn't been such a terrible idea, after all. "Mostly the bigger ones don't come out here, though, so it's a good teleport spot." Her smile wavered a bit, and she shrugged. "We really can't stay long, though," she said apologetically as she stood back up. "I'd really rather no one notice I'm here."
"Sure, yeah," Pyro agreed as he stood up with her. "Do you know where to take us? Where you found me works, there's a park nearby we can sneak into." He didn't know how her teleportation worked, but he was offering options. How had she found him anyway?
"Mmmmm." Illyana considered that for a moment, then shook her head. "I didn't get a real feel for it," she admitted. "Gimme a minute?" She concentrated, and one of the rock crevices appeared to glaze over with a shimmering effect not unlike water. Illyana sat down crosslegged before it and focused, zeroing in on the place she'd found Pyro earlier from the traces of her former portal. From there, she widened the view, effectively zooming out. "Is that it?" she asked, pointing at what looked, to her, like a park.
"Yeah," Pyro confirmed, doing nothing to hide that he was seriously impressed by what she could do. "Your shit is sweet."
"Thanks. I like to think so." Illyana's face warmed as she took another moment to get a feel for the location, then dismissed the scrying mirror and got to her feet. She grinned at Pyro and shrugged. "Ready to go?"
"Sure," he agreed, and stepped closer to her - only because of the upcoming teleportation, obviously. Never mind that he didn't even know if proximity was necessary. Never mind that his smirk was back, and his eyes were on hers.
Wow. Illyana's face warmed a bit more as she locked eyes with Pyro, and there was a moment's delay before she remembered to call up a stepping disk. Right. Teleporting out.
Perhaps due to being flustered (okay, who was she kidding, it was definitely because of being flustered), the sun was rather lower in the sky than it had been when they'd left, and she grimaced as she reluctantly pulled her eyes away from his and looked up. "Shit. Sorry, I think we lost some time on that one."
Pyro looked around at the darkening sky with surprise, then shrugged, amused. "Worth it. Come on." He grabbed her hand to tug her deeper into the closed park, wanting to find a bench no one could see from the street.
"Where are we going?" Illyana asked, laughing. She tangled her fingers with his and grinned.
Pyro smirked again at the finger-tangling. Encouraging sign! "Somewhere we won't be bothered," he answered, turning that smirk into a smile as he glanced at her. He looked away and spotted a remote bench. "Over there. Works for you?"
"Works for me." Illyana headed for the bench in question, pausing once to adjust the six pack she was carrying on her hip. "You come here a lot?"
"Not that often," Pyro stated, which seemed neutral enough. Besides which, it was actually true. He had better things to do than to hang out in parks, when he wasn't accompanied by a hot partner in crime (when the crime was stealing a couple of six-packs, anyway). He set his own pack on the edge of the bench when they got there, letting go of Magik's hand so he could climb on the bench and sit on its back. Then he opened the pack and grabbed a couple of beers, holding one out to her with an inviting smile.
Illyana set her pack on the seat, and climbed up to perch on the back of the bench as well, accepting the beer from Pyro without hesitation. "Not a nature kind of guy?" she guessed as she popped the top and took a sip. And promptly wrinkled her nose. "This is awful," she observed, grinning, then took another, longer drink. Which was...well, somewhat less awful. Hopefully it'd grow on her.
"It's beer," Pyro protested after taking a sip of his own. "Beer is beer."
"Well, beer tastes awful, then." Illyana grinned at him over the edge of her can. "It's not stopping me from drinking it."
"What do you usually drink?" Pyro had to ask. He was hoping she usually drank something, because if she was going to be drunk after a can of beer, his prospect of getting laid - or at least making out - tonight were going to be cut short pretty damn drastically. Even he knew better than to go at it with someone drunk off their ass.
Illyana shrugged a little defensively. "I spent the last three years in a demon dimension. I haven't tried beer before, okay?"
Pyro raised his eyebrows at the news. But, instead of making a big deal out of it, he simply came out with, "It really is a demon dimension if they don't have beer." He took another sip, then had to ask. "Are we talking demons in the Christian sense? 'Cause I'm pretty sure I'm not ready to believe that."
Illyana actually considered the question for a minute, then shook her head. "Pretty sure not. Hell's a totally different dimension, and I'm not sure it has anything to do with Christianity, either. Though I'm not really willing to risk an exorcism to find out."
"Fair enough," Pyro agreed after a beat. "I wouldn't chance it either." Mostly because hell did not sound like a place anyone wanted to visit, regardless of religion.
Tilting her head, Illyana eyed him curiously. "You're not freaked out," she observed, with just a hint of question in her voice. She was surprised, honestly. Even Inu-Yasha had been pretty freaked out.
Pyro returned her look, eyeing her for a beat. "I don't know what your experience of mutants has been." His free hand took his zippo out of his pocket, and he flicked it open and lit. "But I know enough to know there's nothing that's impossible, when it comes to us." He pulled the flame from the lighter, making it dance around them, and then multiply into several flames to keep dancing around them.
"Not everyone seems to think so. How do you do that?" Illyana asked as she watched the flames dance, fascinated.
"I feel fire, and fire feels me," he answered, smirking again, but this time his gaze was on the multiplying flames around them. He'd worked hard to no longer voice the 'I can't create fire, only control it' thing. Magneto had helped him with that. Now he only thought so, but didn't say it. What he could do was amazing enough on its own, and that was that.
The flames all died at once, and he turned his gaze back to Magik. "How do you do what you do?" It was as much a question as an answer to hers.
Illyana looked a little disappointed as the flames went out, but turned back to Pyro and grinned impishly. Given that he wasn't freaking (and she had to admit, she liked that, a lot), she might as well have some fun with it. "That depends on what it is you're asking about, exactly." She took another sip from her beer. Huh. It really was tasting better. Weird.
"Wait, you can do more than what I've seen?" Pyro asked with raised eyebrows, clearly even more impressed.
"Lots of stuff." Her smile brightened for a moment, then tilted. "Mostly only in Limbo, though. I have a hard time getting magic to work, on Earth."
"So you're a proper witch?" Pyro asked, curious as hell. And not like Wanda, either. Not that he was knocking Scarlet's powers at all - they were fucking awesome, and once she had a real handle on them, he wasn't sure what she couldn't accomplish. But she wasn't actually a witch, not in the traditional sense of the word. The thing Magik had done earlier, how she'd found this place? It had looked like proper witch stuff.
"Sorceress. When people say witch, I always think of those decorations they put up at Halloween. And last I checked, I'm not green with a broken nose and a mole." She wrinkled her nose, then shrugged just a little awkwardly. "Anyway, an apprentice one, technically. But yeah."
"Who the fuck decided you're an apprentice?" Pyro blurted out, very genuinely. Nothing she'd done so far deserved anything like an apprentice label. Probably more adults trying to keep them down - he'd definitely lucked out with Magneto.
At that, Illyana looked decidedly awkward, and fiddled a bit with the flip top to her can before answering. "Belasco. He's...well, he's the ruler of Limbo, basically. I was his apprentice."
Pyro was silent for a beat, just watching her. "You've barely said anything about him, and he already sounds like an asshole," he came out with, because seriously. The guy just did, okay?
"Well, yeah. Demon sorcerer. I think asshole's probably part of the job description, right?" She shrugged and took a drink. "Anyway, he's the reason I can't stay there long. I really don't want to get caught."
"Sounds like the perfect guy to ambush, once you feel strong enough," Pyro remarked, then raised his free hand (well, he was still holding the zippo in between a couple of fingers) in a gesture of peace. "Yeah, yeah, I don't know shit about your story. I'm just saying."
"No, I was planning to. Just..." Illyana chewed at her lip a little, debating how much to say. "Some stuff happened a couple of months ago, and people died. Besides, his last apprentice challenged him. And killed him. He just came back. Laughing."
"That doesn't sound promising," Pyro agreed with a frown. He took a sip, thinking it over. "On the other hand, you can probably learn from what they did wrong."
"That's the thing. I don't know what she did wrong." Illyana gestured widely with the arm not holding her beer. "I mean, I watched it - time's weird in Limbo, and if you go through the right disk, you can end up in the past. She drew on his power, and started becoming like him - more demonic, with horns and everything. And then she stabbed him, and then...he was back." She made a face and took another sip, wondering absently whether or not the beer had anything to do with why this was way easier to talk about than it normally was. Or if it was just that Pyro was listening, and not looking horrified. She figured it was a little of each. "He said he couldn't be killed in Limbo, that his masters wouldn't let him be."
"So either he was full of shit," Pyro summed up, "or there's people above him you need to get to. Right?" She'd know better than him, he was just trying to follow along as they drank.
"Wrong." Illyana made a face. "His masters are the Ancient Ones - the demon powers that supposedly once ruled the Earth." She took another drink, and set the can down. "I can't fight them. I'm actually supposed to be the means by which they get the Earth back."
"Well, that sounds less awesome," Pyro remarked with a frown. "And, you know, like bullshit." He did not believe in fate.
"What do you mean?" Illyana countered, her forehead furrowing.
Pyro finished his beer, then put the empty can back in the pack and picked up a couple others, holding one out to Magik questioningly. "Well, I mean, if I was the overlord of a demon dimension, or whatever, and I took on an apprentice, I might as well give her a bullshit story about my overlords and how she's destined to do their bidding anyway. To keep her in line, you know."
Illyana accepted the second can, but frowned, considering. It was something Belasco would do, there was no doubt about it. But finally, reluctantly, she shook her head. "I don't think so. I mean, Ashake believed in them, too - she was his former apprentice, and she ran a coven in Salem. She said she'd sensed them. And I'm pretty sure I have, too." She put her empty into the box, and popped the top on the her new one. "Besides, I'm almost positive he wants to use my control of the stepping disks to do it. There's gotta be a reason he picked me."
Pyro shrugged. "Just because they exist, and you've got some kickass powers, don't mean you're destined to do anything but kick their asses. Just saying." He paused. "Stepping disks, they're the flashy teleportation disks, I'm guessing?"
"Uh huh." Illyana forced a grin, simply because she was still considering what he'd said before that. "My actual mutant power. They exist in Limbo, but I can...well, steer them, I guess is the best explanation."
"Just so you know, that's not much of an explanation," Pyro replied with a confused face. That or he was really stupid, which, don't get him wrong, was totally possible. He'd been told that often enough, from a very young age.
"Sorry." Illyana frowned, trying to determine how to explain it better. "Okay. In Limbo, the stepping disks exist. They just sort of pop up randomly, and if you fall through them, you end up somewhere else, or in some other time, or both. Think Alice in Wonderland." She shrugged. "I can call the disks I want, to make them show up and take me where I want to go." She looked hopeful. "Is that better? Some of this is really hard to explain. Especially when you get into time travel."
"I was following until you got to time travel," Pyro replied with an amused smirk. "You mean like what happened earlier? We didn't spend that long in, er, Limbo," it sounded like the name of a dance, okay?, "but then we were back here and the sun was setting already?" Speaking of, he should probably light a fire some time soon. But while there was still some sun, he liked the atmosphere provided by the half-light.
"Or back." She grinned. "I figure I'll use it to do homework. No point wasting real time on it." She took a sip of her beer. "Some of that's the stepping disks. Some of that - well, time in Limbo doesn't always run at the same speed it does on Earth. I'm a few years older than I'd be if I'd never been there."
Pyro took a couple of seconds to work through that. "You mean you were born more recently than I'd think?" Time stuff took a second to parse through, okay?
Illyana nodded, then looked at him curiously. "How old are you?" She'd guessed a year or two older than her, but she really wasn't sure.
"16," he answered, and looked back at her. "You? Real age, not official age."
"Somewhere between 14 and 15?" She made a face, then offered a crooked smile. "It's hard to pin it down, exactly. The doctor says that's pretty close, though."
"15 looks about right, for what it's worth," Pyro answered, although the truth was, he also liked to think of her as 15 better. The closer in age the better.
"Works for me." Illyana grinned and took another sip. "So, what's your story, Pyro who doesn't use any other name?"
A brief frown passed over his brow, but he figured she didn't mean to make fun of something he cared so much about; she was just teasing. Relax, Pyro. It wasn't like she was calling you John. "It's way less interesting," he warned her, looking back at her. "Deadbeat parents, leaving on the street for a bit, manifesting, getting recruited for a kickass mutant team... The usual."
Illyana shook her head. "Somehow, I'm not sure that qualifies as the usual. Except maybe on TV. Anyway, it sounds interesting," she observed, and waved her hand for him to continue.
"Not much else to say," Pyro acknowledged. Okay, plenty more else to say, but he wouldn't be had like a rookie, spilling all of the Brotherhood's secrets to the first pretty mutant who came along. "Fire's the best, flatscans suck, I'm glad we ran into you the other day even if it meant missing out on the main event?"
She stared at him for a moment, then laughed, her face warming. "I think I'm going to take that last part as a compliment," she advised him.
"Good, 'cause that was the idea," he assured her with a smirk, and lit his zippo to grow the small flame some, and divide in three flames spaced out in front of them, much like invisible candles. It was getting too dark, and he liked being able to see her face. Besides, fire made everything better. "So why'd you track me down?"
"Maybe I liked your fire." Illyana returned his smirk, thinking to herself that his expression, right now, looked an awful lot like the one that had gotten stuck in her head when she'd seen him on the mission.
"Maybe you've got good taste," Pyro replied, smirk going absolutely nowhere as he held her gaze.
"Maybe I do." Illyana leaned in a little. "What about you?"
His smirk widened ever so slightly, and the flames might have burned a little brighter for a very brief moment. "You tell me." And he leaned in the rest of the way to kiss her, no hesitation, no doubt - especially not when she'd gone out of her way to find him.
Mmmm. Illyana reached up to wrap her hand around the back of his head and leaned into the kiss. Eventually, she pulled back and grinned. "You've got awesome taste."
Pyro chuckled at her conclusion, thumb brushing her jaw. "I like to think so, yeah."
Yana tilted her face into his touch and smiled. For the moment, she actually felt like maybe he did. "Y'know, we've been warned you and your team are probably terrorists," she observed, her fingers toying with the hair at the back of his neck.
Pyro was silent for a moment, enjoying her touch, the three flames, just her, and then remarked, "You seemed to take that warning to heart."
Illyana's eyebrows rose. "Demon sorceress here. I don't really do warnings." She grinned. "How'd you like to go to a party?"
Pyro's smile was both amused by and wary of the random question. But mostly amused. "What kind of party?" he asked, trailing his free hand down her arm and to hers, before taking another sip of his beer.
"Back to school party, at Mutant High." Illyana grinned impishly and held her finger up to her lips. This was probably a horrible, awful idea, but then, her first terrible idea of the day had turned out pretty damn well, hadn't it? "Shhh. That last part's a secret. But if I read between the lines right, Warren's going to be supplying the drinks."
Mutant High? Shit. Pyro really, really wanted to ask, 'Shit, are you guys attending school?', but he didn't want to push his luck too hard, too quickly. Not before more making out happened. Not before he actually showed up at a party at Mutant High! "Wow, okay. Whoever Warren is, I'm always up for free booze in good company." And he meant her, not that Warren guy. "When's the party?"
"The sixteenth. Not sure what time." Illyana frowned, her forehead creasing as she tried to remember, then shrugged and grinned. If Warren had actually said, she didn't remember, but it didn't really matter. "I'll pick you up. Is here good?"
"Sure," Pyro nodded. "You give me your number, I'll let you know if something comes up." It wasn't like they planned ahead all that much. Quite a few of their missions happened on a really short timespan.
"Is that a nice way of saying that you're going to say yes and then cancel at the last minute?" Illyana asked skeptically. Nonetheless, she held out her hand for his phone.
"It's a nice way of warning you my life gets hectic," Pyro answered, pulling his phone out and unlocking it. He frowned as he saw the texts he'd missed from his teammates, wondering where he was at with the groceries. Case in point, he figured. He dismissed the notifications and pulled up a new contact, letting her write Magik, too, since he had no idea how she spelled it. He handed the phone over. "Did you have much lead-up time before you showed up at that facility? 'Cause we don't always."
"Fair." Illyana, having forgotten her earlier decision to just use her codename, typed in Illyana and her phone number, then passed back the phone. "You guys do stuff like that a lot, then?"
"Try and fight the assholes using mutants? It's sort of our thing, yeah," Pyro confirmed, saving the contact and putting his phone away. "Don't you? When classes don't get in the way," he added, teasing. Seriously, a school. He was even happier that Magneto had found him, and not whoever had opened a school for mutants.
"Umm...not so much." She wrinkled her nose. Kitty might not agree, but personally, she found the idea of more missions way more attractive than more class time. "That was our first," she admitted.
"You'll catch up," he stated, and reached for her hand again, tangling their fingers and stroking his thumb on the back of her hand. "Who knows, maybe we'll end up kicking ass together some day." As far as he was concerned, all mutants should fight together against the flatscans. They'd need it.
"Mmm, that could be fun," Illyana acknowledged. She stroked her own thumb over the back of his hand and used it to pull him in a little closer. "I don't know, though. The Prof talked like it was a one time thing. And thanks to you guys, we kinda blew it."
Pyro leaned in and kissed her again, breaking the kiss after a few moments to tell her, with his trademark smirk, "Hey, you want to join the most kickass team around, you know where to find me." But right now, kissing her was a lot more important than recruiting her, so he was going back to that. Priorities.
She'd heard worse ideas, Illyana decided as she pressed in closer, deepening the kiss. But right now? She wasn't really worried about teams. Or anything at all.
This was a terrible idea.
Normally, there was some ambivalence in her mind, and when in doubt, she was starting to employ the "what would Kitty say" rule to help her decide. Granted, she didn't always get that right, and even when she did, she didn't always follow her friend's imaginary advice, but it helped.
This time, she didn't even really have to ask herself the question. She already knew it was a terrible idea. She was just going to do it anyway, because she couldn't quite get the smirk on his face as he wound fire around his fingers out of her head.
Besides, she was still kinda pissed off at Tommy about the whole American Horror Story thing.
And so, Illyana found herself in the catacombs of Limbo, trying to scry for Pyro. It wasn't as easy as she'd expected - for some reason, her scrying pool refused to focus in on him at all. She was about to give up and write it off as an undo-able bad idea when finally, it zeroed in on him walking down the street.
Illyana stood up, brushed off her shorts in case they'd gotten any dirt on them from the ground, and disappeared in a flash of light. No point waiting. She was going to do it, anyway.
Pyro was headed out for a grocery run when there was a flash of light, and suddenly, that hot blonde from the other teenage mutant team - Magik, Eileen had said - was standing right in front of him. He'd instinctively lit the zippo he'd been playing with, but when he recognized her, he killed the flame - although he kept the lighter in his hand. Just in case. "Hey," he greeted her, his confusion as obvious in his voice as on his face.
"Hey." Right, she really hadn't sorted out what she was going to say once she found him, had she? "Umm...well, you said you'd see me later? So I figured maybe it'd be okay if I made sure that happened."
Right. Pyro's eyebrows raised in surprised acknowledgement, and then he was smirking again. She really had loved his fire, huh? "Good figuring. I like it. Magik, right?"
"How'd you - oh. Phantazia, right?" Illyana nodded and smiled, reassured by the fact he didn't seem annoyed she'd showed up. "Yeah, Magik. I should probably stick to that. And you said Pyro?"
"Yeah," he confirmed, now amused for a different reason. She didn't sound like she usually went by her mutant name, but like... "What, you don't trust me with your human name?" It was mostly funny because he didn't give a shit about her human name, yeah.
Illyana's eyebrows rose and she smirked. "I don't see you handing out yours."
"Because I don't use it," Pyro replied with a shrug. "They're names the flatscans gave us, they're not our real names."
"Pretty sure mine's my real name," Illyana replied, considering what he'd said. There were other names Belasco'd given her that she wasn't so fond of, but Illyana didn't have any negative connotations in her mind. Magik was what she did, not who she was.
Pyro shrugged. "Whatever." She wasn't the only one he knew who didn't get it. "You want to go steal some beer and have a drink in a park?" The grocery run could wait.
Illyana blinked, then grinned. "Yeah. That sounds pretty good, actually."
"Come on," he nodded for her to follow him, pushing his hands into his pockets. "You often do this? Randomly pop in on strangers? I'm not complaining," he added with another smirk.
"Hey, you practically invited me," Illyana tossed back as she followed along. She shook her head, though, and smiled a little self-consciously. "That was a pretty cool trick with the fire," she said instead.
"It was," Pyro confirmed, his smirk widening slightly. "Pretty and cool. Also just a preview."
"Yeah, I watched the final event." Illyana shook her head and grinned. She'd had an awesome view of the fire from her scrying mirror, while she waited to 'port Tommy and Kitty out. "Massive property damage. The place looked better afterwards."
"Well, now I'm jealous," Pyro retorted. And curious, too. "You all stuck around?"
Illyana shook her head. "Nah. Speed and Shadowcat went to check for hard drives. I popped out to watch and get them out once they were done."
"Oh, right," Pyro nodded. Speed was the Q wannabe and Shadowcat would have to be the other cute girl. "Told you they wouldn't find shit. You got them out okay?" He hadn't been there to control the fire anymore, and they were mutants. Of course he hoped they'd gotten out okay.
Oh yeah, everyone was fine." Other than annoyed that they hadn't found anything worthwhile, but she figured that went without saying. It was nice of him to ask, though. "What about Phantazia?" She hoped so. She'd kind of liked the other blond, even if Tommy hadn't exactly been impressed.
"Oh yeah, she's fine," Pyro confirmed with a nod. "Don't tell her I said that, but I'm not sure there's a force in this universe big enough to take her out." Eileen was... something else. And he didn't even mean her (kickass) powers so much as her spirit.
"Sworn to secrecy. She seemed cool." She grinned. "Other than taking out her own teammate. Does she do that often?"
"Too often, if you ask him," Pyro answered, amused. "Here," he nodded at a liquor store across the street. "You wait for me outside, keep the runaway teleport ready?" It was phrased as a question because she could come inside with him, if she wanted. He had no idea whether she wanted to be in on the actual theft.
Illyana shook her head. "Easier if I come along." After all, even if they caught it on some kind of camera, it's not as if anyone'd recognize her here, and they could literally grab the beer and go. Somehow, she doubted Pyro'd be all that phased by Limbo, but she could make it quick.
"Sure thing," Pyro agreed, and pulled his hood up. Hey, he didn't live too far away; better if no one saw his face. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked into the store, directing her straight towards the fridges holding the beer. People were less likely to look too closely at a couple - especially since she looked, well, nice and sweet and all those good things - than at a single guy in a hoodie. The other trick was to look like you belonged, and he seemed perfectly at ease in the store. He grabbed a couple of six-packs and handed her one; better steal too much than not enough, right?
Well, that was unexpected. Part of the act, she was pretty sure, but she wasn't about to complain. Illyana took the beer and grinned. "Don't panic," she advised, just on principle, then called up a circle of light and 'ported them out.
They arrived in Limbo where she'd hoped they would, and she looked over at him to see his reaction. It was bare, craggy, with only traces of low grey-ish greenery creeping over the rocky landscape, and a dull haze of smoke hung in the air. Small, lizard-like demons scurried around here and there, looking nearly like their earthly counterparts until you realized that some had excessive numbers of legs. Most importantly, though, it was liberally strewn with ash from the jets of fire that spurted out from crevices in the rock.
It wasn't his first rodeo, Pyro wanted to answer. Did people really panic when they got teleported? But before he could say anything, the flash of light had come and gone, and they were... somewhere. Somewhere that looked pretty deserted. Somewhere that didn't look like it belonged on earth, not pre-apocalypse, anyway.
Pyro opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by a jet of fire nearby, and he couldn't help the happy chuckle at the unexpected sensation. "Where the fuck are we?" he asked, his tone full of wonder.
"Limbo." Illyana smiled. Much though she hated to admit it, there were parts of Limbo she missed. A lot. Yeah, it'd been hell, literally, but it had all made sense in a way that Xavier's still didn't. "Demon dimension. Sort of the way station of my teleports. It doesn't all look like this," she admitted, "but I figured..." She shrugged, unsure how to finish the sentence, exactly, then pushed on anyway. "I figured you'd get it."
"Demons," Pyro stated somewhat doubtfully. He'd only ever believed in the fire part of fire and brimstone. Guess it was time to revise that opinion. "Is that what those guys are? Demons?" he asked curiously, crouching by one of the lizards with way too many legs. Although since they might be demons, and this place looked dangerous, he'd pulled his zippo out and flicked it open and lit with his free hand. Fire at the ready if the little critter tried to take a bite out of him while he had a closer look.
Illyana grinned, a little. "They come in different sizes," she warned him. "But yeah. That's a little one." She came over and crouched down beside him and reached out to stroke her fingers over its head. "These are harmless - well, unless you get between them and their food - they don't like that much, and they've got pretty sharp teeth. But they aren't all."
"'Course not," Pyro acknowledged, closing the zippo on its flame to reach out and stroke fingers on the lizardy demon's head. "You can't call a species demons if they're that cute." There were bound to be bigger, badder, uglier demons out there.
lllyana's smile widened. "Exactly." Maybe this hadn't been such a terrible idea, after all. "Mostly the bigger ones don't come out here, though, so it's a good teleport spot." Her smile wavered a bit, and she shrugged. "We really can't stay long, though," she said apologetically as she stood back up. "I'd really rather no one notice I'm here."
"Sure, yeah," Pyro agreed as he stood up with her. "Do you know where to take us? Where you found me works, there's a park nearby we can sneak into." He didn't know how her teleportation worked, but he was offering options. How had she found him anyway?
"Mmmmm." Illyana considered that for a moment, then shook her head. "I didn't get a real feel for it," she admitted. "Gimme a minute?" She concentrated, and one of the rock crevices appeared to glaze over with a shimmering effect not unlike water. Illyana sat down crosslegged before it and focused, zeroing in on the place she'd found Pyro earlier from the traces of her former portal. From there, she widened the view, effectively zooming out. "Is that it?" she asked, pointing at what looked, to her, like a park.
"Yeah," Pyro confirmed, doing nothing to hide that he was seriously impressed by what she could do. "Your shit is sweet."
"Thanks. I like to think so." Illyana's face warmed as she took another moment to get a feel for the location, then dismissed the scrying mirror and got to her feet. She grinned at Pyro and shrugged. "Ready to go?"
"Sure," he agreed, and stepped closer to her - only because of the upcoming teleportation, obviously. Never mind that he didn't even know if proximity was necessary. Never mind that his smirk was back, and his eyes were on hers.
Wow. Illyana's face warmed a bit more as she locked eyes with Pyro, and there was a moment's delay before she remembered to call up a stepping disk. Right. Teleporting out.
Perhaps due to being flustered (okay, who was she kidding, it was definitely because of being flustered), the sun was rather lower in the sky than it had been when they'd left, and she grimaced as she reluctantly pulled her eyes away from his and looked up. "Shit. Sorry, I think we lost some time on that one."
Pyro looked around at the darkening sky with surprise, then shrugged, amused. "Worth it. Come on." He grabbed her hand to tug her deeper into the closed park, wanting to find a bench no one could see from the street.
"Where are we going?" Illyana asked, laughing. She tangled her fingers with his and grinned.
Pyro smirked again at the finger-tangling. Encouraging sign! "Somewhere we won't be bothered," he answered, turning that smirk into a smile as he glanced at her. He looked away and spotted a remote bench. "Over there. Works for you?"
"Works for me." Illyana headed for the bench in question, pausing once to adjust the six pack she was carrying on her hip. "You come here a lot?"
"Not that often," Pyro stated, which seemed neutral enough. Besides which, it was actually true. He had better things to do than to hang out in parks, when he wasn't accompanied by a hot partner in crime (when the crime was stealing a couple of six-packs, anyway). He set his own pack on the edge of the bench when they got there, letting go of Magik's hand so he could climb on the bench and sit on its back. Then he opened the pack and grabbed a couple of beers, holding one out to her with an inviting smile.
Illyana set her pack on the seat, and climbed up to perch on the back of the bench as well, accepting the beer from Pyro without hesitation. "Not a nature kind of guy?" she guessed as she popped the top and took a sip. And promptly wrinkled her nose. "This is awful," she observed, grinning, then took another, longer drink. Which was...well, somewhat less awful. Hopefully it'd grow on her.
"It's beer," Pyro protested after taking a sip of his own. "Beer is beer."
"Well, beer tastes awful, then." Illyana grinned at him over the edge of her can. "It's not stopping me from drinking it."
"What do you usually drink?" Pyro had to ask. He was hoping she usually drank something, because if she was going to be drunk after a can of beer, his prospect of getting laid - or at least making out - tonight were going to be cut short pretty damn drastically. Even he knew better than to go at it with someone drunk off their ass.
Illyana shrugged a little defensively. "I spent the last three years in a demon dimension. I haven't tried beer before, okay?"
Pyro raised his eyebrows at the news. But, instead of making a big deal out of it, he simply came out with, "It really is a demon dimension if they don't have beer." He took another sip, then had to ask. "Are we talking demons in the Christian sense? 'Cause I'm pretty sure I'm not ready to believe that."
Illyana actually considered the question for a minute, then shook her head. "Pretty sure not. Hell's a totally different dimension, and I'm not sure it has anything to do with Christianity, either. Though I'm not really willing to risk an exorcism to find out."
"Fair enough," Pyro agreed after a beat. "I wouldn't chance it either." Mostly because hell did not sound like a place anyone wanted to visit, regardless of religion.
Tilting her head, Illyana eyed him curiously. "You're not freaked out," she observed, with just a hint of question in her voice. She was surprised, honestly. Even Inu-Yasha had been pretty freaked out.
Pyro returned her look, eyeing her for a beat. "I don't know what your experience of mutants has been." His free hand took his zippo out of his pocket, and he flicked it open and lit. "But I know enough to know there's nothing that's impossible, when it comes to us." He pulled the flame from the lighter, making it dance around them, and then multiply into several flames to keep dancing around them.
"Not everyone seems to think so. How do you do that?" Illyana asked as she watched the flames dance, fascinated.
"I feel fire, and fire feels me," he answered, smirking again, but this time his gaze was on the multiplying flames around them. He'd worked hard to no longer voice the 'I can't create fire, only control it' thing. Magneto had helped him with that. Now he only thought so, but didn't say it. What he could do was amazing enough on its own, and that was that.
The flames all died at once, and he turned his gaze back to Magik. "How do you do what you do?" It was as much a question as an answer to hers.
Illyana looked a little disappointed as the flames went out, but turned back to Pyro and grinned impishly. Given that he wasn't freaking (and she had to admit, she liked that, a lot), she might as well have some fun with it. "That depends on what it is you're asking about, exactly." She took another sip from her beer. Huh. It really was tasting better. Weird.
"Wait, you can do more than what I've seen?" Pyro asked with raised eyebrows, clearly even more impressed.
"Lots of stuff." Her smile brightened for a moment, then tilted. "Mostly only in Limbo, though. I have a hard time getting magic to work, on Earth."
"So you're a proper witch?" Pyro asked, curious as hell. And not like Wanda, either. Not that he was knocking Scarlet's powers at all - they were fucking awesome, and once she had a real handle on them, he wasn't sure what she couldn't accomplish. But she wasn't actually a witch, not in the traditional sense of the word. The thing Magik had done earlier, how she'd found this place? It had looked like proper witch stuff.
"Sorceress. When people say witch, I always think of those decorations they put up at Halloween. And last I checked, I'm not green with a broken nose and a mole." She wrinkled her nose, then shrugged just a little awkwardly. "Anyway, an apprentice one, technically. But yeah."
"Who the fuck decided you're an apprentice?" Pyro blurted out, very genuinely. Nothing she'd done so far deserved anything like an apprentice label. Probably more adults trying to keep them down - he'd definitely lucked out with Magneto.
At that, Illyana looked decidedly awkward, and fiddled a bit with the flip top to her can before answering. "Belasco. He's...well, he's the ruler of Limbo, basically. I was his apprentice."
Pyro was silent for a beat, just watching her. "You've barely said anything about him, and he already sounds like an asshole," he came out with, because seriously. The guy just did, okay?
"Well, yeah. Demon sorcerer. I think asshole's probably part of the job description, right?" She shrugged and took a drink. "Anyway, he's the reason I can't stay there long. I really don't want to get caught."
"Sounds like the perfect guy to ambush, once you feel strong enough," Pyro remarked, then raised his free hand (well, he was still holding the zippo in between a couple of fingers) in a gesture of peace. "Yeah, yeah, I don't know shit about your story. I'm just saying."
"No, I was planning to. Just..." Illyana chewed at her lip a little, debating how much to say. "Some stuff happened a couple of months ago, and people died. Besides, his last apprentice challenged him. And killed him. He just came back. Laughing."
"That doesn't sound promising," Pyro agreed with a frown. He took a sip, thinking it over. "On the other hand, you can probably learn from what they did wrong."
"That's the thing. I don't know what she did wrong." Illyana gestured widely with the arm not holding her beer. "I mean, I watched it - time's weird in Limbo, and if you go through the right disk, you can end up in the past. She drew on his power, and started becoming like him - more demonic, with horns and everything. And then she stabbed him, and then...he was back." She made a face and took another sip, wondering absently whether or not the beer had anything to do with why this was way easier to talk about than it normally was. Or if it was just that Pyro was listening, and not looking horrified. She figured it was a little of each. "He said he couldn't be killed in Limbo, that his masters wouldn't let him be."
"So either he was full of shit," Pyro summed up, "or there's people above him you need to get to. Right?" She'd know better than him, he was just trying to follow along as they drank.
"Wrong." Illyana made a face. "His masters are the Ancient Ones - the demon powers that supposedly once ruled the Earth." She took another drink, and set the can down. "I can't fight them. I'm actually supposed to be the means by which they get the Earth back."
"Well, that sounds less awesome," Pyro remarked with a frown. "And, you know, like bullshit." He did not believe in fate.
"What do you mean?" Illyana countered, her forehead furrowing.
Pyro finished his beer, then put the empty can back in the pack and picked up a couple others, holding one out to Magik questioningly. "Well, I mean, if I was the overlord of a demon dimension, or whatever, and I took on an apprentice, I might as well give her a bullshit story about my overlords and how she's destined to do their bidding anyway. To keep her in line, you know."
Illyana accepted the second can, but frowned, considering. It was something Belasco would do, there was no doubt about it. But finally, reluctantly, she shook her head. "I don't think so. I mean, Ashake believed in them, too - she was his former apprentice, and she ran a coven in Salem. She said she'd sensed them. And I'm pretty sure I have, too." She put her empty into the box, and popped the top on the her new one. "Besides, I'm almost positive he wants to use my control of the stepping disks to do it. There's gotta be a reason he picked me."
Pyro shrugged. "Just because they exist, and you've got some kickass powers, don't mean you're destined to do anything but kick their asses. Just saying." He paused. "Stepping disks, they're the flashy teleportation disks, I'm guessing?"
"Uh huh." Illyana forced a grin, simply because she was still considering what he'd said before that. "My actual mutant power. They exist in Limbo, but I can...well, steer them, I guess is the best explanation."
"Just so you know, that's not much of an explanation," Pyro replied with a confused face. That or he was really stupid, which, don't get him wrong, was totally possible. He'd been told that often enough, from a very young age.
"Sorry." Illyana frowned, trying to determine how to explain it better. "Okay. In Limbo, the stepping disks exist. They just sort of pop up randomly, and if you fall through them, you end up somewhere else, or in some other time, or both. Think Alice in Wonderland." She shrugged. "I can call the disks I want, to make them show up and take me where I want to go." She looked hopeful. "Is that better? Some of this is really hard to explain. Especially when you get into time travel."
"I was following until you got to time travel," Pyro replied with an amused smirk. "You mean like what happened earlier? We didn't spend that long in, er, Limbo," it sounded like the name of a dance, okay?, "but then we were back here and the sun was setting already?" Speaking of, he should probably light a fire some time soon. But while there was still some sun, he liked the atmosphere provided by the half-light.
"Or back." She grinned. "I figure I'll use it to do homework. No point wasting real time on it." She took a sip of her beer. "Some of that's the stepping disks. Some of that - well, time in Limbo doesn't always run at the same speed it does on Earth. I'm a few years older than I'd be if I'd never been there."
Pyro took a couple of seconds to work through that. "You mean you were born more recently than I'd think?" Time stuff took a second to parse through, okay?
Illyana nodded, then looked at him curiously. "How old are you?" She'd guessed a year or two older than her, but she really wasn't sure.
"16," he answered, and looked back at her. "You? Real age, not official age."
"Somewhere between 14 and 15?" She made a face, then offered a crooked smile. "It's hard to pin it down, exactly. The doctor says that's pretty close, though."
"15 looks about right, for what it's worth," Pyro answered, although the truth was, he also liked to think of her as 15 better. The closer in age the better.
"Works for me." Illyana grinned and took another sip. "So, what's your story, Pyro who doesn't use any other name?"
A brief frown passed over his brow, but he figured she didn't mean to make fun of something he cared so much about; she was just teasing. Relax, Pyro. It wasn't like she was calling you John. "It's way less interesting," he warned her, looking back at her. "Deadbeat parents, leaving on the street for a bit, manifesting, getting recruited for a kickass mutant team... The usual."
Illyana shook her head. "Somehow, I'm not sure that qualifies as the usual. Except maybe on TV. Anyway, it sounds interesting," she observed, and waved her hand for him to continue.
"Not much else to say," Pyro acknowledged. Okay, plenty more else to say, but he wouldn't be had like a rookie, spilling all of the Brotherhood's secrets to the first pretty mutant who came along. "Fire's the best, flatscans suck, I'm glad we ran into you the other day even if it meant missing out on the main event?"
She stared at him for a moment, then laughed, her face warming. "I think I'm going to take that last part as a compliment," she advised him.
"Good, 'cause that was the idea," he assured her with a smirk, and lit his zippo to grow the small flame some, and divide in three flames spaced out in front of them, much like invisible candles. It was getting too dark, and he liked being able to see her face. Besides, fire made everything better. "So why'd you track me down?"
"Maybe I liked your fire." Illyana returned his smirk, thinking to herself that his expression, right now, looked an awful lot like the one that had gotten stuck in her head when she'd seen him on the mission.
"Maybe you've got good taste," Pyro replied, smirk going absolutely nowhere as he held her gaze.
"Maybe I do." Illyana leaned in a little. "What about you?"
His smirk widened ever so slightly, and the flames might have burned a little brighter for a very brief moment. "You tell me." And he leaned in the rest of the way to kiss her, no hesitation, no doubt - especially not when she'd gone out of her way to find him.
Mmmm. Illyana reached up to wrap her hand around the back of his head and leaned into the kiss. Eventually, she pulled back and grinned. "You've got awesome taste."
Pyro chuckled at her conclusion, thumb brushing her jaw. "I like to think so, yeah."
Yana tilted her face into his touch and smiled. For the moment, she actually felt like maybe he did. "Y'know, we've been warned you and your team are probably terrorists," she observed, her fingers toying with the hair at the back of his neck.
Pyro was silent for a moment, enjoying her touch, the three flames, just her, and then remarked, "You seemed to take that warning to heart."
Illyana's eyebrows rose. "Demon sorceress here. I don't really do warnings." She grinned. "How'd you like to go to a party?"
Pyro's smile was both amused by and wary of the random question. But mostly amused. "What kind of party?" he asked, trailing his free hand down her arm and to hers, before taking another sip of his beer.
"Back to school party, at Mutant High." Illyana grinned impishly and held her finger up to her lips. This was probably a horrible, awful idea, but then, her first terrible idea of the day had turned out pretty damn well, hadn't it? "Shhh. That last part's a secret. But if I read between the lines right, Warren's going to be supplying the drinks."
Mutant High? Shit. Pyro really, really wanted to ask, 'Shit, are you guys attending school?', but he didn't want to push his luck too hard, too quickly. Not before more making out happened. Not before he actually showed up at a party at Mutant High! "Wow, okay. Whoever Warren is, I'm always up for free booze in good company." And he meant her, not that Warren guy. "When's the party?"
"The sixteenth. Not sure what time." Illyana frowned, her forehead creasing as she tried to remember, then shrugged and grinned. If Warren had actually said, she didn't remember, but it didn't really matter. "I'll pick you up. Is here good?"
"Sure," Pyro nodded. "You give me your number, I'll let you know if something comes up." It wasn't like they planned ahead all that much. Quite a few of their missions happened on a really short timespan.
"Is that a nice way of saying that you're going to say yes and then cancel at the last minute?" Illyana asked skeptically. Nonetheless, she held out her hand for his phone.
"It's a nice way of warning you my life gets hectic," Pyro answered, pulling his phone out and unlocking it. He frowned as he saw the texts he'd missed from his teammates, wondering where he was at with the groceries. Case in point, he figured. He dismissed the notifications and pulled up a new contact, letting her write Magik, too, since he had no idea how she spelled it. He handed the phone over. "Did you have much lead-up time before you showed up at that facility? 'Cause we don't always."
"Fair." Illyana, having forgotten her earlier decision to just use her codename, typed in Illyana and her phone number, then passed back the phone. "You guys do stuff like that a lot, then?"
"Try and fight the assholes using mutants? It's sort of our thing, yeah," Pyro confirmed, saving the contact and putting his phone away. "Don't you? When classes don't get in the way," he added, teasing. Seriously, a school. He was even happier that Magneto had found him, and not whoever had opened a school for mutants.
"Umm...not so much." She wrinkled her nose. Kitty might not agree, but personally, she found the idea of more missions way more attractive than more class time. "That was our first," she admitted.
"You'll catch up," he stated, and reached for her hand again, tangling their fingers and stroking his thumb on the back of her hand. "Who knows, maybe we'll end up kicking ass together some day." As far as he was concerned, all mutants should fight together against the flatscans. They'd need it.
"Mmm, that could be fun," Illyana acknowledged. She stroked her own thumb over the back of his hand and used it to pull him in a little closer. "I don't know, though. The Prof talked like it was a one time thing. And thanks to you guys, we kinda blew it."
Pyro leaned in and kissed her again, breaking the kiss after a few moments to tell her, with his trademark smirk, "Hey, you want to join the most kickass team around, you know where to find me." But right now, kissing her was a lot more important than recruiting her, so he was going back to that. Priorities.
She'd heard worse ideas, Illyana decided as she pressed in closer, deepening the kiss. But right now? She wasn't really worried about teams. Or anything at all.
