Billy and Pam | Backdated to 6/1
Jun. 1st, 2019 06:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ax_fatale posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ax_mainPam pays Billy a visit while he's recovering.
They'd set up residence on of the many suites in the former PM's home. The Prime Minister of Genosha had done well for himself, it seemed. Easy enough to do, Goodnight had commented, more edge to his voice than usual, when everything you got came along thanks to slave labor. Not that Goody had been anything but on-edge since he'd come to find Billy in the hospital's recovery area, but the realities of Genosha collided with his own history - personal and familial - in the most uncomfortable ways.
He'd laid all that out while Billy had been recovering. There was an island nation outside the door waiting to be rebuilt, but, so far as Goodnight Robicheaux had been concerned, it didn't exist until Billy Rocks was fully recovered.
Billy couldn't say he minded. The while business of having someone looking out for him when he got hurt hadn't lost any of its sweetness, circumstances be damned. Still, he hadn't minded at all when Goody had announced Pam was at their door, wanting a visit. There were some friends who were always welcome.
"Hey," Pam said as she entered, sparing an awkward smile for Goodnight as she made her way over to Billy and plopped down beside him. "You still look kinda like shit," she pointed out. Definitely better. But yeah, still like shit. She felt a surge of guilt and buried it for the moment. She'd get to apologizing. Just not quite yet.
Billy huffed from his nest of pillows and blankets on the divan, then nodded toward the window. "Better enough that Goody's at least letting me watch the world go by. I was confined to bed yesterday." He didn't look upset about it, though.
Pam smirked, her eyes dancing with amusement. "Yeah. Betting you hated that. How come I never get confined to bed?"
"Because you look like you'd murder anyone who'd try," Billy pointed out. "Goody knows I'm not going to complain so long as he confines himself with me."
"Alex knows I wouldn't murder him," she grumbled, then gestured towards the windows. "So, what've you been seeing? Anything interesting?"
Billy sobered a bit. "A lot of angry people. No one's tried shooting at the place yet, though."
"Well, at least they're not being stupid. Maybe we got rid of all the idiots." Pam grimaced. She kind of doubted that; there were always more idiots, it seemed like. But it could maybe have happened. "You should've seen the damage Lance did to the barracks after we left. Fuck, I knew he was dangerous, but he racked up a count to match ours. Took out half the building, too."
Billy nodded, but it was a distant agreement. "So we killed most of the bad guys, right? Now what? We hunt the rest down?"
"Yeah, pretty much. I mean, the Boss took over the country officially on TV; I missed that, but I watched the replays. But there's gonna be resistance." She smiled a little. "Also, if you guys want to stick around, you're welcome on the team permanently. Or you can just hang here and not join up. But you don't have to decide now. The Boss'll come and talk to you once you're feeling up to it. Or, y'know, Wanda or Lance will. Someone."
Billy sighed and pulled his legs up to make more room for Pam if she wanted to sit. "What's the plan? I mean... long term? Do we all become politicians or something?"
Pam let out a snort of laughter. "Yeah, can you picture that? Me, in politics? Or fuck, Mort? That'd be special." She shook her head. "Not sure what the long term plan is for everyone. Lance is taking over security or whatever they're going to call it, and Wanda's doing the whole social services thing, which should be interesting the first time she gets pissed at someone and something blows up. Pretty sure Pietro will stick to PR or whatever his online shit is supposed to be doing." She shrugged. "I figure they'll give me a yell when they need someone either transported or dead. Guess that falls under Lance, which is cool."
Billy propped his chin up on his fist. "We've to figure out how things work here," he murmured. "How they get food, all of that. This is an island, right? They have to import a lot of their stuff. What if the rest of the world decides to starve the muties out?"
"I don't know. The Boss has to have thought of all that, right?" Pam asked, frowning. "I mean, he's gotta have plans. He always has plans. He just doesn't always tell us what they are."
"Well, we need to know if we're going to make this place our own, right? Like... something that really belongs to us, not something we're just squatting on." Billy frowned down at his knees. "There's going to be a lot to do before we have that."
"Well, lots to do beats being bored," Pam pointed out. She reached over and squeezed his hand, tilting her head as she tried to see his face. "You want to go back to the school instead? I mean, I'll be bummed, but it's not like I don't portal."
Billy shook his head. "No. Me and Goody talked it over. The school... something wasn't clicking there anymore. Not for me, at least. We want to try this. Keeping busy and making changes a different way."
"Then what's wrong? You seem..." A thought occurred to her, and Pam grimaced. "If you want me to go, I will. I mean, I totally get it if you're pissed at me." After all, she was still pissed at herself.
"It's not you." Billy glanced up. "I mean... yeah, Goody's not your biggest fan right now. But he'll get over that. I'm not mad at you, though, Pam. I just don't like not knowing what's going on. So we'll need to talk to... your boss, I guess."
"He's just been really busy," Pam explained, relaxing a little, though she made a face. "And...I'm sorry. For freezing up. I didn't - I mean..." she dropped her eyes. "I'm sorry. I was supposed to have your back, and I fucked it up."
Billy lifted his hand to the bandage circling his half-shaven head, but stopped just short of touching it. "What happened back there?"
"You don't remember any of it?" she asked, then, assuming that was the case, she forged ahead. "Well, we took out all the bastards on the first floor," she reminded him, smiling a little at the memory. Because yeah, they'd been awesome, and what came after didn't cancel that out. "And then 'ported up to the second. Which was where we found the smart ones." Her smile faded and she looked down at the bed, away from his bandages. "They'd set up an ambush. I 'ported us right into it. And...I froze. You tackled me, but they were already shooting, and they got you before I could get us out."
Billy nodded. "Thanks... some of it was hazy. But I mean, what happened to you back there. Bad memory?"
"Yeah." Pam sighed and plucked at the hole in her jeans at her knee, focusing in on the tangle of strings as she spoke. "Training sim. Take down as many as you can before you die, and don't make a shitty showing or its off to solitary. Which was pretty much the shittiest thing they could do to me at that point. Except part of me kinda knew I wasn't there, so I just...froze." Which was stupid. She was supposed to be better than that, supposed to be showing everyone she had it all together. Except apparently, she still didn't.
There were a few moments of silence between them, then Billy reached out to take Pam's hand and pull her down beside him. "Could have been worse," he said at last. "We both got out of it. And Simon says I shouldn't have any lasting effects. Hard-headed, I guess."
"Yeah, well, we knew that. We didn't have to prove it," Pam observed, forcing a smirk as she stretched out next to Billy and snuggled in close. "Not only is Goody pissed at me, but we missed being on TV."
"Yeah, well... we're assassins. We shouldn't be on camera anyway, right?" He stretched out, then wrapped an arm snuggly around Pam's middle. This was better. Sitting up still left him feeling dizzy if he wasn't careful. "Better they never see us coming."
"I guess." Pam onto her side so she could wrap her arm over Billy in turn. And grinned, a little. "They definitely didn't see what was coming when I got back. I cleared what was left of the bastards after Lance and Laura were done with them. And fuck, you should've seen the place - they must've really pissed Lance off. I'm pretty sure he had a higher body count than we did, and half the building was on the verge of collapsing."
"Well, we got cut short. If we're lucky, we won't have to do it again." They wouldn't be that lucky, and Billy knew it. There would be more killing. The situation guaranteed it. But maybe things would go better than he expected.
"Maybe," Pam allowed, sounding doubtful. It could happen, she guessed - but at the end of the day, they were assassins. If there wasn't anyone to kill, what were they going to do? "We should talk the Boss into building us a training room like the one at the school. I mean, from what I heard, he built that one; no reason he can't make another. Or get Computer Girl to do it."
Billy chuckled despite himself. "A safe place to put it and enough money to build would be two reasons. But would you mean just training us? Or other mutants too?"
"Hey, he invited all mutants to Genosha. Pretty sure he'd be willing to train them." Pam paused, considering. "Or, y'know, we could. We're seriously kick ass."
Billy shifted a little. "Maybe. But the only way I know to teach is how I learned. And I... don't want to do that to people. But we can think about it."
Pam wasn't entirely sure she had an issue with teaching people the way she'd been taught, but Billy probably had a point. He usually did. "Yeah, not something that's gonna happen in the next few weeks anyway," she admitted. "Pretty sure the Boss has his hands full right now. Besides," she added matter-of-factly, "you're not exactly in any shape right now to teach anyone anything other than how to lie around and get your brain de-swelled."
"You sound like Goody." It was, unsurprisingly, not a very accusatory statement.
"I can think of worse things." Pam grinned and brushed her fingers lightly down Billy's side. "Though if you can't tell me apart from Goody, I think they need to take you back into surgery."
"No way," Billy grumbled. "I hate hospitals. Anyway, it's not like I get infections or anything. I'll be fine here."
"I told them that right away," Pam acknowledged. "I wanted to move you here, but Simon said you needed observation."
"Guess he thought my brain might start leaking out of my ears." Billy snuggled a bit closer and sighed. This was warm, at least. And more comfortable than sitting up. "So we're OK?"
"I'm ok," Pam said, her fingers splaying out over Billy's back and rubbing slowly as her expression turned awkward. "Are you? I really am sorry."
Billy let out a small, content murmur at the petting.
"Yeah. You didn't mean it to happen."
"Well, duh." Because that much should have been obvious. Pam continued rubbing his back slowly and smirked, just a little. "Y'know, you're going to have one weird-ass hair style until that grows out. Kinda like some '80's punk band member or something."
"Mmmph." Billy twitched a smile. "Goody's going to hold a grudge until it grows back."
"Great. He's gonna be mad at me for the next few years." Pam shrugged, trying to show she wasn't concerned about that at all. "Guess I deserve that one."
"You'll live. And he'll get over it." Billy gripped her shirt lightly, anchoring her in place. "And I guess we have plans to make."
"You and Goody?" Pam guessed. "What kind of plans?"
"All of us," Billy elaborated. "You, me, Goody, your boss... we've a lot to do now..." Billy's voice went faint and trailed off sleepily. But the hold on Pam's shirt stayed firm.
"Fuckloads," Pam agreed quietly and, seeing as he apparently didn't want her going anywhere, continued drawing slow circles on his back. Goody could deal. It was pretty much the least she could do.
They'd set up residence on of the many suites in the former PM's home. The Prime Minister of Genosha had done well for himself, it seemed. Easy enough to do, Goodnight had commented, more edge to his voice than usual, when everything you got came along thanks to slave labor. Not that Goody had been anything but on-edge since he'd come to find Billy in the hospital's recovery area, but the realities of Genosha collided with his own history - personal and familial - in the most uncomfortable ways.
He'd laid all that out while Billy had been recovering. There was an island nation outside the door waiting to be rebuilt, but, so far as Goodnight Robicheaux had been concerned, it didn't exist until Billy Rocks was fully recovered.
Billy couldn't say he minded. The while business of having someone looking out for him when he got hurt hadn't lost any of its sweetness, circumstances be damned. Still, he hadn't minded at all when Goody had announced Pam was at their door, wanting a visit. There were some friends who were always welcome.
"Hey," Pam said as she entered, sparing an awkward smile for Goodnight as she made her way over to Billy and plopped down beside him. "You still look kinda like shit," she pointed out. Definitely better. But yeah, still like shit. She felt a surge of guilt and buried it for the moment. She'd get to apologizing. Just not quite yet.
Billy huffed from his nest of pillows and blankets on the divan, then nodded toward the window. "Better enough that Goody's at least letting me watch the world go by. I was confined to bed yesterday." He didn't look upset about it, though.
Pam smirked, her eyes dancing with amusement. "Yeah. Betting you hated that. How come I never get confined to bed?"
"Because you look like you'd murder anyone who'd try," Billy pointed out. "Goody knows I'm not going to complain so long as he confines himself with me."
"Alex knows I wouldn't murder him," she grumbled, then gestured towards the windows. "So, what've you been seeing? Anything interesting?"
Billy sobered a bit. "A lot of angry people. No one's tried shooting at the place yet, though."
"Well, at least they're not being stupid. Maybe we got rid of all the idiots." Pam grimaced. She kind of doubted that; there were always more idiots, it seemed like. But it could maybe have happened. "You should've seen the damage Lance did to the barracks after we left. Fuck, I knew he was dangerous, but he racked up a count to match ours. Took out half the building, too."
Billy nodded, but it was a distant agreement. "So we killed most of the bad guys, right? Now what? We hunt the rest down?"
"Yeah, pretty much. I mean, the Boss took over the country officially on TV; I missed that, but I watched the replays. But there's gonna be resistance." She smiled a little. "Also, if you guys want to stick around, you're welcome on the team permanently. Or you can just hang here and not join up. But you don't have to decide now. The Boss'll come and talk to you once you're feeling up to it. Or, y'know, Wanda or Lance will. Someone."
Billy sighed and pulled his legs up to make more room for Pam if she wanted to sit. "What's the plan? I mean... long term? Do we all become politicians or something?"
Pam let out a snort of laughter. "Yeah, can you picture that? Me, in politics? Or fuck, Mort? That'd be special." She shook her head. "Not sure what the long term plan is for everyone. Lance is taking over security or whatever they're going to call it, and Wanda's doing the whole social services thing, which should be interesting the first time she gets pissed at someone and something blows up. Pretty sure Pietro will stick to PR or whatever his online shit is supposed to be doing." She shrugged. "I figure they'll give me a yell when they need someone either transported or dead. Guess that falls under Lance, which is cool."
Billy propped his chin up on his fist. "We've to figure out how things work here," he murmured. "How they get food, all of that. This is an island, right? They have to import a lot of their stuff. What if the rest of the world decides to starve the muties out?"
"I don't know. The Boss has to have thought of all that, right?" Pam asked, frowning. "I mean, he's gotta have plans. He always has plans. He just doesn't always tell us what they are."
"Well, we need to know if we're going to make this place our own, right? Like... something that really belongs to us, not something we're just squatting on." Billy frowned down at his knees. "There's going to be a lot to do before we have that."
"Well, lots to do beats being bored," Pam pointed out. She reached over and squeezed his hand, tilting her head as she tried to see his face. "You want to go back to the school instead? I mean, I'll be bummed, but it's not like I don't portal."
Billy shook his head. "No. Me and Goody talked it over. The school... something wasn't clicking there anymore. Not for me, at least. We want to try this. Keeping busy and making changes a different way."
"Then what's wrong? You seem..." A thought occurred to her, and Pam grimaced. "If you want me to go, I will. I mean, I totally get it if you're pissed at me." After all, she was still pissed at herself.
"It's not you." Billy glanced up. "I mean... yeah, Goody's not your biggest fan right now. But he'll get over that. I'm not mad at you, though, Pam. I just don't like not knowing what's going on. So we'll need to talk to... your boss, I guess."
"He's just been really busy," Pam explained, relaxing a little, though she made a face. "And...I'm sorry. For freezing up. I didn't - I mean..." she dropped her eyes. "I'm sorry. I was supposed to have your back, and I fucked it up."
Billy lifted his hand to the bandage circling his half-shaven head, but stopped just short of touching it. "What happened back there?"
"You don't remember any of it?" she asked, then, assuming that was the case, she forged ahead. "Well, we took out all the bastards on the first floor," she reminded him, smiling a little at the memory. Because yeah, they'd been awesome, and what came after didn't cancel that out. "And then 'ported up to the second. Which was where we found the smart ones." Her smile faded and she looked down at the bed, away from his bandages. "They'd set up an ambush. I 'ported us right into it. And...I froze. You tackled me, but they were already shooting, and they got you before I could get us out."
Billy nodded. "Thanks... some of it was hazy. But I mean, what happened to you back there. Bad memory?"
"Yeah." Pam sighed and plucked at the hole in her jeans at her knee, focusing in on the tangle of strings as she spoke. "Training sim. Take down as many as you can before you die, and don't make a shitty showing or its off to solitary. Which was pretty much the shittiest thing they could do to me at that point. Except part of me kinda knew I wasn't there, so I just...froze." Which was stupid. She was supposed to be better than that, supposed to be showing everyone she had it all together. Except apparently, she still didn't.
There were a few moments of silence between them, then Billy reached out to take Pam's hand and pull her down beside him. "Could have been worse," he said at last. "We both got out of it. And Simon says I shouldn't have any lasting effects. Hard-headed, I guess."
"Yeah, well, we knew that. We didn't have to prove it," Pam observed, forcing a smirk as she stretched out next to Billy and snuggled in close. "Not only is Goody pissed at me, but we missed being on TV."
"Yeah, well... we're assassins. We shouldn't be on camera anyway, right?" He stretched out, then wrapped an arm snuggly around Pam's middle. This was better. Sitting up still left him feeling dizzy if he wasn't careful. "Better they never see us coming."
"I guess." Pam onto her side so she could wrap her arm over Billy in turn. And grinned, a little. "They definitely didn't see what was coming when I got back. I cleared what was left of the bastards after Lance and Laura were done with them. And fuck, you should've seen the place - they must've really pissed Lance off. I'm pretty sure he had a higher body count than we did, and half the building was on the verge of collapsing."
"Well, we got cut short. If we're lucky, we won't have to do it again." They wouldn't be that lucky, and Billy knew it. There would be more killing. The situation guaranteed it. But maybe things would go better than he expected.
"Maybe," Pam allowed, sounding doubtful. It could happen, she guessed - but at the end of the day, they were assassins. If there wasn't anyone to kill, what were they going to do? "We should talk the Boss into building us a training room like the one at the school. I mean, from what I heard, he built that one; no reason he can't make another. Or get Computer Girl to do it."
Billy chuckled despite himself. "A safe place to put it and enough money to build would be two reasons. But would you mean just training us? Or other mutants too?"
"Hey, he invited all mutants to Genosha. Pretty sure he'd be willing to train them." Pam paused, considering. "Or, y'know, we could. We're seriously kick ass."
Billy shifted a little. "Maybe. But the only way I know to teach is how I learned. And I... don't want to do that to people. But we can think about it."
Pam wasn't entirely sure she had an issue with teaching people the way she'd been taught, but Billy probably had a point. He usually did. "Yeah, not something that's gonna happen in the next few weeks anyway," she admitted. "Pretty sure the Boss has his hands full right now. Besides," she added matter-of-factly, "you're not exactly in any shape right now to teach anyone anything other than how to lie around and get your brain de-swelled."
"You sound like Goody." It was, unsurprisingly, not a very accusatory statement.
"I can think of worse things." Pam grinned and brushed her fingers lightly down Billy's side. "Though if you can't tell me apart from Goody, I think they need to take you back into surgery."
"No way," Billy grumbled. "I hate hospitals. Anyway, it's not like I get infections or anything. I'll be fine here."
"I told them that right away," Pam acknowledged. "I wanted to move you here, but Simon said you needed observation."
"Guess he thought my brain might start leaking out of my ears." Billy snuggled a bit closer and sighed. This was warm, at least. And more comfortable than sitting up. "So we're OK?"
"I'm ok," Pam said, her fingers splaying out over Billy's back and rubbing slowly as her expression turned awkward. "Are you? I really am sorry."
Billy let out a small, content murmur at the petting.
"Yeah. You didn't mean it to happen."
"Well, duh." Because that much should have been obvious. Pam continued rubbing his back slowly and smirked, just a little. "Y'know, you're going to have one weird-ass hair style until that grows out. Kinda like some '80's punk band member or something."
"Mmmph." Billy twitched a smile. "Goody's going to hold a grudge until it grows back."
"Great. He's gonna be mad at me for the next few years." Pam shrugged, trying to show she wasn't concerned about that at all. "Guess I deserve that one."
"You'll live. And he'll get over it." Billy gripped her shirt lightly, anchoring her in place. "And I guess we have plans to make."
"You and Goody?" Pam guessed. "What kind of plans?"
"All of us," Billy elaborated. "You, me, Goody, your boss... we've a lot to do now..." Billy's voice went faint and trailed off sleepily. But the hold on Pam's shirt stayed firm.
"Fuckloads," Pam agreed quietly and, seeing as he apparently didn't want her going anywhere, continued drawing slow circles on his back. Goody could deal. It was pretty much the least she could do.
