output its tremendous date file. “They have been very thorough”, Elizabeth
thought, as details of her childhood scrolled past. Another monitor showed
digitized photos of times and places she’d forgotten a long time ago. “Now
where did they get those?” she wondered, whispering it aloud.
She had looked very different at the time of her first serious modelling.
Her breasts were smaller then, her body tighter, her face younger. She
still remembered the thoughts running around in photographer’s head – being
a teenage mindreader can be very educational. Elizabeth had learned to accept
that as she grew older and wiser, and nowadays she never peeked really deep
into other person’s mind. There was never anything beautiful to be found,
only guilt, hate and chaos their conscious level was never aware of. She had,
of course, been taught the tricks of the trade by the undisputed master,
professor Xavier, but sometimes she wondered if she really could adjust how
deep she probed. Perhaps she saw everything other people had stuffed inside
their heads, just refusing to know it consciously.
Sensors indicated someone at the door, but she didn’t have to look at the
monitor to recognize her. Dazzler, the show-off mutant with power to transform
sound into light, entered the room carrying two cups of coffee.
“Found anything interesting?” she asked as she set the cups on a small table.
“No”, Elizabeth said and reached for the cup. She didn’t have to look at it
directly, since she saw it through Alison’s eyes. The multimedia show on the
monitor ended and another menu appeared. She sipped her coffee and swallowed
it quickly, because it was still a little bit hot.
“Have the boys returned?” she asked back.
“Not yet”, Alison said and inserted the cassette into the stereo. It was U2’s
Rattle and Hum, one of her favorites after Tina Turner. The bass line of
“Bullet” filled the air, first loud, then quieter as Alison loaded her body
with music.
“It’s OK, they can definitely take care of theirselves”, Elizabeth said and
drank again, this time ready for heat. “We survived the Inferno, defeated
Reavers, even M-Squad…” – she giggled now with Alison – “they really would
not let a bunch of common crooks give them any trouble, now would they?”
“Definitely”, Alison answered.
“How’s Rogue?”
“Still sleeping. I checked her a five minutes ago. The sedative is still
effective.”
“Do you think that she’s going to get herself together?” Elizabeth asked.
Alison took some time before answering. They both knew what Rogue had to
go through every day, probably until the end of her life. She was never
able to touch anyone, since slightest physical contact caused her to suck
the target’s mind into her body, turn to him. It was not a beautiful sight
nor a happy state of mind. She had – accidentally – taken Carol Danvers
permanently inside her, and these personas hadn’t gotten along very well
recently. All that was needed to that was to touch her a little bit too
long. She could never feel what it was like to sleep a whole night with
someone she loved, naked bodies touching each other everywhere, every time.
Her crimes had been notorious, yes, but the punishment had been out of
every proportion.
“I… really don’t know. We must hope so.”
Elizabeth streched her hands and yawned. She looked at the clock and was
surprised to realize that it was so late already. Her shoulders felt like
she was Colossus. Alison was quick to help her teammate and stepped behind
her. Elizabeth relaxed in her chair as Alison started rubbing her shoulders
and neck.
“That feels nice”, she complimented. Her hand reached for a key, but she
stumbled and hit the key next to the one she’d intended. “Hmph”, she said,
pressing the right key, but the machine was already running. Another multi-
media about her started to run.
“Browsing through your file?” Alison asked, running her fingertips over
and over her shoulders. “Isn’t it surprising how they got all that data
about us. You know, my file is full of stuff I wasn’t aware of myself.”
Elizabeth didn’t bother to stop the computer, instead she leaned back,
closed her eyes and let Alison relax her completely. She breathed peace-
fully, her mind wondering around. Suddenly Alison’s hands stopped what
they were doing, just in the middle of where they really shouldn’t have
done that. Elizabeth felt like a symphony had ended abruptly into sound
of everyday noise.
“Don’t stop”, she said quickly, with her eyes shut. Alison was stunned
for a second, they she started making a sound reminding Elizabeth of when
her girlfriends had caught her kissing a boy when she was twelve. She saw
the reason in her mind when Alison started to giggle.
Elizabeth’s eyes and mouth opened wide and she reached for the keyboard.
On the monitor there were sensuos photos of her – without a strand. She
gasped for air with disbelief – the guy had promised to destroy those
photos when she’d came over next day to tell that she’d changed her mind!
How could she have been so naive and stupid then? Alison was giggling aloud
now, almost falling down on the floor as Elizabeth pressed the buttons
frantically, trying to make the computer stop.
“Oh god”, she said when she found the right command. The picture died into
blackness.
She turned around and looked at Alison, who was trying not to laugh. Her
eyes were delivering a clear message, telling that if she ever told anyone
about these photos, she’d be dead meat. Alison pointed her forefinger play-
fully to her, showing that she’d give her the fight of her life.
“Now. How much did you see?” Elizabeth finally asked.
“Quite enough”, Alison answered. “There was this picture where you were
lying on the bed, eyes closed, legs open and hands on your pussy. And that
other one of you doing Emmanuelle-pose in that chair, except the expression
on your face was somehow more dangerous. I didn’t know you had such reserves.”
“Alison.”
“Elizabeth, come on. OK, so you were young and this guy, let me guess, gave
you a few drinks and you needed cash and did it? It’s not such a big deal,
nothing to worry about.”
“Alison.” Her voice contained now the anger that the shame had covered.
“Come on.” Alison stepped forward and quickly turned the chair around. She
placed her hands on Elizabeth’s neck before she could object. “You should
have seen the discos I performed in when I was young. Real ratholes with
minimum pay. I had to do some posing to reach bearable standards of living,
and most of it nastier than yours. Some of it a lot nastier, since I wasn’t
very beautiful then and no-one wanted to see my body unless it was humped
by some stud. So you have nothing to complain. I was just able to remove them
from my file before anyone else found them. Even all the video stuff. But
at least I had the decency not use my real name, and I don’t think that any-
one recognized me, because I only did cameos if films and usually wore a mask
when I sang onstage.”
Elizabeth sensed that Alison was telling the truth. She let herself loosen
again and sighed. “Now my good massage work is ruined”, Alison said, feeling
her muscled tensed again.
“Sorry”, Elizabeth said.
…End of the part1. To be continued..
