Chapter 20 - A Little Bit of X: Chapter 20

A Little Bit of X
by Volpone

Chapter 20

          Windflower was about to ask Victor if he wanted to go off and get to know each other better when Indigo and Primrose were suddenly there.
          “I need to talk to you about something,” the Native American woman told her Australian colleague before she could get involved with the large man.
          Victor looked irritated for a moment, then was distracted by the red-headed Irish lass who remained.
          “My, but you're a big one!” She gave him a smile that promised she didn't mind at all if he were. “I'm Primrose. You must be one of the new guests.” Slipping her hand through his arm, she said, “I've been bored silly recently. Maybe you'd like to entertain me for a bit.”
          Victor examined the redhead, but his nose told him her interest wasn't as genuine as the little blonde's, but comparing the two, this one had more curve where he liked it, even if she wasn't quite up to Knockout's stacked frame. Still, she was much better than those local gals near the hideout. Those had been downright skinny.
          “I think maybe you're gonna be entertaining me, short stuff.”
          The Irish lass smiled up at him.
          “Ooh! A man who knows what he wants.”

          Pyro looked over the other gals and tried to decide if he was better off sticking with Relay (a certain thing even if she wasn't as much a stunner as these others) or if he might be better off trading her in on one of these new gals. In North Africa, they'd been limited to the other team members, but the rules had changed, or at least circumstances had. These new women certainly seemed to be open to being approached if the little Irish baggage that had snapped up Victor was any indication. The blonde in the back... not the one who sounded like she was from Australia and made the play for Sabretooth... no, this one had the kind of look that said she was a little scared to be here around strangers. She was a looker with pale blonde hair that said Swede or something similar. (Snowdrop was actually Czech, but he couldn't know she was not available by doctor's orders for the time being. That he'd zeroed in on the only one who was used to putting up with regular abuse spoke to Pyro's psychology more clearly than anything.)
          Glancing over at Relay, he caught her watching at him. Her look was clearly saying, “You go right ahead... you pick one of these sluts. But if you do, don't ever expect to touch me again.”
          Decisions... decisions...
          Freeze-frame took this opportunity to announce, “I will be in my room,” and he moved to the doors where Hamad was standing.
          Locus decided that sounded like a good idea since she didn't swing this way. Besides, she wanted to see if she could get a better look at that vault they'd passed.
          Relay started to follow her, then realized she'd be leaving the man she'd been sleeping with alone with all these women, all of whom looked ready to take her spot in Pyro's bed the moment her back was turned. It was ironic that she'd been growing tired of the Aussie pyrokinetic and had been looking forward to being able to discard him in some casual it's-been-fun-but-I'm-out-of-here manner, but now that there were other women around to threaten her claim on him, she found herself feeling illogically possessive. If they weren't going to be together, she wanted it to be on her terms, not his leaving her for another woman. That would undo all her ideas of how she wanted it to play out.
          Stopping, she turned to Pyro. She didn't say anything, but she made it clear that if he didn't accompany her now, that was the end of his enjoying any of her benefits.
          Realizing he could use this for leverage, he decided to stick with his current “girlfriend”.
          Knowing there were a number of other available women who were clearly here as entertainment for the troops might make Relay a bit more receptive to his suggestions.

          Victor was already sure he'd gotten the best of the deal.
          Looking down, the little Irish piece was laying back on her bed, head off the edge and urging him to fuck her face this way. She even managed to take him full length, and that was something not many had managed.
          Damn, but she's got a sweet mouth...
          And the next thing he knew, Sabretooth had his hands around her neck and was driving Little Victor deep down her throat as he shot his load.
          The redhead didn't struggle as much as he liked, but she held out until he was done and had pulled out of her mouth so she could breathe again.
          “Whew!” exclaimed Primrose. “Someone needed to blow off a bit o' steam.” She captured anything that might be clinging around her lips with a finger and cleaned it off with a slight chuckle.
          From her delivery, she didn't seem at all upset that he'd finished so quickly.
          Victor wasn't sure if he should treat her like he was insulted so he could give her a lot rougher second round, but looking at her smile, he realized she might just like that, too, and that would spoil half the fun. Besides, she'd done a good enough job he didn't feel nearly as pent up as before.
          And he could always come back for more later.

********

          Across the world, Quinn was anxious to get an update from Hank as to what progress was being made. Until they had a counter-agent for this weapon the opposition was using, they were dead in the water and just marking time. And the longer they were delayed, the longer al-Masid had to round up more mutants and consolidate his position.
          While Quinn was waiting, he'd been introduced to many of the members who were arriving to help with the operation. In spite of several of them being quite attractive (among the new players were Kitty/Shadowcat and Illyana/Magik), Quinn firmly resolved to keep things professional with all these new females... at least until after the mission was complete.
          His resolve lasted less than two hours after being introduced to Neena, better known as Domino.
          While Quinn had every intention of not getting involved with any of these new players, it seemed that Neena had heard some rumors about this new member at the mansion and how he seemed to have all the women in such a state.
          Neena had never been terribly repressed, and she knew within thirty seconds of meeting this Harlequin that she'd take him to bed the first chance she got. He reminded her quite a bit of Wade Wilson but without taking all the exhausting smart-ass shtick. Judging by his polite flirting when they were introduced, he was more than casually interested but still not nearly the playboy she'd been led to believe. It was equally clear he wasn't going to make a play for her to judge by his failing to respond to several clear set-up lines she lobbed in his direction.
          For his part, Quinn was hoping Natalya was interested so his resolve wasn't tested any further.
          So imagine his surprise when Quinn came back to his room to find Natalya leaving his quarters.
          She smiled impishly, then leaned up and collected a quick but passionate kiss from him.
          Quinn was about to step up his response to her kiss and steer her back into his room when she broke the kiss and skipped away, saying, “Enjoy yourselves!”
          Hmm. That wasn't what he'd expected. As Natalya was one of the women he was already intimate with, he had no issue with fraternizing of a horizontal nature. They were already involved to that degree and so would change nothing. Besides, she was not only about the sexiest woman he'd met in ages, she wasn't scheduled to go on this mission in any capacity. She was to be at Quinn's home in the Caymans when things went down. As such, he would have been more than pleased to take her into his room and try to make her very, very happy indeed. That she had scampered away smiling put a serious kink in his plans.
          Pushing open his door, he discovered why Natalya had looked so amused.
          Neena was relaxing back on his bed, dressed in her tight-fitting catsuit but with the zipper opened down to her navel (but not pulled back, leaving her technically “decent” but still incredibly suggestive), paging through one of the books from his shelf.
          Seeing him enter, she snapped closed the book and asked as if disappointed, “What? No porn?”
          She tossed the book onto the nightstand, then relaxed cross-legged on the bed as if it were her own.
          “I find it a poor substitute for the real thing,” he said truthfully, then added humorously, “And the last time I jerked, my hand fell asleep in the middle of it.”
          That was a kind of Deadpool line, but Neena wasn't about to let it bother her now.
          She gave him a look of false sympathy.
          “Oh, poor baby...” Her voice had taken on that pouty baby talk that irritated Quinn so.
          He held up a hand to stop her going any further.
          “Please... don't do that. I hate baby talk. It's one of the most...,” he groped for some word that wouldn't insult her too badly, “...unattractive things any woman can do around me, so if you wish me to leave, please continue.”
          She seemed to be genuinely curious over his reaction. She'd expected some more banter from the funny man.
          “You'd actually walk out... over my using baby talk?” It seemed to be an alien concept, but then Neena had never had any man walk away if she set her mind to it.
          “Please don't take it personally,” he told her. “I'd walk out of here no matter who did it, no matter how sexy I might find them under other circumstances. It's one of my triggers, so please don't use it. And don't call me 'daddy'. Or 'papi'.” He waited a beat. “Or nibble on my facial hair.”
          She wondered if he were actually as neurotic as he suddenly sounded, so she asked, “Anything else I should be aware of?”
          He settled himself onto the bed, showing her he actually had no problem with her being there.
          “I'm sorry,” he told her in a way that said it was an admission. “I'm actually very pleased to find you here. It's just I'd resolved to not get involved with any teammates until the operation was complete. Then when I met you, I wanted to kick myself right in my nobility. So I truly don't want to get off on the wrong foot.”
          She took the opportunity to quip, “I didn't know feet had anything to do with it... but I'm open to new things.”
          Quinn grinned back to show he'd gotten the message and was happy she wasn't actually insulted.
          “I simply wanted you to understand that I'm happy you're here, and I don't want to have you surprised in the middle of things. I try to be polite, but if a gal thinks she'll be sexy and coos, 'Fuck me, daddy,' in my ear, it tends to put a damper on the mood when I kick her out of my bed. And yes, I've actually done just that. I'm not some horny adolescent whose led around by my dick like a pull-toy and lets a woman do anything so long as it gets me laid. Sex is wonderful... and I will do whatever I can to make my partner feel she's gotten the best of the deal.
          “But when you led off with something that just makes my skin crawl, I felt it wise to put my triggers out there so we didn't need to worry about them. And I am more than happy to hear any items that put you off, if you're willing to share.”
          She gave him a wry smile that crooked up on the right side.
          “Men who talk too much.”
          Holding out his hands in capitulation, he stated, “My bad.”
          Laying back, she held out her arms to him and said, “You can make it up to me.”
          A few minutes later, Quinn was doing a good job of making it up to her as Domino had her fingers twined in his sexy, long hair as she gasped at his oral talents.
For his part, Quinn was pleased to find Neena as unrepressed as he'd assumed. His first clue had been her being absolutely smooth, no trace of hair anywhere other than that on her head. Her mons was so smooth, he knew she had to wax instead of shave, and that meant a woman who enjoyed recreational sex. Women who put up with the pain of waxing smooth were doing it for a reason, and unless the woman's a nude model, there aren't too many other reasons to go through that trouble. It might even be she was naturally hairless, but from her behavior, he felt his theory about loving recreational sex was accurate.
          If she'd intended to be the pursuer rather than the pursued, that plan had gone out the window the moment Quinn showed her the advantages of letting him take the lead. Neena loved sex and had lots of experience with a number of partners, but she couldn't recall anyone (male or female) that seemed to be so attuned to her reactions. He consistently found the spot she wanted attended and used just the right pressure, suction, or what-have-you to get her gasping in no time. That he'd already coaxed one orgasm from her and he'd barely gotten started told her the rumors about Quinn were actually short of the truth.
          Just about then, Quinn decided Neena had enough time warming up and went to work by impaling her on two fingers as he captured her clit between his lips and made her arch up off the bed like a rainbow. She gave a high gasp and held herself in place, afraid to move because it might interrupt what was happening, and she was enjoying it too much to risk it.
          But after almost thirty seconds of steady orgasm, she'd reached her limit for the moment and dropped down to the bed, pushing his head and hands away from her and curling up protectively to stop him from making her cum any more. She could barely control her hands which were a mass of pinprick sensations, as were her feet, and her breathing was more gasping than normal.
          Quinn lay there on his side, smiling happily with his head propped on his left hand, elbow on the pillow as he waited for her to regain her equilibrium. If Neena was this responsive to him and he'd not even bothered to use his Talent, he was in for a fun time.
          After managing to get back under control, Domino looked at her smiling paramour and told him, “Okay, you smug sack of testosterone... don't think you're getting away with that. You think you're such hot shit in bed? Lay back and let a pro work.”
          The dialog reminded Quinn that Neena was often associating with Deadpool, and he was the most notorious smart-ass this continuum had produced. Quinn had done the unforgivable and made her look like she couldn't handle what he was capable of dishing out. She intended to get some payback, and if he didn't give her a mouthful of what she was after, she'd want to know why.
          At least his body was reacting like he was excited she was there. His hard-on was stiff and literally suspended there in mid air like some perverted diving board even though he was looking relaxed and ready to wait indefinitely for her if he needed to.
          Rolling him onto his back, Neena took a grip on him around the base, cupped his balls with her other hand, and began to show him what tricks she'd picked up in her checkered past.
          The first thing Quinn had to appreciate was she refused to rush. So many women got excited and would start sucking like they thought he was the straw in a thick milk shake and she wanted some serious brain freeze. That was fine under the right circumstances but wouldn't show the finesse she clearly wanted to strut. Neela began with lips and tongue, teasingly at first in spite of his already being incredibly hard. She ran her wet lips up and down the front of his cock, using her tongue to add to the sensation and provide added saliva. She worked up and down both sides of his erection next, and finally moved on to his scrotum, all the while watching him to gauge his reactions.
          The thing that made her wonder what was up was how he seemed to react favorably to everything she did. It was like he didn't have any preference, all of it being good in his opinion. Usually by this time, the man would have lost patience with her slow build up and would either be trying to shift around to get himself into her mouth or would have taken hold of her head or hair and steered her until he was in her mouth. Quinn didn't do any of that. He just seemed to enjoy letting her take her time.
          What is this? A man who isn't after having an orgasm as quickly as possible? It's like he isn't even a normal male.
          In that, he would have agreed 100%.
          Finally, she grew tired of stretching things out and aimed him so she could take him inside the warm, wet refuge of her lips and start giving the smug bastard some cock-sucking like he'd never had.
          Or that was the plan.
          Quinn tried not to compare women, but it was clear Neena was wanting to make a statement, and this was her way of doing it.
          Still, this wasn't Quinn's first rodeo... or his tenth... or his hundredth... or indeed his thousandth. Back home, he had fourteen wives in his group marriage, one of his wives being the most sought after heterae on the planet Secundus before her retirement. He'd had hundreds of human women, females of a dozen species (all humanoid to a greater degree) and even immortals and deities on some occasions. He'd even had a version of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and desire on one of his adventures. Neena was at a disadvantage in being a human female who had only been alive somewhere around thirty years. She simply didn't have the chance some women had to be “the best”.
          And all of that meant exactly 'dick' because she did pretty damned well for a lowly human female with less than two decades of experience in her sexual history. It seemed Neena had made great use of the time she'd had.
          What qualified as “the best” to Quinn wasn't a matter of the most incredible head. For him, it was how much the woman enjoyed what she was doing. He'd experienced several females with stellar cock-sucking skills, but they were so focused on their technique they forgot to enjoy themselves, and so they were disappointing to Quinn. His favorite experiences while getting head were from females who could have an orgasm from giving head. In his experience, no woman who came from sucking cock gave poor head. The two seemed mutually exclusive.
          But while Neena had begun thinking about technique and planning what to do to impress him, when she stopped trying to be “the best” and just let herself enjoy was when he started giving her his best reactions. And she was able to enjoy herself a lot, which meant it was better for him as well.
          She'd been working him for about five minutes before what she was doing got Neena on track for an orgasm of her own. The sensation of his glans against her tongue and the roof of her mouth... the little sounds he made in response to her, almost perfectly in sync with her own rising sexual pleasure.
          In fact, at this rate, it wouldn't be long before...
          Neena gave a rising cry that was muffled by the cock in her mouth, but from how she was shaking, even a macho shithead who only worried about his own pleasure would understand she was enjoying a nice climax from giving him head.
          And Quinn's fingers clenched in her hair for the first time, letting her know she was getting to him. Neena was afraid he'd stop her before he finished, but she didn't want to. She wanted him to cum in her mouth. She wanted to taste him on her tongue, and then to swallow him down with relish because it had been so fucking fantastic for her, too.
          The idea of having him squirt in her mouth got her even more excited, and Neena started working harder, sliding him as deep in her mouth as she could, the head of his cock filling the back of her mouth and bumping her throat each time she drove him into her clinging lips.
          What drove her over the edge yet again was the rumbling snarl that rose from inside him. It was as if he'd found the sound she'd most like to hear a man make at his approaching orgasm, as if she'd stripped away millions of years of evolution and he was some kind of powerful beast, his sexuality at its most primal and instinctual.
          His fingers tightened in her hair again, and then she was treated to the cock she was sucking spitting its load into her waiting mouth. She gave a delighted squeal as her own climax peaked just as his semen hit her tongue, and she felt so amazing at having pushed him beyond his limit.
          Quinn kept pumping more semen into her smiling lips, and Neena registered that Quinn quite literally didn't taste like any man she'd ever sucked off before. The odd bitter edge most men had was absent, replaced by a kind of sweetness that somehow blended with the slightly salty quality.
          As her own orgasm tapered off, she realized she must have done well considering how much cum he was giving her. She had to swallow before he was done to prevent losing much of what she had been attempting to hold in her mouth. She'd been hoping to get a nice mouthful of his batter and then show it off to him proudly before gulping it down. Fortunately, he did a good job of giving her most of another mouthful before he was done.
          Doing as she'd intended, she slid his now softening cock from her lips, smiled smugly, then crawled closer to him, then opened her mouth and showed him just how much he'd enjoyed himself.
          The chuckle he gave her in reply was the perfect response, and she closed her lips and sent his offering on its way.
          He told her, “Come here.”
          Slithering her way higher, she rubbed her fine, full breasts against him as she did until she was almost even with him.
          Quinn surprised her by taking hold of her face in both hands and giving her a kiss. And it wasn't some kind of perfunctory kiss to say, “Thanks, babe. I enjoyed it.” No, this was the kind of kiss that said he desired her now, not before and not some unspecified distance in the future. It was a kiss that made her wonder just how soon he might be ready to continue.
          Okay, now he's just being weird. Men don't kiss after you've just had their cum in your mouth.
          And they don't kiss you after they've come like they do before they have.
          It was only then that Domino realized the cock pressed between them was almost hard again.
          It might have been the nicest sexual complement she'd ever had. After an orgasm like that and he was already set for a rematch?
          Quinn was ready to demonstrate exactly how ready he was to move on to their next act when there was a knock at his door.
          What is it about this place that makes it impossible for me to enjoy time with a woman without being interrupted? he thought, but truly it only felt that way.
          At the same moment, Collie spoke to him through his implant.
          ::Quinn? I'm sorry to bother you when you're entertaining, but Hank is at your door.::
          ::I heard him. Is it really an emergency?::
          ::The mansion isn't on fire, but it is important.::
          ::Okay, bella. I'll make some time.::
          He took a look at Neena and she gazed back at him with a look that said, “I knew it couldn't last. I've got to be dodging bullets to catch that kind of luck.”
          Aloud, she told him, “Go on. See who it is and then get your ass back here.”
          Quinn called back over his shoulder at the door, “Be there in a second.”
          With a sigh of disappointment at who he was leaving in his bed, Quinn got up and snagged a kimono. A kilt would have been heavier and more likely to mask his now-flagging erection but it was impossible to get into one quickly... he wore traditional kilts which took both time and effort, so the kimono was his only option to avoid being rude.
          Opening the door so he stood to block the view into the room (who he had in there was no one's business... though Neena didn't strike him as the shy type), he opened it to find Hank there, just as Collie had predicted.
          “Quentin, I've been consulting a bit with Columbina and she said she cannot help without your permission. Would you be able to spare us some time? It will virtually guarantee to speed up our timetable.”
          Still, Quinn couldn't quite bring himself to just drop what he was in the middle of since it was entertaining such a randy package of sexiness as the woman in his bed.
          “Can I have... a half-hour?”
          Hank seemed genuinely surprised that Quinn was hesitating. He'd seemed so keen on their making progress it seemed puzzling.
          “We really are at a stand-still without you.”
          Crap. Well, I can't say I didn't enjoy myself...
          “Let me throw on something more suitable.”
          After closing the door, he turned to ask Neena's pardon for his interrupting what was such a delightful evening, but she beat him to the punch.
          “Your presence is requested, and it's important enough that I get to... finish alone?”
          He told her emphatically, “It's not what I would have preferred, but they say they need me.”
          Domino stretched, arms going back to the mattress above her head, her left leg straight up, pointing her toes at the ceiling and giving him an unobstructed view of what he was walking away from. Then, when he'd had a moment to regret his decision, she slithered out of his bed and picked up her outfit.
          “You do what you need to do. Just don't be surprised if I find an old boyfriend to keep me company. A man has to expect to have a penalty for leaving the job only partly done,” she told him, a wicked look in her eye. He had made the choice, and she was more than willing to see him regretting which he'd chosen. Stinging a man's pride in the bedroom often made them anxious to prove himself in the future.
          Of course, she knew she truly had nothing to complain about since he'd gotten her over the edge quickly and then kept her there for... what?... five minutes? Eight? It felt that long when it was happening. Most men maybe managed that in an entire night if she was both lucky and horny. If he were as good at the rest, she wanted to know it from personal experience rather than smug whispers and knowing looks from some of the women when Quinn was around. And if she hadn't been dying of curiosity before, the behavior of the pretty Russian blonde earlier would have been enough to pique her interest. How many women thought it was humorous that another woman wanted to work the kinks out with her man?
          And speaking of kinks, the question was now who was around to help a girl out?
          Properly dressed for the mansion, Quinn accompanied Hank to the lab where the team was set up.

          “Anthony has demonstrated the energy wavelengths which interfere with mutant powers, and has even managed to design a contact suppression unit, but we lack the ability to make one key component.”
          They entered the lab to find Tony and Forge waiting for them, the modified pulse rifle they'd taken from Fade and company neatly disassembled on the workbench in front of them.
          “Is he up to speed?” Forge asked the Beast.
          “In a manner of speaking. I have of course condensed our progress for brevity's sake.”
          Quinn nodded.
          “I get that you've got a device designed similar to the power suppression units that have been made before, but Hank hasn't explained where I come into the picture.”
          Hank and Forge both deferred to Jacobson as he was the one who had done most of the research which had led them to their present point of development.
          Reaching into the parts on the bench, Tony picked up one component.
          “This is our problem,” he explained. “When I was doing my research, I had reached the point of designing a working unit but as I never built a prototype since my version made use of known tech and would have been the size of this lab when finished. Not building a prototype also prevented my realizing it could be used in suppressing mutant powers. That just wasn't my focus, so you can imagine my surprise when I was told someone not only developed a working model, but that it was small enough to be portable and that it could cancel the biological energy mutations draw on for their power. Once Hank told me that, I realized why I'd been targeted.
          “Our dead-end is because of this.” He indicated the essential component that was the modification of the rifle that made it function. “This is what makes this unit small enough to carry and still function as intended. The trick is that there's a material used in here that is a room-temperature superconductor. The reason my design was so large was we don't have access to whatever this uses to carry the energy needed. It's simply not something we have available, and without it, we're dead in the water. It's either extra-terrestrial or synthetic, and we don't have time to go down that rabbit hole. The delay would cost us months if not years.”
          Hank picked up the narrative since he was the one who had brought the problem to Columbina.
          “As this seemed to be technology outside our experience, I took the liberty of inquiring with Miss Columbina. To my surprise, she says she can almost certainly reproduce the unit and even modify it to our requirements, but she will not do so without your approval.”
          Quinn saw why Collie was wanting his permission. This was potentially messing with the technology for the time-line, and doing so could have far-reaching consequences.
          Fortunately, Quinn understood some things his smart-ship partner might be unaware of.
          ::Collie, dear? Can I have a face-to-face so we're not excluding our friends from the conversation?::
          One of the monitors in the room shifted images and Collie's impression of what she would look like as a human appeared on it.
          “I'm here, Quinn,” she informed him.
          “Hi, sweetheart,” he greeted her and pulled up a stool in front of the monitor, letting the others gather around behind him.
          Turning to Jacobson, he asked, “Tony, could I borrow the component a moment?”
          Taking the piece of mystery tech in hand, Quinn tuned back to the image of his partner in misadventure.
          “You said you can recreate this without a lot of trouble?”
          “Almost certainly,” she agreed. With her replicators, if she could get a detailed scan of it, and so long as the physical laws of the continuum allowed, she could make most anything that was inanimate and small enough to fit in the replicator unit so long as she had both the time and energy required.
          Having been fairly certain of her response, he went on.
          “From what I understand, this isn't any kind of tech that hasn't been seen before here. Several parties have developed this kind of technology already, so it shouldn't be a problem in that regard.
          “Is there another reason you're hesitant?”
          “My only concern is the potential for something being repurposed,” she explained.
          That told Quinn what he needed to know. She was afraid that if she gave bullets to a primitive, they might take them apart and use the powder that made them go 'BANG!' to blow something else up. 
          Unfortunately, the bad guys already had gunpowder as demonstrated by the unit in question.
          “The djinni's out of the lamp, bella. I don't think it can make much difference at this point.”
          “I simply wanted to make sure you won't get in trouble with the Circle for this,” she told him. This was her way of reminding him that he was the one who would have to explain this to the Circle of Ouroboros is something went wrong.
          “I feel safe if they have to call on you to reproduce this,” he said as he waved the component they were discussing.
          “Then it's simply a matter of getting the unit where I can get a detailed scan of it,” she told him. This was another reminder to Quinn that at least two if not all three of the scientists in the room with him had no idea about their ability to teleport matter. Still, it was going to be common knowledge among everyone involved in the coming mission since she was their transportation to and from the site.
          Looking at the others, Quinn stated, “I assume I can trust you gentlemen to be discrete?”
          The looks he got back were a bit puzzled but all three nodded agreement.
          “Then here you go,” he told her and held the piece of hardware out on the palm of his hand.
          The unit underwent the visual aberration that indicated teleportation taking place, and when it stopped “sparkling”, the piece was no longer there.
          “Neat trick,” Forge commented, clearly not as impressed as he might be if he wasn't around mutants who could perform similar tricks on themselves but much quicker. Kurt's translocation talent didn't let him send inanimate objects this way, but he could have taken the piece wherever they needed in less time than Columbina had demonstrated, so he was only slightly impressed that it had been done via technology.
          Hank simply nodded as if he expected nothing less from Columbina.
          Only Tony looked as if he wasn't sure what had just happened, but he wasn't going to speculate without further evidence. He was a scientist at heart and knew they were in uncharted territory.
          “What do you need?” Collie asked. “Simple duplicates? I can have one ready inside five minutes.”
          Quinn realized that there must be something tricky involved or she could do it in far less time. Replication of normal items was a matter of seconds. It seemed this superconductor had properties that took some concentration on her part.
          Hank told her, “As a matter of fact, we don't require more units like the sample.” He crossed to another computer and brought up a schematic. “We actually wish to modify the emitter to work through contact. Would it be possible to have the unit modified according to these plans?”
          As Collie was inside their system already, she knew what Hank was wanting before he finished his question.
          “You need it that big?” she wanted to know. “I can make it about half that size if you allow me to modify the storage battery.”
          Tony was beyond being surprised any more, so he simply told her, “Knock yourself out.”
          Looking at the three men, Quinn asked, “Is that everything you were needing me for?” (He still had some hopes of Neena still being in his bedroom when he got back if he didn't take too much time.)
          “We're all just waiting now,” Forge admitted.

          As Quinn was on his way back to his quarters, he was waylayed twice before he could get inside, but once again he was surprised when he opened the door to his own room.
          Yes, there was a very attractive woman in his bed, but oddly enough not the one he was expecting.
          “I hope you don't mind,” Natalya told him. “I saw Neena leave shortly after you did, so I assumed you were free. Is this a problem?”
          “Only in that you needed to wait,” he told her, moving towards the bed and bending down to give her a kiss that told her he had no problem with her being there. Her presence was unexpected but he couldn't feel insulted when he'd been hoping to find her before Neena had intercepted her pass.
          Once she let go of him so he could get rid of his clothes, he told her, “I don't mean to insinuate that Neena was somehow insufficient, but I have to admit I was disappointed when you walked away earlier.”
          “Oh?” she asked with a smile, watching him disrobe. “Did you think you were up to handling the two of us?”
          “That's not what I was suggesting, and I hope you know that. If not, I have not made my feelings about you clear enough.” He kept stripping down, but her sudden quiet made him turn.
          The look on her face wasn't one he had expected. If anything, she looked like a woman who was trying to put on a happy face when she really wanted to let go and cry.
          Quinn stopped what he was doing and was sitting on the bed by her instantly.
          “What did I say, sweetheart?” he wanted to know.
          Natalya turned so she wasn't looking at him and said, “I'm sorry. I'm being silly.”
          He knew better than to simply let her brush things off this way. Something was bothering her and he couldn't let that stand if he could help it.
          “Natalya... please talk to me. What's wrong? Did I do or say something that's upset you?”
          She seemed to be getting herself back under control and her smile looked more genuine, but he knew he'd somehow touched a raw nerve somehow, and he needed to know what it was or he might do it again without knowing. One thing Quinn had discovered in his life was that not talking about a problem never solved it, but he didn't want to invade her privacy by reading her without her permission. He cared far too much for her to do that.
          “No, it's nothing,” she claimed. “It's just... how you said something made it sound as if...”
          She stopped short of admitting she had thought he was saying he cared for her. It was his being gallant, that was all, and she'd read too much into it. Now she was back in control and wouldn't let it spoil their evening.
          Holding her arms out to him, she said, “It's fine. Come and show me I'm a silly woman.”
          To her surprise, he didn't.
          And then she took a good look at Quinn's eyes and realized she hadn't imagined it.
          If anything, that made it worse to her. It was all impossible, so if he did care about her, it just made things a mess. The crisis would end, and then he'd leave and she'd be alone... only now she'd be missing the man she was falling in love with.
          She started to get out of bed, saying, “I think perhaps I made a mistake in coming back tonight.”
          But Quinn didn't let her go, taking her by the wrist before she could rise.
          “If it's a mistake, it's a good mistake.”
          And then Quinn realized he'd been here before. Once before in his life, Quinn had found himself in a spot where he was dealing with a woman who simply couldn't accept the idea that he loved her. That she was everything he wanted in a woman was irrelevant. Something in the woman's past made them incapable of accepting the truth. In spite of looking confident and happy, they had somehow had their self-worth damaged, and it was impossible to fix with words. The cracks were too deep... to much a part of her image of herself to be able to accept that someone was in love with them.
          And here it was again with Natalya.
          And now he had to do something that made him more vulnerable than anything else he might do. It wasn't something he wanted to do because it demonstrated how different he was... how he wasn't human any more, and his greatest fear was that those around him would realize his “other”-ness and become frightened of him, shutting off the one thing Quinn needed more than anyone else in the multiverse... he needed to know he was loved because it was the only thing that made him feel part of the species any more. And there would be nothing more tragic than a creature that had the All-Love... and that creature be unable to be loved in return.
          Seemingly changing the subject, he said, “You know, I've never told you much of my story, have I? In all the time we've spent together, I've learned your story, but you've never asked me mine.”
          Natalya wasn't sure what he was doing, but it wasn't what she expected. Truly, she'd wanted to know so much about him but didn't want to pry, and had been afraid that if she knew more about him, she might fall for him more than she already had.
          But she found herself settling back onto the bed with her legs folded under her because she did want to know.
          And so he began to explain how he wasn't a mutant, yet he wasn't human anymore either. He explained about how he'd become the way he was through a largely chance meeting with “the Teacher”. The Teacher had been the last person in possession of the Quickening... a being who had waited five thousand years in hopes of passing on his gift... the same Quickening that had opened Quinn's mind and allowed him to become so much more than he had been before... the same Quickening that made him no longer human.
          “...And part of what I learned was how to let my nervous system communicate with someone else's. It's almost as if my body decides it's part of the person I'm touching and lets my nerves talk to theirs. In some cases, it acts like telepathy... letting me speak to them mentally, but that seems to be limited to people who are somewhat psychic.
          “But there's one thing I've discovered I can do with anyone because it doesn't need words. I can open my emotions to them and let them feel what I do.”
          Steeling himself, he too the hands of the incredible woman sitting opposite him and told her, “I love you, Natalya.”
          And he opened himself to her, letting her experience what he was feeling.
          All of the thoughts of what she might do when he left were swept away in the totally unexpected sensation of feeling someone more in love with her than she'd realized was possible. Up to that moment, she didn't realize it was possible to feel that intensely. She'd certainly never felt that kind of love for anyone personally, not even her parents. No one who felt like that about another would ever be able to leave them. It simply wasn't possible. Dying would be preferable.
          But that he felt that for her was such an alien concept for her to accept. Men who said they “didn't mind” her being mutant or being a prostitute always seemed to find they did mind once the sex was over. That Quinn had seemed different was part of why she was so drawn to him. For the first time in her life, she'd felt that she was enough even when she doubted it was anything more than her own wishful thinking.
          To be presented with his feelings in a way she couldn't deny was overwhelming. She didn't laugh. She didn't cry. She didn't even move. It was as if someone had opened a door for her and shown her the world she'd been living in all her life was an illusion, and that reality was so different than she'd ever dared imagine.
          She was simply numb.
          Then he managed to do something more outrageous in her eyes.
          “Sweetheart... when I have to go, will you come with me?”
          Natalya found herself silently nodding, still uncertain of what had just happened. All she knew for certain was her life had just changed completely.
