5136/Revelations...

Revelations...
Date of Scene:	09 August 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Jessica and Warren talk about Archangel.
Cast of Characters:	Spider-Woman (Drew), Archangel

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Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Darkness came after the events at Coney Island. Them just as hastily, it fled the morning sun, and gave way to a day of waiting and wondering. When again night's inconstant velvet blanketed the world, Jessica could no longer find solace in her home. She could not find it anywhere, in fact. And so she went the only place she remembered feeling it of late.

The docks were nearly deserted. Storms had chased away the revelers, or they had taken flight across the waves. Stately in the light of a waning moon, the Connecticut Dream stood out against the sky in its slip, the waves lapping in plashing and almost joyful sounds against her hull. Here, even if she didn't find Warren, Jessica could feel close to him. Here, she could find solace.

Archangel has posed:
Warren sat in sullen silence. The deck of the Connecticut Dream was a ghostly grey in the moonlight, the whiteness muted by the dim light. With his back against the mast, he could feel the gentle pitch and sway of the boat around him. He watched the harbour, edged by the far shore of the horseshoe of land that surrounded it, black against the sky. The water was dark and restless and impenetrable. Warren's cellphone, long since abandoned and forgotten face down in the kitchen, dutifully buzzed to announce the arrival of each message.

Warren's wings lay low around his shoulders, stirred only by the faint breeze. For all that he moved, he was as much a part of the ship as the mast he leaned against.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
The despair that had rent her heart throughout the day and left her as hollow as the hull of the Dream at once parted at the elation of seeing the moonlight glint off the white of Warren's wings. But just as surely as it was gone, anguish pierced her heart at the vision of a broken Angel.

"Warren?" Jessica calls softly. "Please..." Her tone is plaintive, yet hopeful. "I need you..."

Archangel has posed:
Warren is slow to stir at the sound of Jessica's voice. He rises slowly and turns to toward her, still standing by the mast. Warren's wings are curled forward over his shoulders and hang to his feet, like a cloak warding off some imagined chill. With his back to the moon his features are shadowed and his feathers wear a shaded grey.

"You shouldn't have come," he says quietly, guardedly. And yet there he had been, waiting, in the only place Jessica could possibly have found him.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"I couldn't stay anywhere else. I wanted to find you. This was the only place I knew to look. I wanted to give you a chance to..." She doesn't quite know how to even finish that statement. "To come to me, if you wanted to. To reply to a message. To return my call. Anything. But I couldn't wait anymore. It was maddening, not knowing if you were all right." She tilts her head and watches him quietly for a moment. "Can I join you, Warren?"

Archangel has posed:
Warren's gaze falls from Jessica's face to the deck at her words. He looks up again when she asks to join him. Warren's wings twitch and unfurl from around him. For the briefest moment they flare slightly, as if he were opening up to take flight. But they settle instead behind him.

Warren comes across the deck. He leans over and holds a hand out to Jessica to help her up, despite the absurdity of such a thing faced with a woman of her abilities. The low lights lining the slip catch Warren's face, revealing a pained, even haunted expression. The usual life, easy smile and energy is nowhere to be found.

"I didn't think you would want to hear from me. Not really."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"I'm wanted nothing more than to hear from you." She takes Warren's hand and steps onto the boat, but instead of letting go, she wraps her arms around his waist, her hands slipping beneath the massive white wings, and she holds him affectionately, even needfully. "I understood why you left. You thought you had to. And...maybe you did. But there is nothing that would keep me from wanting to see you again."

Jessica's expression mirrors Warren's own: weary, gaunt, haunted. She has her hair pulled up in a careless twist, tendrils escaping down her neck and curling in the humidity after the storms. Her dress is just as careless - jeans and a fluttery gold top, and sandals even after the rain.

Archangel has posed:
Warren's body tenses when Jessica puts her arms around him, adding more wrinkles to an already creased dark blue t-shirt. He seems uncertain, as if he could not understand that she was in fact holding to him.

He looks down at Jessica and there is no escaping that she is there. Warren's arms close around her and hold tightly, as if Jessica might disappear otherwise.

"You can't know that, there's a lot you don't know," Warren says.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Then tell me," she pleads quietly, her cheek pressed against his shoulder. "Tell me, so that I can make that decision for myself. But don't shut me out to protect me. I can protect myself. If you care for me, Warren, let me make my own decisions."

Archangel has posed:
Warren cringes just slightly at the implied rebuke. Memories of other women, always faceless in his mind, flash by. Different, yet the same. Delicate, fragile even, sheltered all their lives from the hard realities. So different from Candy, from Jessica.

"You saved that boy's life, Jess. Archangel was going to kill the boy; he was weak, injured... unfit. And he wanted to kill you for getting in the way."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"I know that. It was why I protected him. That wasn't you. And it wasn't you who wanted to kill me. But it was you who did /not/ kill me. I had faith in YOU, Warren. If I didn't, I wouldn't have turned my back. I knew better than to confront Archangel. But I knew that you would not allow him to hurt me." Jessica looks up into Warren's face. "And if you couldn't have stopped him, I'd have Wolverined my wounds up in a matter of minutes, and been good as new," she offers half-jokingly, trying to lighten his spirits.

Archangel has posed:
A smiles reaches the edges of Warren's lips but little further. He searches Jessica's face.

"Be careful where you put your faith, Jess," he warns, then kisses Jessica's forehead. Warren looks at Jessica for a moment longer, then lets her go and gently pulls her arms from around him. He takes her hand though and leads her back to the cushioned bench seats just ahead of the helm. "It was... Close. It's always close with Archangel."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Warren, it's always going to be close." Jessica seats herself next to him on the cushioned seat. "If it isn't him, it will be someone else. But it will be just as close for you as it is for me. I am not going anywhere. And I'm not afraid. Not of him. Not of anyone else. And certainly not of you."

Archangel has posed:
Warren looks over at Jessica beside him, looking for something other than her earnestness and not finding it. He shifts in his seat and sighs, looking across the width of the boat to the water beyond. He reaches over and puts a hand on Jessica's knee.

"You're way beyond good sense. Most... But you're not most," he says, as much to himself as to Jessica. "You weren't supposed to see that, though, not ever. I just couldn't control him when I saw you get hurt. I wanted to hurt them back, and I killed those men."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"The weren't men. And I understand why you were angry. But you will have to accept -as will I - that we are fallible. We will get hurt. But we're also durable. In the end, I need a new uniform. But I'm resilient." Jess smiles and lays her hand over Warren's, giving it a little squeeze. "I'm going ballistic the first time I ever see you get hurt, too, y'know. I've already started planning it..." Her tone is so dry, it's difficult to tell when she's joking, and when she's not, except for that playful smile that gives her away. "I'll be writing Congress a strongly-worded letter that day."

Archangel has posed:
Warren turns his hand over so he is holding Jessica's. "There you go, trying to make me feel better again," he says with a shake of his head.

"Jess, I'll tell you anything you want to know, so you can make your own decisions. But you have to promise me you'll really think this through, not just go on feelings that may not last. Your life is dangerous enough as it is."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"My life, Warren, is more dangerous without you. What if you hadn't been there? What if I had to fight all those guys? That kid and I could just as easily be dead right now." But Jessica takes a breath and exhales slowly, and resignedly. "No, you're right. I promise." She looks up into Warren's eyes, her own expression affectionate and warm in the cool of the moonlight. "You remember what happened when he took over. You fought him for me. Tell me, what is Archangel, now, to you?"

Archangel has posed:
Warren frowns and feels the urge to argue back, to explain that Jessica would not have been in danger except for him. To help her see what he saw. Instead he catches her eyes and his face softens. The frown disappears, leaving the pained expression behind again. Faint lines of worry are turned into huge dark creases on his face by the moonlight and the shadows it cast.

"He is... My penance," Warren says bitterly. "Reminding me who I was and what I did. A few years ago, one of my oldest friends, Cameron Hodge, turned on me. He convinced the courts I had lost my mind, fighting with the X-Men, all that. Hodge got an order to have me captured, and taken to hospital. They took my wings. After the procedure, I took one of my planes and... I don't know what I was going to do. I'll never know. There was an explosion on the plane."

Warren purses his lips. His eyes are far away, seeing back through time. "Apocalypse saved me. And offered me my wings back, if I served him. I... Accepted," he grimaces. "And he gave me what I asked for and more, changed me into what you saw. I became Death, one of his Horsemen. Many, many people died."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica nods as Warren speaks. Her gaze takes on a hint of concern, but nothing more to betray what thoughts and feelings lay beneath. "But you are not Apocalypse. You are not Archangel. You had the ability in that moment to reason, and to battle him back. You made him retreat, Warren. You're stronger than he is. Stronger than both of them. That is what I saw." She reaches up to touch his cheek, gently.

"Despite the change. You were what I saw."

Archangel has posed:
Warren leans away from Jessica's touch. "No, I'm not," Warren assures her. "I never beat him. The X-Men made me think I killed Iceman, that's when I broke. I left Apocalypse and returned to the team, and Hank called me Archangel. That's who I was, all the time. And I wanted to kill... all the time. Even after what happened with Iceman. It was almost a year before something snapped and I changed back. Professor X and Phoenix have done things to me, to keep him in check. But he's always there, fighting to get out. Sometimes he does."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Look how far you have come since then, Warren. In time, how much further can you progress?" Jess shakes her head, lowering her hand as her touch lingers now thin and alone in the air. "I won't give up, if you won't."

Archangel has posed:
Warren purses his lips for a moment, then looks over at Jessica.

"I'm really not going to convince you, am I?" he asks. The hope stirring in his chest is painful, constricted by fear and the expectation of loss. "I would say I don't understand... But I'm not sure what you could tell me that would change my mind about you. This isn't... Normal."

Warren looks away again and drums the fingers of his free hand on the cushion beside him. "So that is Archangel. You're the only living person I've told about him outside the X-Men. Though you probably knew all that about me from SHIELD."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Mmm...So /that/ is Archangel," Jessica echoes softly. She nods, ever-so-slightly. "I knew a good deal of it. What I needed was your perspective. Your words, your thoughts. And now that I know, I can make my educated decision."

Standing and moving to sit on Warren's lap, Jess leans in close to warmly kiss the concerned crease upon his brow. "I've got to warn you that, if you wanted rid of me, you're failing. Miserably."

Archangel has posed:
Warren closes his eyes as Jessica kisses him. His arms slip around her waist. Some of the worry lines fade as Warren relaxes somewhat.

"I had to try, especially after the attack. They will target you now, too," he says. A lopsided smile creeps up on the edges of his lips despite himself. "Though I don't think they're any more ready for how crazy you are than I am."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Let 'em come. If I'm a target now, what does it matter what we say or don't about who I am? And what would it change about our desire to protect one another?" Jessica encircles Warren, draping her arms over his shoulders and rubbing the back of his neck gently. "There's not a fear in this world that's worth pretending to be something I'm not."

With a softly chiding tone and a wink, she adds, "Besides, nobody's ever prepared for my kinda crazy."

Archangel has posed:
Warren chuckles. "No, they wouldn't be. I wasn't," he says. He slides one hand up Jessica's back and pulls her toward him into a kiss. "You are..." he starts, but just shakes his head. The smile spreads further across his face, mischievous now. "You know, I lost my phone somewhere below decks. Do you think you could help me find it?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica returns Warren's kiss with a latent passion that only breaks the surface as she frets his bottom lip lightly with her teeth, and she laughs softly. "I thought you'd never ask."