Aggressive Negotiations [1/14]

[shadowcat]

Title: Aggressive Negotiations
Author: enochiansigils and not_from_stars
Fandom: X-Men
Pairing/Characters: Dani Moonstar/Mikhail Sorokin
Rating/Category: R
Warnings: One scene of consensual sex between a minor who is older than her years and a an adult.
Summary: Danielle Moonstar was raised by Magneto and his Brotherhood and became a member of the MLF at a young age. She met and fell in love with Mikhail Sorokin. But the course of true love never does run smooth and when Dani dies as the result of a mission gone wrong, Mikhail is left to pick up the pieces of his life. Five years pass and Mikhail learns that things are not as they have always seemed.
Words: 31,122
Notes: Written for au_bigbang 2011. Thank you very much to queenmidalah for the wonderful art and fanvideo she made for us! We've loved writing this story and have very much enjoyed taking part in the challenge this year.

Mikhail knew he didn't have much room to complain about the young age of the latest team member under his command -- he was young himself, to be a leader -- but he privately thought that fifteen was pushing it a little. More than a little, actually.

Oh, she was good, there was no denying that. Almost too good, which was something that made him suspicious. But his bosses thought she was a perfect fit for them, and for his team in particular, so he didn't have much of a choice. He'd expressed his concerns, they'd placed Dani with him anyway, and he just had to friggin' deal with it.

But that didn't mean he had to like it, and it didn't mean he had to make her life easy. Oh, he wasn't being mean or cruel to her. He wasn't that low. At the same time, though, he wasn't being nice to her, either. And he wouldn't be, not until he knew the higher ups had made the right decision in putting her on his team, because what they were working for was too important to be risked by a teenage girl who had yet to prove herself.

Mikhail Sorokin was a harsh taskmaster, but that was what made him a damn good leader. He didn't push his team any harder than he was willing to push himself.

Unfortunately, that meant he pushed his team damn hard.

For her part, Danielle Moonstar didn't give a damn what Mikhail Sorokin thought of her or her age. She might be only fifteen, but she had seen and done things that most people twice her age had never thought about.

Then again, she had also been raised by the most notorious mutant known to the public since she was an infant. She was good at her job -- and even better with her powers. When Mikhail tried riding her harder than she thought was acceptable, she just did what she was supposed to -- and then smirked when she did more than he expected. If he expected her to be intimidated by him or frightened away from his team, he would have to think again.

Mikhail Sorokin's team was the best in the organization, and that was exactly why she had been placed with them.

He would just have to get used to it. Or he could go to hell. Dani really didn't care which one he chose.

He was rapidly getting used to it, though. Or at least amused by her tenacity. Either way, it was a good thing.

He caught sight of her in the hallway and quickened his pace to catch up with her. "Hey, kid."

He called everybody kid if they were younger than him, though. It wasn't anything personal. He was a little better than cheap shots at her age. Not much, necessarily, but a little.

Hearing him, Dani turned around to look at him with one eyebrow raised in question. She didn't waste time on words unless she needed to.

"Got plans right now?"

She shook her head. She didn't. She had already called her family to update them on her progress so she had the rest of the night free. "No. I was just going to go outside for a bit."

"Want some company?" he offered.

She gave him a confused look. "Why? You hate me."

"I don't hate you, kid. Don't know if I want you here, but I don't hate you."

"Why don't you want me here?" It was a question she had wanted to ask, even if she really didn't care about the answer.

"I care too much about this team to see it risked on a teenage girl. It's why I push you. If you're going to be here, you're going to be good." Well, at least he was being honest.

She laughed humorlessly. "Teenage girl? That's how you see me?" She shook her head. "Listen, Concussion, I was placed here because I was trained in my powers and in combat by the best people. I was never, ever, treated or referred to as a child or a teenage girl. Your team is the best, and so I was the perfect fit. If you have a problem with that, then you can take it up with your superiors who were allowed to recruit me from my previous position in the first place."

"You're a teenager and you're a girl. Hence, teenage girl. And arguing with my superiors would get me nowhere, anyway. They may like me but they don't like me that much." And he knew when something was an exercise in futility.

"Let's try a strong shot of honesty between us, all right? I'm here because I'm the best at what I do. You're the best at what you do and the team is the best because of your leadership. However, you and your team lack the finesse of planning and strategy. Sometimes you can't start off a mission by immediately blowing things up. Sometimes you have to use mind games or distraction." She brought her hand up to his side and there was a glowing crossbow with a bolt aimed at his temple. "If I fire this at any part of you, then you will see hallucinations of your greatest fear -- or your greatest desire. It depends on my mood and what will best allow me to fulfill my mission. Thus, you are removed as a threat for the next few minutes or hours while I do what I was hired to do." She smiled tightly. "It's only one of the weapons that I have at my disposal. I was trained by my adopted father since I was a child, Mikhail. I know all about planning finesse and strategy and about being a weapon."

"You shouldn't have had to be a weapon so young." There was an unexpected gentleness to his voice.

She shrugged, vanishing the crossbow. "It is what it is."

"I'm... sorry," he said finally. "I know I'm not being fair to you. I don't mean to be unfair to you, but... my team's my team. I'm protective."

"I get that. But do you think that your superiors would have been allowed to recruit me from Magneto if he didn't know that I was the best fit for your team?"

"I just... I don't like the idea that I don't know what's best for my team."

Dani sighed. "I'm here to be an asset, Mikhail. Why don't you utilize what I can do instead of being hung up on the fact that I'm younger than the rest of you?" She gave him a small smile. "Or, you can be the one to tell my adopted father that you don't want me here."

"I'm stubborn, not insane," was his instant reply.

She grinned. "Magneto says the two are not so different at times."

"Yes, well, in this case... I'm whichever one won't get me badly hurt by him." Mikhail looked at her for a moment. "How about we start over? Go take that walk outside, get to know each other a little."

"Erring on the side of caution is usually best with him," she agreed. She gave him a long look and then nodded. "Sure. We can do that."

He gave her a faint smile as they headed down the hallway. "So, why were you allowed to be recruited?" he asked curiously as they reached the door and he held it open for her.

"Because Magneto decided that I could better serve the cause as a member of the MLF than if I were to stay with the Brotherhood."

"What's that like, anyway?" he asked. "Being his kid."

She shrugged. "Not as bad as everyone would like to make it out to be. He pushed me harder because I am his kid. Of course, that means that he would rain even more hell down on people when I would get hurt." She looked at him. "There's a difference between the Magneto who scares the hell out of everyone and the Magneto who adopted me when I was a baby. I can differentiate between the man that loves me as his daughter and the man who has trained me to be a deadly force to be reckoned with."

"That's... strange," he said, shaking his head. "It's hard to imagine him as a loving father." He looked at her. "But if you say he was, then he was. All the same, I'll stick with my healthy fear of the man."

"He very much is," Dani said quietly as they walked. "It's probably a good thing for all concerned if you keep a healthy fear of him. Just don't ever assume that it's because of who my father is that I'm here. They came to him and not the other way around."

"That's one thing I never thought," he assured her. "I may have thought they were crazy for bringing such a young teenager onboard, but I never thought you were here just because of your father."

Again, points for honesty, at least.

"I'm here because I earned my place here," she said quietly. "I've worked my ass off to advance. I wanted this assignment because your team is the best the MLF has and I wanted to be with the best."

He quirked a smile. "Then how about we try and start over? Well, I try and start over," he amended, stopping and holding a hand out to her.

She gazed at him for a long moment and then placed her hand in his.






Chapter Two