Aggressive Negotiations [13/14]

[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 had worked for the Brotherhood several times now over the past three and a half years. Which meant several times meeting with his contacts in the same place over the years.

Which meant several times meeting with Wanda Maximoff in the same place over the years. If he didn't know better, he'd think Magneto was torturing him somehow. He certainly wouldn't put it past the man, even if it was a less sophisticated game than the older man usually played.

And yep, there she was again. Mikhail suppressed a groan as he approached the table. "Hello, Wanda. You're looking well."

"As are you," Wanda said, her voice nearly a purr as she looked Mikhail up and down appreciatively. It was always so nice to see him.

"Thanks," he said dryly. "I don't have a lot of time, so let's make this short."

"Oh, Mikhail, what's the rush?" Wanda pouted cutely at him -- or it would've been cutely if there wasn't a hint of madness in her eyes. "Surely you have time to stand around and chat a bit with an old friend."

"Always," he agreed pleasantly. "Find me an old friend and I'll go talk to them."

The cute melted from Wanda's expression, leaving her face cold and impassive. She didn't take well to rejection, especially from her sister's leavings.

She opened her purse and pulled out an envelope, holding it out to Mikhail. "Here," she said, her voice dripping with disdain now. "Your money."

"Now the details," Mikhail said, tucking the envelope in his pocket. The Brotherhood had learned that paying him first was well worth it.

Wanda relayed the details in a detached, professional voice; for all her instabilities and quirks, she was damn good at what she did and she never settled for anything less than her absolute best.

Of course, it was Mikhail's private opinion that Wanda pushed herself to be that good in the hopes of winning her father's approval. Dani had once told him that Wanda had confided in her that she never felt good enough for Magneto. This was a confidence that Mikhail had never betrayed and would never betray. For one thing, Dani had trusted him enough to let him know her sister's most valuable secret. He wouldn't violate that trust, even with Dani gone.

For another, Wanda would kill him without ruining her perfectly manicured nails if she knew.

And Mikhail was in the habit of staying alive.



It was three months after they came back from Asgard that Dani realized how her powers had changed since their trip.

The first time she got an example of this, it scared the hell out of her. She was walking into a park when she saw a group of teenage kids playing on the basketball court. She blinked and she suddenly saw images of fire over the students’ heads. Her vision blurred and she felt herself collapse onto the grass.

When she opened her eyes again, she was in the med lab at the mansion and her friends were with her.
“Hey, Mama,” Tamsin said gently. “Welcome back.”

Dani was confused. She looked around the room at everyone. “What happened?”

“Now, see, that’s what we hoped you would be able to tell us,” Logan responded. “The paramedics said that they found you unconscious in the park.”

“Unconscious…” Dani’s eyes widened. “Oh God, those kids. I saw something.”

Kitty reached for her hand. “Easy, Mama. Talk to us.”

“I was walking in the park and I saw some kids playing on the basketball court. All of a sudden I saw an image of fire over their heads.”

“Images of fire?” Rachel asked.

Dani nodded. “There was a group of them and they’re going to die.”

“Dani,” Logan asked. “How do you know that’s what you saw?”

“Because I felt it,” Dani said slowly. “I knew something had changed since we came back from Asgard. Before we left, Mist, one of the Valkryie I met there, said that I was an acolyte of death. I didn’t understand…”

Her voice trailed off when she saw Professor Xavier enter the room. She could tell from his face that something very bad had happened. She knew even before he spoke.

“They’re dead, aren’t they, Professor?”

He looked startled. “How did you know someone died, Dani?”

“Come on, Charlie,” Logan prodded. “What’s wrong?”

“A bomb exploded in a downtown sports center and seven teenagers were killed.” Charles said quietly. “No one knows who planted the bomb, but I’m sending Jean and Scott to see if they can find out anything.”

Logan looked back at Dani. “Acolyte of Death, huh?”



Mikhail took jobs as often as he could manage it -- anything to keep away those days where remembering Dani, even after four years, was just too damn much. But there was one day out of each year that he refused to work on.

The anniversary of her death.

This was the fourth anniversary, and it was the first where he wasn't spending it completely blind stinking drunk. He'd finally reached the point where he no longer felt the overwhelming need to drink in order to keep the memories and the pain away. The desire, yeah, a little. But it was no longer overwhelming need, and he supposed it was a step in the right direction.

But it wasn't a step he was entirely happy about. It was a step he wished with everything in him that he'd never needed to end up making.

He supposed there was a part of him, a very large part, that was never going to get over Dani. It was that same part that had him so committed to her, even after four years.

Not for Wanda's lack of trying, but even that had stopped by now. Mikhail wasn't sure if she'd finally gotten the message or if she'd just gotten bored and turned her attentions to someone else. And really, as long as she wasn't bothering him any longer, he didn't much care which it was.

He sighed, slumped back on his couch, and looked down at the picture he held in his hand. It was one of the few he had of himself and Dani together. One of the few where they looked like a normal happy couple instead of teammates, at least. She was looking at him adoringly and he was returning the look in kind. He remembered exactly when it'd been taken -- it was one of the last pictures he had of her. Not exactly the last, but one of them.

For that reason alone it was one of his most prized possessions, though admittedly it wasn't very difficult for something to be one of his prized possessions -- he didn't have much so everything was by definition important to him.

Though it would never be as important as Dani herself had been.

He would give anything to have her back.



It was five years to the day that the X-Men had saved Dani’s life and she was sitting on Brightwind’s back as she thought about the things that had happened to her in all of that time. She ran her hands aimlessly through his mane, chewing on her bottom lip.

The pain of being turned on by the MLF had gradually faded. With the exception of Mikhail, that hadn’t been her team.

"Mama?" Tamsin's voice was soft as she approached.

Dani hastily wiped tears away from her face before turning to look at the girl approaching her.

"Hey, Tam. Everything all right?"

"We're good to go," Tamsin said with a nod. "You?"

She nodded. "I just came out here for some time to think before it was time to go."

"Ah, that'd explain the thinky face," Tamsin said, reaching up to run a hand along Brightwind's nose lightly. "Is Mama bein' thinky, Brightwind?"

The horse made a huffing sound and shook his head up and down. Dani shook her head. "Traitor." She smiled softly. "It's been five years, today."

"Five of the best years I've had," Tamsin said loyally. Dani was one of her best friends, after all. "But... it's hard, isn't it? Thinking about what happened?"

"I've loved being here and knowing you guys. I've loved having this family and I would do anything to protect it." She cleared her throat and nodded. When she spoke, her voice came out slightly husky because she had been fighting tears earlier. "I'll never be the same physically again because of what they did to me, Tam. I have limitations with my body that I've never had before and it's all because of a betrayal by people that were supposed to be on my team. But even all of that, thinking of all I've lost because of what they did, that's not what hurts the worst."

"He is," Tamsin guessed, not really having to guess at all. Her empathy told her clear enough -- and she wasn't even trying for a read. But trying would have been another kind of betrayal.

Dani nodded, wiping her eyes. "It still hurts after all of this time that he not only let them do it, he ordered it. I thought he loved me, you know? He stayed with me even knowing who my father was and what he would do if anything hurt me in a relationship that hurt me. It wasn't months we were together, Tam, it was years. What was the point of him pretending to love me for all of that time? I would have fucked him even if he didn't say he loved me."

"He's a bastard." Tamsin's voice was low and angry. "If I ever see him, I'll kill him." Not that it'd be easy, but dammit, she wasn't thinking about things like that at the moment.

"I'd never been in love before, Tam. He made me feel like I was the most important person in the world to him." She swallowed, trying to keep her emotions under control. But because it was Tam, she probably could feel pain just radiating off of Dani. "I've dealt with the fact that the team betrayed me. None of them were my team. They were all substitute fill ins because members of my real team had issues that day -- nothing on purpose or planned, I know that. But the ones I was working with that day, well, part of the attack on me is my fault. I didn't treat them with caution and suspicion like I would normally do when having to work with a team of unknowns." She shook her head. "But Concussion... he was mine, or so I had thought."

Tamsin growled softly. "He shouldn't have done it. He shouldn't have tried to get you out of the way like that. I'd like to know why he did it. He had to have had some kind of motivation." Not that she'd like the motivation, but still. She wanted to know how anybody could hurt the person they loved like that.

"He said that they had been right in that sleeping with his second was weak," Dani said, her hand moving through Brightwind's mane again. "I was his second in command, Tam. There was no better team than ours. I was loyal, I was protective, and I loved him. Being lovers only made us work that much better together because we just knew each other." She leaned forward to touch her forehead to Brightwind's neck. "At least I thought we did. But he ordered our substitute team to kill me and I still don't understand why he wanted me dead."

"It doesn't make any sense," Tamsin said. "Looking at everything you've told me about the kind of man you thought he was... that Mikhail wouldn't do something like that. Was he really that good a liar?"

Dani's shoulders hunched and then she nodded her head miserably. "He was really good at his job -- and apparently I was just part of the job."

"Then it's his loss and our gain."

Dani turned to look at Tamsin, tears in her eyes. "You and Kitty saved my life and I can't ever repay that -- even if I didn't want to survive for a little while there."

"You were hurt and in pain -- and not just because of your injuries," Tamsin said, patting Dani's hand. "Completely understandable."

"He was my first."

"Your... oh. Oh, Mama."

She shrugged, turning back running her hands along Brightwind. "I wanted to die and sometimes I'm still surprised that I didn't. Not that I want to, now," she assured her. "I have a family I love and good friends. And... well, if the MLF hadn't tried to kill me, I wouldn't have been there to help you guys in Asgard and wouldn't have found out that I was a Valkyrie."

"It was a long hard road to find who you are and where you belong," Tamsin said. "It's a road most of us are on, too. But we're on it together."

"We're definitely on this one together," Dani agreed. "Just sometimes..." She sighed, her eyes getting a far away look.

"Sometimes you just miss him," Tamsin guessed. "The way things were with him before it all happened."

"And I want to ask him why." She sighed. "But that's not likely to happen. They think I'm dead and we have to keep it that way."

"I wish it could happen," Tamsin said. "For your sake. Just so you could get some answers."

"I wish I could tell Locus and Tempo, but my father and Xavier were right. As long as the MLF think I'm dead, it's safer for me. I've never been the one to take the safer way out of something, but I have you guys to think about now."

"Someday it'll work out," Tamsin said. "Somehow." It would work out if she had to make it work out.

Dani gave her a weak smile. "That part of my life is over, Tam. Moonstar is dead and she'll have to stay dead if I don't want my girls to wear even bigger targets on their heads." She sighed and ran her hand along Brightwind's neck. "Moonstar is dead. Let's hope Valkyrie lives a bit longer."

"She will," Tamsin said with more confidence. "We won't let anything change that. Laura will fry anybody who tries hurting you."

"Tam, Laura will set someone on fire if she thinks they're looking at one of us wrong."

Tamsin couldn't help chuckling softly. "Okay, true."

"We're the most protective and dysfunctional family I've ever known and I love every bit of it."

"Good," Tamsin said, suddenly serious again. "Because you deserve a family you can be happy with."

"I have you guys and I thank the gods every day that I do, Tam. Really."

"And I thank God just as much that I have you."

Dani gave her a small smile. "Come on, we should go back in before Kitty sends out a search party for us."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Tamsin patted Brightwind's side. "Sorry, boy. Attention time's over."





Chapter Twelve || Chapter Fourteen