Colossus could hear the rhythmic, dull thuds before he could see the reason for them. He knew what they were. It was the most common sound he heard when going to visit her, which he did pretty often. More often than he liked to admit. It was all in the purpose of building trust, building a friendship. Perhaps he was being optimistic, but he thought he was actually getting somewhere.
He had taken Angel Dust- or Christina- back to the school after fighting with her and Ajax by the Helicarrier. Negasonic had really knocked her out, because she was unconscious the whole flight there. The Professor had decided to put her in a cell that was specially designed to hold mutants whose powers were based on strength, like Angel’s was.
He knocked on the door and heard the thuds stop. After a few seconds the door opened.
The room looked like any other room in the mansion. It had a fairly large bed, a closet, a sofa and a table, a bookshelf, and some other things spread out across the room to make it a bit more homey, a bit less like a cell. It connected to a bathroom, and had windows that allowed you to see the beautiful garden out back. The difference between this room and the others was that this one had specially enforced walls that could take a huge amount of force to them, meaning even a very strong mutant, such as Angel or even Colossus himself, could not break them down. The windows were equipped with the same material, and so was the sheet of glass that covered the doorframe, stopping anyone inside the room from exiting without someone tapping in a code on the panel on the outside.
Angel had hated the room when she first got there. She constantly tried to break the windows and the walls and the door down. She never succeeded, but she did break all the furniture. She still did sometimes, even if she had calmed down a bit. She was aggressive by nature, but most of her motivation for hurting people recently was because Ajax paid her. With him gone, so was her purpose. Colossus had asked the Professor to let her stay with them, to give her a chance to become a better person.
Call him naive if you will, but Colossus believed there was good to be found in everyone, if you only knew where to look for it.
On the other side of the glass Angel greeted him with her usual, stormy expression. Colossus had learned by now that just because she looked angry it didn’t necessarily mean she was, that was just her face. He noticed the boxing bag (also specially reinforced) in the middle of the room that she had been busy with. It looked pretty beat up, and should probably be replaced soon.
“Hello, Angel.” He’d tried calling her Christina for a while, but that only made her throw things at him. Chairs and things like that. After that he stuck with calling her the name she chose for herself. Some mutants prefered that, and she was one of them. He’d told her it was okay if she wanted to call him Piotr. So far she was just calling him Colossus. That was okay. One step at a time.
“Hey, Big Guy. What’s got you looking all serious?”
“I just came back from mission.”
“Is that how you got all dented?” she pointed to the mark on his forehead, which hadn’t healed yet. “You fight the Hulk or something? Not a lot can put a scratch on you. Besides me, of course,” she smirked.
“Of course, besides you,” he smiled in return. He didn’t know when he started reminiscing about their first meeting with fondness, but he was now. Maybe it was because not a lot of people could present him with a hard challenge strength wise, but Angel did. She was tough and strong, and she could give as good as she got, and Colossus, who often had to be careful with his powers around people, appreciated that.
“But the Juggernaut gave a good try.”
Angel’s eyes widened a bit. “Juggernaut, seriously? Shit, you fought that guy and walked away in one piece?” She sounded impressed.
“I had help,” he said modestly. Even if he was proud of the accomplishment, Negasonic and Yokio also deserved credit.
“Still, that’s one hell of a feat. I met him once, when I was still working with Ajax, before they put him in the Ice Box. I sure as fuck wouldn’t want to fight him.”
“You could take him,” he said confidently. He was 100% certain of it.
She smiled at him. She was beautiful when she smiled. She was always beautiful, but even more then.
“I love your faith in me, Big Guy. So is that why you came down here? To tell me you defeated the beast and now you want me to kiss you where it hurts?”
Colossus was glad he couldn’t blush while in his metal form. Why would he want her to kiss- Not that it wouldn’t be- But she was- No, stop thinking about that!
“I have proposition for you.” She laughed a little. He couldn’t tell what was funny, so he continued. “There is a team I think you should join.”
Angel rolled her eyes and groaned. “Not this again. I told you, I don’t want to be an X-Man.” She retreated back into the room, but left the door open so he could still see her. She started to unwrap her hands that she had bound for her boxing session. “It’s too goodie-two-shoes for me. Following rules, obeying laws, all that crap. It’s not really my style, and you know that,” she gave him a pointed look. “Besides, I know how they’d all look at me. What’s the freak doing out of her cage?”
“They will not say that.”
“But they’ll think it, and I’ll see it on their faces, and that’s enough. No, fuck off, I’m not in, and I’m getting sick of you asking me. Leave me alone.”
He wanted to respect her wishes, because she was clearly upset, and if she wanted him to leave, then he trusted that that was what would make her feel better, and he wanted her to feel better. But he also had feeling that what he came here to tell her might make her feel better too.
“It is not X-Men I speak of. It is another group, newly formed. They are called X-Force for now, but it might change. They are different than the other group, perhaps more to your taste.”
“How so?” He got a feeling that she was only humouring him, but that wouldn’t stop him.
“You say you do not like following rules and laws. This new team, they have different attitude than the Professor. They see laws more as guidelines. I hope they will try not to break laws too much, but they are not opposed to bending them.”
Angel laughed darkly, and sat down heavily on the couch. Colossus had to bend his head to see her under the door frame. “A superhero team that’s above the law,” she mused. “Your professor approved of this? Who’s leading it, you? I have a hard time seeing you breaking the rules, Big Guy. You’re basically an overgrown hall monitor. All that’s missing is the orange vest and the whistle.”
“I will not be leading. I will join to keep an eye on the other members.”
Angel laughed again and snapped her fingers at him. “See, I told you. Hall monitor.”
Colossus wasn’t exactly happy being called that, but he also didn’t protest. He could admit that the parable wasn’t completely wrong.
“So besides you, who’s in it? And who’s leading?”
“Negasonic and Yokio will join when school does not get in the way, and two more people from the outside who you do not know. The leader is…” He was hesitant to call Wade Wilson a leader, as he was hoping that X-Force would be more of a democracy. It probably would be, with its members as independent as they were, and also since most of them were hesitant towards authority, so it would be better if they could all co-lead the team, and hopefully it wouldn’t get too messy.
Colossus was also very hesitant to mention Deadpool to Angel, given their history, and given that there were probably thoughts of unfinished business left for both of them.
Angel raised her brows and waited for him to continue. “Come on, don’t leave me hanging now, Colossus. Who is it?”
He took a breath, cleared his throat, stretched it out for as long as he could, but eventually he had to answer.
“You remember Wade Wilson, yes?” Stupid question, of course she remembered.
By the way her whole face darkened and her fists clenched, it was clear that she very much remembered him, and was not happy about it.
“That asshole has a superteam now? Are you fucking kidding me?!” she flipped the coffee table. Her force sent it up into the ceiling, before it landed on the other side of the room with a bang. He made a mental note to have a new table sent to her room. That one was ruined, going by the crack right down the middle and two of the legs hanging on by a thread.
Colossus had to try to calm her down if he wanted her to listen to reason. “I know you do not like him, but I believe this will be a good team that can do good work. I think you would fit in well, if you gave it a chance.”
“Give it a chance?” she mocked him. “You’re asking me to work with the shithead that tried to get me killed.”
“To be fair, you would have killed him to, no?” he countered. “And I fought you as well, as did Negasonic, but you are still here, speaking to me.”
“That’s different. I actually like you. I don’t like him. I fought him because Ajax paid me to, but he’s the reason I’m locked up in here now.”
“And I am giving you a chance to be free again. Angel, please, give this a try. I want to see you in the outside world again. I want you to be happy, and using your powers for good. Don’t let your dislike for one person stop you. Please.”
They looked at each other without saying anything for a long time.
Colossus really hoped she would say yes. It would make him happy for the two of them to be working side by side as partners, as friends, and perhaps as something more. He had come to terms with his romantic feelings for Angel a while ago. There was no point in fighting it. She was a special woman, very impressive and strong, both physically and emotionally, and he cared very deeply for her. He hoped she returned those feelings of course, but if friendship was all she was willing to offer, he would gladly take it.
Angel for her part did like Colossus in a more-than-friends way. She had resisted it for a while out of pure annoyance, because he was so not her usual type, but as their rocky friendship grew, her walls came down. The first thing that interested her was obviously his size and strength. Not many guys could take what she dished out, but he was still alive after she beat the shit out of him. She was actually impressed. Then, after they locked her up, she got to know him a little better, at his insistence. He was kind of dorky, but very sweet. She wanted to corrupt him, but she also wanted him to stay the same. God dammit…
She ran her hand through her hair and groaned loudly, resisting the urge to pull it out from frustration.
“This is so unfair, Big Guy. You know I can never resist those chrome puppy eyes.”
She like to imagine that if he could blush, he would be right now.
She sighed deeply and fell back against the couch. “Fine, I’ll give it a try. But if I don’t like it, I’m out of there faster than I can punch you in the dick again!” she was quick to point out.
He winced at the memory. “That is all I ask.”
She wasn’t done yet. “I also want a free shot at Wilson. It won’t kill him, so there’s no harm, and I think I deserve that, my situation being his fault and all.”
He thought for a minute, then came to a conclusion. “That is fair. I believe he will agree with only minor persuasion. So I can count you in then?” He tried not to sound too happy.
She tried to sound more annoyed than she was. “Yeah, you can count me in. Now get in here with me and help me break some more furniture. If we’re gonna be working together, we’ll need to do something about the sexual frustration between us so we don’t go off in the field.”
Colossus tried not to break the door frames in his hurry to join her in the cell.
He failed. Many pieces of furniture were broken on that day.