Ororo sat in the cockpit of the blackbird heading to the farm where she had told Rogue and Jimmy to meet her. It was quiet in the cockpit, the only sounds coming from the various instruments used to fly the sophisticated jet. Under normal circumstances she enjoyed silence; it gave her time to think, to sort out her mind and her heart. But this was different; this was unnerving.
Trying to settle her nerves, she pushed the paranoia aside and reached out to make a minor adjustment to one of those instruments off to her right. She nearly jumped out of her seat when she heard someone speak just behind her.
“Where you be hurrying off to Stormy?”
She swallowed a scream, pulled back the lightning bolt she instinctively began to hurl and whirled on her brother. “By the Goddess Remy, you just scared ten years off my life.” She glared at him, watching as he sat down next to her in the co-pilot seat. “What are you doing here?”
Remy shrugged, looking over the instruments of the jet. “Rogue came to Remy saying dat she was leaving and she would be back. Den Remy see her talking quietly wit Kitty and he hears dem talk about da blackbird. Remy also see Rogue heading up to your room and den leaving. All dis make Remy very suspicious.” He gave her a rather crooked grin as he leaned the chair back as far as it would go.
Despite the gravity of the situation and where they were headed off to, she smiled at him. “You are far too paranoid for your own good dear brother.”
He chuckled. “Dat does not change da fact dat Remy is here, wit you and you have stolen da blackbird.”
Ororo sighed. “No, it does not.”
“Ororo, what are you doing?” His voice was soft, his strange red eyes alight from the instruments around him.
Ororo felt fresh tears fill her eyes as she confessed. “He is alive Remy. I know he is, I felt him.” Her hands tightened on the controls of the jet as she fought to keep from crying again.
There was a long pause from him and for a moment she began to doubt that he would believe her. Then his soft voice filled the cockpit again. “You are sure?”
She turned to look at him, her conviction firming her gaze. “Yes, I am.”
This time Remy looked confused. “But why steal da jet? Surely da professor would help you if’n you asked.”
Ororo shrugged, feeling a new wave of anger wash over her the whole incident. “I tried Remy, I swear I did. But neither him nor Jean believed me; I had no choice. I had to do this.” She turned her attention back to flying the jet.
“Why did you not ask Remy to come?” This time there was a tone of hurt in his voice and when she looked at him again, there was strange emotion dancing in his eyes.
Ororo felt a touch of shame at his question. She in fact had thought to ask him to help her but discarded the idea at the memory of just how the two men had gotten along. “Because I was not sure that you would come.” She knew she did not need to explain why she thought that.
Remy was quiet for several long moments, thinking before he responded to her words. “Remy does not like da man, dat is true. But Remy has made his peace wit him; and if his return will bring back da light in your eyes, den Remy would walk t’rough hell itself to bring him back to you.”
Touched and near tears once more, Ororo reached out to take her brother’s hand. “Careful brother dear, someone might accuse you of caring.”
He chuckled, giving her hand a firm squeeze. “Heaven forbid.”
Ororo landed the jet at the farm a few moments later. Not even bothering to shut the engines down as she simply lowered the rear hangar door and listened to Rogue and Jimmy scramble up the gangplank.
Rogue was in the lead and she stopped in surprise when she saw just who was sitting in the co-pilot chair in the jet. “Remy?”
He turned, giving her his best devilish smile. “.Oui petite. Did you really tink Remy would sit dis one out?”
She walked into the cockpit as Ororo raised the door and prepared to take off. “No, but Ah didn’t think you’d come.”
He simply shrugged. “Remy is here.”
Rogue smiled and reached out to touch his face with her gloved hand. “Yeah you are. Thank you.” She turned to Ororo as the jet lifted. “So, what’s the plan?”
Ororo waved her to sit down as she pushed the jet forward. “I looked over the file you gave me and I think I have an idea. You said that the cure field only affected a two mile radius around the lab, correct?.”
Rogue rolled her eyes at Ororo’s gesture but did as she was told, buckling herself into the nearest seat. “Yeah; we won’t be able ta get close enough ta shut it down.”
Ororo gave a strange smile. “Shut it down, no; but then again, I do not plan to be so subtle as to simply shut it down. I am going to destroy the generator before I am affected by the field. Jimmy, when the generators go down I want you and Rogue to go inside and search for Logan; find him and get him out.” They nodded and she turned to her brother. “Remy, I’ll need you outside with me helping to create enough chaos to distract them and keep them from discovering Rogue and Jimmy’s search efforts.”
“What’ll you be doing?” Jimmy asked quietly.
Ororo hands tightened on the controls once more as she told them the rest of her plan. “Providing the distraction you need by bringing the lab down around their ears.” She felt a surge of satisfaction at the idea of destroying the lab.
Rogue gave a startled cry, leaping out of her seat. “What?”
“Ororo you cannot be serious.” Remy could not hide his surprise.
She shook her head, looking at both of them; only Jimmy had remained silent at her exclamation. “I am deadly serious. This is the only way I can think of to do this and do this quickly. We will lose the element of surprise rather quickly here. In any event, I want this lab out of commission so it can do nothing more to harm another mutant.” She turned from the concerned faces staring at her and stared out the windshield of the jet. “Now get ready, I shall land outside the field radius in order to destroy the generators; we should be there in twenty minutes.” She saw Rogue give Remy a worried glance before sitting back down. The weight of the glance was not lost on her.
A few moments later proved her right as Remy leaned closer to speak urgently at her. “Ororo, you be sure dis is da way to free Logan?”
For a moment, she played dumb and pretended to misunderstand just what he was asking. “What choice do we have Remy? We could try to sneak in, but with no weapons and without our powers, we are badly outnumbered. The only chance we have is to destroy the generator. Once we do that, they shall know we are there.”
But Remy was not fooled. He leaned closer, touching her arm. “Remy not talking ‘bout da generators. You be sure dat destroying da lab da best option?”
Her mouth tightened. “Yes, I do.”
Remy touched her again, his eyes boring into her face. “Ororo, it be a fine line between freeing Logan and getting revenge on dose who held him.”
Ororo felt her face tighten as a new wave of anger washed over her. She was afraid she would not be able to hide this from him. But she could not help the way she felt, she wanted them all dead and destroyed. Somehow she would have to overcome this and keep it hidden long enough from every one else to do so.
She turned to face him, determined to keep the darkening depths of her soul from his prying eyes. “I am well aware of that brother. In any event, I shall have my revenge the moment I bring Logan back to the mansion to face Forge.” She turned back to flying the jet the matter settled in her mind. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as Remy stared at her for a moment or two longer before settling back in his seat.
Twenty minutes later, Ororo was unknowingly setting the jet down in a clearing very close to the one Forge had used when he and Logan were there just a week or so before. She shut the jet down, using the cloaking device to keep it hidden from any sensor equipment they might be using at the lab. Then turned to the others waiting patiently in the main cabin.
“It will take me a few minutes to call up a storm strong enough to destroy the generators; Rogue I need you to help guide my efforts. I need to be sure we destroy them as quickly as possible.”
The young woman stood up and went to the radar panel in cockpit to monitor Ororo’s efforts. “Ah’m on it Ororo.”
“Good, be ready to move once I am finished; we may not have much time.” She stepped down out of the jet, moving away from it to give herself some space to work her elemental magic.
She stood there a moment, slowly letting her powerful mind reach out to the elemental currents around her and begin manipulating them. Her blue eyes slowly clouded over as she descended into the depths of her gift, reaching out to touch the very molecules of air around her. She forced it to condense, to absorb moisture as she forced it to slowly begin rotating.
She could feel it building, the storm forming and growing as she fed it with her will. Then, she pushed it off, sending it on its way to the lab. She well knew they would see it coming, their radar clearly showing it to them as they went about their vigilant watch. But there would be nothing they could about it and no defense against. The Earth itself would be her weapon and it was one she would gladly set against the seemingly toy-like weapons of man.
For several long moments, she stood there, her mind floating along with the storm as she continued to force it to grow. It sped along faster than any normal storm as it built and in minutes it was over the lab where it seemed to stall and hang over the installation. Ororo smiled softly as she let go of her tethers on it and let the storm break.
It rained, it hailed and the wind roared as the lightning flashed and the thunder crashed over the government building. She felt each flash of lightning, each peal of thunder and each drop of rain and hail as they hit against the side of the building. It was an illuminating sensation as she tried to pin down just where the generators lay. After a moment she heard Rogue speaking in her ear.
“Sixth degrees south Ororo and you’ll be spot on.”
Ororo murmured something and turned her attention back to the generators destruction. Diving into the storm, she could feel herself hovering just over the lab as she searched where Rogue had told her the generators lay. Then, suddenly she could feel them, their electricity causing a strange distortion in the air around them as they influenced the very magnetic field around them.
She raised her hands, letting the electricity build and build beyond any normal bolt of lightning. She let go, calling it down to that exact spot, feeling it course through the air to strike the ground and building below. There was a sharp retort, almost like a pop in the elements around her as the building nearly exploded and caught fire.
Pleased with her efforts, Ororo pulled away from the storm allowing it to continue blowing itself out over the lab as she came back to herself and let her influence over the elements wan. The chaos the storm created would likely increase and help them a great deal in the fight to come.
She turned to find the others standing outside the jet waiting patiently to finish. “Did it work?”
Marie nodded. “You got ‘em. The lab is powering down. They’ll have no choice but ta keep the field inactive; without the generators they just don’t have the power to keep it up.”
“Then we had best get in there before they manage to collect themselves and somehow prepare for our arrival.” With that she took to the air and watched as Marie did the same, carrying both Remy and Jimmy.
Logan was in his cell, lying on the bunk, his body healing agonizingly slow from the latest round of “slash and dash” experiments as he called them. They kept his healing factor just active enough to keep from dying from either his bones or the experiments; but what would normally taking minutes to heal was now taking hours and it was sheer agony.
He lay there feeling his flesh reknitting itself slowly, feeling the hope he’d held inside of him for days beginning to dwindle. They were going to break him soon if he couldn’t escape and he wasn’t sure just how much longer he could hold on. The dreams continued to plague him at night, and he knew that Ororo could feel his desperation. But there was still no signs of rescue from the mansion. For the first time since his capture, he began to doubt he’d ever escape.
There was a sudden commotion outside his cell and he could hear alarms sounding in the distance. He stood, wincing in pain wondering just what was causing the problem when everything went black. In that instant, he felt his gift flair to life, his body suddenly healing, true and strong once more. Someone had shut the field down.
He gave a soft growl, feeling the beast within him awake from hiding. It surged upwards, filling him with a fierce and savage need to commit violence and maim those around him. With a fierce smile, he unsheathed his claws, attacking the cell door with savage glee. It opened and he was in the hallway, using his hyper senses to find his first victim. It felt good to be free.
Ororo flew directly over the lab, all pretense and stealth cast aside as she prepared herself for the melee ahead. She hovered over the insidious building, feeling the storm circling around her, pleasd that it picked up speed in strength in response to her strong emotions. She reached out gathering the elements to her bidding and set about the destruction of the lab.
She was a raging avenging angel, descending from the sky with all of the elements at her command and she was terrifying to behold. She used lightning and whips of air to disable all the guard outposts, leaving gaping holes in the perimeter fencing. Then she turned her attention to the soldiers brave enough to engage her, their weapons targeting her as she flew through the sky.
Surrounding herself with a rolling round vortex of air, she deflected their bullets easily. Then she used rain and hail to drive them away, even chasing them with small bolts of lightning when they dared try to stand their ground against her. There were not many that dared after the first few bolts took out their fellows.
More than pleased by the outcome, she glanced down to see Remy among the soldiers spreading chaos and destruction wherever he could. Throwing his charged cards and exploding weapons through his touch whenever someone got too close. Satisfied that Remy was not in any danger, she continued sweeping through the complex searching for something else to destroy.
Inside the lab, Logan ran through the halls searching for a way out. He came around a corner, his claws free and ready as his nose told him that a group of guards were waiting. He gave a savage growl as they came into view and opened fire.
He was on them in seconds, slashing and stabbing as they fought to keep him at bay. The last guard dropped his gun and tried to run. But Logan jumped on him from behind and savagely impaled him, his teeth bared as the man fell. He pulled his claws free with a satisfied wrench as sounds of fighting outside the lab reached his ears. He stood, feeling the bullets he’d been hit with working their way free and raining down onto the floor like steel rain.
He inhaled deeply, smelling ozone as thunder began shaking the building. He felt a surge of hope fill him as he realized just what that meant. “Ororo.” He took off down the hall at a dead run, the beast inside him pushing against him in its own eagerness to be reunited with its mate.
Outside the lab, Ororo flew through the sky, searching the perimeter of the lab for movement, keeping her eyes peeled for Rogue and Jimmy as well as trouble. As she passed the north end of the lab, something caught her eye. She slowly began releasing the winds and began descending.
It was a lone figure, bent low, an arm wrapped around its middle as it slunk from the lab and made for the tree line several hundred yards away. Stunned, she recognized the figure as Logan and she let go of the wind around her completely, nearly falling from the sky to reach him.
She was only a few feet from the ground and him when she heard a loud, sharp series of bangs she dimly recognized as gunshots and watched as Logan crumpled to the ground. He did not get up. Ororo gave a sharp cry, swooping across the final few feet to reach him, just as the soldiers that had been chasing him reached them both. She watched them bring their weapons to bear as she landed softly.
“Freeze mutant.” The first one shouted at her,
She smiled at them wryly, feeling the rage lighting within her once more. “With pleasure.” She flung her hands at them and they were suddenly engulfed in a raging, freezing blizzard.
They both cried out in shock, one of them dropping his weapon as the temperature around them plummeted and they were pelted with larger and larger chunks of ice. The other one found himself unable to let go of his weapon as the metal was suddenly frozen to his hands.
For just a moment she felt a twinge of guilt at hurting another human being. This was not her, this was not what she did. But then, she found her glance drawn down to where Logan lay at her feet, still unmoving and she felt all compassion for these men wither and die in her chest.
She was dimly aware that with the field disabled, his healing factor was likely working full force once more. And for him, something as serious as several gunshots would prove child’s play for said healing factor. She knew all of this, was well aware of it but it did not matter to her. In her mind there was only one truth that spoke out above all others; they had hurt him.
Everyone had a price, a threshold where their ethics would be forced to change or be discarded for someone or something else. So far she had never been forced to discover just what her price was; never been forced to face the precipice she knew was inside of her own soul. Until that moment, everything still remained clear cut and black and white. She did not kill, she would not kill, she could not kill.
But as she caught sight of Logan’s still body, the grief and rage from his supposed death still so fresh in her mind, she knew she was now facing that choice inside herself; this was her price. Something in her snapped as she found herself unable to hold onto her noble ideals and she simply let go. In that instant, her convictions evaporated under the fire of her rage. In a split second, she stepped over the edge and fell into the abyss.
She lifted her hands again and with a flick of her wrist, she lashed out as Logan had taught her, a whip of pure air slicing at the men in front of her, their cries suddenly becoming a soothing balm to her tortured soul.
“Did you enjoy torturing him?” She slashed at them again. They both tried to protect themselves from attacks they could not see coming. “Did his cries for mercy fall on deaf ears?” Again, another slash. “Did you enjoy treating him like an animal? Did you enjoy his pain?” She listened to their cries of pain as she continued her assault, rage filling her with an icy light. She watched as one of them fell to his knees, begging her to stop. But she turned deaf ears to his cries. They had not shown him mercy so she would show them none.
She felt a hand reach out and touch her shoulder gently. Surprised she looked back to see Logan standing behind her, his beloved face set in lines of pain but otherwise whole. She felt fresh tears flowing down her face at the pain she knew he was in even as she continued pelting the soldiers in front of her with ice and cold.
He gave her a slight shake, nodding at the men in front of them. “’Ro, don’t do this. Let it go. Let them go.”
She turned her attention back to the soldiers, feeling her face twist in anger at what they had done. She twisted her hands, feeling the wind howl louder and blow even harder. “They hurt you. They tortured you. They caused you pain, so I will cause them the same pain.” Her face relaxed as a sense of icy calm came over her. She clenched her hands slightly making the air around the two men thicken, tighten and compress. All the while, tears slid down her face, to fall frozen and unnoticed to the ground below.
She watched dispassionately as the temperature continued to fall and the snow thickened. The two men before her fell to the ground, huddling there as their shivering intensified. Frost formed around their mouths and noses as they struggled to breath. One of them, unable to take it anymore fell face first to the ground, passing out from the extreme temperature.
Behind her, Logan stepped closer, reaching out to grab her shoulder gently. She turned to face him, her face set in enraged lines, her eyes lost in the milky white influence of her powers.
“’Darlin’, ‘Ro, This ain’t you. I’m alright.” His voice was soft and tender.
Her chin quivered as she to face the men trapped before her. “They hurt you.” Her voice broke slightly as she struggled for control.
Logan reached out to touch her face, turning her chin to face him. He looked her in the eyes, his voice gentle and hoarse but firm. “Storm,” he paused, stroking her cheek gently as he called her back from the brink. “Ororo, I’m alright. Let it go, let them go.”
Her lips pulled down slightly as their quivering increased. She fought his words for a moment, afraid to let them in, to let go of the rage filling her heart. But his voice was insidious and it found its way into her heart. He was right, this was not something she could do, this was something she had fought all her life to keep from doing.
He was alive, he was whole and she was a fool to want to hurt someone else for something Forge was responsible for. Without a word, she dropped her hands releasing her control. The blizzard simply stopped, the temperature quickly climbing back to normal. She watched with a touch of guilt as the second soldier collapsed next to the first.
She turned slowly to face Logan, suddenly afraid that he might disappear. She reached out touch him slowly, her hand shaking as she touched his face and he did not disappear. Fresh tears flowed down her face unnoticed as she watched him lean into her touch. For too long, she had thought to never feel his cheek upon her hand again, never again see his steel gray eyes filled with the love he felt for her; never again see his beloved face or hear his gravelly voice. And from the look on his face he felt the same way.
“Logan, Logan. I thought you were dead. Dear Goddess, I thought you were dead.”
He reached out, drawing her close. He clung to her, wrapping his arms around her as tight as he dared. He buried his face in her hair and inhaled deeply. He reached out, touching her face gently, brushing the tears from her cheeks. “I ain’t dead darlin’.”
She smiled feeling joy filling her heart once more. “I can see that.” And amidst the carnage around them, amidst the wreckage of the lab and the dim sounds of gunfire and fighting still going on, she wrapped her arms around him and began laughing.
[Reviews - 127]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story |
Has been viewed 1780 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story | - Text Size +
You must login () to review.
