What Are You Worth?
Chapter One


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Bard’s College Campus
May 11, 1963
11:47 pm
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Nimrod’s heat senors gave him the silent messages that Mutate X514 was 13.72 feet behind him and closing. Knowing that this mutant would have to approach within nine inches for a direct hit he focused his fire power on the other two ranged mutants. His scope vision could pick out Mutate T114 followed the female mutant approximately hovering 26 feet above them. Her arsenal of attacks varied. To prepare for her inevitable attack, Nimrod increased his insolation, and kept his long rang weapons targeted on her. It was the last mutant that was held the most danger. This mutant had skill in weaponry that was actually dangerous as well as the ability to absorb kinetic energy, he would have to be the first one to fall.


Bishop could see that the line of sight on the robot was following him, so he took advantage of that. He started to back up and started to fire with his double barreled energy blaster. This gave Wolverine the chance he needed to drop down from the tree roll and get within striking distance of the lumbering killing machine. Bishop suddenly rolled to the right while still firing, momentarily distracting Nimrod’s attention from all three mutants.


Wolverine never passed up an opportunity when it presented itself. Pressing his weight on his back leg, he swung himself forward to long his indestructible claws at Nimrod. The backlash of electrical current threw the short hairy man right back into the tree he had come from. Catching the sudden burst of movements from the ground below her, Storm knew that now was the moment she was waiting for. She summoned enough electricity from herself, the sky above, the ground below, and anywhere within a fifty foot range to pummel into Nimrod. Bishop saw the flashes of the deadly power and fired at the beast’s central processing unit above the right eye to shut down the defensive power. Wolverine finished the attack by slashing at the back of the robot, his claws where nearly poking out of the front side. After a second attack by the ranged powers of Bishop and Storm, all that was left of the monster was dust. This time....


Charles Xavier looked out of the science lab window. His eyes widen, and his breathe caught in his throat He backed away from the window in frighten awe. These people told him that *he* was the one was responsible for this destruction, this chaos. He put his trembling hands to his face, “I’m not capable of mastering anything like that,” he said aloud. He would never forget the sight below him. The robot with the look of a heartless demon, the near military precision of the three sent out to destroy it, nor would he ever forget about the power they had. The near endless supply of firepower or the other power. The kind that frightened him the most. Mainly because it was inside of him too. The weather witch, and both men who able to take massive amounts of physical damage as if they were mere splinters.


He knew that these three individuals had seen more death, destruction, and pain then anyone he knew or had ever met before. They had every right to be very violent people, but buy nature they were not. They had come to save his life. The irony of that was not lost on Charles. His life had never been in danger before he met these three. So of course he ran. He ran to one of the few places on campus he felt safe, and alive, the science lab. Charles knew that now that the danger had passed, these people would then leave, and things would resemble normal once again. He knew that he would have to tell Moira about this. She would find it more fascinating than scary. He shook his head as he palmed the handle of the door...


Stormed turned towards her husband’s sudden worried expression.
“What’s wrong, love?”
“Darlin,” he said. His expression was one she had seen less than a handful of times. It was an expression of fear. “Please tell me I’m hearin’ things.”
She placed her hands on his forearms. She could tell that his eyes were closed even though she was facing his back. When he was like this all she wanted to do was blanket him in some sort of peace that she knew he never had.


He leaned into her frame and inhaled all that was her. He took her hands and placed them around his abdomen. All he wanted was for her to be safe, happy, and with him. Why was that so fucking hard? He could feel her nose and chin rub in his hair. If she kept that up other things would get hard too. He softly placed his hands over hers to let her know that she was going to get it later if she didn’t stop. Of course that’s when he heard the high pitch whistle from the upstairs lab again. He began a threatening growl. *God damn! Can’t I ever catch a flamin’ break.*

“Logan?”
This time Bishop heard it too. “Look Wolverine, tell me that’s not what I think it was.”
Logan slowly unattached himself from his beloved’s arms, and uselessly ran towards the dorm.
The high pitched clicking picked up speed.

“It’s a electronic fuse,” the feral man nearly screamed. It was the last thing that any of them heard.


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When Bishop came to the white light that assaulted his eyes scared the crap out of him. He sat straight up and had to swallow his heart.
“Easy, Big Brother.” His sister’s familiar face loomed above him.
“I fucked it up, didn’t I,” he asked.
“Don’t be so quick to assume Bish. You came back alive. That counts for something.”
“Thanks, Shard,” was the nonplused response.


Red alarms went off around the facilities.
Forge, their chief technician, slid his chair over to the main computer. “Enough, you two. Get ready to go. The others left before you did, so set an earlier time. For your sake, get help. Don’t worry about failure. Do NOT let yourselves be distracted. If you notice that the Time Stream has changed, don’t let it stop you from completing your mission. Don’t let them change the timeline forever.”


Shard looked at her brother while he snapped his temporal protecting bracelet on. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah, ready as I’ve ever been.”
“Alright then, lets do it.”
Both siblings jumped into the yellow light came from the time machine. Neither knew what their future would mean for the past or present.


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Present Day
************

Ororo Monroe, sometimes referred to as Windrider, decided to do her nickname justice before she ate. She raised herself up over the front lawn of the school she called home. She heard the winds whistling in her ear and she knew that she was high enough. Stretching out her legs and arms she did large circles, loops, and figure eights to welcome the good weather she actually had nothing to do with.


Charles Xavier watched as Ororo landed headed to wear he and his two friends were to have a casual lunch. Never one to pry, Charles wondered why these two couldn’t see what was constantly right in front of their eyes. Everybody else seemed to. The thought of the X-men, himself included, playing match maker for his two lunch companions brought a rueful smile to his mouth. Subtly never worked with either Logan or Ororo. He would need a large neon sign or a blazing t-shirt to tell them to stop the excuses and give each other a chance. Being a figure of authority, he believed that would be a little inappropriate, however a sudden need to cancel a picnic might be the he knew they needed.


Logan watched as the tall Kenyan beauty touched the ground, very much like the way she lived her life. Easy, serene, and with a grace and a style that would leave any warm blooded man wanting. Everything about her exuded nature and beauty. From her height, those endless legs, the hair that flowed a cloud, and eyes so blue they could have been stolen from the sky. She even made him think romantic poetic thoughts. He knew that she was something real special by doing that, not that he would ever tell her that. Her ability to irk him to no other end was his favorite trait.


He watched her as she was in her element. Her long nimble and most likely soft fingers held still as a perch for the monarch butterfly that was also attracted to her.
“Beautiful,” he heard her mummer to the butterfly.
He bit into his apple and shifted in his seat in the tree above her. He had an excellent view today. Her low cut orange silk top gave him everything he wanted this afternoon, as did those painted on dark denim jeans. Her hips slightly swung to one side as she admired her winged insect.
Coughing into his hand to make his presence known, he chose to tease her.
“Who me? Watch yer language, darlin.” God, how he loved her lack of a funny bone.
“I meant the butterfly. But I suppose that you too are beautiful in your own unusual way.”


Of course she the beauty in him. She saw it in everybody. Sometimes he wondered if the blue in her irises actually got in the way of whatever it was she was looking at.


“Ya know babe, this is the last picnic I let ya talk me into.” He jumped down in front of her and held out his hand offering her another apple he had. As she reached out to take it, he looked passed her long arm and round shoulder. He was going to think of a way to make her hug him to have those earthen arms around him, but he was distracted by her other *assets*. Given his shorter stature he didn’t have to let his eyes drop to see the swell in her shirt, or the rounded globes that peeked out.


As she took the fruit she said something about an Adam and Eve parallel. He really wasn’t listing to the words as much as he was lulled into a calm thanks to her sultry deep voice. He could close his eyes and see her on a dark and smoky stage in a black satin dress approaching a classic microphone.


As Ororo bit into her apple she couldn’t help but to notice her friend. Logan always managed to make her think twice, or thrice...sometimes all night long about things. He represented to her all the things she couldn’t or wouldn’t let herself be. In fact on the outside the were utter opposites. He was short, hairy, gruff, muscled, toned, tangible, warm, sexy...She brought her apple to her face and closed her eyes, if she wasn’t careful she knew that his sensitive nose would pick up on her *extra scent*. If he would stop doing that to her, then she would not be so irritable to him. She took another bite, focusing on her food she refused to let her mind wonder into actually letting him do something about her frustration.


Charles was able to move towards his lunch mates unnoticed. The closer he got the more he began to pick up on the projected thoughts. He let out a sigh. Someone would have to lock these two in a room...for a few days.


“I have always resisted the fact that knowledge ruined paradise.” He added silently that the lack of knowledge could make it so that one never got to paradise. He glanced up at the two in question. Both people could barley contain their laughter knowing full well they got caught with dirty thoughts.


Before anyone could make a graceful exit out of the awkwardness, a dangerously forceful wind came out of nowhere, and dark rumbling clouds overpowered the sun. A ominous blood red light came out from the west. Logan and Charles looked at Ororo.


“I have no idea,” she said. Whatever this phenomenon was it even took her by surprise.
Charles couldn’t hold on to the picnic basket. The wind had ripped it from his hands. Logan was forced to hit the ground and cover his ears from the offensive noise from the winds.
“Dammit,” Logan cursed, “You’d think we could attract ants like normal people.”


Charles’s chair started to beep a warning. He flipped up his lcd screen to see if this anomaly was able to be traced.
The screen said “Temporal Disturbance.”


Just as the lightning from out of this world struck Logan leaped forward and grabbed Ororo, feeling as if it was the right thing to do. Ororo felt the rush of Logan’s heat and his baited breath at her neck. It was a welcome feel. Never in all her life had Ororo feared a storm. Sensing this Logan squeezed her toned waist.

The embracing couple was the last thing Charles Xavier saw before he could feel himself come apart and disappear into the time stream.

What Are You Worth?
Chapter Two


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Alternate Present
Same Day
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Ororo could hear the terrified screaming of a familiar voice in her head. It was that of a man, someone akin to a father or something. Suddenly feeling confused and dazed she sank to the ground, and out of her husband’s embrace, holding her head.


Logan looked down at his trembling wife. The woman would pick right now to spaz out. He took a 360 degree turn to survey their surroundings. The were in a desolate downtown district in what was left of New York after the Mutant Human War. The surveillance crawlers and sniper robots were temporally at a lost for them. Hiding in the abandoned, dark, and more often then not crumbling buildings would buy them time in tight situations. The worse part about the killer robots was that they were soaked in a solution that took away their scent. Logan had always believed that the humans had done that to spite him. His wife was there to “gently” remind him that humans could care less about him. “You are not the only feral mutant around here, Logan, It seemed to him that more and more these stolen moments in hiding were the only ones he got to just *be* with his wife. His mate.


Living in a war killed more than people and ideas. It could slowly eat away and destroy basic necessities of life. Not eating or sleeping, but essentials as family, love, and serenity were obliterated under the flag of war. Logan refused to loose his reasons for living under “Human Oppression” and “Mutant Liberation”. Storm represented all those ideas, places, and things that he would fight for. Not just in this war, but everyday of his cursed and sometimes blessed life. Looking at her on the floor broken and scared awaked his beast. All he wanted to do was wrap himself around her lengthy limbs and feel her breath underneath him. It was then, and only then, did he know that “everything was gonna be alright.”


“Ro?”
She released her face from her hands and looked up at him. “I am terribly sorry, my love. I can not tell you what happened. There was a voice in my head. I thought I knew it, but it faded away before I could place it.”
“Hearin voices, huh. Maybe ya should take that time off the Doc told ya about.”
At the mention of the good doctor, Storm stood up, turned away from him and faced the dilapidated window. She turned to glare at him and gave him a slightly intimidating, “Hmpf!”



Logan’s lips turned up in a reluctant smile when she turned her back. She knew that he was going to reassure her of his love, as he always did with words and with actions, but this time he was going to make her wait for it, just for a bit.


Even though they lived and worked together everyday all day, he would never get tired of her. She spoiled all of his senses. Her smell was of sandalwood, fresh fog, and occasionally he would smell water mint and lemon grass on her. How the hell did she manage that one? They lived in a group of maze like tunnels underground and would occasionally sleep in the Liberation Bunker. Showers were few and far between. Even with the rough and tumble, hand to mouth, way they lived, in a war zone nonetheless, Ororo always *felt* good, too. She managed to be constantly soft, smooth, and warm. This always blew his mind. She never felt gaunt or tired. One of the reasons he loved to look at her was because she was so effortlessly beautiful. An odd perk of her mutation allowed her body to recover from scar tissue, so this allowed her to look like a runway model in a war zone. Of course her feet eleven inch height frame only added to that image. Checking out his wife from behind was something that he often did to sooth the savage beast within, to make the man appreciate his own good fortune, and it did get a laugh out of anyone else around. He recalled something his friend Remy once asked him when he got caught. He had asked Logan why he did it so often. Remy had believed that marriage quelled the feelings of outward lust, much like all young people. Logan laid down the law about that, and there was a fine lesson learned that day. As for the tasting aspect of her spoilage, well...


Shaking himself out of his reverie, he silently approached his still grumpy wife. He slowly stretched his hands out he placed them on her rounded black-leathered backside. Flexing his fingers, he slowly ran them up to the small of her back. Just to be stubborn she straightened herself stiff. He pressed a smiled into her shoulder, and licked her. The heat coming from her torso increased. He was wearing her down.


“Logan, I am still angry.”
“Really, darlin, about what,” he asked innocently.
“You know how I feel about you and,” she dramatically inhaled and added, “Dr. Summers.” The name was nearly snarled out.
“I’m sorry, darlin.” He tightened his grip on her hips and leaned in on her. The tightness of the black leather did not protect her from the feel of the rock solid erection building in his loins. He softly wrapped his teeth around her shoulder and gave her another lick. He felt her quick shiver. Score: Logan two, ‘Roro zero, but she was going to get one real soon. With his teeth still around her shoulder, he gave it a quick little hum. She shivered under the vibrations. Her body had become very limp and her head lolled into his. FLAWLESS VICTORY! Logan spun her around and reached up to softly cradle her face. He brought their foreheads together.


“I’m worried about you,” he sighed into her mouth.
She used the three fingers on each hand to trace his fingers and forearms. She took her arms and wrapped them around his neck. “I know, love. I just think that Jean has a thing for you, and that I just do not like. Why were you around there anyway?”
He closed his eyes and chuckled. “Believe it or not, my wife hasn’t been one hundred percent lately, and I’m worried.” He pressed a kiss into the side of her mouth and a lingering one in between her brow.


She hated it when she got distracted by him. She bit down on her quivering bottom lip. He had pulled back to look at her. When he saw the movements of her mouth, he let out a deep audible groan. His kisses just didn’t stop. He had pulled her down to what was left of a bench like object to get more kisses on her wherever she had exposed flesh. He pulled back to look at her, and she gave him a shy smile. His face softened and he traced her head that was shaved except for the very line in middle where the mohawk was. She let her knees touch his as he seemed to be content with playing with her hard-core hair. She tickled his knees and was granted a chuckle, so he ruffled her hair, hard. They both laughed at each other. She shifted her weight so that she was sitting in his lap. They both loved the perks of the difference in heights. He adored it when she would just wrapped the extra lengths of her limbs around him. She loved his shortness, and had made a joke about it. She had teased him saying that he was an attentive lover because it took him less time to get to the goodies.


In his lap, she was able to feel the heat from his waist and his hot breath at her collarbone. His hands had attacked the buttons, zippers, and snaps of her tight leather top. As he took it off of her, he turned to lay her down on the bench. He caty-cornered her, and tore of her shirt. After gently placing it under her head, ran his hands softly down her toned stomach, making her writhe and stifle a giggle. She knew that he was fighting back laughter, too.


He learned a long time ago, how utterly fantastic it was to have fun when having sex. Who was the lovely lady that taught him that? He looked down at his smiling wife, and smiled at her, then he took his time watching the round mounds of her breast move up and down in a mesmerizing sexual sight. Before Ororo, there was no fun to this activity. It was a rushed, fevered, necessity. Instead of feeling fulfilled, it had made him feel hollow. Ororo changed that. For the brief moments when the war, or the outside didn’t exist, his mate completed him in every way possible.


She had turned her head to the side and looked at her husband. He had seemed far away for a minute. Before she could voice her question, she felt his sly hand tickle the side of her stomach. She arched away from it. She saw the serious look on her husband and lover’s face. Before she could react he leaned down and bit her ticklish spot. Her hands clenched at his back with the playful eroticism. As his mouth moved upwards to the often (but not with him) forgotten skin underneath her breast, she let her hands move through his unruly hair on his head. She fingered his thick sideburns, and damn near constant and so irresistible five o’clock shadow. She absolutely loved the feel of that stubble. He would rub his face all over her like sand paper. It would leave her raw and aching for more. He would follow it up with his tongue. Very much like he was doing now. Her nipple had peaked with his attention to detail. Somewhere in all of this he had removed her leather pants. One day she would contemplate on how he managed to do that so sneakily.


While tongues met and battled they where forced to break apart by the building itself.
“Damn, I’m so very good at what I do!”
“Very funny. There’s a war going on out there.”
“Really!” Logan went right back to what he was doing. His wife.


He ran his hands through her soft and welcoming pubic hairs. He took one of her shaking thighs in his other hand and shoved it aside so there was enough room for him. Again, she missed him getting undressed. He really was good. She felt his hands part her inner folds and rub his calloused fingers in them.
“Your soft here.”
She blushed.
He licked her nose.
“Jesus, woman.” He could feel her wetness between his fingers. “I love you so much.”
With her eyes half lidded she could seem him loom above her. He braced one hand on one of the walls, and guided his muscle towards her hot depths. He watched as she arched her back, and in doing so rubbed herself against his swollen aching cock.


He took her arched stomach in his hands and held on to her as he began to thrust into her. He could feel her squeeze him again and again. As he started to sweat he felt his movement slightly restricted when her ankles locked around him. She watched her husband long fluid motions. He was so beautiful to her, especially like this. Relaxed, natural, with no one trying to kill him. His thick hair that covered him was plastered on him because of the sweat. She caught a bead of the liquid when it raced down his arm. He could only grunt in her general direction. She ran her hands down his sides and followed his pelvic bone in the cleft on his hips.


His thrusts got faster and harder. With each one, he seemed to pound out a sound of pure pleasure from his wife. He braced his hands on the walls surrounding her, after he propped her legs on his shoulders. He moaned deep in her spiky hair. Her contractions got longer and came mor often. She was close.


Her hands combed through his chest hair, and pulled a little. His claws embetted themselves in the walls. His scrotum clenched and warmed her bottom. She stared to pant. He managed to sheathe his claws and cover her mouth. She screamed into his palm when she came. He was able to give her a handful more in thrusting love before his body tensed and his liquid heat squirted out with a noticeable force. It was thick and plentiful. She squirmed when she could feel his juice run down one of her released legs.
“Ya ok now, darlin. Can I remove my hand, and clean ya up?”
She nodded and let him move from within her. When she stood up to stretch, he grabbed her ringed hand and kissed her wedding band.
“There’s a broken pipe back around there,” he pointed in that direction, “Keep yer beautiful self here while I get something for ya.” He shrugged his pants up, along with the throwing knives, blasters, ammo, and other stark reminders of their current situation.


When he disappeared around the corner, Ororo thought about how much he meant to her. How did this happen? She hugged her breast to keep them warm. Her husband had been in her life so much now, she really couldn’t remember. Such a strong force in her life had become her life. Being the independent person she had to be, she found this thought oddly satisfying.


“I hope your plannin’ on sharin’ them. Cause if not, ya kinda greedy, there’s enough there for two.”
She turned around and gave him one of her looks.
He smirked right back at her. He held a bucket, and a formally white piece of cloth in his hands. He wet the cloth and bent to his knees. After giving her still shaking legs a good nuzzling, he took the wet cloth and cleaned his spunk of her inner legs, and calf. They both laughed about the mystery of where else the love juice splashed to.


Just as they got dressed, shots where fired into window. Logan caught the scent of the lasers and had pushed them both into a corner.
“Looks like our time out is up,” came Ororo’s reply to the sudden violence.
“Common, if we follow the piping, we can get back underground, and get to the trenches.”
“We need to move.”


Just as they sneaked into the sewer they heard the terrible sound of the humongous Walkers and Beetles. Machines that would hunt down and slaughter any living person with an active X-gene. Ororo ability to disrupt electronic power and Logan’s enhanced senses made them a formidable team to catch.


When they got to the Manhattan East Trench they were immediately were met by Com. Hank Macoy.
“Evening to you both.”
“What gives Macoy? Why the attacks on already cleared out districts? And why the hell are *ya* here? Did the officer’s tent run out of milk and cookies?”
“Logan!”
“Sorry, ‘Ro.”
“I came to inform you that the humans have ordered more Landcraft and Hovers.”
“Hank,” Ororo said smoothly, unlike her husband, “we know. We ran into a Hover on the way here.”
“Why are ya really here, Hank?”
Before he could answer shot were fired in the trench, and the party was forced to duck.
“The human’s aim is improving,” Storm noticed.


The trio watched as a cybernetically winged Cyclops floated in mid air dodged some shot, rolled, and took out the closet Landcraft that was firing in the trench. He was fired at from behind and went down. Out of nowhere came General Magneto. He used his electro-magnetic fields to protect him and his downed comrade.
Hank looked on in horror as the General was surrounded by machines.
Just as Wolverine was about half up the trench, Storm stopped him.
“Wait, we can not expect to stop them alone.”
Logan turned around to see Magneto struggle with his shields. He pulled his wife into his arms. “Sorry, darlin, aint got a choice.” He pulled her head down for a searing kiss. He squeezed her back and rubbed the back of her multi-textured head. She pulled back, not really wanting to leave his embrace. He smacked her lips with a quick chaste pucker.
“We can’t risk it. If we loose the General, we loose the war.”

What Are You Worth?
Chapter Three


Wolverine, Storm, Commander Macoy, and Gambit booked out of the trench as quickly as they could towards General Magneto and the unconscious Cyclops.

“Hold on General, the calvary is here,” Wolverine shouted over top the electronic hum of all the machines.

Magneto’s electromagnetic shield that was protecting him suddenly expanded and exploded outward, sending the Walker that was attempting to crush him flying towards the troops of other Machinery. He looked at his charging people, “Avast, push them into the river,” he screamed.

Scores of other mutants charged out of the trench rushing towards the lines of Machines. After dividing up, each smaller group of mutants began to attack the outer flanks of the machines. The center line was forced to break apart to cover its outer lines. Obviously, this was not a good strategic move. Storm, Gambit, and Mr. Sinister were left to charge the center nearly unopposed

Storm took to the air, and used her aerial skills to draw the attention of the lone Spider with it’s multi-laser attacks. After several loops she noticed that the lasers on the legs were following her.

She drew her hands together to draw in lighting to form a ball of lightning. The lighting surrounded her entire body, making her glow like an angry goddess. The electrical feedback destroyed the electronic sensing units of the Machines in a fifty foot radius.

After Storm felt her eyes take on the white hue, she was able to see the air shift and move all around her. She focused on created a swirling wind beneath the huge lumbering Spider.

“Whirlwind, arise!”

When the machine was abruptly lifted off the ground only to be slammed down again, Wolverine had jumped on to the out stretched legs, screaming an angry war cry. Strong Guy was his back up and ripped out the kicking leg of the Machine that was closest to Wolverine.

Having the bird’s eye view that she did, Storm was able to see that melee attacks against Spiders were often futile because they could easily surround a fighter on the ground. She had told her husband time and time again about rushing into attacks. His near daily response was, ‘I have a healing factor.’ Her constant retort was, ‘That does not mean you do not feel pain. You have a enhanced senses, correct. Does that not include a special tactile sense.’ The end of that discussion would always be a grunt.

Storm watched as Wolverine held on but was tossed around like a rag doll. His claws had damaged the one claw, but the lasers that were still working had made it impossible for him to move on to another leg. Strong Guy couldn’t touch the leg that held Storm’s husband.

“Logan! Get clear.”

Her break in concentration allowed one of the lasers to catch her in mid-air as she lowered herself. Her figure eight was cut short as the explosion from the Machine made her hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of her, so to speak. Wolverine was also blown to the ground after the explosion, and knocked out.

General Magneto gave the struggling mutants much needed back up in a hovering car driven by Morph. By drawing out the fire of the Spiders, he was able to alleviate the fallen mutants. The combined strength of three Spiders eventually took out one of the engines of the hover car. As they had an emergency evacuation of the vehicle, Magneto use a magnetic pulse to strike down the Spider that hit his engine.

The second explosion seemed to help Storm wake up. She opened her eyes to see the unconscious body of her husband lying a few feet away in the debris of a Machine. She tried to push herself up, but her arms couldn’t support her own weight. She hit the ground again, but this time she was able to thank the Goddess for giving her the idea of switching to the leather. It protected her from the not-so-graceful landings.

She rolled over to get a better view of her husband. She was too far away to see wether or not he was breathing.

“Easy Leibling. Killing yourself will not solve any of these problems.”

Being as involved in her own world, Ororo hadn’t heard the signature *bamf* nor had she smelled the familiar sulfur.

“Kurt. Help him.”

“Help him? You’re the one about to get trampled.” After that Nightcrawler had disappeared again only to reappear in the Spider’s control pit. His nimble and strong fingers ripped out the CPU and tangled the arms of the mechanical driver. Before any of the inner self defense modules could activate, Nightcrawler had bamfed out. He managed to single handily take out of the three attacking Spiders.

Beast bounced of the remains of another mechanical soldier and gave the dying Spider a solid kick so it exploded far away from the two mutants on the ground.

“An opening in the line, sir,” Hank shouted to the General who was above him.

“Good work Macoy. Push forward.”

Sinister and Gambit took cover behind some of the walls that were left of surface buildings to attack at the on coming human tanks. Gambit threw kinetic cards to attack the cannon of the tank, but the humans had fired first. The wall that he was hiding behind did not hold under the blast. The green Morlock that was with Gambit was able to protect him from any fata injuries, but he was still knocked out.

Beast, who wasn’t far away, was able to artfully dodge the deadly projectiles.

“Hang on my friend,” he said as he collected Gambit. The medical tent wasn’t too far away.

Logan’s nose was the first thing on his body to move. It was always the first thing on his body to be aware of his environment. He could smell the fire of the explosions, Beast carrying Gambit, and not to far away from that he could smell his wife. With that thought registering in his head, he was able to open his eyes. What he saw scared the living daylights out of him.

Lying less than twenty feet away from him, surrounded by a small semi circle of fire, was the body of his wife. He panicked at first because his eyes hadn’t fully adjusted, and he couldn’t see her breathing. She was facing the ground so it was also difficult to hear her breathing.

“Stoooorm!” His voiced had jarred her awake, and she began to shift. He heard her moan and struggle to open her eyes.

He took her torso in his left arm and scooped her knees up in his right. “Common Storm, don’t you leave me.” He placed his forehead near her pulse on her neck. His sensitive ears caught the movement of her blood. She began to moan and shift again. He sniffed her mouth and her eyes. He left a trail with his mouth on his neck along with his stubble. “Please baby, I need ya now more than ever. We got a lot to work on.” He moved her so that she rested on his propped up thigh. With his free hand he gently laid a hand on her stomach. He knew that she was currently unaware of her current predicament. If she was, and she was purposely putting herself in danger like this, he was going to nail her down to a chair in the safest place on the planet and fill that place full of food. He shook his head. It was too early for most to tell. She had just had her flow a couple of weeks ago. He slowly dragged his nose down to the valley of her breast. The only thing that gave it away was her scent, and he savored it as much as he possible could because one way or another it wasn’t going to last forever.

“Wolverine? Do not worry, my love, you are stuck with me a little while longer.” When she completely came to she wrapped her long arms around her husbands neck.

“Mmn. Don’t cha know it, darlin.” He patted the back of her head in a soothing matter when he could smell her fear spike.

Not far away another explosion could be heard when Morph and Magneto took out a Walker.

Beast saw the couple and warned them, “Look around the east, the army has sent in another wave of superhumans.”

The superhumans were the morally lowest thing the Oppressors had created. To combat the melee strength of the mutants, the humans had genetically enhanced their own people to give them abilities and strengths that came with an active X gene.

A pair of tentacles shot out and nearly hit Wolverine. With a single roll and a swipe of his claws, he disposed of the abrasive weapons. The superhuman who owned the tentacles screamed in agony.

Storm had taken to the air again, but she was caught by the giant hand of a giant superhuman. Her first reaction was to let loose all the electricity she could muster in one breath. Closed up spaces and she did not combine well in any situation. The giant dropped her from a deadly height before she could prepare the winds to support her.

Wolverine saw his wife fall and was able to position himself to catch her.

When she found herself in her husbands arm, she expected a warm welcome, but instead she got his angry face.

He almost wanted to kill her. But again, he reminded himself that she didn’t know. She widened her doe-like eyes at him in question, and he smirked at her then kissed her head. Once again he found himself at a lost to tell her. Why was he constantly distracted by her or something else like a war. He needed to tell her before something bad happened.

Another mutant had collected the superhumans in a shield and sent them back into the dangerous unclaimed inner city. That had temporarily ended the fighting, for now.

Logan took a brief look at the retreated enemy and turned his back. With his wife in his arms he walked back to the medical bunker to finally have it out with her.

“Nurse!” No answer came from the woman who was obviously a nurse standing a couple of feet away just who had just finished working with Gambit.

“NURSE!”

A loud annoyed sigh came from the exhausted woman. “Yes, Wolverine. Your fine, as usual. What are you doing here?”

“Where’s Dr. Summers?”

The nurse turned around and gasped when she saw Storm in his arms. “Jesus Ro, are you hurt.”

“No, for the last time: I. Am. Fine.”

Before the argument could gather legs, there was a heavy explosion directly outside the medical bunker. The rubble poured down on the unconscious and the wounded. Those that could protected them as much as possible. Wolverine hugged his wife and covered her so that his body took the brunt of the fallen debris.

Another mutant who was quick on his feet went outside to shield them against the attacking Walker. He used his ability to create three dimensional tactile holograms to fool the Walker into thinking that there was nothing around.

During the tense moment, Ororo turned Logan’s face so that he was looking at her.

“Logan, I will be fine. Please just get us clear.”

“Ya got it, darlin.” He traced her ear with a gentle thumb. She looked so tired. He swore he would make her well-being an even higher priority. Nothing else from anywhere else was going to get in his way, and stay alive.

Just as Logan was about to head out, a bright white light assaulted them accompanied by what sounded like thousands of televisions on static at the highest volume.

“What the hell is that?”

Out of the bright light two human shaped figures emerged.

Bishop took one look around at the devastation and swore out loud. Shard looked confused and angry, as well.

“God dammit all,” Bishop said, “We’re too late. While we were traveling, Fitzroy and Nimrod already nailed Xavier and changed the fucking timeline, again!” He turned to his sister with a downtrodden expression. “In this world there are no X-men to help us.”

“Uh uh, Bish. I refuse to believe that all of this is for nothing. If it got messed up again, then we go back to 1963 and stop the assassination. But this time we go alone.”

Wolverine had watched the two newcomers from the shadows of the trench since they had appeared. He started his offensive charge towards them when he heard the word assassination.

When he was close enough, Wolverine unsheathed his claws and tackled Bishop to the ground before the larger man had the chance to counter the body slam. With his claws at the strangers neck, Wolverine gave the man the ultimatum, “Talk. Now. While you can breath.”

An exhausted and limping Storm made her way towards the tensed threesome. “You had better do as he says. He has a very short fuse.”

“That fuse is probably in proportion with the rest of him,” Bishop grumbled underneath the claws.

Wolverine just snarled at him.

Shard did a double take when she saw her idol. “Storm! Bishop, there are still X-men here.”

“Logan, get of the man and let him speak.”

Wolverine slowly let the man up, but he never put the claws away. “How do ya know our names, roadkill, and what are X-men?”

“They are our heritage,” Shard began. “You are. We’ve come from the future to save your time and our own.”

Another huge random explosion sent them all tumbling to the ground. After the initial shock they pressed their backs against the trench wall to prevent anymore falls.

Storm looked at her husband’s stoic face. She didn’t know if he was angry about all of this or if he just didn’t care. He had been acting very strange lately.

She turned to the younger woman and asked her what she was talking about. “Why should we believe you?”

“Ask yourself this, Storm” Shard said, “How did we get here, behind your lines? How did we know you, and why would we risk our lives just to talk to you?”

Storm felt Wolverine squeeze her hand, and she could hear the low threatening grumble in his chest. “I do not know. All of this is too difficult to believe.”

Wolverine pulled his wife’s face close and nudged her ear. “I say we gut these two, dump the bodies, and forget this ever happened,” he whispered low into her ear.

“Logan!”

“What?” He sighed, “Sorry, Ro.” He glared at the newcomers. “Look at this world. How the hell do ya think ya gonna save us?”

Bishop took a look around. He spent a large portion of his childhood in war torn New York He nearly laughed at the irony. Here he was trying to prevent this war, when he knew that a completely different one actually going to happen. “With your help, we are going to save the life of one man, Charles Francis Xavier.”

“Who is Charles Xavier,” Storm asked.

Shard opened her hologram watch. “This is the mutant we must protect.” The picture of a young bald man just in his twenties appeared. “Professor Charles Xavier used his assets to bring Humans and Mutants together in peace. He established a school, here, where he and his team of X-men fought for basic human rights.”

“That is until someone from our time took him out,” Bishop said.

“Xavier took his message around the world. When anti-mutant groups sprang up, you and Storm worked with him. It was a constant struggle, but it was better than this.”

“That ain’t hard to imagine.” Wolverine had also finally put his claws away.

“I can not believe it.” Storm said. “All of this destruction, all of this misery, is due to the absence of one man!”

“One of the most important men in history,” Bishop interjected.

“I don’t buy it. This is nuts.”

Bishop put a restraining hand on Wolverine’s shoulder, only to have it violently swiped away. “Everything here, this war, everything you know was cause buy a time traveler from our future. We have to go back, rescue Xavier, and keep this from happening.”

Logan didn’t want to hear anymore of this. Before Bishop could finish his speech, Wolverine had un-snikted his claws and took a warning swipe at the other man. “This is a trick.”

Shard pushed her brother out of the way and screamed, “BACK OFF!”

Lucas looked at his sister and rubbed his knuckles, “This new Wolverine is as dense as the old one.”

Once again, Wolverine just glared at this man who had just gotten on his last nerve. He felt his wife’s warm and soothing hands envelop him. “Logan,” she said in his ear, “I believe them.” he closed his eyes and braced his legs so the onslaught of that faint scent wouldn’t send him into a rage.

“Logan, doing it will end this perpetual war. Please, just think about it, love.”

“It will end everything else with it, darlin’. Ya saw those fuckin’ tapes. If, and I mean if, we find a way to save this Xavier clown, we’ll end up workin’ together,” he pulled out her hands to lace their fingers together, “and not bein’ together.”

“Sorry, pal, but your right about that. Turns out that the two of you never really got around to getting your acts together. Ya’ll ended up letting other stuff, and people get in the way.” Bishop just shook his head at the doomed couple.

“My darling, would you condemn the whole world just to keep our love?”

“Ya bet I would, anytime time anywhere. Why would I care about anything else?”

“Logan if this works, I will still be with you. It looks like we get to be best friends. I love you enough to take you any way I can. So, we will have to give a part of ourselves for the greater good. I am ok with that. We will gain so much in the future. After all, what else will we to loose?”

He drew her into a tight desperate embrace. “Darlin, ya have no idea.”

She gave him a tantalizing but bittersweet kiss. “Logan, I am sorry.”

He closed his eyes and felt her deep voice all the way to his toes.

Storm walked up to the pair of siblings, “I am ready to go.” She turned to her husband, “Are you with us?”

He took nearly no time to answer. It was a rhetorical question. He wasn’t going anywhere without his mate. No matter what happened, that was where his future was.