Chapter Eleven: Salvation
“Um, Ro?” Logan’s gasp of her name made her grin against his chest. He sucked in another breath as her teeth scraped over one of his taut nipples.
She licked a path down his chest, her fingers flexing into his thighs. His hands wove into her hair, tightening as she moved lower. They’d gotten absolutely no sleep, content to explore one another more thoroughly than they had before.
Ororo relished the intimate knowledge of his body, the secrets he carried. If she scraped her teeth over his abdomen, he flinched and swore. Rubbing circles with her thumb behind his ear made him growl in a most enticing way. She memorized everything, wanting to keep his secrets as he now kept hers.
Teasing him with long, slow licks and nipping teeth, Ororo ignored a second call of her name as she neared her goal. The generous muscles in his belly contracted beneath sun-bronzed skin. Ororo brought her hands up, taking his engorged cock into her hands, stroking him firmly.
“Christ, woman!” He groaned, his hand pulling at her hair. “Will you just…”
“What?” Ororo questioned, raising a white brow. She ran her thumb over the head of his dick, reaching down to cup his balls gently.
Before he could respond, she ducked her head, taking him fully into her mouth. He swore violently as she enveloped the silken steel of his cock between her lips. Pushing her hair away from her eyes, she watched as he tossed his head back, the veins in his throat bulging as his hips jerked into her mouth.
She swirled her tongue over the tip, enjoying the salty taste of him. Her head bobbed up and down, moving in time with her hand as she stroked him to pleasure. Large, masculine hands twitched in her hair, attempting to guide her movements to ensure the most pleasure for her feral lover. Logan groaned her name when she hit a delicious spot, so she made a mental note to remember it.
Shifting between his thighs, Ororo continued her ardent ministrations. Eager to please, enjoying the feminine thrill of having so much power over so stubborn a man, she increased the suction of her mouth, making Logan swear once more. He rocked his hips eagerly, setting a steady pace between them. Ororo caught his gaze and winked, pleased when he smirked back before dropping his head again.
“Stop,” he pled a moment later.
Ororo lifted her head, keeping her hand moving while she looked up at him. “Why?”
“I want you to ride me,” he ground out, sitting up and reaching for her.
Grinning, she obediently slid up his legs, straddling him quickly. Logan’s hands rested on her hips, his dark eyes glinting with lust. Ororo put her hands on her breasts, arching a brow when Logan growled. She flicked expert fingers over her taut nipples, drawing a low moan from her own throat.
Logan lifted her effortlessly before slamming her welcoming body down on his. They groaned in unison as they joined, their bodies immediately moving. Ororo put her hands on his chest, using his heavy body for leverage as she shifted her hips. Her pace immediately rough, impatient, she rode with him abandon. Logan thrust up into her, his breathing short and labored as though he were fighting for every breath.
The feel of him hot and hard inside made Ororo groan his name. She lifted and lowered herself quickly, shifting until every stroke hit just the right spot inside of her. Gasping as he thrust harder, Ororo let her hand fall to her clit, manipulating the swollen bud quickly.
Ripples made her muscles quiver and Logan growled. He moved faster, harder, deeper, until Ororo felt fire coil in her belly. Tossing her head back, she let her orgasm crash over her, heedless to the screaming winds and pelting hail. Logan’s grip on her hips bordered on painful as he tumbled into bliss a scant second after she.
Ororo collapsed onto his chest, breathing heavily and covered in sweat.
“How…exactly…did we end up here again?” She asked in a teasing tone.
“I’m still…” Logan paused to swallow. “Wonderin’ how I got ya on the pool table.”
“Pervert.” She chuckled.
“Bitch.” He replied affectionately.
They lay together in the dark quiet, content in one another’s company. Ororo drew nonsense designs on his chest as he kissed her forehead. His arms wove around her, giving her the feeling of complete and utter safety. She hated to admit it, but she felt safest in Logan’s arms, as though she knew no harm would befall her on his watch.
But their peace was cut short by a series of suddenly alarmed sniffs from the man in question. Ororo sat up slightly, meeting his eyes.
“What is it?”
He sniffed again, the pulled her to his chest and rolled them both onto the floor.
“Explosives!”
The blast rocked the mansion’s very foundations. Protected by Logan’s arms and the heavy wood of her bed, Ororo felt the tremors in her very blood. Fear for the children in her care, for her son down the hall, brought her to her feet almost the instant the shaking stopped.
Logan caught her around the waist, shoving her uniform into her chest. His eyes glittered with the call to battle, the violence she knew pumped through his veins.
“Put it on, darlin’,” he ordered on a growl. “I mean it.”
Ororo nodded obediently, yanking the protective leathers over her nude body as her son strode through the bedroom door without knocking. Again.
Bishop looked between them, a small smile curving his lips when he noted his father’s bare chest and hastily drawn up sweats and his mothers quickly turned back to hide her nudity.
“Iceman and Angel are ushering the children below. The security shields are in place. We have four minutes before Forge’s force field comes down and the Brotherhood is inside.”
Storm finished zipping her uniform, following her lover and her son into the hall. It was eerily quiet as the trio made their way toward the source of the explosion. Ororo knew that Logan’s new security fields, monitoring system and lower-level lockdown would keep the children safe. There was comfort in that.
“We have to get to Peter,” Ororo said as they entered the main hall at a dead run.
“Uh, darlin’? Don’t think that’ll be an option.”
“’Ello, runt,” said the taunting accent of Juggernaught. “Care for another tumble, then?”
The man ran toward the budding family and they immediately fell into formation. Ororo hoped and prayed that someone “ anyone “ got to Piotr before Pyro.
~**~
Shadowcat and Dazzler vaulted over the staircase, landing neatly beside one another in front of several terrified children. The hum of Forge’s force field assured the two girls that they had another few minutes to get the little ones to safety before the shit hit the fan.
Ali scooped up a little girl “ Rahne by name “ and pushed her into the tunnel opening. She assured the young mutants that everything would be all right; hoping the sight of the elder girls in the X-Men leathers would be somewhat reassuring.
After securing the hatch as Wolverine taught them, ensuring that nothing short of an atomic explosion could open it without the password, the girls turned to one another. Forge’s force fields came down and they swallowed heavily.
“We have to split up,” Kitty said, taking Ali by the shoulders. “You have to go to Pete.”
“Um,” Ali said with a confused stare. “I think he’d be fine.”
“No,” Kitty shook her head. “Remember what we said about Bishop being from the future?”
Another minor explosion made both girls wince. They ducked into an alcove, Ali shaking her head in confusion.
“Yeah, but what’s that got to do with Mother Russia?”
Kitty bored her dark eyes into Ali’s, making the blonde’s heart stutter in her chest. Whatever her friend was about to tell her wouldn’t be good.
“In Bishop’s timeline, Pete died today. Pyro killed him.”
Ali turned and ran. She didn’t know when that decision had been made or even if it was the right one, but she clicked her iPod on and rubbed her hands together as she took the stairs three at a time.
With Linkin Park screaming out of the speakers Beast had put into the sleeves of her uniform, she darted through the massive halls of Xavier’s mansion. Slightly concerned when she came into contact with neither the X-Men nor the Brotherhood, she fought to focus her mind on the simple task of finding her comrade.
Skidding to a stop in her thick leather boots, she grasped the door jamb to halt her progress, whipping her body into the security room.
“Piotr?!”
All she found was an overturned chair, spilt coffee, and a smattering of Swedish Fish candies on the floor. Trying to control her fear, Ali rushed to the camera screens, quickly locating everyone she knew.
“Storm, Wolverine, Bishop…big guy with ugly helmet…front foyer.” She turned to another set of screens. “Oh, good. Shadowkitten, Iceboy, Halo…wow that’s one fatass bad guy…heading to the backyard. Beast at the elevator bank… Pete? Come on, Pete.”
She caught sight of Pyro and her world tilted. He was just down the hall with some spiky, violet-haired woman. Piotr was nowhere to be found, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t lure the little bastard away from Mother Russia. Protect him.
Ali rushed out of the security office, grinning when Pyro and the other mutant startled.
“Catch me if you can, dickwads.”
She turned and ran. Hearing the sound of running footsteps not far behind her, Ali darted into a small corridor, gasping when a ball of fire shot past her, narrowly missing her nose.
Strong arms whipped her around and relief almost winded her. Piotr, in all his colossal metallic glory drew her roughly to his chest. Silver eyes glared at her as his grip on her biceps brought her nearly off her feet.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving your shiny metal butt, that’s what.” She tossed back, kicking her legs to be let down.
He dropped her on her feet. “Go back to Katya.”
“No,” Dazzler put her hands on her hips, glaring back at the handsome Russian. Kitty was right; he was even more appealing in his metallic form. It was just sexy.
“This is my fight,” Colossus said softly. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Too bad,” Ali countered. “I’m not leaving. We’re X-Men. X-Men stick together.”
Any further argument was cut off by the appearance of the violet-haired mutant behind Colossus. Ali acted without thinking, using Colossus as a stepping-stone. He seemed to catch on quickly, lifting her over his shoulder effortlessly so that she could tuck her body into an immediate flip.
Using the music blaring from her suit, Ali turned her hands onto the woman, shooting blinding light from her palms.
“Hey now, I didn’t come up behind you for a cheap shot,” Dazzler taunted as she rolled to her feet.
The agile Asian woman sidestepped Ali’s light quickly; her hands erupted with purple light. “Aww, does the little Sparkler want to play?”
Dazzler growled, white-hot light singeing the carpet at the woman’s feet. “That’s Dazzler, bitch.”
“Psylocke,” the woman crouched into what looked like a starting position. “Come and get me.”
Ali couldn’t help but laugh. “What is this? A Jackie Chan movie? Bring it, Lockie.”
Glancing over her shoulder to ensure Piotr was all right, she found he was avoiding his former schoolmate’s pyrotechnics easily. She would have to keep a close eye, though. If Pyro had bested him before…
Psylocke came at her, violet blades humming with power. Ali felt something brush against her mind and understood. The woman was some sort of telepath. Dazzler tossed aside the use of her powers and fell back on her closest friends.
Right and Left.
When she met the other woman toe to toe, she knew immediately to avoid those humming blades. Ali spread her feet, bringing her fists up quickly. She’d been in enough barroom brawls and mosh pits to know her way around a fistfight.
Her first two punches were misses, but Psylocke took a mean elbow to the nose. The girl cried out as Alison thanked the material of her uniform for protecting her elbow. She whirled as her opponent leapt back, blinded by the pain of her broken nose. Ali caught her shin with a booted foot, bringing her sharply to the ground.
But Psylocke was just as fast. She shoved a well-placed fist into Alison’s side, the protective leathers cushioning the blow. But the right hook to the jaw…that hurt.
“This is not the way ladies fight,” Psylocke said, blood staining her teeth.
Ali darted backward, avoiding a swipe with those weird purple blades. “Ladies? Bitch, we’re in a fistfight. There’s no ladies here.”
Whipping her body around, Ali smacked Psylocke in the forehead with a roundhouse, taking one in turn when the other woman recovered. Spitting the blood from her mouth all over the expensive Persian as she crumbled to the floor, Ali checked on Piotr.
He was watching her, his hands holding Pyro’s behind his back. Alison breathed a sigh of relief. At least that was one less thing to worry about.
When the other mutant came at her again, Ali swung her leg around, knocking her onto her back with an undignified yelp. Ali straddled the slender woman, pulling her fist back and slamming it into her already bloodied face.
Two more blows had Psylocke lying limply and Dazzler stood, rotating her shoulders.
“Pleasure doin’ business with you, Lockie.”
She kicked the limp body for good measure, wiping the blood from her nose with the sleeve of her uniform. Ali looked around quickly, noticing that Pyro had somehow come out of Piotr’s grasp. That shouldn’t be possible, not with Piotr’s strength.
Ali ran toward the duo, the fierce need to protect almost a living thing inside of her. She thrust her hands out, calling on her mutation in desperation.
Nothing happened.
It was at that moment she saw Piotr begin to “power down”. Warm, pale flesh replaced the cold steel and her heart skipped to a stop. Jimmy stood at the entrance to the staircase, looking frightened and confused.
“Jim-bo!” Ali screamed as she made a mad dash for Piotr. “GET BACK!”
Though she and Piotr were too close to Leech for their powers to work, Pyro was not. He grasped a picture frame “ one with a photograph of red haired woman and bespectacled man “ from a nearby table. The insane mutant lit it aflame, hurling it with all his strength toward the vulnerable Piotr.
Ali caught the dark, vulnerable gaze of Colossus, watching in horror as a small smile graced his perfect lips. He was going to just let it happen.
“NO! PIOTR!”
With no thought in her head, Ali reached the dark Russian just a moment soon enough. She shoved him out of the way, turning as the flaming projectile hit her square in the chest. Darkness enveloped her and a distant scream of her name went unanswered.
~**~
“ALI!”
Colossus felt his world come sharply into focus as he sprawled on the floor, screaming her name in utter futility. She’d come between him and Fate, taking the fatal blow meant for him. His heart stopped in his chest, fear gripping the bottom of his soul as her lifeless body slammed into the far wall. The scorched wall buckled under the weight of her, paint crackling.
Her blonde head lolled back from the force of Pyro’s assault and she slid to the floor without uttering a single whimper.
Crimson colored Piotr’s vision and his mutation suddenly kicked back into high gear. Piotr stood, covering his body in that protective super-steel. Pyro was staring at the fallen body in absolute horror, his eyes darting to Colossus only when the other man was upon him.
Piotr took Pyro by the throat; lethal hands ready to crush the very life from his enemy. But something stopped him. Perhaps it was the presence of innocent Jimmy or the good instilled in him by Xavier and Storm. Whatever it was, in that moment, it saved Pyro’s life.
“Take your bitch and get out of our home,” Piotr growled in a sinister tone.
“Pete…” Pyro gagged, unable to breathe through the vice grip on his throat.
“Go.”
He turned and tossed Pyro like a rag doll, making the other boy land in a heap beside the beaten and bloody Psylocke. The other woman was staggering to her feet. Pyro helped her, the two of them limping past a terrified Leech.
Heart in his throat, Piotr turned to where Alison lay, powering down quickly. Jimmy rushed forward as well, tears running unchecked down his pale cheeks.
“Alison?” Piotr called softly, kneeling to drawn her limp form into his arms. Her head rolled back over his forearm, her bruised lips parting.
“Ali?” Leech questioned, shaking her shoulder. “Ali, this isn’t funny.”
Piotr put his hand to her cheek, leaning his ear to her mouth. No breath. He touched her wounded chest, feeling the armor dented beneath the leather. Trembling violently, Piotr stood, gathering her to his chest. He had to find Beast. Wolverine. Anyone.
“Come on, Jim.” Piotr ordered, carrying Alison’s lifeless body through the mansion’s corridors.
Signs of battle were everywhere. Burn marks in the carpeting, splintered wood, decimated furniture. Colossus found himself rushing down the stairs, holding tears back only by sheer will. He wouldn’t let this happen. She couldn’t die when it was his time. How could she have been so stupid? Why? Why had she done this?
Swallowing over the lump of emotion in his throat, he shouted the instant he saw a battered Wolverine inspecting a bleeding Storm.
“Help me!” He screamed, rushing toward the pair. “Someone HELP!”
Storm’s dark eyes filled with shock and fear when they landed on Ali’s body. Wolverine leapt forward as Piotr’s knees gave out. He crouched to the floor, looking about helplessly.
Don’t die, he pled with her silently. Please don’t die, Alison. Don’t go.
“She can’t breathe,” Wolverine was murmuring. “Storm, get Beast.”
But the woman was already screaming into the comm. link shared by all X-Men. Beast was on his way, even as Wolverine inspected Alison’s fragile form.
Snikt! One long adamantium claw burst through Wolverine’s skin. He ordered Colossus to remain still, curiously not demanding that he release the girl’s body.
That lone claw moved quickly over Ali’s chest, rending the armor of her uniform effortlessly and releasing her from the dented material. She coughed instantly; groaning as shaking hands came up to her chest. Piotr felt a sob lodge in his throat at the sound of her rasping cough. Alive. She’d lived.
Wolverine restrained her hands gently as Beast appeared in the foyer. Alison’s chest was singed badly and the massive bruises already forming were cause for concern.
“She needs to be taken to the med-lab,” Beast said quickly. “Give her to me, Peter.”
Piotr’s grip tightened considerably. There was no way in the name of hell he was releasing her, not yet. He could not shake the mind-numbing fear that she would somehow drift away if he let go.
Beast’s blue eyes were sympathetic. “All right. Carry her to the med-lab, my boy.”
Unable to reply verbally, Colossus gathered Alison’s wounded body closer to his chest, standing gracefully so he would not jostle her any more than necessary. She whimpered as they rushed toward the elevators.
“Comrade…” she whispered hoarsely.
“I’m right here,” he answered quietly.
A soft smile covered her lips and she calmed. Beast ordered Colossus to place her on the medical bed as Angel appeared in the lab as well.
Piotr stepped back as the two worked quickly to stabilize Alison’s condition. Piotr’s back hit the wall and he slid down to a crouch. He would never get that image out of his mind. The fear in her eyes when he turned to her, knowing this was the moment of death. The way her body had flown backward, the feel of her lifeless in his arms.
He’d seen her in action now, the rough street brawl fighting style effective and somewhat graceful. She handled herself well in battle, and he thought she would replace him on the team after his death. Never had he imagined that she would step in front of a fatal blow for him, saving the life that was meant to end.
He never wanted to see anyone hurt in his stead. He was Colossus, almost invulnerable to harm when in his super-steel structure. No one ever needed to take a hit for him. But she had, without question or pause. What kind of woman did that for a man she’d known less than a week?
We’re X-Men. X-Men stick together.
Piotr got the distinct impression that his status as her teammate had no bearing on her thought process. She just did what needed doing.
He stared at her on the med-lab table, wondering what he was going to do now that she’d bought his life nearly at the cost of hers.
~**~
“Alison is stable,” Hank said as he entered the kitchen. “She’ll be fine.”
“Oh, thank whatever God is up there and all of his friends,” Kitty said, dropping her forehead onto the table.
The assembled X-Men were wired after the rough battle fought on their home soil. Kitty, Iceman, and Angel had dispatched the creature known as “The Blob” with a combination of maneuvers taught in the Danger Room.
Juggernaught was not so easily dismantled and it had taken the combined might of Storm, Wolverine, and Bishop to even slow him down. When Pyro ordered the mission aborted, he’d punched Storm one last time for good measure and rushed back out of the house.
Beast, whom had been securing the last of the children, met Arclight one on one at the entrance to the lower levels. His semi-rapid healing process had already divested him of most of his wounds, but the other woman was not so lucky. Beast had assured Bishop that her legs would heal…eventually.
With the Brotherhood flushed from the mansion, Bishop had insisted they all gather in the kitchen. He wanted a head count, if nothing else. Besides that, news of Alison’s self-sacrifice for Piotr and Jimmy’s intervention had clicked something together in his brain.
He looked at the sullen young man across the table, knowing he was no doubt cloaked in self-loathing and worry. Whatever was brewing between Dazzler and Colossus had some bearing on this altered timeline. They’d been dead in Bishop’s.
Jimmy, he felt, was the Chaos Factor. So much of what derived from his death had been ever altered. Dazzler’s life was interconnected with Jimmy’s and now with Piotr’s. Bishop felt the nagging of something coming together pull at his mind and he ran a hand over his bruised face.
Maybe his parents weren’t the bigger picture here. Still, it was nice to know they were moving closer, as he could see from the intimate way they had been standing in his mother’s bedroom as the battle began. That was cause for hope.
His mother’s barrenness would have to be addressed later. If he dwelled on it, the worry made his stomach clench unpleasantly.
This timeline resembled his own in only minor ways now. Magneto was on the move, three X-Men were alive and well, but Bishop couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t done yet.
Mother reached over, taking his hand in hers and squeezing his fingers. She always did that, he thought with a wry smile. She instinctively knew when he needed her touch, or her voice, or just her presence. She gifted him with a gentle smile before shaking her head at Bobby.
Iceman, true to form, was reenacting several points of his battle with the Blob. Kitty was rolling her eyes, Angel shaking his head in dismay. Bobby embellished a great deal, making the story sound as though the fate of the world depended on every hit and parry. Bishop chuckled. His uncle Bobby had always been something of a storyteller.
On the cold nights, when the sounds of battle drew too close, Iceman would pull Bishop “ and later Shard “ close to regale them with tales of the X-Men. It gave him so much history on his family and friends…
Bishop turned dark eyes to Kitty, frowning slightly. Her future was the next to be altered. He glanced at the clock, mentally calculating how long it would take. Marie would return and things would get ugly. Fast.
When her dark eyes met his, Bishop gave her a small nod. She grinned at him.
Yes, he thought grimly. Better Marie than Kitty.
