The control room of the mythical X-MEN Danger Room
She was once an X-Man, now consort a king, her name is Ororo Monroe-Challa, the world knows her though as STORM.
How often in the past had she stood here just to watch the feral WOLVERINE move through his scenarios in the fabled danger room? No matter how long the time, no matter how often she had seen those fluidic movements she always had to smile. He was beautiful. No not just beautiful, he was majestically so. He was nature’s wild incarnate.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” said a voice from behind Ororo. Though she did not hear her enter, she knew who it was. That didn’t explain why her voice sounded as cold as a glacier.
“Marie.” Ororo waited for a reply. Her time with her husband had taught her that many confrontations whether social, diplomatic, or otherwise was more like a chess match than she realized. It was a game of strategy, intrigue, guile, and cunning. Something that Ororo had found she was better at than she knew.
“Only friends call me that sugar,” her southern accent had begun to disappear. “It’s ROGUE.”
A pang of sadness entered Ororo’s heart that Marie seemed not to consider her a friend anymore. What had she missed when she left the X-Men?
“So you came back?” Rogue asked, direct and almost confrontational.
“I don’t know Rogue. I only agreed to help Charles find out why people are being transformed into grotesque mockeries and how.” Ororo’s reply was unemotional, hard to read. Rogue smirked slightly. The Panther had changed Ororo.
“Don’t expect any of us to jump for joy Storm.” Rogue turned toward the door, “you hurt him when you left.”
“I know.”
The simulation ended as Storm noticed the object of her watchful eye gained a visitor.
The man named Wolverine flipped, somersaulted, leapt, and clawed at the Danger room constructs with a near-freedom he had nearly forgotten with his stint in the New Avengers, his own globetrotting, and the current fight with the HULK. With that thought, a tinge of pain entered his soul and his headache returned slightly. Hulk was stronger than before, more in tune with himself than ever before. Logan envied that. Hulk had a right to be angry with Strange, Namor, Richards, Xavier, Black-bolt, and Stark. That last name left a bad taste in Logan’s mouth. Stark reminded him of another, who had the same moral convictions, his name was ADOLF HITLER.
As he thought those very words the simulation ended and the Danger room re-enforced adamantium doors opened. Logan thought it was Ororo finally coming to speak to him after standing in the observation room, but it was not.
“What da ya want Chucky?” Logan’s demeanor told the man known to the world as PROFESSOR X specifically that Logan was still upset with him.
“Wolverine I came to talk to you.”
“So ya came off da mountain to me? What am I Mohammad?” Logan began to walk past Xavier until Xavier spoke.
“I wasn’t there when they decided.”
Logan turned, his temper had burst, the anger caused the blood vessels to bulge, his skin tone turned from the tanned, weathered color to a deep red.
“YOU WOULD HAVE VOTED WITH THEM CHUCK! WHAT GIVES YOU OR ANYONE THE RIGHT TO DECIDE WHATS THE BEST FOR ANYONE! YOU’RE HEMMLER TO STARK’S HITLER!” Spittle flew from Wolverine’s mouth as he yelled.
“I’m not a Nazi Logan,” calmly stated Xavier. “We did what we though was best for everyone.”
“THE SUPERHUMAN REGESTRATION ACT IS ANOTHER MUTANT REGESTRATION ACT! HOW COULD YOU EVEN HAVE BACKED THAT AFTER YOU FOUGHT THAT CRAP FOR SO LONG? ANSWER THAT ONE CHUCK!” Logan was fuming, his nostrils flaring in and out. The beast was close.
“It got out of hand Logan. We only wanted to help guide…”
“GUIDE! GUIDE WHAT? THE HELPLESS, STUPID MAJORITY OF PEOPLE WHO CAN’T THINK FOR THEMSELVES? LET ME TELL YA CHUCK WE ARE NOT ALL STUPID AND WE ARE NOT ALL SHEEP! HOW DARE YOU...”
“HOW DARE I? DARE I WHAT?” Charles calmed his voice and curbed his temper, “Contrary to what you believe Logan the majority of the people want to be led. Why not help them? The moral and ethical base that we once had has fallen as corruption has seeped into everyday life. They need to be protected from themselves. Every time a person gained super abilities whether mutation or not, they put on a pair of tights and endangered the general populace.”
“NO ONE HAS THAT RIGHT XAVIER! YOU DIDN’T HAVE THAT RIGHT WHEN YOU HID THE FACT ABOUT CYKE AND ALEX’S BROTHER, OR WHEN YOU MIND WIPED A FEW DOZEN PEOPLE, OR OTHER TIMES IT BENEFITTED YOU!”
“You did worst than I could have….”
“I KILLED. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HONEST ABOUT WHAT I WAS XAVIER! MEN CONTROLLED ME AND THEY WERE EXACTLY LIKE YOU! THE ONLY REASON I AM STILL HERE IS FOR THOSE KIDS! SO @#$% YOU AND THE IRON HORSE OF A MAN YOU RIDE WITH!”
Wolverine walked out leaving Charles Xavier alone, sitting motionless until he pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his face from the spittle.
“Storm?” Xavier said as he looked to the control room, only to see the observation room empty.
“Mommy don’t go! Please Mommy!” A little boy screams as a teenage female with white hair, her color the same caramel as their mother’s was holding him.
“Don’t cry my little man. I must go.” The Voice is calm, almost serene. “If I don’t then many will die.”
“MMMOOOOOMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!” The child screams, as he looks skyward watching the fiery bird hurl itself into space toward a black star.
“MOTHER!” Chance screamed as he awoke. That dream hadn’t bothered him for years but now it pierced his mind as a spear through flesh. As his vision cleared, he realized where he was, and what had happened as he saw the furniture and walls of his room.
“So much for the security deposit.”
As he got up he heard a voice at his door and a rather forceful entering. Standing in the doorway was James Proudstar the man called WARPATH. Behind him a white feline-like humanoid the world now knows as HEPZIBAH and the man called Wolverine.
“He’s in shape isn’t he?” replies Hephzibah teasingly, observing Chance in only a pair of shorts.
Warpath looked over his shoulder, raising an eye brow at her remark.
“Don’t worry kid she still has da hots fer ya,” Logan says passing the tall Native American. “Ya look like ya could use a drink. Get dressed and come out with us.”
“What time is it?” Chance asks still slightly confused from his nightmare.
“Its early around 10pm,”answered Proudstar, “Sorry about the door.”
“Not a problem as you can see that’s the least of my problems,” replies Chance with a smirk on his face.
The room looked as though a grenade exploded dead center where the bed once was.
“Lucky da Cajun isn’t here anymore. He loved that bed,” Logan scratched his chin showing his famous smirk.
Minutes later as the four begin walking out of the front door of the mansion all four stop and sniff the air as they all smell jasmine and sweet water. The smell is so faint no one except those that had enhanced senses could detect it. Logan knows the smell all too well.
“You kids go ahead, I’ll catch up.”
“Not a problem Logan. We’ll be at Harry’s.” Proudstar puts his arm around Hephzibah’s shoulder with Chance in tow.
“So whose scent was that?” the feline Hephzibah asks.
“Storm’s,” answers Chance “ Aun ... Hephzibah.”
“You have enhanced senses as well?” Asks Hephzibah as her tail swishes as a cat’s would.
“Smell, sight, and hearing.”
“What else?” asks Proudstar, now curious.
“A healing factor as well but I can do more when I transform,” Chance candidly says.
“Transform?”
“Yeah. I look like a feral elf wolf hybrid.”
“Maybe tomorrow we can see it in the danger room.”
“Okay by me James.”
Near the lake’s shore on the grounds Logan spies the owner of the alluring scent. She stands looking into the sky, her hands placed as if in prayer under her full lips. She looks to be lost in thought. (She is remembering what transpired between she and Logan the night before she left for Africa.*last chapter)
“Ya know ‘Ro if ya want ta be alone this isn’t the place to be.”
Ororo laughs slightly as she embraces herself. She peers over her shoulder looking in Logan’s direction. “I heard your argument with Charles this afternoon.”
“I figured since ya were on the Observation deck.”
“You knew?”
“I’ve always known ‘Ro.” Logan came to stand next to her near the shore, his hands placed in his jean pockets, his Stetson pushed up. “What’s wrong ‘Ro?”
“Besides Rogue hating me for leaving, everything with the Hulk, Charles’s involvement, the death of CAPTAIN AMERICA, the entire civil war, Gambit becoming a horseman?, I having to kill the imposter Thor that Tony Stark had cloned, and the death of Black Goliath,” A sigh escapes from her lips, “ I think T’Challa doesn’t really love me.”
“You love him?” Logan asks dreading the answer.
“I do love him Logan. Though it maybe for the wrong reasons.”
“Come on ‘Ro lets go to Harry’s. You sound like you need a night out with friends.” Logan extended his hand out waiting. Ororo smiled as she placed her hand in his. It felt good, almost natural for her.
“Lets.”
Harry’s is a bar in downtown Salem that has stood for one hundred years. It is a historical building that has had its share of owners over time as well as different cliental. Within the past twelve years it has become a regular spot for Xavier’s gifted. On any given night the pool is decent, the beer is good, and a few decent sport channels. Tonight Hephzibah, James Proudstar, and Chance Howlett sit at a booth in the corner near a pool table watching two other mutants play pool. The first mutant is Jack Michaels though many know him as REFLEX. Jack normally comes to Harry’s for the atmosphere and old times. He too was a student of Xavier’s in the early days. The man he plays pool with has changed over the years, but deep down underneath the blue fur and fangs, Henry McCoy is still the same. He will always be the ever-fun loving BEAST.
“14 side pocket off of the 11,” boasts Henry as he twirls the pool stick in his blue furred hand.
“Five says you miss when someone sneezes Hank,” Jack replied with a smirk. “Your already down by six balls and a game.”
“Is that concern I hear Jackie boy?” Hank teases as he takes aim, and . . .
“AACHOOOOOO!” The point scratched the table, the Q-ball rolls into the corner pocket, causing Hank to scratch. Hank looks over at the table where Proudstar, Hephzibah, and Chance sit. Hephzibah shrinks down as she sniffles…
“Sorry.”
“That’s five you owe me.” Jack smirks as he pats Hank on the back.
“You knew that was going to happen didn’t you?”
“I don’t have precognitive abilities Hank remember. Only post-cognitive, reincarnation sense, total recall, photo-graphic and auto-graphic memory as well as photo-graphic reflexes with a slight enhancement to my reflexes.”
“So how did you know that I would miss?” asks Hank as he was scratching the corner of his eye with a claw.
“Actually I didn’t know it was going to be Hephzibah over there. I figured the different smells and smoke in Harry’s, as well as the powder from the pool tables would make anyone with enhanced senses sneeze and hey look, there are four here….” Jack pauses for a moment as he spots two other customers and smirks…”Make those five mutants with enhanced senses.”
Hank, Proudstar, Hephzibah, and Chance look toward the door to see Logan escorting Ororo through the door. Hank motions to the two friends and colleagues, as Proudstar and the others make room. Ororo hugs Hank and Jack as she asks….
“How many games is Jack ahead of Hank?”
“About to be two.” Hank begrudgingly says as he hands Jack the pool stick.
“Four, right corner.” Smack the Q-ball hits the four. Crack. “Eight back left corner.”
Seconds later…
“Told you.” Jack says playfully boasting, “That’s seven million, two hundred fifty three thousand, seven hundred and one dollars you owe me Hank,” Jack laughs as he and Hank shake.
“Put it on my ever growing tab.”
“So Logan care to play?” asks Jack.
“No thanks bub, yer too good. Course it helps when you watch the billiards championships on ESPN.”
“I only did that once or twice.”
“Precisely. For you it takes only once.” Hank laughs as he sits down next to Chance.
“Tell you what Jack how ‘bout a drinking contest?” Logan calls for a beer. “I’ll even spot cha ten beers before ya start.”
“No thanks Logan. I remember what happened last time before I found out that you had a healing factor,” recalled Jack.
“Wolverine I know who might be able to give you a run,” states Hephzibah, “Chance here. He has a healing factor too.”
“So pup we share a last name and a healing factor. What else do we share?” Logan smirks only to catch a whiff of apprehension from Chance.
“Don’t know sir.”
“You don’t have to call me sir son. Logan is fine.”
“I was taught by my father to respect my elders,” Chance’s voice shows a familiar sarcastic tone that Ororo knows all to well and with the way he smirked as he said it, for a moment, he looked like Logan in the face with a mixture of someone else.
“So I’m yer elder am I?”
“Yes.”
“Can’t argue with that old friend,” Ororo laughs. Logan missed the way it sounded. To him it was how nature kissed the warm spring morning breezes.
After several games of pool with Logan and Hank playing against Proudstar and Chance, with Hephzibah, Jack and Ororo cutting up, it was last call. With as much that had happened within the last several months in all of their lives, it was good to just have fun.
“Okay let me get this right ‘Ro, you and the rest of the FF had to fight zombie versions of all us heroes.” Logan scratched his head as he listened to the slightly inebriated Ororo. “Then you four got bamfed to a gangster world where your husband stole my moves. Then transported back, all by a golden frog. Yeah I heard it all now.”
“I swear. It was like those awful movies Jubilee had us watch that one time. Who starred in them again?” Ororo tried to concentrate.
“It was Evil Dead 1, 2 and Army of Darkness with Bruce Campbell,” smirked Logan as he found it amusing that Ororo was actually slurring her words.
“Oh Goddess they were horrible. It was like a train wreck you just couldn’t stop watching.”
“Wait a minute those were classic movies,” popped Jack and Hank at the same time, both feeling the shots of jagermeister they had earlier with Proudstar. “Did you see him play in Xena?” Jack continued, “genius.”
“Yeah he’s also in that new show on the USA network.” Hank kind of giggled as he said it.
“Okay kiddies it’s time we all get going,” nudged Logan as he helped Ororo out of the booth. As he turned he saw Hephzibah passed out, leaning on Proudstar, who in turn was being held up by a sober Chance. “Hey kid you want to help get these light weights to the rover?”
“I don’t envy their headaches in the morning,” Chance says smugly, “Lucky tomorrow is Saturday.”
“You mean today.”
“Is it?” Hank butts in, “I’m supposed to be working on those genetic binomial gnomes.”
“Go figure, even drunk ol’ fur ball can still use those big words,” Logan says.
Several minutes later Chance and Logan carry Proudstar out from Harry’s and place him in the very back of the rover. Logan tosses the keys to Chance as he walks over to his bike. Chance looks at the keys oddly, wondering what to do with them as Logan speaks,
“Do ya know how to drive kid?”
“No not this vehicle.”
“It’s an automatic all ya have to do is brake, gas, steer.”
“I have a better idea.”
“What’s that kid, you gonna pick the rover up and play the Sentinel and fly?”
“Yes. But who’s the Sentinel?”
“Oh boy. What planet are you from kid?”
“It was an asteroid actually.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No not about that.”
“So how is it you have my last name then?”
“It’s my surname. As it was my father’s.”
“What?”
“Who’s your father kid?”
“In my universe you are.” With this Chance lifted the near two ton rover and takes to the air, leaving a perplexed James Logan Howlett standing in the parking lot.
“Great another kid. That’s all I need. I wonder how much child support I owe on him.”
Saturday afternoon at the School for gifted youngsters Ororo tiptoes into the kitchen, toward the refrigerator. She opened the door slowly, while trying to maintain her balance, her hang over playing with her equilibrium. As she pulled her head out of the cool fridge she notices Scott and Emma sitting at the island, both look as though the cat had just ate the canary.
“May I help you CYCLOPS and WHITE QUEEN?”
“No Ororo, just making sure you don’t fall down.” Scott spoke up, “So you went with Hank, Hephzibah, Jack, Proudstar, Logan and the new guy.”
“Yes I did. Though I do not know how I got back here or how I got changed into my gown.”
“You might want to ask your old friend about that Ororo,” smugly answers Emma.
The Danger Room . . .
Two people stand in the middle of the depowered danger room; one is Logan the Wolverine dressed in street clothes the other Chance Howlett, wearing a black and yellow version of an original x-man uniform.
“Okay kid, let’s see what ya got.” Logan looks to the control room, “Okay Drake turn her up to my level. Program Theda002.”
“Are you sure Logan, I mean your simulations are killers literally.” Responds Bobby Drake the ICEMAN.
“Yeah.”
The environment changes around the two, shaping from the cold metal walls and floor into a war zone. The area looks to be a lifeless wasteland, red dust covering the sky, the sun dimly shining through the dense cloud cover.
The ground rumbles, the heavens burst into flames as three fireballs hurl themselves toward the two.
“Lets see what cha got kid. I figured since you were born on an asteroid you’d like to play with the imperial guard.”
“How many of them?”
“All of ‘em.”
“Easy,” Chance replies as he growls. His form begins to change, claws and fangs grow, he grows an extra foot in height, ripping his uniform, his ears grow and extend much like the elves on world of war craft, his body hair grows long, covering him in an orange shaggy fur, his face contorts. The transformation is accompanied by a kinetic burst. The entire thing takes only two seconds, but to see it for the first time it seemed to Logan to take hours.
Chance then is surrounded with an energy sheath, his eyes glow a brilliant blue halo. He takes to the air, his first target the GLADIATOR. The combat is over in seconds, with Chance ripping through the alien guardsmen. It all takes minutes, with Chance destroying eighteen guardsmen and Logan taking down two. He watches Chance land with a toothy smirk on his face.
“I told you easy.”
“What is it that you do?”
“I can tap into the extra dimensional realm of hyperspace and the forces within it.”
“Yeah that explains it.”
“LOGAN I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOU NOW!!!!!” exclaims an upset Ororo Monroe-Challa from the observation room.
“Oh hell sounds like mom is pissed.”
“I can handle her kid.” Logan pauses for a second as the words Chance said sank in. “Mom?”
“LOGAN!” Ororo storms into the danger room, her eyes glowing with the raw energy she can command at a moment’s notice. “HOW DARE YOU UNDRESS ME I AM A MARRIED WO…” In mid outburst Logan grabs Ororo and kisses her with more passion than Ororo has felt in a long time. Her heart races, her mind calms as she losses all thought. After a moment Logan releases Ororo from the kiss and says the following,
“You vomited all over your clothes darling, so I changed you. If I over stepped any new boundaries I am sorry.” Then he walks away, out of the danger room leaving a stunned Ororo and a bewildered Chance standing alone.
“I’m glad we straightened that out.” Ororo replies touching her lips.
[Reviews - 32]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story |
Has been viewed 1153 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story | - Text Size +
You must login () to review.
