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Chapter Seventeen

Welcome to the penultimate chapter!

***

Gambit undressed for bed, deftly slipping out of his clothing. He missed the warm temperatures on Haven. Although Haven’s evenings tended to be quite cool, the fact was that Victory “ being out in space - was always a few temperatures colder than he’d prefer.

Rogue entered their room, straight from the bridge. “We got 36 hours till earth,” she said. Normally the sight of an undressed Gambit under the covers would have stirred her up quite a bit, but they had been intimate earlier in the day and Rogue was ready for sleep as well.

“You nervous?” he asked.

“A little. Mostly I’m ready to kick some FOH butt!” Rogue would never enjoy battle for battle’s sake, but she had always found it satisfying when the X-men defeated a foe “ especially one as truly evil as FOH.

“Me too. We better trained den ever”.

“An’ we got more fighters too, and Xavier willin’ to use his powers on their minds. FOH is gonna be toast”.

Rogue then rummaged through her drawer for her nightgown and donned the sage green item. She already wore her bracelet so she could safely nestle next to Gambit on the bed.

“What you t’ink happen after we beat ‘em?” Gambit asked, as Rogue settled in next to him. He wrapped his arms around her.

Rogue tilted her head up to try to look at Gambit’s face in the darkened room. His red-black eyes were always alluring but still mysterious. “You never been one for plannin’ too far ahead, Cajun,” she observed.

“Gotta take each day as it come,” he admitted.

“So why’re you wonderin’ what comes next when we beat FOH?” She guessed that her lover had something on his mind.

Remy hesitated. He hadn’t been planning on telling her the real reason. But then he entertained the idea of just opening up and seeing where it went. It wasn’t like they hadn’t discussed the subject before; just a few months ago they’d had a talk about it on Haven.

“Remy wanna marry you. Been t’inkin’ where we can do it. T’inking ‘bout where I wanna propose to you”.

“Oh, Remy, how romantic! You really think ‘bout all that, and right when we’re about to battle FOH. You’re such a gentleman!”

“I wanna spend the rest of my life wit’ you,” he said simply.

“I feel the same way too!” She paused, “And Remy, I mean what I said back on Haven. I don’t need no big fancy weddin’. I mean, I wouldn’t mind it but I don’t need it, you know?”

“Still wanna make sure you get to experience what you deserve dough. An’ it be hard to plan dat out since we don’t know what gonna happen in the fight agains’ FOH and the weeks and mont’s after dat”.

Rogue placed a few kisses on Gambit’s face. “We don’t know what’s gonna happen, that’s true. But maybe we can find somewhere, somehow to make it happen. We got time. I ain’t worried about it, Remy”.

“Den I won’t worry eit’er. I love you, chere”.

“Love you too, Remy”.

Gambit soon drifted off to sleep. He was feeling good about their future. FOH could be defeated, he thought. He and Rogue were happier together than ever.

***

The Professor sat with Cyclops during Cyclops’s bridge duty shift.

“Do you want to talk about what happened with Moira the other day?” Scott asked gently. He hadn’t been sure whether or not to bring it up, but was feeling that by now Xavier would at least be able to open to the question.

“I do not feel a particular need to discuss it,” Xavier responded. “She has been through so much trauma. Emotional numbness is her way of coping with it. In the short-run it may work well for her, though I believe in the long-run it will not. However, at this stage I do not know how I can help her”. He paused. “For all we know, perhaps something will happen to me during our struggle with FOH. If she were to become closer to me, only to see me perish in battle, that would wound her even more gravely. I do not know what the best course of action is only ““ he hesitated, and then decided to say it “- only that I care deeply for her and feel immense pain at her mental condition”.

Scott nodded and was quiet for a moment or two. “Do you think that, on some level, she does want contact with you though? She and Siryn could have chosen to remain on Haven, but they didn’t”.

“I have not been entirely certain what their reasons were for remaining on board Magneto’s ship,” Xavier admitted. “Perhaps they couldn’t handle the beauty and tranquility of Haven. Or perhaps Moira did or does hope to allow herself to get closer to me some day. She always used to care about current events; maybe she wants to see how our battle will turn out. We can only wait and see”.

Cyclops turned back to his sensor, ensuring he was studying it carefully. Victory and the Prevail were very close to earth now and the X-men had to remember to exercise every precaution.

As the Professor watched Cyclops examine the sensor readings, he noted that it was time for him to telepathically check in with Northstar. He closed his eyes and began the work of drifting through the astral plane until he could find Northstar’s signature. Due to their frequent contact over the past several days, he was usually able to reach Northstar quickly.

Today, however, he could not find Northstar. The Professor opened his mind further, sharpened his focus, and tried again. He did not have any success. Northstar’s mental signature was nowhere to be found. Xavier then began to look for Aurora. He reached out to her far less often but had contacted her in the past. After some searching, he located her.

“What is it, Professor?” Cyclops asked, alarmed at the look on his face.

“The twins! They have been captured by FOH”.

“Oh no,” Cyclops breathed. “Are they alive?”

“Northstar is unconscious. Aurora is barely conscious. As far as I can tell they are alone in a cell somewhere. I do not know the extent of their injuries, and I cannot pinpoint their exact location yet”. He took a breath. “How far are we from earth?”

“Just over 10 hours”.

“Can Victory go any faster?”

“I will check with Hank or Forge. We may be able to push it a bit more, but we can’t expect any miracles either. We’ve been pushing the engines fairly aggressively since we left Haven six weeks ago. That’s a long time for them to have been going at such a speed”.

Xavier thought for a few moments. He then said, “Scott, see if you can covertly approach Forge and find out if we can go any faster. In the meantime, I will summon Storm to the bridge to take your place. I will also see if I can reach the minds of whatever FOH soldiers are near the twins. If I can locate their mental signatures, maybe I can prevent any more torture. I don’t want any more X-men ending up in the mental condition that Moira and Siryn are in”. Xavier paused. “And Scott, keep your talk with Forge quiet. I am of the mindset that we do not tell Bobby yet, about the twins being captured. We are only 10 hours from earth and there is nothing he could do. Telling him would do nothing other than causing a panic”.

“I agree,” he said, standing up and heading for the bridge’s door. “I hope to God everything will be alright”.

***

For me, it seemed like time had slowed to a crawl. I did everything I could to occupy myself. Most of us were using the Danger Room a lot as the hours before we’d reach earth started to dwindle, but Storm also cautioned us against overtraining too. As we got closer and closer to home, there was a general buzz of excitement in the air; you could feel it. Of course I was mostly anxious about getting to find Jean Paul. The other X-men were great about looking for ways to distract me and take my mind off things.

I tried to get to the Professor for an update on Jean Paul and his sister, but Xavier was always on the bridge, discussing strategy with Storm and Cyclops, and sometimes with Magneto over subspace too. So I just stayed away from the bridge “ since I didn’t have much to add to strategy discussions “ and reminded myself that he’d tell me if there was anything I needed to know.

Finally our leaders called us together. At long last we were close enough to earth to start talking about specific plans. We all assembled in the large conference room. I looked around and guessed that most felt really ready for battle, ready for action. Everyone had their uniform on. Half the group wasn’t even sitting down. The people on board the Prevail were linked in to our discussion via subspace.

“The Professor, Storm, and I have been talking since the Professor’s last check-in with the twins,” Cyclops said. “We think that sending a smaller group down to earth for the rescue would be the best bet”.

“That is right,” Storm said. “After all, we do not want to lose the element of surprise that we have now since FOH is unaware that we are back on earth”.

I didn’t like speaking out at meetings. Especially now that the group was so big, it just felt a bit intimidating. But I had a vested interest in this and something perplexed me.

“But all we’re doing is getting down to the surface and bringing the twins back up, right?” I asked. “Shouldn’t we be able to do that easily, without FOH noticing?”

“Based on our last check-in with Northstar and Aurora, they think that FOH is right on their tails,” Cyclops said.

I gasped.

“Do not worry, Bobby,” Storm said. “We are optimistic that we can get to them b- quickly”. Storm had stumbled a bit with one of the words in that sentence, which was very unlike her I thought.

“Nightcrawler will teleport the team down to the surface,” the Professor said. “The group will consist of three additional fighters “ Storm, Wolverine, and Colossus. And Puck will go with the group to help serve as a diversion if necessary”.

“Professor, it is easier for me to teleport if I know where I am going to,” Nightcrawler said. “Better still if I have been there before. Do you know exactly where the twins are?”

“Yes. We’ll discuss this with the away team as we get close enough for you to teleport”.

“Once we have the twins back on board Victory,” Storm said, “we’ll then regroup with Magneto’s team and discuss our next steps”.

I got the idea that the Professor, Storm, and Cyclops were eager to usher us out of the room and discuss their plans in more detail with those who were going on the rescue. I told myself that was a good thing. I felt a sense of urgency in the room; they were really eager to get Jean Paul and Aurora rescued “ which was great. And although part of me did want to be on the mission, mostly I was glad to leave it in the hands of those who were more competent. We filtered out of the room and Gambit and Jubilee and others kind of slapped me on the back and told me it wouldn’t be long now and that Storm and the others would do well on their mission.


***

“Alright you filthy mutie freaks! We’ve waited long enough!”

The FOH soldiers stood outside Northstar and Aurora’s cell. It was a good day for FOH and they had to gloat “ and share FOH’s plans with these two mutant rebels.

FOH’s leaders had finally decided to begin rounding up mutants into extermination camps. They had been waiting to do that, wanting to first ensure there would be no public outcry and minimal counterattacks from mutants. Enough of their leaders now felt confident that the time was right. Their research and focus groups had shown that the public would even accept the term “Extermination Camp” to describe the places where mutants would be housed until termination. The capture of these two former members of Alpha Flight was also taken as a good sign to kick off the festivities of rounding up mutants.

FOH had extermination camps built in four locations. All they had been waiting for was the green light. FOH now had busses, trains, and jets ready to go on three continents; their leaders had ordered the troops to begin rounding up mutants today.

“We’re going to take you to Extermination Camp 1,” the FOH officer bragged. “Since you two pathetic creatures are former fighters, we’re going to put you two up on a stage and show all the incoming mutie prisoners what’s in store for them. We’ll broadcast it to muties at the other camps, just to show them that it’s useless to fight back since we so easily took down these two former Alpha Flight freaks”.

“You didn’t easily take us down!” Northstar said. “It took you days to track us. We were outnumbered 20 to one and yet still we nearly ““

Northstar’s remarks were cut off when one of the soldiers pressed a button and sent waves of pain through Northstar’s body via the inhibitor collar. Aurora did the best she could to hold her brother in her arms until the torture device was turned off. However, one of her arms was in a crude sling which limited her mobility.

Northstar fought to regain his breath. He also brusquely shrugged off his sister’s touch. He hoped FOH didn’t realize how much the two cared for each other, fearing that fact would be used against them sometime. Aurora sat next to her brother, trembling.

“Shut your mouth, you mistake of nature! Next time you talk, your sister gets it, not you. Now where was I? Oh yes. We’re going to broadcast your torture to all the muties who enter each of our Extermination Camps. First we’re going to chop your misshapen, freakish mutant ears off “ they look disgusting. Then we’re going to f--- this bitch here, till her insides fall out. We know deep down you’ll love it and you’ll beg us for more. It’ll be good to show all the incoming bitches what awaits them. We’re not sure what we’ll do with you,” he said, looking at Northstar, “but since you’re a mutant and a faggot, we’ll think of something extra special. Maybe we’ll just tie you to a stake and burn you to death as they used to. We’ll do it real slow so you get to smell your own burning flesh. That will make a nice image for all the incoming muties to experience. They’ll look at the two of you and realize that resistance is hopeless”.

“So what are we waiting for?” one of the other officers asked. “The truck to transport them is ready to go”.

“Yes. First we gotta knock them unconscious though. We can’t take the forcefield down unless the muties inside are unconscious. We have learned from our mistakes in dealing with this filth”. He looked at the twins again. “You wanna beg me to spare your miserable lives now? If you beg really hard we might be nicer”.

“F”you!” Northstar spat.

“I thought so,” he said, raising the collar control device.

The officer suddenly fell over, never realizing what hit him. Wolverine’s claws swiftly sliced through his midsection.

Out of the corner of her eye, Storm saw what Wolverine did. She filed it away, to be dealt with after the battle.

Meanwhile, alarms sounded. Storm shot out bursts of fog in both directions of the corridor to obscure the view. Wolverine, Colossus, Puck, and Nightcrawler easily took out the remaining FOH soldiers who had been outside of the twins’ cell. Storm reached for the collar control device, deftly removed the twins’ collars, and removed the force field at the cell’s entrance.

“Thank you,” Northstar breathed, scrambling to his feet.

“Grab onto me,” Nightcrawler implored. FOH had taken the twins to the same compound in which the X-men had once been held prisoner, which made it easier for Nightcrawler to reach via his teleportation.

Within an instant, the group was teleported back to the Victory.

***

The group wasn’t gone for very long. We all either waited on the bridge or in the rec room “ I was on the bridge. I stood there, feeling tension in the room and feeling worried myself, but mostly confident that Jean Paul and his sister would soon be here. After all, how hard could it be for Nightcrawler and the others to teleport down, grab them, and teleport back up? After literally just minutes, a beep from a communicator sounded.

“Mission accomplished. They are back, with Northstar and Aurora,” Cyclops said.

I’d just kind of assumed Nightcrawler would teleport the group back to the bridge, but he didn’t. “Where are they?” I asked, confused.

“Sick bay,” Cyclops said.

“Sick bay? Is anyone hurt?”

“Hank is there to take a look at them right now”.

I raced to the infirmary. Dimly I was aware that most of the others followed me. It was one of those moments when time kind of slowed. The corridors all looked alike, their metallic walls identical. I kept getting closer and closer to sick bay, but no matter how fast I moved my legs it still felt like it was taking forever to get there. During the second I stepped through the doors to the instant I laid eyes on Jean Paul, the notion that I hadn’t been given the whole story entered my mind. The twins “ especially Aurora “ didn’t look good. Granted, I’d been told that they’d been on the run for a while but from what I could see of Aurora (Hank was tending to her which obstructed my view) she looked to be trembling and traumatized.

I ran up to Jean Paul who sat on a bed next to hers. It was just a wonderful moment, despite the circumstances that slowly made me feel like I had been misled. We wrapped our arms around each other and we clung together forever. I wanted to start tearing up but I didn’t. We just kept hugging each other for a long, long time.

“We should never have parted,” Jean Paul said.

I nodded. My throat closed a bit and I couldn’t quite speak.

“So let us agree. We shall not part again. It was far, far too long for us to be separated”.

I murmured something about being glad that he felt that way and that of course I agreed.

Now that my senses were coming back to me and I could accept that Jean Paul was here, alive and well, I took a closer look. His hair was a mess, he had a few visible bruises including a nasty one on his face. His clothes were torn and frayed. He also smelled like he’d gone without a shower for a few days, which was definitely not like him at all.

“What happened?” I asked, my mouth finally cooperating with my brain.

“We were captured by FOH again. Do not worry. They did not torture us. They were ready to when the X-men rescued us”.

Jean Paul looked around sick bay, and thanked those who had rescued him. I hadn’t really been aware that the infirmary was full of people. I was just trying to process Jean Paul’s words.

“You were captured?” I squeaked out. “When?”

“Exactly when I am not sure as we were unconscious for a while. But we are fine now,” he insisted. “And they did not torture us,” he said again.

I heard Hank say something about Aurora’s arm being fractured and that he needed to tend to it better. Jean Paul added something about them having done the best they could to take care of it. I glanced at Aurora, and saw that she was still trembling and I guessed that her mental state was bad. But physically, other than the arm, I think she was alright.

“We could use some food though. It has been a while since we have eaten. And a bath”.

I heard Puck offer to replicate some food for the twins, and I told Jean Paul that I’d take him to my room for a shower if Hank let him leave sick bay.

“Magneto is on his way here in a shuttle,” Cyclops said.

I turned around and focused. Cyclops, Storm, and the Professor looked ready for action, as if they didn’t want to lose a minute.

“We’ll talk about our next steps with him,” the Professor said. “X-men, be ready. I expect we’ll be going into combat against FOH very soon”. He then looked at the twins and said, “Of course, please tend to whatever you need to tend to as well. We’re very glad you’re safe now”.

“Thank you again for the rescue. Hank, I can leave sick bay now, yes?”

Hank responded in French, which brought a smile to Jean Paul’s face. He reached for my hand and said, “Let’s go, mon ame”.

As we got to the door, Puck said something to Jean Paul - I think he was asking him what he wanted to eat. Gambit was there suddenly, and he asked me quietly, “You know what he call you jus’ now?”

I was always a bit embarrassed that, unlike many X-men, I only spoke one language. My beloved’s native language was still a mystery to me. “It sounded like ‘my friend’?” I guessed.

“Non. He called you ‘my soul’. Very deep, serious term”.

By then, Jean Paul was done with his exchange with Puck. I nodded at Gambit as Jean Paul took my hand and we headed for my room so he could shower.

***

Jean Paul showered quickly. I sat on my bed, still digesting information even as Puck came by to drop off a tray with food. So they had been captured. Surely the Professor had known. As had most of the others, at least those who went on the mission. But what did it matter if they were alive and safe? I kept reminding myself that they had not been tortured. We were so lucky for that. I replayed Jean Paul’s promise for us to never part again. And then I replayed Gambit’s words to me on the way out of sick bay.

Jean Paul emerged from the shower and, towel wrapped around his waist, gave me a quick kiss and then went right to the food. He ate with gusto. I kind of put my arms around his shoulders, rested my head against his damp back as he ate. I wasn’t hungry myself.

“The others probably think we’re in here gettin’ it on,” I joked.

“Oh, mon chou, I would love to,” he said, in between bites. “I would love to kiss you right now but I can only do one thing with my mouth at a time and I am ravenous”. He did always love food. Jean Paul took another swallow and then said, “It sounds like we will soon be going back to earth for the big fight against FOH. Xavier told me about the plans when we communicated. I want to be part of that fight”.

“You do? Are you well enough?”

“Yes. I suppose I should be tired but I have too much adrenaline now. And I am so happy to be with you again. And fighting to defeat FOH is the right thing to do. As soon as I finish eating and get dressed, I want to get to the bridge and see what the X-men plans are”.

“That makes sense,” I agreed.

And it did. It made sense. We were X-men (well, I guess technically Jean Paul wasn’t yet, but he was a mutant and a fighter) and our whole reason for being back at earth was to fight FOH so that mutants could be free. That’s why we were here. For me though, my heart disagreed. I felt that I wanted some time with Jean Paul, wanted to be alone with him and to catch up. I wanted to just talk and hold him in my arms. Shouldn’t we get some sort of free pass given that he’d been captured by FOH?

But I realized it didn’t work that way, and the side of me that had its own wants would have to lose out to duty. Just like Cyclops had had to put the desires of his heart aside and focus on his duty instead. It only made sense. However, another idea popped into my head.

“But wait,” I said. “There is one thing I want to do, real quick. It’ll just take a few minutes,” I said, reaching for his towel and undoing it, as I knelt on the floor in front of him.

His eyes widened at my boldness. “Bobby, my goodness!” He then smiled and chuckled. ”It is not usual that the bottom takes the initiative”.

“Let me just do this for you and then we can join the fight. Okay? I don’t want anything in return,” I said. I didn’t really allow him to disagree, and it was fortunate that he’d already eaten most of his food since I gave him something even more pleasurable to concentrate on.

“When we come back from the fight,” he said, a minute or two later and “ it appeared “ feeling very good, “we do this properly”.

***

The X-men stood on the bridge of their ship, talking over subspace with Magneto and his group.

“I am glad that you were able to rescue the twins,” Magneto said. “And I am more glad that we are ready to get down to business”.

“We talked not long ago about our plans,” Cyclops said. “Are you still in agreement with them?”

“Yes. We send a small group in to infiltrate FOH headquarters and broadcast evidence, while everyone else fends them off outside. We are ready to begin teleporting to earth right away”.

“Our team is ready to go too”.

“What are we waitin’ for then?” Wolverine asked. “Let’s get a move on”.

It was settled. Remaining on board Victory would be the Professor, Aurora (due to both her physical injury and mental condition), and Psylocke (because the group felt it would be wise to have someone in addition to Xavier holding down the fort). On the Prevail, only Moira and Siryn would remain behind, Moira having learned plenty about ship functions over the past several weeks. Everyone else prepared for teleportation at Nightcrawler’s hands, down to earth and ready for battle.

***

It had been a while since Storm had gone into battle. Months had passed now since she had faced any foes other than those created by the Danger Room. Her heart began to pound. She felt confident and strong, surrounded by so many well-trained mutants. But she also knew how high the stakes were in this battle, and she also remembered how handily the X-men had been defeated last time they had faced FOH.

Storm wished her reasons for returning to earth were happier ones; she wished she could someday visit with Mishnari, see her home country again, and return to her garden at the Institute as well. But Storm’s disciplined mind quickly pushed such diversions away. She had Xavier’s word that Mishnari was safe, and she would have to wait for the rest knowing that she might never see Africa or the Xavier Institute again. All of her focus was now on the impending battle.

Storm was teleported to the surface, along with everyone, within the span of an instant. She knew that FOH must be expecting them. After all, moments ago a small group of X-men had rescued Northstar and Aurora; surely FOH didn’t expect them to stop there. Beast’s psionic shield was established and surrounding the team, ready to protect them from the Banshee-like powers FOH had duplicated.

The large team landed on a hilltop overlooking FOH’s headquarters. The main compound was guarded by troops stationed outside, spreading out over a large airfield. As soon as the X-men were teleported down, alarms instantly began to blare “ FOH knew immediately that it was under attack. With the psionic shield up, the X-men were protected and they sprang into action.

Storm flew into the air. She used powerful lightning bolts to strike at FOH aircraft before they could get off the ground. She targeted her blasts to push the FOH troops back and away.

The smaller team set off for their mission. The small group consisted of Gambit, Forge, Beast, and Emma and they were charged with sneaking into the compound to complete the real goal of today’s raid. As planned, Storm created a heavily mixture of fog in their area to shield them from the views of FOH troops. Then Storm resumed her work, blasting FOH aircraft before they took off.

Storm continued to swoop around and repel the FOH troops. They clearly looked worried, seeing that their Banshee-like weapon was doing nothing to keep the X-men at bay. Storm saw Rogue swoop down, pick up two FOH tanks, and drop them near a cluster of troops, causing the men to scatter. Cyclops’s blasts were keeping a dozen FOH men on the run. Avalanche caused the ground to shake wildly underneath another group, and as they tried to stagger to their feet, they found themselves being pulverized by Colossus and Marrow. Bobby was doing well “ moving through the battleground on his ice slide and coating soldiers and weaponry in blocks of ice. Caliban was using his powers to absorb the soldiers’ fear and use it to cause them to flee. Moonstar apparently had been well-trained by Xavier. She reached into several FOH soldiers’ minds and had an effect not unlike that of Caliban “ the men saw something that terrified them, turned, and ran.

A few things were not going well. Pyro had already started several fires, one of which was spreading too close to the main compound. It wouldn’t do them any good if they burned the building down “ and especially not with four of their people inside. Storm quickly flew to the area and directed a torrent of rain to wash away the blaze.

Angel at one point was hit with some type of weapon. He began falling to the ground but was fortunately caught by Shaman. Storm flew over, got the signal that Angel would be well, and then resumed blasting FOH’s remaining aircraft.

The X-men were winning, Storm could see. She flew over to where Magneto and Cyclops stood.

“Just talked to the infiltrating team,” Cyclops said. “They need a lot more time to carry out their mission”.

Storm knew that one’s perception of the passage of time during battle was always skewed. It had seemed like they had been in combat for a while but a quick look at her watch showed that less than twenty minutes had passed since the X-men reached the surface.

Storm spoke into her communicator, “How much more time, Beast?” she asked.

“Optimistically “ 30 minutes,” his reply came over the communicator.

“Do you need reinforcements?” Cyclops asked.

Gambit then spoke, “Looks like mos’ FOH leave dis buildin’ and fight you. Anyone we run into here, eit’er I blast ‘em or Emma attacks deir minds”.

“Call us if you do need reinforcements”.

Magneto looked up into the sky. “Speaking of reinforcements….”

Planes bearing more FOH troops began to swarm through the sky. This compound, though FOH’s headquarters, was not its only stronghold. Several more troops gunned their vehicles, driving towards the scene of the battle in tanks and trucks. Storm, Cyclops, and Magneto resumed their work. Magneto commanded the metal inside the approaching vehicles, lifted the vehicles high up into the air, and brought them crashing down. Cyclops blasted the tires of many, but still more approached.

Storm fought again to take out the planes approaching from the east. She saw Rogue fly up to one, grab it by its tail, and fling it around. Storm disabled another plane with several well-aimed bolts of lightning.

“Wolverine’s surrounded!” Rogue yelled to Storm, pointing.

Storm swooped back down towards the battle on the ground. Wolverine had been knocked to his feet “ having taken hits from several heavy weapons simultaneously - and was indeed surrounded by countless troops, who were closing in on him. Storm was ready to carry the troops away in a whirlwind when suddenly an explosion of pyrotechnics hit the soldiers. Half of them were hit with Jubilee’s blasts. The young woman powerfully repelled the soldiers who had been after Wolverine. Wolverine was back up on his feet in an instant and able to take out the rest of his would-be attackers.

Storm observed Jubilee and Logan hug briefly, once they were in the clear. She was glad to see it and she thought about them for a moment. Whatever had been going on between Logan and Jubilee, Storm noted, it was too small to be termed a rift but too large to be completely ignored either. Jubilee was an adult now, and Logan had thrown himself into working with Marrow. The man needed to be needed, and it had to be hard for him to find someone who needed him, given that he was surrounded by powerful women. Storm hoped that this brief moment on the battlefield might move Wolverine and Jubilee forward.

“Could use your help back up here!” Rogue called.

Still more FOH aircraft approached. FOH was determined to not allow the X-men to win this one, to defeat them at all costs, no matter how many of their own men were killed, no matter how much of their equipment was destroyed. The longer the battle waged, the more apparent FOH’s determination became.

This aircraft was both larger and faster than the previous ones. Rogue tried to grasp the vessel but its tail was too hot even for her powerful hands and she was propelled backwards, away from the aircraft. Storm flew over towards her friend, wanting to ensure that she was safe when she was hit by a powerful blast from the aircraft itself.

This was no mere graze like the one that had nipped at Angel. Storm took the blast full on. As she tumbled out of the sky Northstar, who had been keeping an eye on the planes as he battled ground troops, flew up and gently caught Storm.

Northstar landed on the ground, still holding Storm. Rogue swooped down next to them.

“It looks bad. Real bad,” Rogue said. Already bloodstains appeared on Storm’s uniform. Rogue was shocked at the sound of her own voice; her words had come out with a tremble.

“We need to get Storm back to the ship,” Northstar said. “This is serious”. He called for Nightcrawler to teleport Storm back to Victory.

Enough X-men had witnessed Storm being shot down “ and then teleported to Victory “ that the battle was disrupted. The powerful aircraft made another swoop, firing indiscriminately at the ground and causing the X-men to scatter. Another truckload of troops drove up and the troops had time to begin firing. Leech and Pyro began running, away from the battle, until Magneto spoke to them over the communicator and commanded them to stay and redouble their efforts.

Wolverine ran up to Nightcrawler as soon as he returned. “Take me back up there!” he barked. “Storm’s hurt, and Hank ain’t there to help her!”

Jubilee was right on Logan’s heels. “No!” she said. “They got more troops after us! We need you here”.

“Yes, my friend,” Nightcrawler agreed. “The battle might be turning - we must stay here and win it before anything else”.

Wolverine stepped back. He knew they were right. He turned his attention to the latest batch of FOH soldiers. Dozens and dozens more approached, heavily armed.

***

Sitting on Victory’s bridge, the Professor concentrated on mentally monitoring the battle. His skills had not been needed at this point. He checked in with Emma and though he did not thoroughly approve of the way she used her telepathy to “shut down” the troops she encountered inside the building, the Professor knew that the smaller team had to succeed. Once the public could see with its own eyes the way mutants were being treated, surely the tide of public opinion would turn.

When Storm was teleported to sick bay, Psylocke notified the Professor that she would do what she could to patch up her wounds. All of the X-men had undergone training on the basics of field medicine. He hoped that Psylocke remembered hers.

Moments later, Psylocke telepathically contacted Xavier. //This is really bad, Xavier. I can’t help her. We have to get Hank up here right away//.

The Professor immediately contacted Hank telepathically. //Storm is seriously injured. Can your team succeed in its mission without you?//

Hank needed a moment or two to contemplate the answer. He finally responded, //I believe that I am needed for the next five or ten minutes. Once the footage is spliced together, we should be ready to go since Forge has already set up the communications equipment.//

Xavier agonized over what to do next. He couldn’t risk the success of what Hank and his team were trying to accomplish. But he couldn’t risk Storm’s life either.

Emma contacted him. //I sense two dozen more FOH troops just entered this building. I’ll mentally blast them. But I worry that I can’t get them all “ I might need Beast here if it comes to hand to hand combat.//

Xavier did not waste a moment deliberating. He mentally located the new FOH troops inside the compound. He locked onto their mental signatures and sent them a telepathic blast that knocked them unconscious.

He then instructed Nightcrawler to teleport inside the compound and be ready to teleport Hank to Victory.

***

“We on the air!” Gambit spoke into his communicator.

“Not a moment too soon,” Magneto commented. The battle outside was still hot. The X-men had won back some of the ground they lost after Storm’s injury but the FOH ships and ground troops kept coming.

“We still have to hold FOH off long enough to make sure the whole thing gets aired!” Cyclops noted. He quickly turned and blasted three FOH soldiers who were running and firing in his direction.

“Tape is fifteen minutes long,” Gambit said. “We make it short and to the point”.

Cyclops looked into the sky. Yet another battalion of FOH aircraft approached, at least a dozen this time joining the few that were still in the air and firing on the X-men. And now they had no Storm to blast them with lightning. He looked at Magneto. The older mutant closed his eyes and summoned his powers. One of the FOH ships began to split apart, its metal being manipulated and torn.

But Cyclops continued to watch Magneto “ when he didn’t need to take a quick second to fire at more approaching ground troops. He remembered the X-men’s report from Asteroid M, Magneto’s failed project from years ago, when he had created an asteroid sanctuary for mutants. Magneto had weakened, exhausted from using his powers. And now, Cyclops noted, Magneto was no younger than before. The older man was shaking. Clearly the efforts it had taken just to destroy one FOH aircraft had been debilitating, but they had over a dozen FOH planes to contend with. And it had taken several precious seconds for Magneto to destroy just one of them. Cannonball and Northstar, armed with guns, were flying through the air and firing on the aircraft now. FOH still had ever more ground troops closing in. Cyclops began to realize that the X-men would likely lose this battle.

***

On board Victory, the Professor realized it too. Thirteen minutes. That’s all the X-men needed for the tape to finish playing. Thirteen minutes for the world to see “ on their televisions and on their computers “ the truth about FOH’s treatment of mutants. Thirteen minutes for mindsets to change, for the Extermination Camps to close down before one single mutant was tortured. But the battle had turned and was not going well. And Storm was urgently in need of a doctor.

Xavier made the decision. He closed his eyes and summoned his energy. He focused and directed his powers. Each FOH solider, all of the ground troops and those inside the aircrafts, was hit with a mental blast. Instantly, each man was knocked unconscious.

For those FOH troops in the approaching aircrafts, this was nearly a death sentence. With their pilots unconscious, the planes would crash. Xavier mentally ordered Rogue to attempt to grab the planes and ease them to the ground. He mustered his telekinesis and slowly lowered one of the other aircraft to the ground. But he knew that he and Rogue would not be able to save them all.

Xavier felt Magneto’s happiness and his sense of smugness. He could practically hear the words: You should have done this earlier, Charles.

He wondered about that. After all, did knocking hundreds of FOH troops unconscious do them any more harm than blasting them with Cyclops’s lasers, for example, or freezing them with Bobby’s ice? Couldn’t one argue that it did them less?

But that was not the point, Xavier told himself. In order to knock them unconscious, he had entered the soldiers’ minds. He had violated them. And several of them would perish in plane crashes.

But was it justified when it compared with how mutants had been and would be violated by FOH?

Xavier had no more time to debate himself. Now that the battle had been won, Nightcrawler had immediately teleported Beast and the rest of the infiltration team aboard Victory to tend to Storm. He then stood by, ready to bring the rest to Victory as soon as the remaining twelve minutes were finished and the tape had been aired.

***

My head was still spinning. It was too much for me. I couldn’t believe, couldn’t digest, all that I had experienced in the last several hours. Too many things had happened at once

Northstar was back and unharmed. We had our battle against FOH, and I actually fought well. I was terrified, but I did it and did it well. Storm was wounded and her status was uncertain. But we got the tape on the air! So many ups and downs.

I stood outside of sick bay, Jean Paul next to me with an arm around my shoulder. All we knew at this point was that Hank was there inside, working on Storm. Wolverine was in there too, and I think Psylocke was still inside as she’d been tending to Storm before. Obviously Hank needed space to take care of her and we couldn’t all poke our heads in and bother Hank with questions.

“She’s in good hands now,” Jean Paul said. “There is nothing more we can do. Hank will do everything that he can”.

“I know,” I said.

He reached for one of my hands and held it. “You are trembling,” he observed.

“Just nervous. A lot of excitement for one day I guess”.

“The fight is over. You fought very well. You did not panic once. Your blasts hit their targets. You moved quickly and with confidence. I am very proud of you”.

I couldn’t help but to smile at the praise.

Jean Paul took another look at me, gently pulling up one of the sleeves of my shirt. “Magnificent,” he said. “You are more muscular than before. What a difference!”

“Thanks,” I said. My face was hot for some reason. Actually, I was thrilled. “Hank’s been training me”.

“Someday I must thank the man! Come with me, Bobby. The battle is over. Everyone is waiting to see the reaction to the tape, and we cannot help Storm now. I promised you that we had something we needed to do properly after the battle”. He caressed my arm as he spoke.

“Yes,” I said, breaking into a grin. I could hardly wait! Despite all the emotions going through me at that time, all the experiences I had to process, this was what I really wanted to do. “Let’s go”.

We turned and started walking down the hall, but Aurora came up to us. She said something to Jean Paul in French “ whatever it was, I got the gist that she didn’t want us to go off alone, she wanted to be with her brother.

Jean Paul responded to her and, again of course, they spoke in French, so I didn’t understand their conversation. Jean Paul translated it for me much later. He had said:

“I must have some time alone with Bobby. You and I have spent the past three months together, and you know how much I care for you because I always went after you when you ran off. So you must allow me this”.

Her reply, I was told, was along the lines of “f--- you”.

But I didn’t care. Jean Paul and I finally had our time alone together and it was so wonderful that I could easily tell myself that nothing else mattered.

***

Wolverine stood outside of the infirmary, his arms crossed. He looked at the window, watching Hank observe a monitor. Storm remained motionless on the bed. Wolverine knew that various X-men had wandered by and were milling about outside of sick bay. He sensed Jubilee was now standing next to him.

“Hey,” he said to Jubilee.

“Hey yourself,” she said, smiling. She then quickly withdrew the characteristic smile. Happy as she might have been to be with Wolverine, they obviously had a very grave situation on their hands.

“Good job down there. You fought well. Even helped me out once”.

Jubilee rested a hand on Wolverine’s back. “Well, I trained with the best. There was this rough Canadian guy who made sure I knew how to use my powers, kinda even looked after me like I was his niece or daughter”.

“Still does. ‘Cept he can tell you’re growin’ up now”.

“Yeah. He’ll always be like my uncle though”.

“Always,” he agreed, firmly.

Hank stepped through sick bay’s doors.

“Well?” Jubilee asked eagerly. But she wasn’t raising her hopes too high. She could easily read the look on Hank’s face.

“Her condition is now stable,” Hank said. “I believe that had she gone without a doctor’s care for even five more minutes, she would have perished. She is stable now,” he repeated. “Thank goodness the Professor intervened so that I could care for Storm”.

“But…” Jubilee began, knowing that the full story would not contain good news.

“But she is in a deep coma. Very deep. At this point, there is nothing more I can do for her. Perhaps she will come out of the coma on her own, though I am not optimistic”.

“Then we gotta get her to Haven,” Wolverine said. “The place cured the Professor, and it’ll cure her”.

“Deir any harm in leavin’ her in a coma? Like, she gonna get worse as time goes by?”

Wolverine whirled his head around. He had only partially been aware that Gambit, and several others, were outside of the infirmary. Storm was quite well-loved among the team.

“Perhaps not,” Hank responded to the Cajun’s question. “I believe her condition will remain stable, though of course it is impossible to say for certain”.

Wolverine fought to contain his rage, his fear, his sense of loss. “Still gotta get her to Haven. Where’s Xavier?” he asked.

“He’s on the bridge with most of the others,” Forge said. “They’re monitoring earth’s stations, trying to assess the reaction of our tape”. Forge had also been hungry for news of Storm. He would always care about her, even though his rejection of her and preference for Wolverine felt like a slap in the face. No matter. Storm was a wonder, a beauty, an amazing woman “ she would never fall in Forge’s estimation.

Wolverine turned and headed for the bridge. Colossus came up to Jubilee and put a consoling arm around her. “Storm get better. We must be patient”.

“I hope so,” Jubilee said, allowing herself to relax into the tall man’s bulk. “I really hope so”.

***

The X-men then entered a period of waiting. They spoke with Magneto and agreed that they needed to monitor the media and assess the impact their tape had on people’s attitudes towards mutants before determining their next move. They would also monitor FOH to ensure that their “Extermination Centers” were not being filled. And they waited and hoped for better news about Storm, though none had high hopes.


***

Nightcrawler could not believe what he had agreed to. As he walked towards Rogue and Gambit’s room, he questioned himself once again. `Am I only lying to myself when I tell myself that this is harmless and easy? What if it is not harmless? Did I agree to this because I hold the sanctity of marriage in high regard? Did I only agree to this because part of me views Rogue as a step-sister, part of me views all the X-men as the only family that I have and sometimes we do things that might not be right, to help family members?’

Nightcrawler was used to a life of contemplation. He knew he would be mulling over these questions for days or even weeks to come.

“Thank you again, sugar,” Rogue said, as Nightcrawler entered their room.

“Please do remember to keep this brief, 60 seconds or less” he reminded them. “Contact me the minute you are ready to return”.

“We promise,” Gambit said. He couldn’t resist smiling on this day.

Gambit and Rogue had made a decision. He wanted to give her a proper proposal, a notion to which she had eagerly agreed. Right now, there was nothing they could do either in terms of Storm’s status or in terms of the mission. Surely Rogue and Gambit now deserved a small break. When pressed by Nightcrawler, they had been forced to admit that they had not sought permission from Cyclops or the Professor, but they were certain that this would take no more than a minute or two. As most X-men, they had adapted to living life in close quarters and without much privacy. But surely they were entitled to do something without permission, something semi-spontaneous? It was bad enough, Gambit had shared with Nightcrawler, that he had had to let Rogue in on his plans; he couldn’t even surprise his fiancée with the proposal itself.

But he did have another surprise in store for her.

Gambit and Rogue agreed that the location for the proposal would be New Orleans. Nightcrawler teleported them instantly, and then disappeared just as quickly, leaving the happy couple in Jackson Square, mid-day. St. Louis Cathedral loomed in front of them, white and glistening in the sun. Trees and bushes in front of the cathedral were lush, many boasting leaves in shades of red and pink. The statue of Andrew Jackson on his horse stood proudly before the cathedral, and horse-drawn carriages lined up on the street, eager for travelers.

Gambit wore sunglasses so that stray passersby would not glance at his eyes and realize that he was a mutant. Although New Orleans was in Remy’s blood, his system still took a few seconds to adjust to the surroundings. Spending weeks in space on a cool starship left one unprepared for the heat and humidity of New Orleans. He briefly touched his fingertips to his forehead and they came away damp. He smiled. He would always love this place and its energy though he doubted that he would ever live there again.

“Let’s go here,” he said, gesturing to a bench.

Rogue held his hand as they walked to it. Remy noticed her uncharacteristic quietness and wondered if she could be feeling nervous.

For Remy, the main thrill would be seeing the look on Rogue’s face, he knew. She had dreamed of this. For years, the concept of having a soulmate had been something she had written off. She had painfully observed Jean and Cyclops’s love and affection “ and Gambit had practically felt the heartache it had caused her because she so desperately wanted a love like that for herself. Now she had one, thanks in no small part to her own bravery and Gambit’s persistence.

Gambit went down onto one knee. Rogue couldn’t resist flinging her hands to her cheeks in a gesture of girlish delight. Was this really happening? This dashing man, whom she only loved more with each passing year, was going to propose marriage to her. He reached for one of her hands and held it.

“Rogue, chere, I love you an’ I always will. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

Rogue was grinning from ear to ear. “Yes, Remy, yes! I would be happy to!”

“I have a little gift for you, chere,” Gambit said, rising to his feet and rummaging around in his pocket.

Rogue’s eyes grew wide. They hadn’t talked about this. It couldn’t be…

Gambit produced a small ring box. Rogue blinked a few times before reaching for it with trembling hands. She opened it up to find a sparkling diamond nestled atop a gold band. As Rogue stood there incredulously, Gambit gently took the ring and slowly placed it onto Rogue’s finger. Rogue stood silently just looking at the ring.

“I “ I’m not even gonna ask, Swamp Rat,” Rogue said, recovering her voice and sounding more like herself. “I’m just gonna be happy. And “ and thank you, Remy. I am amazed”.

At that moment, their communicator beeped. Nightcrawler said, “Forgive me, I do not mean to rush. But we did agree that 60 seconds…”

“We ready,” Gambit said. “Come get us”.

Nightcrawler appeared, and Rogue and Gambit quickly left behind the clear skies and thick air of New Orleans.

***

Rogue and Gambit kept the happy news to themselves for the rest of the evening. They stayed in their room, stayed up late and made love many times.

The next day, at lunch, Jubilee took a pointed look at Rogue’s hand and wrinkled her brow. “Um, when didja start wearing a diamond ring?” she asked.

Conversation at the table suddenly ceased. “Remy gave it to me yesterday,” Rogue said simply. “We’re engaged!”

“We’re you gonna ever tell us?” Bobby asked, across the table.

“All in good time,” Gambit said, smiling. The room erupted into cheers. The X-men were eager for some good news. Alcoholic drinks and sweet deserts were replicated, and everyone offered their congratulations to the happy couple. Music was switched on and a bit of spontaneous dancing occurred. Those who hadn’t been having lunch with the group soon streamed into the mess hall to congratulate Rogue and Gambit.

“When will the wedding take place?” the Professor asked.

“We ain’t figured that part out yet. Maybe when life gets less crazy,” Rogue answered.

“We hope t’ings get better for mutants real soon,” Gambit added.

The impromptu party continued, with several people even shuttling over from the Prevail to celebrate with the couple. Many were surprised to see Moira enter the mess hall. She still looked pale and withdrawn. After muttering a cursory greeting to Xavier, she briefly hugged both members of the couple before leaving.

As the party wound down, Rogue and Gambit looked at each other. They were thrilled and delighted, but they were missing one person they both loved: Storm.

“Wouldda loved to have seen the look on her face,” Rogue said.

“We will, chere. She gotta get outta dis. Someday she gonna be able to congrat’late us in person”.

“I hope so, Remy. I really hope so”.


***

Wolverine sat next to Storm’s bed in the infirmary. He watched the blips on the monitor, steady and unchanging for days. He held her hand which was mildly “ but not alarmingly “ cold. He stroked her hair. It still felt silky and thick as usual. He thought of something he wanted to discuss with her but couldn’t. He dimly heard Beast say something about no change in her condition. He muttered replies to those who checked in on Storm during the day. He picked at the food Jubilee brought him. He heard someone say something about Rogue and Gambit getting engaged. He allowed Hank to lead him to his room and nudge him in the direction of the shower as he spread clean clothing on the bed. He wondered again why he had allowed himself to care for others. Then he remembered. The alternative was worse.

When Hank left, Wolverine yelled, extended his claws, and left gaping gashes in one of his walls.


***

We were all still waiting. We waited for Storm to improve and we waited to see the result of our tape getting on the air. Hearing that Storm’s coma was deep and that Hank couldn’t do anything was, of course, really hard to take. I pretty much only saw Wolverine when I went to sick bay to visit Storm myself. He was always beside her, holding her hand, looking like misery.

On the bright side, we did have Rogue and Gambit’s happiness to share, which was awesome. I really wondered where he got that ring from too. I wondered how they would do married. Years ago, if you’d asked me I would’ve said that Gambit wasn’t the marrying kind but now I actually thought he and Rogue would do quite well with the knot officially tied.

While everyone was waiting, I spent most of my time with Jean Paul. We talked a lot, him telling me what had happened on earth and filling in the gaps of our months apart. It sounded like it had been exhausting. Jean Paul reiterated that he thought it was a mistake for us to have ever separated, which I was again very glad to hear. When he wasn’t with me, he spent time with Aurora or with Puck (Puck sometimes shuttling over from Magneto’s ship). Both ships still maintained orbit around earth, cloaked and apparently quite invisible still to FOH.

Cyclops did seek me out once during a meal. He went up to me, pulled out the empty chair next to me, and sat down. He said, “I’ve been meaning to apologize, Bobby. We did mislead you a bit, about Northstar and Aurora having been captured by FOH. We knew that hearing that would’ve really bothered you, and that there would’ve been nothing you could’ve done. We didn’t find out that they were captured until we were about eight hours from earth”. He paused and said, “And I know the Professor feels the same way”.

I nodded. Is it weird that I wasn’t mad at all? Maybe I was just so happy to be back with Jean Paul. And I did see that Cyclops was right. “You’re right, Cyke. Those eight hours would’ve been an agony for me. So I think you and the Professor made the right call”.

I meant what I said. Though I did have to wonder “ do we X-men sometimes coddle our members? Jubilee was kept from going on dangerous missions for years even though she had been well-trained and ready. And now they had kept this news from me. But then again, maybe a bit of coddling was not such a bad thing. Families do need to take care of their less-strong members.

“Good. And thank you for understanding”.

He got up after that and left the mess hall. I almost would’ve liked to have talked to him more. His voice had sounded so warm. Did our mostly-successful battle help put him in a better mood? Was he really that busy or did he just feel that he had nothing else to talk about with me? Was he jealous that I was reunited with the one I loved while he wasn’t? I’d never know since he didn’t hang around to talk.

But then again, despite what I wrote above, the battle *wasn’t* a complete success as we slowly learned during the four days following the fight. Here’s what happened.

The tape had aired very broadly. We estimated that 5-6 million televisions and computer screens had had the broadcast forced on them. Considering the timeframe they were under, the team had put together a very concise and coherent video showing FOH’s treatment of mutants.

But FOH had struck back in the media wars, quickly. They had their own tape ready to go within 24 hours, including one with footage of our “unprovoked attack” on their headquarters. They also had plenty of other footage, showing mutants beating up little old ladies, stealing from families, causing untold violence. Fake footage, we were sure, but it all looked real. FOH’s production was obviously much more slick and professional. And they were able to get theirs aired around the clock. Ours had only been shown once.

So we tapped into their computers “ Forge and Hank had picked up enough from their raid on headquarters to learn how to do that. We were able to get our tape aired broadly (though not as widely as before) twice more. FOH again struck back quickly. The second time we tapped their computers to get our tape on the air, we must’ve given something away so that they could make an educated guess as to our location. Angel was on bridge duty when they started firing at our general location in space. They didn’t hit us “ obviously space is really big, even the space around earth. We just moved the ship to evade them - that was safer than firing back at them, as we would need to de-cloak in order to return fire. They gave up after a while. We thought they fired on us only to send us a message.

We didn’t try to get the tape aired again. As a few days went by, it became clear that no matter how many times we would get our side broadcast, they would drown out the air waves with their tape. Our tape didn’t seem to be having the reaction we wanted.

And it still looked like FOH planned to go ahead and transport mutants to its Extermination Camps. From what we could tell, all the signs indicated that they would start filling the camps within a few days. Soon Magneto was calling us over subspace, saying that we needed to talk about our next steps.

***

Hank sat watching the propaganda tape made by FOH. A part of him felt guilty, that he should be at Storm’s side. But he was certain that, at this stage, there was nothing more he could do for her. And he told himself that he needed to remain current with FOH’s plans and schemes. So he sat in the main conference room, getting ready to watch the tape.

He wasn’t alone in wanting to do a re-watch either. “You’ve got a strong stomach if you can watch that piece of crap again,” Marrow said to Moonstar as the former got up and turned towards the door.

“We have a lot to learn from them,” Moonstar shrugged. “Every time they do something like this, it sheds some light on them and how they think”.

“What’s there to learn?” Marrow mumbled. “They hate us and want us dead”.

Moonstar looked around the room; the fact that Hank was there finally registered with her. “Oh, and Hank “ I wanted to show you something on their tape!” she said.

“Please do so,” Hank responded.

The FOH video began. Moonstar paused the player during one scene, a scene that purportedly showed “violent” mutants attacking innocent bystanders.

“That’s her,” Moonstar pointed, “the girl I was telling you about “ Panda. Had no idea they were taping it, but this is from what I told you before “ when they came to arrest us and we fought back. I can’t believe what they did with this footage, making it look like she just went up to some FOH guys and started beating up on them. But like I said back on Haven, they shot her. Three times, twice in the head and once in the heart, I saw it myself. How convenient that they left *that* part off the tape. The rest of us ran, and it’s a miracle I got out of there. I wish Panda had made it as well”. Moonstar paused, “Anyway, sorry to talk about this; it’s such a grim subject. She just really reminded me of you, that’s all. I didn’t know her for long but she did seem really smart”.

Hank could not logically explain why, but he suddenly felt very alone.

***

The X-men assembled in the conference room. Magneto, and those on board his ship, were linked in via subspace. The X-men looked at his commanding image on the screen.

“It has been nearly four days since our mission was completed,” he began. “The tape was aired. Unfortunately FOH has redoubled their propaganda efforts and they show every sign of being on the brink of filling their Extermination Camps. You must admit that I have been very patient in waiting and watching “ hoping that our Plan A would work. But at this stage, we are forced to admit that it failed, and we must turn to Plan B now”.

The X-men looked around the room at each other. None were surprised by Magneto’s words. The Professor and Cyclops had had a lengthy discussion the previous day. The X-men had tried diplomacy, years ago. They had tried reasoning with people, influencing world leaders. But it came down to the fact that they could not allow thousands and thousands of mutants to end up like Moira and her family. Or like Moonstar’s friend Panda, shot and killed for no reason. Whatever harm Xavier might cause by entering people’s minds, whatever immorality that action entailed, was outweighed by the impending reality of thousands of tortured and killed mutants. Xavier could accept that, on some levels.

“Agreed,” Xavier said. His comment was not a surprise either, but still several X-men exchanged glances. “We fought well and we made a valiant effort. It is time to move to Plan B now”.

“Excellent. Is there anything we can do to assist you, Xavier? I have been compiling lists of world leaders and other influential people”.

“I would appreciate checking your list against mine. I also think that it is critical that we think through our next steps. I do not expect that Plan B will work quickly. It might take days, weeks, or even months before I can influence and change enough minds. I believe that we will need to stay here, in orbit, to ensure that progress is made, ensure that those Extermination Camps do not get filled”.

“I agree. If we cannot prevent the camps from getting filled, I will not rule out an attack then. Would you like Emma to use her telepathic skills to supplement yours as you begin this endeavor?” Magneto asked.

“Initially I would prefer to work alone, though I will let you know if I change my mind”.

Wolverine was at the end of his rope. For four days he had been playing nice. He had been sitting by Storm’s bedside, holding her hand and talking to her. He had been fighting in the Danger Room, more ferociously than ever. He had worked with Marrow, trying to lose himself in her training. He had been staying awake all night, every night, in his empty bed and he had tried to muster a sincere congratulatory sentiment for Rogue and Gambit. He could simply handle no more.

Wolverine sprang from his seat, extended his claws, and cut a huge gash into the wall. Shards of metal spilled to the floor from the ravaged well.

Moonstar shrieked with fear. She had only heard of this side of Wolverine, never seen it. Several more X-men were stunned. Those who had known Wolverine for a long time had seen him gain control over his rages and didn’t expect this.

“What about Storm?!” he lashed out. “She’s layin’ in that bed and ain’t gettin’ any better!”

“Logan, please,” the Professor began. “I am sorry that”“

“Sorry don’t cut it! Now what we’re gonna do is take one of these ships, turn it around, and get back to Haven. It cured you, Professor, and it’ll cure Storm! We gotta get her there! We ain’t all needed for this mission. We don’t need anyone who ain’t a telepath on this mission!”

“There is an element to truth in what you are saying, Logan,” Xavier admitted. “Although I would be open to us performing rescue missions at the camps should I fail “ and for that, we certainly do need the talents of each of you. I hope to succeed in my telepathic mission though”.

“Can’t stand around waitin’! We gotta get Storm back to Haven”.

Magneto spoke up, forcefully, “This is war, Wolverine! One of your soldiers was hurt, and that is unfortunate, but we cannot make tactical decisions around that”.

“That is one difference between us, Magnus,” Xavier said. He was glad to be disagreeing with Magneto on something, glad to be differentiating himself from his old friend and enemy. “Storm isn’t just a soldier to us. We love her. The X-men revolve around love”.

“How very touching, Xavier. You have always been a sentimental fool. All the dilithium we have here is mine and you are not gett





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