X-Men Bloodlines
Prologue
Unknown Location
"To create the ultimate being you have to start with the right ingredients" Mr Sinister said. "For years I have believed that Scott Summers and Jean Grey were the key to creating that ultimate being"
He pressed a button on the control panel in front of him and two sets of lights switched on above two tables. An unconscious man and woman were strapped to those tables and the light had served to illuminate them.
"Imagine my surprise when I realized that they alone were not enough" he continued. "Two other key ingredients existed that escaped my attention all of these years".
He turned to his associate and nodded.
The powerful telepath stepped forward and began to work on the minds of the two.
He knew that to successfully trap the two in a false reality would require an incredible power. One of the subjects was highly trained and resistant to telepathy and the other carried within them an unknown factor which was commonly referred to as Magic.
The telepath had been augmented by various drugs and machines to take his powers to their zenith to perform his task, unfortunately for him, he would not survive.
Mr Sinister understood that to make the perfect being you had to break a lot of eggs.
"I will begin now sir" the man said. "As agreed, I will use my power to trap them into an illusion, where they are each with the one they love."
"Yes, all you have to do is paint the scenario of their deepest desires and they will each act on them."
He pressed another button and the tables receded into the ground and the straps came off. The two subjects began to stir and signalled for the telepath to begin.
"Well it's best to give them a little privacy for what's to come" he said. He pressed the earlier button and the lights in the room completely switched off. The two subjects would join and lay the seed for the next generation.
He walked out of his control room.
"When perfection is the Goal, then Time itself must be measured in Ages"
Xavier Institute
'X-Men' he sent out telepathically to his team. 'Please come to meeting room as soon as possible'
When they had all assembled he turned to them. "I have found Ororo and Logan" he said simply.
Shock raced through the assembled mutants. "Where Professor?" Scott asked.
"In Kenya" he said. "Since their disappearance three months ago, I have been searching for them on a constant basis and today at exactly 12:00 they appeared to my senses. Scott please assemble a team and retrieve our comrades."
"Kitty, Colossus, Iceman, you're with me" Cyclops said. "Prep the Blackbird and get ready to go"
Foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro
They sat quietly together in the make shift shelter he had created. Ever since awakening together in this part of the Kenya, they had worked silently but cooperatively.
Neither of them had spoken but they were in tune with everything they needed to do.
It was only a matter of time before the Professor located them and all they had to do was sit tight.
They were still wearing their mission outfits and to the untrained mind it might seem like no time had actually passed but he knew better. There was a large hole in his recent memory. All that he remembered was going on a mission with Storm to Egypt, landing their plane and meeting their contact. After that there was only darkness.
Except for the dream.
He looked at Ororo who was lying down, on a bed of leaves breathing softly. Her back was to him and she was strangely curled in on herself.
The dream was the only thing he clearly remembered.
In it, he and Ororo had been intimate. A tame word for him to use, but it was appropriate for her.
She was the untouchable Goddess of the X-Men, holding in check an enormous power. Royal blood flowed through her veins, and she traced her lineage back to the dim reaches of the time.
From the first time he had met her, he had known that he was unworthy. He was an uncouth animal next to her. He didn't deny his attraction to her but he knew that it was unrequited. So when the beautiful, fiery, Jean Grey had stepped into his path, he had found it a comfort to chase after her. To forget about all that he could not have.
But in his dreams he could have her. He did have her, in his dreams. The last one though had felt too real.
She stirred and turned around to face him.
"Logan" she said to get his attention.
"Yeah Ro" he acknowledged.
"I can sense the approach of the Blackbird" she said to him.
He trusted her, and knew that with her powers, she could easily confirm the movement of the X-Men's jet through the atmosphere.
"Before they arrive, I feel I must tell you something" she said.
Her voice was soft and betrayed a vulnerability that he had never heard before. He could see her shivering slightly and knew that whatever she was going to say was not easy.
"From the cycles of the Moon, it has been three months since the day we arrived in Egypt" she said.
Shock raced through his body as he digested that revelation. "Three months" he said out loud.
"As I'm sure is the case for you, I also have no memory of the missing time...all that I have is a dream."
Logan startled at that and looked up to see her eyes firmly locked onto his.
They stayed like that for a long moment.
"I believe that it was not a dream" she said. "I believe it did occur"
She waited for the statement to settle into him.
He understood what she was saying but he didn't want to believe it. "How do you know, Ro?" he asked, noting how hoarse and thick his voice was.
"I am with child" she said simply and she turned away.
Logan was frozen as those words ripped through his body.
He was about to speak, when the powerful jet engines of the Blackbird washed over.
Storm stood up and dusted herself off and using her powers lifted them easily into the air and towards the Blackbird.