AN: We would like to thank all of our readers for coming back for every installment. I would especially like to thank chocolate1 for your consistent reviews. Again please read and review and thanks for your eyes.

) ( indicates telepathic talk


Gambit was the last to board the Blackbird. He was about to make some smart alec remark about this impromptu mission when he saw Psylocke crumbled in her chair, clawing at her aching head. "Can we bloody go already?!" she hollered as Storm prepared for take off.

Cyclops quickly fell into commander mode. "Storm, fly at full speed. Psylocke, what is it that we are looking at?"

She fought through the excruciating pain to speak. "It's the strongest telepathic signal I've ever felt. It's urgent, possibly made contact with every telepath in the nation. Whoever it is under attack and in great danger. Humans are the attackers but not just any ordinary humans. They sought them out with a purpose. We must hurry. I can direct you to the exact location."

"All right team, listen carefully. Once we land, we move quickly. Colossus, you make an entrance with Rogue. I'll follow with Gambit and Storm taking the rear. Shadowcat, Beast you stay back unless signaled. Sounds like there will be casualties and we need you guys ready for the worst. Psylocke you stay on the Blackbird and keep a mental link with whoever this is. Are we all clear?" he inquired. Everyone gave a stiff nod in understanding. Gambit went about shuffling his trusty deck of cards as Rogue cracked her knuckles and Colossus metaled up, flexing his enormous hands.

Cyclops sat next to Storm at the cockpit, both their faces grim. "Did you get the same feeling about this?" he questioned just above a whisper.

"A knot in the pit of my stomach?" she asked, waiting for him to nod yes before continuing, "Yes. Whatever this situation is going to test us in a way we aren't used to. I can feel it."

(************************************************)

Three teens sat tied, beaten and bruised as the adult humans interrogated them, assault riffles pointed inches away from them. They were pissed two of teens escaped. Those little shits using their powers to escape. At least they didn't all get away.

"Our intel said there was eight of you. We only counted five. Where are the other three?"

"It's only five of us," Fawn whimpered.

"Don't say another word, Doe," Perish ordered.

"I'm going to ask once more, where are the others?"

"She already told you. Are you a retard or just a dumb fuck?!"

"I've had enough of your lip, you little bitch!" he snarled then took the butt of the riffle and pounded it into her lip. Fawn screamed as fresh tears streamed down her face. Blood filled Perish's mouth. She spat it on the human's face.

"Ahhhh! It burns! It fucking burns!" he wailed as he grabbed at his dissolving face, flesh disintegrating as he dropped to his knees in agony and began to convulse.

"That's it, I'm shooting them all!" one of the officers exclaimed.

Slow but steadily growing fog crept into the abandon building, making it increasingly harder to see with each ticking second. "What the hell is this?" one of the armed man shouted just as the wall he was standing next to came crashing down due to a metal man sized battering-ram.

"A reminder to pick on someone ya own size!" Rogue announced, blowing in right behind Colossus. The bullets bounce off him and the pair went charging in making way for Cyclops, Gambit and Storm. The ensuing fight was frantic.

Gambit took a running slide extending his bostaff as he glided by, sweeping two Purifiers off their feet. "It's not jus' de femmes dat fall fo' Gambit."

Scott forced himself to take extra to merely clip or knock the weapons away of the ones he took shots at though in his mind he considered how much easier it would to simply fire without concern as they were doing.

Ororo pulled a current from her body to incapacitate the men guarding the tied up teens. "Be at ease, child. You will be safe now, of this I promise," she soothed, kneeling next to the weeping deer like girl. Pulling out the lock pick from her hair Storm made short work of the handcuff.

"But what about the others who weren't here with us?" Fawn whimpered.

)Psylocke,( Ororo mentally called out.

)Beast located two mutant teens hiding just outside. They are now on the plane with us.(

"Your friends are well little one. Now come help with your injured friend."

"She's Perish. I'm Fawn and that's Yusang," she said pointing to the mutants next to her. The teenage boy needed to seen by Beast immediately as his color began to wan and eyes appeared unfocused and dazed.

)Ok everyone I have freed the children. Let us regroup and get out of here.( Ororo used the mental link Betsy had given her to make it possible to gives orders without alerting the villains to their plans. But their exit would be not be easy.

"For humankind!" He hit a button and right after a series of explosions went off around them.

"Everyone hit the deck!" Scott barked.

When the booms stopped and the dust cleared they started to re-group.

"Storm, how are the kids?" Scott immediately went to task distracting Ororo when he started to suspect they were trapped. "Shadowcat," he began into his wrist communicator, "I need you over here quick to start pulling us out before anything else goes wrong."

"Shaken up but hanging in there," Ororo answered. She went to help Perish to her feet but the teen squirmed away. "Don't!" the teenager commanded, "People die instantly when they touch me. I can get up myself." Storm watched her struggle to lift herself.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph...These fools are dead and it don't look like it was from the blast," Rogue gasped.

"Da, cyanide pills by the looks of it," Colossus added upon further inspection.

From across the half still standing room Ororo and Scott exchanged glances. Their guess on the Blackbird had been correct. Clearly these guy were dedicated and that was always more dangerous than usual.

"One way ticket out." Kitty announced herself just when there seem to be not enough air in the room for Ororo's liking.

"Great timing Shadowcat. Take Storm and the kids first."

Ororo didn't fight Scott on going first and merely mouthed thank you.

Rogue went next, carrying the now unconscious boy in her arms followed by Gambit scooping the wobbly legged, Fawn. "Le' Gambit give ya a lift petit." Perish went last.

"Oh ok Cyclops, Colossus." Kitty huffed waiting for the two men to finishes checking for survivors .

"Wait! I think got one here, " Scott said removing some ruble off the man's barely moving chest. "Sir, can you hear me?" He snapped fingers over the man's face, trying to get some sign he was coherent.

He got one that really made him wish he hadn't. "Die...mutant devil."

Back outside Ororo, Remy and Anna Marie had just started to move the teens towards the Blackbird where Hank was waiting to treat them when a second explosion went off, this time engulfing the whole building into a fiery blaze.

"No...Goddess not again!" Ororo nearly shrieked. Not this soon... Panic filled her at the thought of her kitten, her little brother Piotr and especially Scott still being in there.

"Stormy where ya think ya going!" Remy shouted, putting Fawn down and grabbing hold of his best pal as she raced towards the inferno. She hurriedly summoned a rain cloud to banish the flames.

Frantically she explained, "They still might be alive in there! We have to least at try, we have to-"

"We should all be getting on the Blackbird," Scott said calmly from over her shoulder as Kitty phased them up through a swear.

"Yeah, sorry to worry you there Storm. Had to take the long way," Kitty sighed into the squeeze Ororo was giving her.

Aware that all eyes were on them Ororo only squeezed Scott's hand as he passed by. The hope, joy and relief she felt at seeing him showed enough in her eyes.

(*******************************************)

Back at her loft Callie was stepping out the shower and checked in on her no good brother who ditched her halfway through the concert to make sure he got home fine "Well I'm glad one of us got lucky tonight," she sighed before taking a swig from her bottle of Corona and turning on the tv.

"Oh please weren't you moaning about not knowing if it was a good idea anyway? That maybe Scott and Ororo didn't want you mucking about the x-swimming pool? Work, pleasure mixing and the like," Carlos teased on the other end of the phone line.

True enough that thought had occurred to her on the drive over to the club. However, it all got kind of fuzzy when her mind shifted back over to Remy's soft lips, or the perfect taught form that was his chest pressed to hers despite how amazing Dazzler had been. The singer was truly a shinning star, capable of commanding any stage if she ever saw one. Her pop dance routines and ballads about not fitting was something anyone with a plus could relate to and although Callie wouldn't have called herself a huge fan before she sure was now. Still...She'd be lying to say she wouldn't have traded the concert for the night the sexy Cajun was offering, or that it had stayed in the back of her mind all night. So much so that when his handsome face suddenly appeared on her tv screen she assumed she was losing her mind to lustful want.

"What?!" She nearly spit her beer at that screen.

The news anchor announced,"Tonight, in the abandon projects of Detroit there was a massive explosion. Many believe it was the work of mutants."

"Detroit, that's where Ororo and Remy were-I'll call you back later."

On the screen they replayed the explosion repeatedly. She saw Remy carrying the sweetest face girl with the definition of Bambi eyes. They made you want to instantly wrap her in your protection and question how anyone could be cruel to anything so fragile and unique. She noticed how roughed up they both looked, saw how Remy chased Ororo down as if his life depended on it, how upset and lost the usually collected woman's face was.

"Shit..." she muttered. Callie ran a hand over her face, needing to look away from the petrified youths for a moment. "This is what they do all the time, what they put up with all the time," she said to no one, just needing to hear the words and allowing them to soak in.

(****************************************)

Logan's eyes never left the television screen as he watched the news report from his stool at the bar. "Bartender, the bill," he ordered gruffly. He downed his LeBatt Blue in a mighty gulp. Looks like it's time for me to head back to Cali.

(****************************************)

After being cleared by Hank, Ororo went to help Fawn settle in. "What of the boy?" she questioned. Hank's face grew a tad solemn.

"Cecilia is with him right now. He pushed his telepathy to its brink. He is in a catatonic state right now. His prognoses doesn't look promising but it is still early yet."

"Yes, we can only hope. Come with me, my child," Ororo instructed as she helped Fawn to her hoves.

"Don't trust them, Doe," the older girl warned as she laid in the hospital bed.

She bit her lip with uncertainty and proceeded to follow Ororo.

"Why does she call you Doe?" she asked out of curiosity and to fill the silence.

"You know, 'Doe. A deer. A female deer.'," the youngster answered. Ororo smiled warmly, "Yes, I am familiar with the song. All right, Doe. This is the bathroom. Why don't you get showered and I will show you to your accommodations when you are finished."

It had been so long since she had taken a hot shower, or any shower for that matter. Her tail twitched, relishing in the steaming water as she scrubbed her dense, dark curls and the fur covering her lithe frame. She stepped out to find a fresh towel and an oversized sleeping shirt awaiting her.

When she walked out of the bathroom she found Ororo waiting patiently for her. "Let's go to your room, shall we?"

Doe's eyes doubled in size at her new accommodations. It had been so long since she had the comforts of a bed, soft blanketing that consisted of more than just a few bare threads of cloth.

"I had a bed like this before," she whispered as she ran her hand over the bed.

"Oh?" Ororo asked.

"Yes, I wasn't always homeless. My parents-they weren't my birth parents but they found me when they were camping once or so they said. They took care of me until they past away almost two years ago. I didn't know what to do afterwards. My parents were humans but I know most humans, they don't..." Her words halted from struggling to properly word herself as her eyes began to well with tears. Ororo soothingly stroke her hand through the girl's hair.

"Don't understand people like us."

Doe nodded sadly. "Just like those men that wanted us dead don't understand."

"Well now you are in a place surrounded by people who will protect you and others like you from harm. I promise."

"I'm afraid to close my eyes. When I do I see the men with guns," Doe confessed softly.

Ororo's mind quickly thought of how she could console the child when an idea finally occurred to her. She hastily went to her loft. She looked at the bamf doll that sat on her dresser. Kurt had given it to her many years ago not long after they joined the X-Men. She knew that Kurt would want her to do this, give the doll to the young girl.

Storm returned to dorm. "I have a gift for you," she announced as she handed her the bamf.

The girl looked at it with curious eyes. "What is it?"

"It's a bamf doll though it looks very similar to a friend of mine."

"You knew someone that looked like this?" she asked in disbelief.

"Oh yes. He had fangs and only three fingers on each hand with elf like ears. His eyes were the same shade of sunrises and the fur that covered his body was as deep as the night's shadows. Though many feared him he only held love and compassion for everyone, including those who hated him. He was a very dear friend of mine. I'm sure he will be to you also."

At last the hint of a smile graced the child's face before she climbed into the bed. Ororo tucked her into the quilt as Doe snuggled the doll close to her. "Sleep well, Doe."

"My parents called me Fawn. You can too."

Ororo cooed, "Good night, my sweet Fawn." She left the door cracked just an inch to allow the hallway light in as she exited.

As Ororo left Fawn's room the weight of the night hit her like a ton of bricks, physically and emotionally. So close...

She had come so close to losing more people she cared for. It struck her more so that time was not always a given. It was that thought that made her feet wander away from the hall that would led to her front door and down the one that led to Scott's.

After debriefings and many calls to deal with the media Scott thought he had more than earned a much needed hot shower. Scott had just turned off the water when he heard the knock on his door. "Coming!" he called out while wrapping a towel around his waste.

He was surprised to find the Wind Rider standing before him at the threshold.

"Can I stay the night with you?" she asked in a soft purr. The question nearly sounded innocent if it wasn't for the traces of seduction in her voice, the desire that burned in her ice blue eyes.

He stepped aside to allow her in and closed the door after she entered. Ororo pressed herself against him, not completely wantonly but to leave no space between them. "I thought I lost you," she whispered against he shell of his ear before pressing a kiss just below his lobe, sending a chill through Scott. His hands roamed her frame, wanting to feel her skin against his. For an uniform that appeared to be painted on her voluptuous body he was surprised by how many clasps and zippers it possessed.

"But you didn't. I'm here with you," he assured against her lips before planting a kiss while pealing her clothing off slowly. "I'm not going anywhere, Ororo."

She could feel him growing against her thigh. She learned that the man had nothing to be shy about and she grew more excited at the promise of feeling every inch of him.