August 13, 1992
"Ororo."
Ororo looked up bleakly. Charles was sitting in front of her. After a moment she realized she was in his office. She couldn't remember just how she had gotten there. Had Scott brought her? She supposed that he must have, even though she didn't think that she had been carried.
Charles continued to look at her, his expression one of sympathy. Ororo wondered where Moira was. Perhaps they'd thought that too many people might frighten her or make her feel claustrophobic. She'd felt that way in the past, and she could see what they were trying to do. She'd helped out with enough students going through grief to understand.
She looked out the window. Sheets of rain and hail were pelting the windows. She knew she was doing it, but couldn't bring herself to stop it. What was the point? It was just a little rain, nothing that mattered.
"Ororo."
"Yes?" she asked.
Charles put his hand over hers.
"Ororo I-"
"Are you going to tell me to pick myself up right now?" she said, "Because I can't. Charles I...he was...I can't."
"I wasn't planning on telling you anything of the sort."
She looked up, surprised. Charles's clear blue eyes met hers.
"I know what you're feeling," he said, "Warren was my student. It's not the same, but the feelings of loss are still strong."
He sighed.
"And it's not unnatural to mourn or be upset. Repressing those feelings doesn't help," Charles said, "It's only unnatural to keep those feelings in."
Ororo bowed her head. Charles continued on.
"Whatever you need from us, you will receive it," he said, "I know that this is a difficult time for you. We won't try to interfere with your mourning."
Ororo put her spare hand to her face and cried. She thought she heard lightning somewhere in the distance.
"All the same, Ororo, you have to stop the storm," he said.
"Charles..."
"Ororo."
She took a deep breath and leaned back. A moment later she heard the rain and hail stop. She wiped her face and looked down at the ground.
"He...why did he go down with the plane?" Ororo said, "He could fly."
"I have no idea," Charles said, "And we may never know."
"He should've been fine," Ororo said.
"Life is not always as fair as it should be," Charles said.
Ororo looked down at her hands.
"I broke my cell phone," she said.
"Scott said that you smashed it on the ground," Charles said.
Ororo ran a hand through her hair.
"I guess I did," she said.
She shook her head.
"I just...I need to get in contact with whoever it was called me," she said, "I need to...I don't know, send them an email or something..."
"We can take care of that," Charles said.
"No, I can do it," Ororo said, "I can...I don't know."
She got up and wandered over to Charles's computer. She knew that he was watching her. He was worried about her, concerned about her grief. She had just lost her dearest friend, and she knew that Charles knew that. Everyone probably knew that.
She ran another trembling hand through her hair. Her hands were shaking as she typed in her password to her email. She stopped short when she saw what was at the top of the list.
"Charles..." she whispered.
Charles moved close to her. Her fingers brushed the screen as she saw the unopened message from Warren Worthington III. She looked over at Charles who nodded.
"Open it," he said.
Her fingers moved towards the mouse, but their shaking had become worse. She couldn't get a grip on the mouse.
"Dammit," she said.
Tears pricked her eyes, her vision blurring. Charles's hand engulfed hers.
"It's going to be alright," he said.
Ororo nodded and clicked on the file. She saw that a video file had been attached, and she opened it. Ororo didn't know just what it was that she had expected to see when she opened it. In hindsight she wondered if she had expected to see Warren as he had always appeared recently: well groomed and in an expensive suit, looking like he could buy the world if he wanted it.
Instead she had to take a step back when the file started playing. Warren was gripping the edge of the camera, his face grim. Blood and dirt smeared his face and she could see the shredded remnants of his wings bleeding onto his back. Charles took a sharp breath in as Warren coughed.
"Hey, Ororo," he said.
He coughed again and pushed himself further up. It hurt her to see Warren like that, but it hurt even worse to know that this was the last time she would see him.
"I don't know if I'm gonna make it," he said.
Charles glanced at her.
"If you'd rather I would leave, I will," he said.
Ororo shook her head, her eyes still glued to the screen.
"Listen to me," he said, "Trask double crossed me. He was trying to use my tech to build these things that would hunt mutants down. He was going to call them Sentinels or something weird like that."
He looked over his shoulder.
"He's kinda dead now, but I managed to erase his designs," Warren said, "I think he was planning some other stuff but..."
There was a banging noise from further away. Warren looked up, his eyes alarmed.
"Look," he said, "There's this...thing that Trask had working for him. Or with him. I'm not sure. It...he...whatever it is is coming for me. I don't have much time. But, listen to me, I'm depending on you to make sure that nothing survives this, because..."
He looked around.
"I don't think that I'm going to be around for much longer," he said.
Ororo choked back a sob and tried to steel herself for the rest of the video.
"Some of his documents...I think he was planning a hit on the Institute," Warren said, "I need you all to watch out for yourselves. I don't want anything to happen to you all...least of all you Ororo."
He smiled.
"You always stood by me," he said, "I'm sorry for leaving you with this but...you're the person I trust most in the world."
Ororo felt the tears streaming down her cheeks, but she set her face, a grim, steely feeling possessing her. There was another thump on the video and Warren swallowed. He turned to the camera and managed a smile.
"Goodbye Ororo," he said, "Tell everyone else I send my regards. It might be difficult to know what I need to do...but if I could muster up the nerve to steal Alex's boots, I think I can do this."
He leaned forward and switched off the camera. Ororo didn't look over at Charles.
"He crashed that plane," she said.
Charles didn't say anything.
"He was an excellent pilot," she said, "He crashed the plane to kill whoever was hunting him."
She gritted her teeth.
"I hope they died slowly," she said.
"Ororo," Charles said.
She looked over at him. The grief was still there, and it hurt like hell. However, now she had a cause. She turned the grief into anger, and she knew that she could translate that anger into action.
Ororo knew that many people believed that she was the calm one in the group, the one who had achieved a form of serenity. They hadn't seen what she had done to Toad. She hadn't grown calmer: she had just made her anger colder.
"I need to go to Boston," she said.
"I won't argue with that," Charles said, "But you're not going alone."
"I'll take Jean and Scott with me," Ororo said.
"That's too much," Charles said.
He rubbed his temples.
"If you take Scott too then you leave the school all but undefended," he said.
"I have no intention of leaving the school undefended," Ororo said.
"If you go with Scott and Jean then it'll weaken the school's defenses," Charles said, "He said that he might be planning an attack here."
"Trask is dead," Ororo snapped.
"And if he was simply part of something greater?" Charles asked.
Ororo clenched her hands into fists.
"Lorna is arriving tomorrow to visit her son," Ororo said, "Alex is following two days afterwards. You said you thought that Logan will be returning soon. He'll fight for Rogue if for nothing else."
"I think that he has more potential and honor than you give him credit for," Charles said, "But I won't put my students in danger like this when the threat level has just been raised, and I certainly won't put..."
He trailed off.
"Never mind," he said, "The point is, I believe that we will need to keep people back. You can call for aid once you get there, but right now it sounds like you will merely be conducting an investigation into his death."
Ororo gripped the edges of the table.
"I won't merely be doing anything," Ororo said.
"Calm yourself," Charles said, "The time when going in full force would have helped is long gone."
Charles's words clanged around in Ororo's head.
"Don't you think I don't know that?" she asked, "I know that I can't change the past, can't help him like I want to! All I want now is a chance to-"
"Avenge him," Charles finished.
Ororo fell silent.
"Ororo, listen to me," he said, "Children from around the world have come to my school to be safe. People like Alex and Lorna have put their children into my care."
"You're only saying this because your family is here," Ororo said, "Mine died in Boston."
Charles fixed her with an even look.
"Not all of it did," Charles said, "I ask you to remember that. I refuse to risk any of their safety."
Ororo bit her lip.
"Would you let me take Scott with me if I left tomorrow, once Lorna had arrived?" she asked.
Charles paused for a moment before nodding.
"Yes," he said.
"Then I'll leave once she gets here," Ororo said.
She jutted her chin up in defiance. In the distance she heard another clap of lightning.
"Your anger will not help the situation," Charles said, "If Scott goes with you, then he'll be the one leading the investigation."
"I know," Ororo said.
Charles leaned back.
"I want you to keep in close contact. I plan on alerting Sean and Terry, as well as the Rankins of what happened," he said, "I'm not sure if l have Jaime and John's numbers, but we have Hank's."
"You're going to tell all of them?" Ororo asked.
Charles nodded, his hands folding in his lap.
"I believe that this threat is much more serious than even Warren thought," Charles said.
"You really think that?" Ororo asked.
He nodded.
"Did you remember his wings?" Charles asked, "They had been shredded."
Ororo paused. The horror of Warren's injuries had all but blinded her to the exact type that he had received.
"Not torn, but shredded. I don't know of a weapon that would leave those kinds of marks," Charles said, "We both know that Warren's wings are strong. Whoever did this is either a mutant, or they have some rather alarming technology on their side."
Charles turned to her.
"Either way, it does not bode well for us," he said, "Erik may be in prison, but we have many other enemies, ones who are willing to go even further than he is for their means."
"We all know he was behind what happened to you in Cerebro," Ororo said, "You can't pretend-"
"I have no doubt that it was his orders that left me in a comatose state for days," Charles said, his voice quiet.
He wheeled his wheelchair out further.
"This should tell you something of how serious I'm taking Warren's warning," he said.