The thick metal door slowly slid open, watched anxiously by Logan and Storm as the room beyond was revealed. The beeping grew louder now it didn't need to permeate through the steel. A whirring fan casting flickering light over the stone floor, walls as coarse and as bare as the entrance tunnel. A multitude of screens filled up the back wall, each one showing camera footage of a particular location on the island. A control panel made up most of the desk, with a lone keyboard sat in front of a worn leather chair. Storm advanced inside first, her eyes carefully taking in the room as she walked. "It's some sort of.. monitoring station," she said softly, coming upon the desk and lifting her head to study the various monitors.
Many of the various screens bore slightly flickering images of different areas of the jungle, overlooking uninhabited terrain. "Hey, look," muttered Logan as he came up besides her, pointing at one of the screens on the far right. The pair moved closer to inspect it. The camera was fixated on a clearing in the trees, of which a thick wall towered high, monstrous metal doors bolted shut to lock out the outside world. They exchanged a cautious expression, before Storm looked down at the computer. The beeping continued to resound.
Storm pulled out the chair and sat down, tapping the keyboard to activate the black screen before her. There was a list of coding, and as she read through it was an apparent message centre. "Should we look?"
"No harm in tryin'," Logan muttered as he moved closer, watching as Storm selected and opened the unread message.
'PANEL TO GOP-461. BOGEY NW RADIO DETECTION TRUE. BOONIES NOTIFICATION BREACH AT 33,91. DESIGNATED FEET DRY. GLORY HOLE BDU CONFIRMED. EE LOST AT 78, 204. IA.'
They stared at it blankly. "I have.. no idea what that means," murmured Storm as her eyes continued to re-read the sentence as though it might help. "Do you?"
Logan slowly crouched besides her, eyes transfixed on the message as he allowed the information to trickle in. "Some of it I can translate.. it's military language.."
"Is this bad news?" she asked weakly, looking down into his face.
"This is a delayed message." Logan extended his hand to the screen, pointing at the individual coding as he explained. "The first bit is who the message is from and who it's to. There's been an unidentified enemy aircraft found at some location, and I assume it's landed." He sat back, face contorting as he re-read the message. "Those are coordinates," he added, leaning forward to point out the numbers, ".. which is where the aircraft landed. I think that's us," he said softly, finger then moving to point out the 'BDU' abbreviation, ".. and that's the weapon that destroyed our jet. This is just a confirmation message that seems delayed. However, I don't really understand the rest of it.."
But Storm was still watching him as he leant on the desk besides her, crystalline blue eyes studying his features as he glanced about the computer screen. "How do you know all that?" she asked softly.
Logan shrugged slowly, "Alkali Lake was a military compound. I probably spent a lot of time there before .. " he drifted out, not looking at her as he kept his gaze fixated on the message he didn't need to read again.
"Are we safe?"
"For the time being," he replied quietly. "We ought to keep at eye on that message centre.. and that entrance," he looked up at the monitor showing the closed steel doors, "See if it ever opens.."
Storm's eyes roamed over the control panel before she noticed a headset and pulled it towards her in inspection. "This monitoring station should contact outside sources, yes?"
"Well, yeah. I assume it'd have powerful signals. It needs it." Logan turned his head to glance up at her.
"Would it contact the mansion?"
Logan sighed quietly, running a hand through his hair. "If there's one thing I know, it's that military contacts are not to be interpreted by outside force. It'd take a lot of work to get it to focus on the right signal for the school."
"Well, you're talking to the woman who wired the X-Jet," said Storm with a smile. "I could take a look at it anyway.."
"Don't take it offline, though," Logan warned softly as he watched her. "It'd alert the main office."
Storm nodded in head in slow understanding. "I won't," she confirmed in a quiet tone, continuing to watch him. "Thank you for opening the door, Logan.. it seems it may have given us a chance. I don't know what I'd do if I was stuck here on my own."
"You'd be fine," murmured Logan with a faint grin. "You're tough."
Storm laughed quietly as she glanced down at the headset she still held, fiddling with the deactivated microphone. "I've still had my fair share of bumps and bruises."
"So have I."
"Yours disappear instantly," Storm replied as she looked up at him, smirking somewhat. She indicated the bruise on her face that took up her temple and cheekbone in a dark blemish.
Logan's eyes roamed the injury before he chuckled. "Yours will eventually," he reasoned, resting both arms on the desk, one relaxed whilst the other settled on it's elbow to support his cheek with a fist. "Anyway, the worst injuries aren't physical."
There was a slight frown on Storm's face as she watched him, "No, I know," she murmured softly. "But even after everything in your past.. you're happy now, aren't you?"
"Now, this minute?" Logan quipped. "Stranded on a uncharted island manned by some extreme military that are out to get us? Oh, yeah, I'm happy." He was smirking up at her, eyes twinkling in teasing amusement.
Storm snorted quietly, playfully swatting at his propping arm so that it slipped from his face and caused his head to bob down at the loss of support. He laughed as he straightened himself after the light-hearted attack, continuing to balance on the balls of his feet besides her. "You know what I mean," she responded, smiling.
"I'm a lot happier than I used to be," Logan admitted quietly, expression turning solemn. His eyes studied the desk before him for a moment, voice becoming softer. "I'd show you the scars from all the times I tried to kill myself, but they faded away." Gradually, his eyes finally lifted back onto her face.
"Logan.." she said softly, fading out as she failed to finds the words she wanted to say. Her hand slowly outstretched to rest on his forearm, squeezing slowly in a bid to express something, anything. "I'm glad you failed."
His eyes lowered down to the dark skinned hand that rested over his bare arm, watching as her fingers constricted to offer reassurance. She wouldn't ever realise how much that action meant to him, to know that there were people in his world that cared. He knew that without the X-Men, he would have been left in a bad place, where suicide had been an almost daily contemplation. When he looked back up towards her face, he realised just how close they were. She did too, and neither of them was aware who made the first motion, but slowly and carefully the close proximity decreased till their lips met. Carefully executed, almost wary in it's endeavours, their kiss proceeded slowly, neither choosing to lead. Just as it began to get deeper and fall into the realms of where it could become unstoppable, Logan eased back, watching at her as if in contemplation
"Me too," he whispered quietly, giving her features one last glance over. He sighed a little, shaking his head to himself as he turned and exited to return to his bed to sleep. There was an uncertain air left hanging between them, and Storm turned back to the desk with a quiet groan, her head falling into her hands.
You may have noticed I played on the quote from X1 that got took out of the final script. The one about Logan's scars from his suicide attempts. I think it's a powerful line, and I wished it had been left it! But maybe they thought Logan was angsty enough. D: Anyway, they shared a little kiss! But things seem a little awkward now, as they always do when a friendship changes. Oh, and the military language, if it's not perfectly correct, sorry, I tried my hardest!