A/N: I'm excited! After a very long time, the story is complete and I will be posting the last four chapters after this one this week (hopefully). This has been a long journey and I thank all of you who have taken it with me. Thank you for your patience and encouragement through your Messages, favoriting, and following. It helped me to sit down and try to work on this. So enjoy the last few chapters of Ride of a Lifetime.
Chapter 29: Shit Hitting the Fan Part 2
"What do you mean, Ororo's missing?" Fury questioned the image before him. He knew something had to very wrong for the Professor to contact him so soon after their recent discussion.
"As I said, Director, my daughter is missing and her whereabouts are unknown. I need your assistance and whatever resources you have available in assisting me in locating her. It is of the upmost importance that she is found, unharmed," the Professor told him tiredly.
"You realize that complicates things greatly, do you not?"
"Yes, and it is my hope that your men are prepared to deal with a feral Wolverine."
"We will need to make some changes before the information is shared with him. This also truncates our timeline," Fury replied.
"Yes, it does. Considerably. Please inform us before the information is shared so that we can back up your team if needed."
"Have the Team meet me at these coordinates," Fury replied, "The information about his missing fiancée will be better coming from your team since he has a relationship with them. If we were to do it, I would be sending most of my team home in body bags."
"I agree. See you at the coordinates," Xavier replied, signing off.
Fury sighed, summoning his second in command and issuing directives. He knew that their best bet was to have the X-Men be the first line of defense once the information is shared with the feral mutant. Otherwise, he would have heavy causalities and in his line of work, a good soldier was hard to come by. Better to let the Team handle their own and assist where needed, he thought.
Logan looked up at the guard who appeared at his cell door, surrounded by several others. They only appeared in heavy numbers like that when they were escorting him to a different part of the Helicarrier.
Sighing, Logan stood, keeping his word by fully cooperating with the S.H.E.I.L.D. officers. Once his arms and legs were shackled, he was led through the vessel toward the entrance. He had heard and felt the change in the forward motion of the Helicarrier, wondering why they were hovering in one place.
He followed his escorts' instructions, sitting between two of the burlier ones as they took off in a Quinn Jet. Following them down the gang plank after they landed, he was surprised to pick up some familiar scents.
Remy and Scott came into view as he was lead further down the ramp. Logan could also see Peter, Kurt, Jean, and Siren. The team was dressed in their mission gear.
Giving his friend a quizzical look, Logan stood before Remy, taking in his and Scott's ridged stance. He could smell the anger rolling off them in waves. Their scents were causing his beast to stir.
"What's going on?" Logan asked, looking from Remy to Scott and back to Remy.
"She's missing, mon ami."
"Who's missing?" Logan asked, "Rogue?"
"No," Scott replied angrily, "Ororo."
Logan's angry gaze went from Scott to Remy, whose subtle nod was his undoing.
A roar that rivaled a thunderous boom sounded, forcing those around him to cover their ears. Logan broke through the flimsy shackles and sliced through the leg restraints. His eyes were tinged bright red, his focus on the one scent that he knew didn't belong. He lunged, the person collapsing under his bulk.
"Where da fuck is she?" he growled, his voice deep, as his claws ejected forcibly from his hands.
"Get-get off me," Siren cried, struggling uselessly against the mutant who snarled above her, his claws abruptly sliding back into his forearms.
"Ya got 3 fuckin' seconds to tell me where they are or I gut ya like a fish," he spat out, spittle flying, "One." SNIKT! One claw extended from the hand right next to her head.
"Two." SNIKT! A second claw joined the first, drawing the frightened woman's attention.
"Thr…"
"STOP!" she yelled, her body changing to her normal form, "D-don't. I'll tell you. He's in Arizona. He's in his lab, the one underground, about 30 miles away from his primary one. The kid and Ororo are there with him. Please don't hurt me."
"Red?"
"She's telling the truth," Jean told him, "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s disruptors were just what we needed."
"Ya got the address too?" Logan asked, getting to his feet as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents worked to help the sobbing mutant to her feet before taking her into custody.
"Yes."
"Then what the hell we standing around here for?" Logan growled.
"Wait," Siren called out as she was restrained by the officers. The team looked back at her, "He put me up to it. I was just trying to save my family. I know what I did was wrong but please, I'm begging you, he threatened to kill them if I didn't give her over to him. Will you…I mean, can you save them for me?"
"Why should we?" Scott asked, "After all you've done, you're lucky to be heading to jail."
"Because what I know of the X-Men, you don't leave anyone behind, especially those who are innocent. I know what I did was wrong but don't let them suffer for my mistakes," she pleaded, tears running down her face.
"Jean," Scott asked.
"She speaks the truth. I have a mental image of them that I'm sharing now," Jean told him as she closed her eyes to transmit the images.
"We won't make any promises," Scott told the girl who visibly relaxed, "We will do what we can."
"Thank you," she whispered before turning and letting the guards lead her up the gangplank.
"If we're done being compassionate saps, can we get the hell out of here?" Logan asked, looking over at Scott and Remy as they approached him.
"This better be legit," Scott told him angrily.
"If it wasn't, ya think Chuck would have went along with it considering what's at risk?" Logan asked him.
"Either way, make sure to bring them back in one piece, alright?" Scott replied, before turning and heading toward the Blackbird.
"Ya got something to say too?" Logan asked Remy who silently watched the exchange between him and Scott.
"Nah. I know you, mon ami. Remy know ya bring them home," Remy replied, "I see ya when ya get back."
Remy gave Logan a nod before turning and following the same path Scott had taken to the Blackbird.
Logan watched as the Blackbird took flight and screech away. Turning, he headed up the Quinn Jet's gangplank, knowing that his true mission had just begun.
Ororo felt the gentle nudging but could not react to it. As she slowly regained her consciousness, she struggled to remember. Though the memory was a bit fuzzy, she remembered heading to her house and meeting Victor. Then nothing.
The mind fog she was experiencing let her know that she had been drugged. She hoped that the drugs wouldn't have an adverse effect on her unborn child.
Feeling the nudging again, she tried and succeeded in opening her tired eyes. She could see a blurry vision before her and as she blinked, her eyes were able to focus on the smiling face that stared into her own.
"Mommy?"
"Micah?" Ororo said, her voice hoarse from lack of use, "Baby, is that really you?"
"Yes, Mommy," he replied, "Where have you been? Where's Mr. Logan?"
"Is it really you?" she said as she struggled to sit up.
"Here Mommy, I'll help you," he replied, tugging on her arm with all of his strength to help her sit up. He wondered why she was so sleepy since she hadn't acted that way when he saw her earlier.
"Thank you, baby," she told him, cupping his cheek when she was upright, gazing in his face. She had been fooled before and needed to be sure that he was who he said he was.
"Sweetheart, do you remember your reaction when I talked to you about me adopting you?"
"Yes," he said quietly, lowering his head, sadden by the memory.
Lifting his face so she could look into his eyes, she asked, "What did you say and do?"
"I started crying because I thought that I would have to forget my Nana but you said I didn't and you told me you love me and wanted to be my mommy."
Ororo couldn't hold back the tears any longer. She pulled the boy into her arms and sobbed heavily, holding him tight.
"Mommy, why you crying?" he asked after she had calmed down, knowing that she needed him to be patient with her like she was with him whenever he cried.
"Because I've missed you so much these past few days," she told him and he pulled back, looking at her quizzically.
"Nh huh, Mommy. You've been here with me the whole time I've been away from the mansion," he told her, "You even came today to play with me this morning before the big man brought you in to lay down.
Ororo, still feeling the effects of the drug, paused a minute to consider her options. She could continue the ruse that the kidnappers had done so that she wouldn't worry the child or she could be honest.
Considering she wasn't sure where she was and needed to get word to the team as soon as possible, she thought that the easiest thing to do was to let the child continue to think that she had been there. But she needed to have a safeguard to ensure that she was dealing with the right person.
"That's right. I'm sorry, baby," she told him, taking him back into her arms, closing her eyes and saying a quick prayer. She pulled away a bit to look him in the face. "I have a new game I want us to play, okay?"
"Okay," he replied, the seriousness of her tone slightly worrying her. His mother seemed different but since he couldn't figure out why, he put on a happy face for her so he wouldn't make her worry, "How do we play?"
"It's a special handshake," she began, making it up as she went, "All you have to do is when we shake hands, you give me a small amount of static shock. Okay?"
"But Mr. Logan told me not to do that."
"I know baby and he's right that you shouldn't do it to people who don't have electrical powers like us because they could get hurt," she told him gently, "But your static shock doesn't have that effect on me. So until I say so, whenever we see each other, we have to do our special handshake, okay?"
"Okay, Mommy. Can we try it out now?" he asked, getting excited about the being able to use what he thought was one of his cool tricks.
He took his mother's hand in his and gave it bit of a shock. Ororo returned it, making him giggle.
"Can we do it again?" he asked, his eyes shining.
"Sure, sweetheart," she replied, a small smile creasing her face as she took in his excited look.
After doing the handshake several times, Ororo needed to rest, the effects of the drug still weighing her down. She convinced Micah to join her and they cuddled on the lumpy mattress, falling victim to the soothing sounds of the others' relaxed breathing. Before she succumbed completely, she said a prayer, asking her higher power to keep them safe until they were rescued.
