A/N: It lives!!! And this is definitely my longest chapter yet! Yay! *g*
But, honestly, is no one reading this? I mean, I'm starting to get the
feeling that I could make this a *shutter* Scott/Ororo story, and kill the
Phoenix Force, and turn everyone into Flying Monkeys with solitary blades
of grass on their heads, and nobody would even bat an eyelash!
*^*^*^*^*^ X-Phoenix
Chapter 4
Disclaimer: Test? What test? No one told me there'd be a test!
*^*^*^
The atmosphere in the Blackbird was tense, to say the least. Scott had taken the pilot's seat, pointedly ignoring Ororo's disapproving glance. She ended up taking the copilot's station.
After about half an hour of strained silence, Scott blew out an angry breath and set his controls for autopilot, turning in his chair to face Ororo. She looked over at him, and spun her own chair to face him.
"Look." he shifted uncomfortably. "I know that you're not exactly happy with the Professor's decision, and to be quite honest, neither am I. I've worked with the X-Men for the last four years, and you and Logan and Mr. McCoy have always just been the teachers or supervisors. It's quite a change to have you all actually on the team, instead of coaching us from the sidelines, and I'm sure it's quite a change for you as well. But if what the Professor says is true, about this great evil, or whatever, than we're going to need all the people we can get to fight it. That's why the Professor wants us to find this group in Canada, after all." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that we need to be able to all work together. I have to ensure that, it's my responsibility as leader. And that includes you and I."
She nodded. "I have no problems working with you, Scott." She smiled reassuringly.
Scott clenched his teeth. "I also need everyone on the team to be *honest*. You had to act like everything was always ok when we were little kids, but in case you haven't noticed, we've grown up. If there's anything wrong, I need to know now."
Her eyes clouded over, the irises becoming opaque. "I assure you, Scott, I know that you have grown up. If you hadn't noticed, I am no more than four years older than you. I will be sure to tell you if I have any issues with your leadership skills."
He blinked, and studied her, really looked at her for the first time. It was true. It was true, he realized, she couldn't be more than twenty- five. She had always kept up the goddess façade, hiding any trace of the young woman beneath. She was his teacher, or at least that was the only way he had ever thought of her, but it was only now that he saw the person under the mask.
"Okay." He nodded, turning back to his controls.
*^*^*^*^*^
"Are we there yet?" William hollered over the noise of the car. Chandra and Joseph continued to yell at each other, while Sanina tried to force them to shut up, and Mia and Daniela sang along with the music.
"It's been a long, long time since I looked into the mirror
I guess that I was blind
Now my reflection's getting clearer
Now that you're gone things will never be the same again
There's not a minute that goes by every hour of every day
You're such a part of me
But I just pulled away
Well, I'm not the same girl you used to know
I wish I said the words I never showed
I know you had to go away
I died just a little, and I feel it now
You're the one I need
I believe that I would cry just a little
Just to have you back now
Here with me."
"I swear if you don't stop asking when we'll be there.!" Chandra glared at William threateningly.
"Would everyone please shut up?!" Sanina screamed at the top of her lungs. The car went quite silent.
"Wow." Chandra said finally.
"No kidding." Agreed Daniela. There was silence in the car for the next five minutes. Everyone was just starting to relax, when the car began to make a very suspicious grumbling noise. It began to shake, and swerve. William struggled to control the wheel, but without much affect.
"Um...guys?" Chandra glanced around nervously.
"What's going on William?!!!!" demanded Mia.
"I. can't. control. The. Car." He gritted out between clenched teeth.
"Well....get back control of it!" Daniela clutched the back of Sanina's seat. There was a screech of metal and tires, and the car came to a grinding halt.
"I do *not* want to know what just happened, do I?" asked Mia wearily.
"Uh.probably not," William swallowed nervously.
"Are we out of gas?" asked Mia.
"No, but I think it's a little worse." Joseph groaned.
"Please don't tell me the car broke down," Chandra closed her eyes and began pounding her head into the back of William's seat.
"We were not destined to come on this trip!" exclaimed Mia.
"It is becoming pretty darn hopeless," agreed Joseph dully.
"Now what?" asked Daniela.
"How far are we from a city?" asked Mia.
Sanina frowned down at the map. "Too far to walk."
"Well, I guess we could just wait for someone to come by and pick us up?" Chandra suggested.
"We're on the most deserted piece of highway I've ever seen. Since we passed the boarder, I've seen exactly two other vehicles." William informed the group.
"Well that's just perfect!" Mia was getting quite frustrated.
"I think we should try and find out what's wrong with the car," decided Joseph.
"It's broken, isn't that enough for you?" Chandra glared up at the dark-haired boy in front of her.
"You got a better idea, Goddess?" challenged Joseph.
"Shhhh, people." Mia frowned, "I hear something."
*^*^*^
They had remained silent for the next fifteen minutes, though it was a more comfortable one than the one they had shared on the beginning of the flight. Ororo found that she and Scott worked well together, at least when it came to piloting the jet. If this were to stand true for other situations was still to be seen. The skies were calm, and all and all it was a perfect day for flying. Though she would have preferred to be flying outside of the plane, without any of the physical restraints that bound her while inside, there was still something to be said for simply being aloft, no matter the means. Flying had always been an indulgence for her, a way to let herself go and to be free and alive in the moment. There was something about the power she controlled, the amazing abilities granted to her by the Goddess, (or simple science, as Hank would say), that, if she let it, pulled her onto a high that could not be achieved by any drug. The wondrous torrent of control could sweep her up, draw her in and all around capture her with its almost sensual beauty. In those few and far between moments when she truly let herself go, she was almost sure that she was aware of what it felt to experience bliss. It was her own personal Nirvana, and she treasured every moment she could allow herself to live up to her namesake: Storm.
"Ororo?" Scott's tense voice cut into her quiet musings, and she turned to look at him, startled not only by his voice, but by the fact that he had used her first name. She was so used to only really knowing him as a student, and boy, that it was almost unnatural to hear him call her anything but 'Miss Munroe'.
"What is it, Scott?" she asked.
"Take a look at these readings. We're loosing fuel a lot faster than we should be."
She leaned over his shoulder, peering at the screen in front of him. His observation was correct. The fuel output had almost tripled from what it usually would be at their present velocity. "I'm sure it is simply a sensor malfunction," she assured him, unconsciously slipping back into the teacher/mother roll which she seemed to adopt when around any of the students.
Scott shook his head before the words had fully left her lips. "These sensors *don't* malfunction. If they say we're loosing fuel, then we're loosing fuel. What we need to worry about right now, is how and why."
"Do we have enough to reach the Mutants' location?" she asked worriedly.
Scott glanced down at the tracker which the Professor had programmed to follow the new Mutants. His eyes shifted to the fuel gage, and then back to her. Though his red glasses hid his eyes, it was obvious from the expression on his face what the answer would be. However, she still found herself waiting with baited breath, hoping desperately that her suspicions were wrong. "With what we have now, we'll be lucky if we make a good area for an emergency landing."
"We should contact the Professor," she suggested.
He nodded in agreement. "Definitely. You get him on the communicator, and I'll look for a place to take us down."
She nodded, moving back to her seat, and entering the code to contact Professor Xavier. Strangely, the COM seemed to be dead. She worked furiously, fingers dancing swiftly over the controls, becoming increasingly frantic as the device continued to not cooperate. Finally, with one final splutter, and a shower of sparks, her entire control board went black.
"What the." she jumped back as a spark struck her unprotected hand.
"Shit!" Scott's unexpected, and very uncharacteristic expletive came to her from nearby.
"My entire board is dead," she informed him.
"So's mine!" he snapped, desperately trying to reawaken his controls. Then, a moment later, "Hang on!"
Her eyes widened as the jet began to plummet. Blue eyes clouding over, she tried to pull them up with the power of the wind, but only succeeded in marginally slowing their descent. Grabbing hold of her chair arms, she closed her eyes and hoped for the best.
They struck the ground with a harsh force that through Ororo from her seat, to land her in a tangle of limbs on the floor with Scott. Pulling apart, they just sat on there, staring at each other. Finally Scott spoke. "My...God. We just crashed the jet, didn't we?"
She nodded mutely.
He took a deep breath, and then looked directly into her sky blue eyes, how, with his glasses, she didn't have the foggiest idea. "We're screwed, aren't we?"
She blinked, and then a real smile bloomed across her face. "With out a doubt," she agreed. Scott only nodded.
"Exactly what I thought."
*^*^*^*^
A/N: Yes! It's done! I started writing this last Tuesday during Tech class, and then forgot the disc in my locker until today. I just finished writing it.
Ok, thanks go out to Mist, for supporting me when I was considering quitting this story altogether, to Sky Queen, who, while being my only reviewer, also threatened to kill me if I forgot the disc again, and to Mrs. Lashta, for giving me the idea of car trouble.
And, btw, the song in this chapter belongs to Michelle Branch.
I *love* reviews!!! ...pretty please???
*^*^*^*^*^ X-Phoenix
Chapter 4
Disclaimer: Test? What test? No one told me there'd be a test!
*^*^*^
The atmosphere in the Blackbird was tense, to say the least. Scott had taken the pilot's seat, pointedly ignoring Ororo's disapproving glance. She ended up taking the copilot's station.
After about half an hour of strained silence, Scott blew out an angry breath and set his controls for autopilot, turning in his chair to face Ororo. She looked over at him, and spun her own chair to face him.
"Look." he shifted uncomfortably. "I know that you're not exactly happy with the Professor's decision, and to be quite honest, neither am I. I've worked with the X-Men for the last four years, and you and Logan and Mr. McCoy have always just been the teachers or supervisors. It's quite a change to have you all actually on the team, instead of coaching us from the sidelines, and I'm sure it's quite a change for you as well. But if what the Professor says is true, about this great evil, or whatever, than we're going to need all the people we can get to fight it. That's why the Professor wants us to find this group in Canada, after all." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that we need to be able to all work together. I have to ensure that, it's my responsibility as leader. And that includes you and I."
She nodded. "I have no problems working with you, Scott." She smiled reassuringly.
Scott clenched his teeth. "I also need everyone on the team to be *honest*. You had to act like everything was always ok when we were little kids, but in case you haven't noticed, we've grown up. If there's anything wrong, I need to know now."
Her eyes clouded over, the irises becoming opaque. "I assure you, Scott, I know that you have grown up. If you hadn't noticed, I am no more than four years older than you. I will be sure to tell you if I have any issues with your leadership skills."
He blinked, and studied her, really looked at her for the first time. It was true. It was true, he realized, she couldn't be more than twenty- five. She had always kept up the goddess façade, hiding any trace of the young woman beneath. She was his teacher, or at least that was the only way he had ever thought of her, but it was only now that he saw the person under the mask.
"Okay." He nodded, turning back to his controls.
*^*^*^*^*^
"Are we there yet?" William hollered over the noise of the car. Chandra and Joseph continued to yell at each other, while Sanina tried to force them to shut up, and Mia and Daniela sang along with the music.
"It's been a long, long time since I looked into the mirror
I guess that I was blind
Now my reflection's getting clearer
Now that you're gone things will never be the same again
There's not a minute that goes by every hour of every day
You're such a part of me
But I just pulled away
Well, I'm not the same girl you used to know
I wish I said the words I never showed
I know you had to go away
I died just a little, and I feel it now
You're the one I need
I believe that I would cry just a little
Just to have you back now
Here with me."
"I swear if you don't stop asking when we'll be there.!" Chandra glared at William threateningly.
"Would everyone please shut up?!" Sanina screamed at the top of her lungs. The car went quite silent.
"Wow." Chandra said finally.
"No kidding." Agreed Daniela. There was silence in the car for the next five minutes. Everyone was just starting to relax, when the car began to make a very suspicious grumbling noise. It began to shake, and swerve. William struggled to control the wheel, but without much affect.
"Um...guys?" Chandra glanced around nervously.
"What's going on William?!!!!" demanded Mia.
"I. can't. control. The. Car." He gritted out between clenched teeth.
"Well....get back control of it!" Daniela clutched the back of Sanina's seat. There was a screech of metal and tires, and the car came to a grinding halt.
"I do *not* want to know what just happened, do I?" asked Mia wearily.
"Uh.probably not," William swallowed nervously.
"Are we out of gas?" asked Mia.
"No, but I think it's a little worse." Joseph groaned.
"Please don't tell me the car broke down," Chandra closed her eyes and began pounding her head into the back of William's seat.
"We were not destined to come on this trip!" exclaimed Mia.
"It is becoming pretty darn hopeless," agreed Joseph dully.
"Now what?" asked Daniela.
"How far are we from a city?" asked Mia.
Sanina frowned down at the map. "Too far to walk."
"Well, I guess we could just wait for someone to come by and pick us up?" Chandra suggested.
"We're on the most deserted piece of highway I've ever seen. Since we passed the boarder, I've seen exactly two other vehicles." William informed the group.
"Well that's just perfect!" Mia was getting quite frustrated.
"I think we should try and find out what's wrong with the car," decided Joseph.
"It's broken, isn't that enough for you?" Chandra glared up at the dark-haired boy in front of her.
"You got a better idea, Goddess?" challenged Joseph.
"Shhhh, people." Mia frowned, "I hear something."
*^*^*^
They had remained silent for the next fifteen minutes, though it was a more comfortable one than the one they had shared on the beginning of the flight. Ororo found that she and Scott worked well together, at least when it came to piloting the jet. If this were to stand true for other situations was still to be seen. The skies were calm, and all and all it was a perfect day for flying. Though she would have preferred to be flying outside of the plane, without any of the physical restraints that bound her while inside, there was still something to be said for simply being aloft, no matter the means. Flying had always been an indulgence for her, a way to let herself go and to be free and alive in the moment. There was something about the power she controlled, the amazing abilities granted to her by the Goddess, (or simple science, as Hank would say), that, if she let it, pulled her onto a high that could not be achieved by any drug. The wondrous torrent of control could sweep her up, draw her in and all around capture her with its almost sensual beauty. In those few and far between moments when she truly let herself go, she was almost sure that she was aware of what it felt to experience bliss. It was her own personal Nirvana, and she treasured every moment she could allow herself to live up to her namesake: Storm.
"Ororo?" Scott's tense voice cut into her quiet musings, and she turned to look at him, startled not only by his voice, but by the fact that he had used her first name. She was so used to only really knowing him as a student, and boy, that it was almost unnatural to hear him call her anything but 'Miss Munroe'.
"What is it, Scott?" she asked.
"Take a look at these readings. We're loosing fuel a lot faster than we should be."
She leaned over his shoulder, peering at the screen in front of him. His observation was correct. The fuel output had almost tripled from what it usually would be at their present velocity. "I'm sure it is simply a sensor malfunction," she assured him, unconsciously slipping back into the teacher/mother roll which she seemed to adopt when around any of the students.
Scott shook his head before the words had fully left her lips. "These sensors *don't* malfunction. If they say we're loosing fuel, then we're loosing fuel. What we need to worry about right now, is how and why."
"Do we have enough to reach the Mutants' location?" she asked worriedly.
Scott glanced down at the tracker which the Professor had programmed to follow the new Mutants. His eyes shifted to the fuel gage, and then back to her. Though his red glasses hid his eyes, it was obvious from the expression on his face what the answer would be. However, she still found herself waiting with baited breath, hoping desperately that her suspicions were wrong. "With what we have now, we'll be lucky if we make a good area for an emergency landing."
"We should contact the Professor," she suggested.
He nodded in agreement. "Definitely. You get him on the communicator, and I'll look for a place to take us down."
She nodded, moving back to her seat, and entering the code to contact Professor Xavier. Strangely, the COM seemed to be dead. She worked furiously, fingers dancing swiftly over the controls, becoming increasingly frantic as the device continued to not cooperate. Finally, with one final splutter, and a shower of sparks, her entire control board went black.
"What the." she jumped back as a spark struck her unprotected hand.
"Shit!" Scott's unexpected, and very uncharacteristic expletive came to her from nearby.
"My entire board is dead," she informed him.
"So's mine!" he snapped, desperately trying to reawaken his controls. Then, a moment later, "Hang on!"
Her eyes widened as the jet began to plummet. Blue eyes clouding over, she tried to pull them up with the power of the wind, but only succeeded in marginally slowing their descent. Grabbing hold of her chair arms, she closed her eyes and hoped for the best.
They struck the ground with a harsh force that through Ororo from her seat, to land her in a tangle of limbs on the floor with Scott. Pulling apart, they just sat on there, staring at each other. Finally Scott spoke. "My...God. We just crashed the jet, didn't we?"
She nodded mutely.
He took a deep breath, and then looked directly into her sky blue eyes, how, with his glasses, she didn't have the foggiest idea. "We're screwed, aren't we?"
She blinked, and then a real smile bloomed across her face. "With out a doubt," she agreed. Scott only nodded.
"Exactly what I thought."
*^*^*^*^
A/N: Yes! It's done! I started writing this last Tuesday during Tech class, and then forgot the disc in my locker until today. I just finished writing it.
Ok, thanks go out to Mist, for supporting me when I was considering quitting this story altogether, to Sky Queen, who, while being my only reviewer, also threatened to kill me if I forgot the disc again, and to Mrs. Lashta, for giving me the idea of car trouble.
And, btw, the song in this chapter belongs to Michelle Branch.
I *love* reviews!!! ...pretty please???