Calandra: Glad you caught up however! Great to hear that you liked the chapters too! And yup, it's pretty nasty for Michael to die, but it just goes to show how dangerous these new threats are. I mean, look what they did to Logan? I'm not gonna say how they are defeated, or even if they are defeated at ALL.
Kimenomi: Yes, they are powerful. They are the first real threat to the X-Men. As you saw, they wiped out a team member in minutes.
Blix: Yes, Michael! ):
Sych: Hehe, thank you for picking that up! For comic-wise the Sentinels aren't really anything to do with the experiments of Stryker, I don't think so anyway. It fits together surprisingly well.
Chapter 20"Don't be worried.." came a low but gentle voice.
"But I am! Look at you!"
Logan sighed softly as he looked down at the floor. He'd gone to see Madeline and tell her of the earlier happenings on the roof. She appeared more frightened by his injured state than the attack itself. She was sat on her bed, legs crossed to her body whilst Logan sat down in a chair opposite her. His face still held a grimace every now and then. His back hurt extremely, the impact to the roof had bruised his muscles badly. "There are bigger things to worry about now," he murmured softly, "Bigger than me, bigger than my injuries."
"Oh, and would this have something to do with the world in danger?" said Madeline rather bitterly. She'd heard about the X-Men's rescue missions and ferocious battles. She admired them, but since she'd learnt her father was part of it, it had never sounded so dangerous.
Logan looked up slowly to watch her, sighing once more, "Madeline, the X-Men are – "
"There's only one world I care about now!" interrupted Madeline, her eyes spinning upon Logan, "You're the only family I have left."
"So are you," muttered Logan, "I've probably outlived all my family so far."
"It's just that, all this with the X-Men is so dangerous.. I don't want to lose you again."
Logan shook his head, standing up slowly, "Darlin', you know I've got my healing factor, and the rest of the team to look out for me. That's why we're a team." He moved across the room to sit beside her on the bed, "I've survived long enough, no Sentinel is gonna finish me," he grinned down at her, resting his hand gently on her shoulder, "The X-Men won't be beaten."
Madeline turned to him gently, moving closer to his side, "But what about Michael? You said he was injured?"
But Logan shook his head, "Don't worry about Michael, he's a fighter, like me. He'll pull through in no time," he grinned gently at Madeline to empathise the lack of worry. But slowly, the expression fell from his face as he turned his head, hearing footsteps run heavily along a distant corridor. Becoming quickly suspicious after the morning's events he proceeded to the door, signalling for Madeline to not move. Madeline stared over at him, curling up tighter on the bed,
"What is it?" she asked in a worried voice.
Logan hushed her with a hand as he stepped out quietly onto the corridor, small steps taken as he limped into the middle of the walkway. Those distant footsteps he heard became clearer as he saw somebody running his way. He frowned, calling over to whomever they may be, "Hey! Slow down! What's wrong?"
It was Storm, and she staggered to a halt in front of Logan with wheezed gasps for air, "I'm trying to find Charles! It's Michael!"
"Michael? What? Is he ok?" asked Logan, his hand snow resting gently on Storm's shoulders as he tried to calm her down.
But the woman shook her head, "No! No he's not!" she cried, "He's died, Logan! Michael's dead!"
Logan's eyes widened gently, his hands falling away from her shoulders, "No.." he said quietly, "No, he'll be alright, Ororo."
"It's too late," gasped Storm softly, running a hand through her hair, "He's gone, the Sentinels killed him.. Oh God.. Where's Charles? I need to tell him."
Logan remained in silence, struck in a horrified daze. He looked slowly back down to Storm, "God, look at you. You're shaking," he gently took her hands which indeed were quivering under his warm grip, "Why are you out looking for Charles? Why couldn't Scott come?"
"He can't take it, Logan. He's lost too many people. Jean, Kurt, Michael, and almost you."
"It's not his fault," Logan quickly shook his head, "Now is not the time to worry about Scott. Get to the Professor, I'm coming with you." He turned hurriedly, seeing Madeline stood in the doorway, looking at them both with frightened eyes.
"He's a fighter.. like you.." she repeated softly before turning away from the door in a sombre silence, disappearing as she closed the door to her room.
In response, Logan shook his head dismissively at the closed door before he grabbed Storm's hand and hurried with her through the corridor. She was still shaking; he could feel her hand trembling inside his. "Ororo, he might be alright.. " he whispered to her as they ran.
Storm abruptly stopped running, dragging her hand out of his and staring at him, "Stop with the wishful thinking!" she cried, "That Sentinel killed him, and you know as well as I do that his death was the easiest yet. These Sentinels aren't our average foes, Logan. This is the greatest threat we've had in a long time."
"I know, I know.." muttered Logan, turning away from her. He shook his head gently, "Come on.. let's find Charles before he finds out the hard way."
The infirmary door was left shut as two figures stood out in the metallic corridors. Scott was sat on the floor, his head in his hands. He sat in absolute silence whilst Siren stood beside him, looking down at him gently.
"Scott.." she said softly, lowering to her knees beside him, pulling the nightgown over herself, "It's not your fault," she whispered.
But Scott shook his head slowly, "Too many," he uttered under his breath, "Too many lives are being risked through my poor leadership skills."
"No.." insisted Siren, "We got those soldiers didn't we? Only because we spread out in the formations that you told us, we surrounded them didn't we, hun?" She gently rested her hands on his bare arm, rubbing it gently.
"But we still lost Michael.."
"I know," sighed Siren gently, "But we were unprepared. It won't happen again. They came to us. We shall go to them, they shall be unprepared and we shall remove those Sentinels!"
Scott slowly looked up to her, "Even you have better leading instincts than me.. That's a good idea Adrienne."
Siren smiled gently to him, kissing his cheek, "It's in my blood."
"Storm went looking for Charles, let's go to him and try and find out some more about these Sentinels and do to them what they did to us!" cried Scott, standing to his feet with a determined glare in his eyes.
"That's the spirit!" said Siren as she stood beside him with a small smile, "We'll go and.. how you say.." she whispered gently before her eyes lit up, "Kick, some, asses!"
I know it's rather short, but I want to split up the chapter with Charles to this.