Kimenomi: Don't worry. Gambit won't be getting away with that. And Gambit isn't the most obedient of characters; so you'll see soon just how he manages to get himself into bother again. Logan only successfully hit Gambit in the fact once. Gambit IS injured, but he wasn't knocked unconscious. I think it'd take several hits to knock someone like Gambit out, even if it is adamantium.
Sych77: I thought it be would be cool and potentially dangerous for a fight to occur in the X-Jet. Lol, so it's not random, I planned it. Yeah, the reactions were fun, especially Storm! Yup, poor Aurora, hehe.
Blix: Lol, you have your loyalties don't ya? XD All Logan!
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Chapter 34Through the misty air Madeline could see the long black shape coming down through the clouds. She felt herself smile as she watched the X-Jet swoop gracefully down towards the earth. It skimmed across the now green lawns; mounds of snow dotted idly at the edges of the lawn, now uncared for. The sounds of the low rumbling engine came in through the glass of the window as it lowered, and it only made Madeline anticipate all the more for Logan's arrival. As she saw the jet beginning to lower into the opening floor of the basketball, she hurriedly spun on her heel and passionately ran out of her room, throwing back the door and speedily heading to the lift.
The stairs of the Jet lowered down quietly. The base touched the shining metal floor of the Jet Hangar with a faint sound. Slowly, large black boots appeared at the top of the steps, and a figure came down the steps gradually, appearance being revealed to that of Wolverine. He moved slowly from step to step, face still consorted by a glare of anger and distaste. The other X-Men followed down behind hm, all seeming to shrink away from the seething wrath that was coming off the Wolverine like a warning aura. His attitude at the moment was clear – "Don't talk to me, don't touch me, and don't come near me."
His face looked drained from the overworking of his body to heal up the alarming wound, and he walked slowly, like each step was too much effort. And all the while, he still held a thoroughly disgusted glare for Gambit.
The doors of the Jet Hanger opened with an electronic whirring and Madeline hurriedly ran in through the parting of the metal doors. She span upon the metal staircase, shoes tunefully making a loud clang as she ran down the short staircase. Logan reached the floor of the Hanger, continuing his slow walk away from the Jet. At Madeline's entry his head lifted slowly and a weak smile gradually lit up his face. The anger in his face simmered as a smile rose the corner's of his lips, "Hey kid.." he said softly as he reached her.
"I've missed you," replied Madeline with a gentle grin. She glanced at him up and down, quickly sensing his discomfort, "Are you hurt?" she quickly asked, voice taking a worried tone.
"Oh, I came out of the Amazon just peachy," said Logan, now turning his head to give a glare behind his shoulder, directed at Gambit, "It's on the way home where my injuries came. Ironic, huh?"
"Yes, we need to go and talk to the Professor about that, amongst other things," said Scott pointedly as he walked past Logan.
Madeline wheeled her eyes around the group around Logan, giving each of them a glare as if they were all to blame for her father's injuries. Her eyes especially narrowed upon Scott as he spoke, "So you're just gonna leave my dad like this?"
"Kid, Cyclops is learning – I don't need medical assistance – ever."
"What about the Liberty Island incident?" inputted Storm as she walked past Logan, giving the man a gentle smile at his insistence.
"That was different," Logan quickly responded, "That was Rogue."
"Come on Logan," said Scott as he climbed up the steps of the Hangar, "The sooner we see Charles, the sooner we can then go and shower and change into clean clothes."
Logan let out a sigh as his eyes followed Scott across the room, "Fine.." he uttered quietly before dropping his eyes back upon Madeline, "I'll come and see you soon? Ok?"
"Alright, I'll probably be in the library doing some work."
"Work?"
Madeline gave a chuckle, "Professor Xavier kept me busy whilst you were away. I don't mind, it's interesting stuff."
"Oh.." Logan made an unsure shrug, "Well, I guess that's fine."
Madeline smiled gently at Logan before she slipped her arms about him and proceeded to hug him, "See you later."
"Yeah," said Logan softly, his broad arms nestling around the girl's lithe shoulders. However he made a faint wince as their hug closed and he pulled away, holding his chest, "Still not comfortable," he murmured softly, pulling the material of shirt away from the wound.
Madeline's frowned, gently taking her lower lip in her teeth, "Ah, sorry."
But Logan just shook his head dismissively at her, giving the young woman a reassuring smile, "I'll talk to you later, alright, kid?" He grinned before turning and stepping around her, following after the rest of the X-Men. Madeline waved them off with a small smile, glad to have Logan home.
"I am thoroughly disappointed," came the low voice of Processor Charles Xavier. He studied Gambit from his seat at his desk with a still and unflinching stare. Scott, who was stood importantly at the side of Xavier, had just told the Professor the events that occurred on the way home to the mansion.
Gambit turned his eerie red eyes away from Charles with a faint snort. He was sat idly on the couch by the window and merely turned his head to look out of the window with little interest to the solemn reprimanding from the Professor.
"You know these are difficult times, Remy, we do not need fights between us," continued Charles, watching Gambit sternly
Gambit made another sound, this one sounding like an untroubled scoff, "Don't see why y'all are pointin' da blame on me. Not my fault. Ya must know what a brute he is, can't control 'is temper."
Logan was stood far from the others as usual, and stood leaning upon a tall bookcase with his arms folded over his chest and his eyes narrowed upon Gambit.
"Not your fault?" came a voice. Scott, "How can it not be your fault? We saw what you did!"
"He made me!" responded Gambit with a cold glare being sent to Logan, "He attacked first."
"Yeah, and I stopped," growled Logan, "But, no.. oh no, you had to go and push me that little bit further didn't you?" He had risen off the wall and was taking slow steps across the room to the couch Gambit had idly collapsed upon.
"Ain't my fault you got a bad temper is it, Wolvie?"
"Don't call me that!" Logan barked, now stood right beside the couch, a hand lurched down and grabbed Gambit by the neck of his vest. He proceeded to pull Gambit's face close to his own, "All the time you wind me up!" he cried into the man's face.
At the pull, Gambit gave his own snarl; ignoring the fact he was getting himself into some hot water, "See! Look at 'ow he treats me!"
"I don't blame him!" cried Storm, walking towards them to intervene before there was another battle, "You encourage him, Gambit." She then swivelled her eyes to Logan as she reached him, and calmly placed her hand on his bulging upper arm, which had clenched up with muscles as his grip squeezed tighter and tighter on Gambit's clothes. "Drop him Logan, we don't need another fight."
But Logan didn't respond instantly, he continued to burn his narrowed glare into Gambit's swirling gaze of red and black.
This time, Charles intervened, "Stop this at once, both of you." The Professor calmly placed his eyes upon the back of Logan, "Logan."
With the reassuring touch to his arm, and the strong words from Charles, Logan obligingly released his grip from Gambit, but dropped the man heavily down onto the couch as a warning.
"At last," sighed Scott with a shake of his head and turned to look back down at Charles, "Well, Professor, we found the Government building in the Amazon; we have set up recording equipment to monitor their activities."
Charles nodded his head slowly in response, "Good, but did you see any Sentinels? We are still not completely sure if that is where they come – "
"Oh, we're sure," broke in Logan with an unashamed snarl, "A pair of 'em found me and Storm."
Immediately, Charles spun his gaze upon Logan, listening, before looking to Storm, "Are you both all right?"
"We are now," said Storm as truthfully as she could, "but by no means are they an easy opponent, Professor. They are harmless to physical attacks, I managed to stun one with electricity, and the other was thrown into the river, but punches and kicks are nothing, in fact, they help the Sentinels, gives them something to throw you with. We're not strong enough.." she continued quietly, sharing a glance with Logan.
"We've thought about this," then said Siren with an escalating smile, she turned his eyes to Scott pointedly as she spoke, "Haven't we, Scott?"
Eyes of the room all fell upon Siren as she spoke, and then automatically upon Scott as he was addressed. With the expectant gazes upon him, Scott shifted uncomfortably, "Er..." he began rather unprofessionally, "Well, Siren and I discussed this a few nights ago.. because I was feeling under confident about the troubles ahead.. and we thought that maybe it would be a good time to get some training done."
"We already train," said Storm with a curiously tilt of her head.
Scott nodded quickly, "Yes, I know, but we often do it individually due to lesson scheduling.. and well, this isn't your average training, I believe we need to be taught more," he made a faint sigh, "Siren knows more about it that me, you tell them, Siren."
"Fine," said Siren with a small chuckle before she swept calmly to the centre of the room. She turned, gave everyone a glance before speaking, "Basically, we all have different fighting styles, oui? Therefore, if they are implemented into each other we will become a stronger opposition. And at the same time, we'll become stronger psychically, and it will mentally prepare us." She finished with a great breath of air before turning her eyes upon Charles, "What do you think?"
Charles folded his hands together in front of him whilst he gave Siren a studying gaze, "It sounds interesting," he answered, "But who is going to teach you?"
"The one who knows most about fighting," answered Siren happily, then jerking a thumb over to Logan, "Him."
Logan's relaxed expression froze into a tight stare and he abruptly stood up off his lean on the wall, "What?" he cried, "I ain't no teacher!"
"Ah, but you are the best here at physical fighting," said Siren with a smile.
"But like Storm said, those Sentinels don't respond to physical attacks!"
Storm shrugged slowly, "Probably would if we were stronger. Even you managed to draw blood when you hit the one in the jungle, imagine if we could all do that, with our mutant powers as well."
Logan made a low sigh, doing his usual sign of discomfort as he ran a hand through his hair, "Oh, I don't know.."
"Sounds stupid," declared Gambit to the room, "I ain't been ordered around by dat brute."
"You will!" cried Siren to her brother with her hands upon her hips.
"I'll do it," said Logan, liking the idea of bossing around Gambit, "You're right, everybody needs to strengthen up for the Sentinels," he cast his eyes upon Gambit, a slight smirk forming at his mouth.
"Well," said the Professor, his face forming the first smile that morning, "There is nothing else I have to discuss at this moment in time, I will ask you to return if I find any more information about the Sentinels, I will keep a look out over Cerebro. And Logan? We shall discuss this new training scheme tomorrow morning."
"Sure," said Logan with a calm shrug.
"Yay, shower time!" said Siren happily, running for the office doors first, "I stink!"
Scott gave the retreating woman an amused smirk, shaking his head idly as he walked out of the office with the rest of the X-Men, each bidding their farewell to Charles.
As the day progressed, the X-Men settled over their daily activities, some holding lessons, others just relaxing. Aurora had ventured outdoors since her earlier shower and chance of clothes. She had walked out across the damp grass that now showed little signs of the previous snow; it was now a carpet of plush healthy green. And whilst two legs had walked slowly through the wavering blades of sweet grass, in the next few seconds, paws had replaced delicate feet and the tall body of the ebony haired woman was now that of a large but familiar sleek haired panther. She dropped down quietly in the grass, giving a slow 'mrowl' of content as she lay under the canopy of a large branched tree. The sky above lacked any evidence of clouds and a watery sheen of pale blue washed over the afternoon sky with a bitter sunlight being thrown down over the cool grounds.
The continuous sounds of comfort sustained their rumbling sounds to the surrounding area as Aurora stretched idly upon her back, rolling over once in the grass before continuing to lay on her front with her four legs tucked neatly beside her large feline body. Her sleekly shaped head lifted from her paws slowly as she turned her head slowly to scan across the grounds with her sharp-eyed gaze. From under the shadow of the tree, the only obvious signal of her presence was the double glow of electric yellow eyes, since her dark coat blended her into the shadows seamlessly.
Behind her, her long slim tail waved slowly in cautious curling motions, doubling up on itself before unfolding and shifting side to side idly. Her ears twisted slowly to the array of sounds about her, from the chirrups of the birds in the above tree, to the insects in the grass.. and to the footsteps coming down across the earth.
Instantly her eyes sliced across to the side with only a slight motion of her head to see Madeline – Logan's daughter – walking across the grounds. She had come away from the area of pathways and ponds to venture beyond the hedges to trail the outer edges of the grounds, along where the benches sat besides the large orchard of the boundary. Aurora made a slight snort under her breath as she watched the younger woman walk across the grass, her head turning to admire the lawns around her.
Then, suddenly, Aurora had a nasty idea developed in her mind. Madeline still didn't know of Aurora's mutation, she probably didn't know many of the others for that matter. And so, with a mischievous attitude upon her, Aurora rose languidly to her four paws, then lowering her front half to extend across the thick grass in an almighty stretch with a loud yawn bellowing from her heaving lungs. Such a yawn crossed on a roar.
As expected, Madeline's face suddenly changed to an alarmed expression and her head spun at the vociferous sounds pummelling the nearby air, "What the hell?" Aurora heard the woman mutter under her breath, feral ears picking it up easily. Aurora displayed a wide smirk at the response, her array of pointed panther teeth baring and glinting in the dim sunlight.
This was a sight that Madeline dawned her startled gaze upon. As soon as her eyes locked with the piercing yellow, she made a choked gasp, staggering backwards. When Aurora noticed that Madeline had found her, she lifted fully from her stretch to step forward slowly on her paws, exiting the shade of the tree and allowing the sunlight to spill over her glossy form. Madeline still backed away, the fear evident in her wide eyes and frozen face. This thrilled Aurora all the more, and with a throaty chuckle in her throat, she continued to take slow steps forward before her body tensed and bowed in what was unmistakably a readying pounce.
This seemed to be the last straw for Madeline, who made a terrified cry and span on her feet, sharply sprinting up the grounds at a furiously fast pace, her legs spreading wide and hitting the ground with dull thumps as the woman desperately ran to the safety of the building.
Once Madeline was out of earshot, Aurora relaxed out of the stance with a tune of laughter, panther body falling on it's back as the fur faded into her flesh to reveal Aurora collapsed on her back in the clumps of grass, laughing at the event – luckily she had enough concentration even with the fit of laughter to make sure her clothes returned with her body.
"Now, that was naughty, Lou," came a familiar voice through the air.
Aurora, still chuckling under her breath looked up slowly to see Gambit walking towards her with a wide smile on his face. He had seen the happening from a distance. Aurora returned his expression with a roguish smirk; eyes alight with her fading laughter.
Gambit came upon the grounded body and he folded his arms slowly against the front of his black jumper and trench coat, "You are one playful kitty," he commented with a chuckle in his tone.
In response to this, the woman laid on the grass suddenly rose upwards to four paws, black fur sprouting from her soft flesh as she changed shape back to that of the panther. Gambit didn't look at all frightened by her change, he just smiled all the more, especially when she jumped towards him and flattened him down on the grass with a playful growl. Gambit fell onto his back with a faint grunt, looking up to watch the panther that sat on his torso, front paws upon his chest firmly. Aurora lowered her large black head to him slowly before she gave his cheek a playful lick before she stepped off his floored body, giving a sudden sway of her tail teasingly before she proceeded to walk across the lawns and away from Gambit.
In one of the corridors, Madeline speedily ran in, face wild with a panic and eyes alight with worry. Around the corner, she saw Logan walking, and immediately sprinted up to him with heavy gasps, "On the grounds!" she hurriedly breathed, "There's a p-panther, it just tried to bite me!" She was over exaggerating somewhat, but she didn't see any problem with panicking over this beast on the grounds of a school.
Logan at first look surprised at the sudden arrival of his daughter, and he then looked genuinely concerned when she began to talk. However, as soon as the word 'panther' was mentioned, his face darkened and he stepped around Madeline with clenched fists and stalked towards the patio doors. All he muttered was a very displeased sounding, "Aurora.."
Wow, that was a long chapter, that means long reviews doesn't it? Huh? Lol.
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