Chapter 9: Immediately

Ororo glided into the room and slowly lowered herself to the ground. The wind whipped around her body, causing her dress and hair to swirl wildly. It all stopped when she suddenly slammed the doors shut behind her. "Leave me."

Remy couldn't help but jump a little. His grin was quick to return to his face as he sauntered across the room. "Now chere…what makes you think I could do eva do somthin' like dat?" He reached out to take her hand.

She snapped it away. "Don't touch me. Not now." She could still feel the remnants of electricity coursing through her body, anxious to ground itself to the floor.

He frowned, but knew better than to question her further.

Ororo looked up at him, deciding whether to cry in frustration or throw her arms around her friend. Opting out of either, she pushed past him and began to unlace her shoe. "When did you get back?"

"Few hours ago."

"Hm," was her only response. She removed one black boot and turned her attention to the other. "Did you have a good time?"

Remy sat down on the chair beside her bed. "You know Remy, chere. Love to rustle de feathers ev'y now and den."

She slipped her foot out of the second boot, tossing it to the ground as she stood up. "So was there something you wanted?"

"Remy 'ave to want somethin' to see 'is Stormy?"

"I'm kind of busy, Gambit," she replied, pulling her sweatshirt over her head and dropping it on the floor.

He glanced through the window as the rain lightened. "Dat's pretty obvious."

Ororo followed his gaze. "I was in a bad mood, is all. I'm fine now."

Remy shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket, letting his head droop as he considered Ororo's last comment. "You mean dat, petite?"

Her eyes darted in his direction, but she said nothing.

He looked up, their eyes meeting. "'Roro?"

Shaking her head quickly, she responded bitterly. "What do you care?"

Remy was stricken, his face contorted in obvious hurt. "'ey now…"

"No, I mean it. This happened three weeks ago. Where were you then?"

"Remy 'ad no idea—"

"Of course not. Convenient."

"I wasn't even 'ere!"

"Exactly!" She moved closer to him, pointing a finger in his face. She responded, emphasizing each word, "You weren't here, Remy! You weren't here!"

He stood still, looking down at her hand inches from his face. It was shaking.

Ororo dropped her hand and turned around, mumbling, "It's becoming a pattern around here." She grabbed her discarded sweatshirt off of her floor and walked to her dresser.

Remy watched her open a drawer and stand motionless in front of it. "Stormy?" He heard her quiet sniffle and immediately crossed the room to stand by her side. "'ey, Stormy…" He put a hand on her back and she immediately fell into his embrace, her arms folded between their bodies.

She sobbed into his chest, her body trembling. "Oh, Remy. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't—"

He held her tightly, one hand rubbing her back gently. "Shhh." He pulled her over to the bed and sat down, still holding her tightly. "Talk to me, petite. Remy ain't goin' nowhere."

Logan pounded up the stairs to the loft he shared with Ororo. He knew he never should have popped his claws on Hank. That's the first thing they taught you at this school: never use your powers against a teammate.

Well, damn it, Hank was hardly a teammate anymore. Like 'Ro said, he left. He doesn't matter.

He shouldn't matter. Logan couldn't help but wonder why he cared so much. He knew Ororo loved him. In the end, it was her bed he crawled into at night, it was his name she spoke in the morning, and it was his arms that held her when—

Logan's ears perked as he reached the top of the stairs. Muffled voices escaped under the door. Logan gently pushed the door open just wide enough to see Ororo – his Ororo – clinging tightly to Remy.

His breath caught in his chest at the sight, but before he could respond in any way, he felt a slight tingle in his head.

Wolverine. Come to my office, please.

This ain't a good time, Chuck.

Immediately.

Logan blinked a few times to clear his head. He stole one last glance at the two sitting on Ororo's bed before sighing and retreating down the stairs.

The door slammed behind him as he entered the room, causing Jean, Rogue, and even Scott to jump.

The professor's eyes merely widened. "Ah, yes. Logan. Have a seat."

Logan glanced just over the professor's shoulder and saw Hank sitting on the window ledge. He stifled a growl, remaining motionless in the middle of the room. "I'm fine here. So what's goin' on Chuck?"

"Well, thanks to some very sloppy cover-ups, I believe we've found your man."

Logan moved closer to the desk. "Nast? Where?"

Scott leaned forward and slid a surveillance photo on the desk in front of Logan. "His main base is some farming community in the Midwest."

"Main? Whatdya mean?" Logan could feel his veins pulsing with anger. "How many o' these hell-holes he got set up?"

Ororo closed the door softly behind her and Remy. She looked at Logan, face flush and veins popping. Charles definitely had bad news.

Remy obviously hadn't noticed. He slapped a hand on Logan's back and grinned foolishly. "'ey, long time no see, mon ami."

After stealing a glance at Ororo hiding by the door, he violently shrugged Remy's hand off. "Git offa me, Gambit."

"Ah, Remy LeBeau. I'll have to meet with you later. As for your question, Logan, there are three – California, Upstate New York, and Indiana. California has been completely abandoned, but we are still concerned about the satellite compound up North and the main base. Jean will take Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Iceman to Buffalo. Cyclops, you will lead a team to Indiana comprised of Wolverine, Storm, Gambit, Shadowcat, and Colossus."

Peter shifted uncomfortably in the corner. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and cross his arms over his chest.

Kitty looked up at him and instinctively brought her hand to his back. She whispered, "You okay?"

He glanced at her quickly before turning back to the Professor. "I am not sure, Professor."

"Colossus?"

"I think, perhaps, I have done all I can."

"Let me go." All eyes turned to Hank, sitting just behind the Professor.

Jean and Logan were the first to reply. "No!" they exclaimed simultaneously. Jean frowned at Logan before standing and turning to the Professor. "He can't, Charles. He's too weak. He's unstable."

"He's right here. And he's going. Jean, I understand your concerns, but I'm okay, really."

Jeans eyes pleaded with Hank to change his mind. He continued, "You need someone in there who has seen these guys, who's been in these places."

Resigned, Jean sat backed down.

After several moments of silence, Xavier responded, "All right, then. It's settled. Beast, you will replace Colossus in Cyclops's group."

Ororo spoke up. "When do we leave?"

"Immediately."

Logan delivered a cold glare to Ororo before uncrossing his arms, pushing himself off the wall, and leaving the office.

A shiver ran down her back. She furrowed her brows in confusion, obviously hurt by his look, as well as his abrupt exit.

She glanced around the room, noticing that everyone's confused eyes were focused on her. She started to speak, to try and explain what she herself didn't understand, but quickly gave up. Instead, Ororo turned and followed down Logan's path.

It didn't take long for her to catch up with him at the elevator. She slammed her hand between the doors to keep them from closing any further. As soon as they jerked open she stepped inside.

"What was that about?"

Logan punched his thumb into the button reading SB – sub-basement. He stood by the door as the elevator hummed into motion. "What're ya talkin' about?"

Ororo responded to his warped reflection on the doors. "Don't do that. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"I don't wanna git into it with ya. Not now."

"Logan—"

The bell dinged and the doors opened. "We gotta mission, Storm." With that, he pounded down the hall toward the men's locker room to change into his uniform.

Ororo stood in the hallway for a few minutes before sighing and walking the opposite direction toward the women's locker room.

"You do not have to go, you know."

"Yeah, I do."

"No, you –"

"Peter, look. It's my job. This is what being an X-Man's all about. If you don't wanna rejoin, that's okay, really, but this is something I have to do. It's my decision."

They stood just outside the door to the hanger, Peter leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. Dismally, he looked down at Kitty. Somewhere between Xavier's and Russia, she had grown up. She wasn't the same fourteen year old girl. He loved her years ago, he knew that. But this was different. His heart didn't skip beats, he didn't break into cold sweats, he didn't get nervous and jittery around her. His heart thundered painfully in his chest. He was scared to be without her. He let out a deep sigh. "Yes, I know."

Kitty smiled before wrapping her arms around Peter. Leaning into his chest, she promised, "We'll find out who did this."

He wrapped one arm around her waist and brought the other to the back of her head, pressing her closer to him. Closing his eyes, he whispered, "It is not them I'm worried about, my Katya."