Disclaimer : I don't own X-Men
Chapter 27 Learning how to fly.
Rogue holds up a hand and concentrates. Immediately, the flames recede, leaving nothing but smouldering debris. Rogue lets out an exhausted and relieved sigh. Bobby and Rogue get to their feet. Pyro groans.
Still a little dazed, he grabs his lighter and stands up to see his extinguished flames. Finally, Logan stands. The wound now completely healed. The kids stare at him, amazed. Thunder echoes from above and the lawn is blasted by heavy wind.
The cops look up. Rogue, Pyro, Logan, and Bobby, watch the X-Jet descend from dark clouds. It lands in the street and the ramp lowers. Logan and the kids run across the lawn. As his comrades stare in awe, one cop pulls out his gun and aims, his hand trembling.
Logan stops, and stares back, defiant. Logan keeps walking. The others run up the ramp, but Bobby stops and turns back. He looks at his house and sees his family, watching from an upstairs window. William is dumbfounder. Ronny is wide-eyed. Madeline is crying. Bobby stares at them for a beat, then turns around and heads up the ramp.
Logan and the kids strap themselves into seats. Storm and Jean turn and see Logan. She smiles. He winks. Nightcrawler pops up from behind a chair. The kids scream.
"Guten Morgan." Nightcrawler smiles
Guten Abend Who the hell are you? " Logan asked
"Kurt Wagner, but in the Munich circus I was known as "The Incredible Nightcraw-" Nightcrawler began
"Save it. Storm? " Logan interrupted
"We're out of here." Storm replied
Storm pulls on the stick, and they lift off. Two more cruisers pull up in front of the house. Cops and neighbours watch in awe as the jet roars away.
"Why were all the cops there?" Jean asks
"Bobby's brother called them."
"Why would your brother do that Bobby?" Rogue asks
"He hates mutants...a lot."
"Doesn't give him permission to call the police." Storm said
"He was panicking, he didn't know better."
"Why are you still defending him, he made sure we were almost caught." Pyro asks
"He's still my brother."
Rogue sighed and walked to Wolverine and kissed him softly before sitting on his lap, her head resting on his shoulder. He lays his arm around her and Rogue falls bit by bit in sleep. Listening to the conversation.
When she woke up, the first sound she heard was already an annoying one.
Click, click, click, click, click, click, click,…"Pyro, stop with that lighter."
"Why should I?"
"It annoys the hell out of me." Logan grumbled
"Yeah, and it's disturbing." Rogue fills in
"Why ?"
"What ?" Rogue asks disbelieving
"Why is it disturbing."
"Because we can't concentrate if you keep making noise with it." Jean cuts in
Pyro rolled his eyes but didn't put the lighter away, he just held it . Rogue looked at Logan and he smiled at her. She smiled back. Logan turned to Jean and Storm who were in the cockpit of the X-Jet
"How far are we? " Logan asks
"We're coming up on the mansion now. " Jean answers
Suddenly, a monitor beeps, and displays two red blips.
"I've got two signals approaching. " Storm mentions
Two F-16 Fighters roar through the clouds, coming up behind the X-Jet. Through the window, Storm and Jean see the fighters flanking them on either side. The radio crackles.
"Unidentified aircraft, you are ordered to descend 20,000 feet and return with out escort to Hanscom Air Force Base. Failure to comply will result in the use of extreme force. " A voice speaks trough the radio. Storm turns to Logan.
"Somebody's angry. "
" I wonder why. " Logan glares at Pyro
"What are we going to do? " Rogue asks
"They're falling back... " Storm tells while a loud beep goes off. "They're marking us. They're going to fire. "
"What! " Logan asks disbelieving
"HANG ON! " Storm screams
The X-Jet banks and dives, trying to shake off the fighters as the F-16s each fire a missile. The X-Jet banks hard, and barrel rolls, just barely dodging the exploding missiles. The fighter jets are still on their trail. The kids are trying not to panic. Nightcrawler makes the "sign of the cross."
Pyro looked at Nightcrawler and snorted "Like that is going to help us." He thought while rolling his eyes
"Don't we have any weapons in this heap? " Logan asks
Jean glances over to Storm. Storm nods. Her eyes burn white. Dark rumbling clouds begin to form in front of the X-Jet. Lightning flashes. They head straight into the eye of the growing storm, the F-16s right behind.
Whispy clouds begin to swirl, faster and faster, twisting into long, thin funnels.
One forms, and another, until the sky is filled with a dozen roaring tornados. They writhe like giant serpents, allowing the X-Jet to pass between them. The F-16s aren't as lucky, they dart and weave, trying to avoid Storm's wrath.
The fighter pilot has a lock on the X-Jet. He's about to pull the trigger when two tornados slam into the F-16 from above and below. It's yanked up and hurled across the sky, tumbling like a toy.
The pilot ejects. The remaining fighter skilfully swerves around the funnel clouds, still in pursuit. Jean and Logan look at the beeping radar screen, then nervously to Storm.
Storm gets angrier as the remaining F-16 banks and rolls, avoiding the tornados, quickly gaining on the X-Jet. Suddenly, the clouds around the F-16 begin to swirl, until it's completely encased in a long dark tunnel, a tornado stretches across the sky.
The F-16 begins to toll wildly inside the tornado, losing control, but manages to fire two more missiles, just before the tornado bends and hurls the F-16 to the ground
The pilot ejects, but the missiles continue on their warpath, easily passing through the storm. Storm yanks the stick back. Jean stares at the radar screen: two blips rush towards them. Her stare becomes more intense as she concentrates.
The X-Jet's wings fold up as it flies faster out of the storm, the tornados dissipating behind it. Both missiles roar towards the jet...but suddenly one missile begins to wobble...Storm stares at the radar, the blips are getting closer, but one of them starts to veer away.
Storm looks over to see Jean, staring at the radar screen, lost in a trance. Logan watches, astonished.
"Jean? " Storm asks Jean
Jean holds her head tightly, concentrating..."this isn't easy." She mutters
Close on the missile: It wobbles, a few lights on its surface blink off—it suddenly veers straight up—and explodes. Rogue is frantically trying to buckle herself in. She pushes one buckle in, the opposite one pops out. She tries another, another. Finally, two hold. She presses the third, it snaps in. She puts the fourth and final buckle into the mechanism, and all three fall out.
Rogue tries again, looking nervously towards the cockpit. Jean Grey uses all of her powers trying to stop the remaining missile. Concentrating so hard that everything else drops out. She closes her eyes.
The X-men wait... On the radar screen the second missile is getting closer... Jean opens her eyes, terrified.
Jean silently mutters "Oh God. "
The missile explodes—the X-Jet disappears in a cloud of fire and smoke. A large hole is blown in the roof of the jet. It decompresses, everyone's screams are drowned by shrieking wind. Rogue is instantly ripped out of her seat, sucked out of the hole. She falls, screaming, into the quiet night.
"ROGUE !" Logan screams, trying to go after her but Storm holds him
"Don't ! It's to dangerous !"
"I can't leave her there !"
"Nightcrawler ! Can you transport yourself to her and then back to the plane?"
"I can try."
"Do it then !"
Nightcrawler nods and disappears in a black cloud of smoke. Logan is nervous that Rogue won't make it but believes in Nightcrawler. The jet speeds away high above her. Nightcrawler suddenly appears and grabs her.
Rogue and Nightcrawler reappear in a haze of smoke, falling to the ground. The X-Men stare at them in awe. In the cockpit Storm and Jean work the control, trying to stabilize the jet. Through the windshield, the Earth rises to meet them with dizzying speed.
"Rogue! Are you alright ?" Logan asks while checking her for wounds
"I'm fine Logan, thanks to Kurt."
"es war kein Problem an allen."
"Still, thanks for saving me." Rogue smiled
Logan hugs her and walks over to the cockpit after kissing her on the top of her head.
Storm strains, trying to pull out of the nosedive. The altimeter shows their descent, 3000 feet, 2500, 2000... Jeans hand reaches over and grabs Logan's.
She turns to him, eyes tearing up. Logan stares back, surprised. The plane is getting lower, lower. Storm closes her eyes, silently she whispers "This is it."
"Uh, Storm? " Nightcrawler cuts in
Storm turns...Nightcrawler is pointing at the hole in the roof, which is bending and twisting, slowly repairing itself. The screaming wind dies down to a whistle, as the hole closes completely. The, the falling jet begins to slow.
"Jean? " Storm is astonished
Jean stares at the controls. She's just as stunned.
Jean shakes her head "It's not me."
The ground is getting closer. And with a slight jolt, they stop. The mutants stare at each other, confused and shocked. They look out the windshield. Below them, a forest clearing, and two figures staring up at them...
The X-Jet hovers in the air, nose down, only fifteen feet off the ground. Magneto stands in front of the jet, holding it in place with an outstretched hand. Mystique is next to him.
"When will you people learn how to fly? " He asks smiling
End of chapterI hope you all like this story
R&R please : all reviews make me smile and I cannot lie.