"Who is that?", Storm asked as Peggy shook her head. "It's… it's Stark…", Peggy was greatly confused especially after quite a lot of time had passed since the last contact with her original world that she, Steve and Bucky were from.
Howard shouted, "Yes, it's me, Peggy! I can't hold this for long! Zombies are infecting everyone! Can you please take some people?! I can't come. I got bitten, and I only got an hour left in me before I forget and change, and I don't want to hurt my son!".
"What!?", Peggy was startled by the wave of information that she was given. "No time! You must!", Stark shouted.
Peggy nodded, "Okay, okay! Send them!", and Howard looked relieved, shouting back, "Jarvis, tell the others!", and an English voice replied, "Yes, sir!", as Howard reached over out of the portal's view to pick up a slumbering toddler.
He murmured softly, "I'm so sorry, Anthony...You deserve a better father than me...I can't even save my own wife from this...", kissing his dark brown hair before looking at Peggy, "His name is Anthony Howard Stark, Tony for short...Will you take care of him for me?".
Peggy, already standing up and walking to the wall of the portal, tears in her eyes, "I will, Howard.", and Howard gave her a tearful smile before squeezing Tony softly, "You were the best part of my life, Tony. Never forget your legacy. I had to give him a strong sleeping pill. He will wake up sooner or later. Never wanted him to see me turn into his greatest nightmare.", as he took a deep breath, and brought him through the portal, tears streaming down his face.
Peggy grabbed Tony affectionately and gently, holding him against her shoulder, and Howard gave a sob as shouts came along, and he turned around, scanning the people out of the portal's view, "Where's Jarvis?".
"He opted to stay and fight, give us some time.", a voice replied, "I'm sorry, Howard. Did Tony go through successfully?".
Storm blinked in confusion as the voice sounded familiar, so familiar, and Howard nodded, "Yeah, he did...Peggy got him...Ready, Jean?".
The voice replied, "We're ready, Howard. Kids, first! Rogue, take the little ones!", and another familiar voice responded, "Got it, Jean! Come on, fellas, it's okay. We're gonna be safe.".
"Rogue… Jean… couldn't be…", Storm whispered as several people stared to come through. "Hurry, hurry!", Peggy ordered as the group was trying to move fast.
The young ones were quite in the number of 10, in different ages from 7 to 11, and with Rogue holding the youngest, she moved through the portal, and nodded to Howard who called to Jean, "Okay, Angel, take the teens!".
As Rogue settled the young ones, she caught sight of Storm, and gasped in shock, "S-Storm?", and Storm breathed shakily with tears, "Marie.", using Rogue's old name.
"You're… you're alive…", Rogue whispered before she ran over to Storm and hugged her. Storm widened her eyes and was about to warn her, knowing Rogue's powers before realizing that she is touching her like a normal girl! "Rogue, you, you're controlling your powers!", with a laugh and a sob.
Rogue smiled widely, "Took lots of practice, but yeah.", before widening her eyes as she then realized that Storm is pregnant, "You, you're a mom?".
Storm nodded with a smile, hugging her back just as gently and warmly, "That's right.", as Angel came through the portal with 5 teenagers, and Jean's voice grunted, "Barricaded the doors.", before joining Howard, and hugged him, "Thank you, Howard, for everything.".
Howard smiled softly, "No worries, Jean. The legacy of this earth lives on in those people on the other side. Now, get over there, and Jean, I'm sure your Professor Xavier will be very proud of you.".
Jean nodded with a tearful smile, "Goodbye, Howard.", and stepped through the portal, with Howard smiling bittersweetly at the portal window, at everyone as he held a remote with a button, along with a gun. "At least General Phillips loaned me plenty of dynamite before he died as a soldier and a hero... Goodbye, Peggy. Tell Tony I'll always be in his heart, and that I will always love him.".
Peggy nodded with tears, "I will, Howard.", and Howard chuckled, "Tell Steve that he was right...We will always protect the ones we love. This is Howard Anthony Walter Stark, signing off.", before shooting above the portal door, to the arc reactor, and the portal became no more, smaller and smaller with the glimpse of Howard turning around and pushing the button with a defiant expression, and then nothing.
Peggy sighed as she closed her eyes, privately mourning Howard but probably the entire planet as well from the sounds of things. Steve and Bucky would not enjoy hearing this. It sadly couldn't have been helped, she thought. Whatever caused problems, it probably was too much even for them.
It was chaos as Angel directed the surviving teens to look after the younger ones, and he looked around, realizing that he's in a safe place before he saw a familiar woman, hugging Rogue, and he gasped, "Storm?!".
Jean heard him, and looked over, and blinked as she read the aura of the woman and widened her eyes in shock and disbelief as it was the same aura as Storm's, no, it was Storm herself! "Storm!".
"Jean! You too?", Storm waved at her as the redhead ran up to her to embrace her in a hug. "You... you made it too?", Jean gaped in amazement.
"Yes and no... in a lot of ways... only recently escaped Gallaxhar's captivity.", Storm explained. Jean widened her eyes, "Logan, Kitty, Hank! Are they here too?", and Storm nodded with a smile, "We're all here, Jean...They will be so shocked to see all of you guys...How did you...?".
"Xavier...He told us to try to escape in the X-Wing ship...He gave us time...We are the only ones left...We had Emma, and some of the students...I didn't know how exactly, but I flashed us out of Earth's reach before it exploded, but we unfortunately were pushed back by the aftereffects, and before we could even control the ship to get to Gallaxhar, we went a long way, and we got lost, wandering before we crashed into Howard's Earth during the beginning of the zombie mess...", Jean sighed heavily, "The zombies got Emma and the other students. Nightcrawler, Colossus, Iceman, and...Spyke...", grief in her heart.
Storm's heart broke in half, "No! Not Evan!", sobbing as she broke down in tears, and Ciro gently yet hastily pushed by Jean and Rogue, shushing Storm as she kissed her cheek, "Ororo, please, don't scare Minna...I'm here, I'm here...We're all here.", holding her, rubbing her baby bump.
Storm presumed that her nephew, Evan aka Spyke died in the mass murder on her old Earth, and she grieved for him like the other X-Men during her captivity, but to hear this, to know that he was literally alive this whole time, and now, zombies got him.
"Do I dare even ask what happened? Or shall just zombies be enough?", Peggy asked as Jean nodded. "It's... it's too painful right now to explain... but, it's another lost Earth...", Jean said as Peggy sighed.
"Well, you're safe now, here, I promise you that; Gallaxhar has been destroyed and no other major threats to the planet are around at least that we know of.", Peggy said.
Jean looked relieved to hear the news of Gallaxhar's death and glanced at Tony in Peggy's arms..."Are you really going to take care of him?", and Peggy nodded somberly, "It's the least we can do in honor of Howard...I am sure Steve will agree...Did he say anything of his age and birthday?".
Jean sighed deeply, "His birthday is May 29, 1970...So he just turned 3 years old.", and Peggy replied, "Thank you...for helping Howard...for all those lives you saved here...Luckily, we do have plenty of room here in Libra Haven.", with a small smile as she glanced around at Rogue, Angel, and the 15 young survivors.
"I'm guessing we have quite a lot of catching up to do... and sorting things out.", Jean glanced around as Peggy smiled.
"We were in the same boat for quite some time too.", Peggy told her. "But that's not important right now, obviously... what's important is at least calming everyone down.".
Peggy glanced at Storm who is struggling to calm down, even though she's in full grief again for now she knows her nephew's fate...She supposed it was better last time as she didn't know what exactly happened to Evan, and a quick death in the explosion would have been a small mercy...But zombies, that's even worse than death.
Ciro kept rubbing her baby belly, kissing her temple, cheek, and shoulder, wanting to reassure her in words, but not knowing what exactly to say, she only knew to stay really close to her mate, to be there for her, praying that Minna doesn't decide to be born on this day of both joyful and horrible events.
"She's... she's alright...", Storm whispered to Ciro as they kept rubbing her belly. "I think she knows I don't want her to be born right now... I don't hate you or anything, Minna, just... it's a really bad day for Mommy, you can already tell.".
Ciro felt a few kicks in response, and Ciro smiled, "I think she's willing to wait a bit longer until you're feeling better. Don't worry, Minna, your mama is going to take care of Mommy.".
"Thank you, Ciro...", Storm said as she leaned over to kiss Ciro on the cheek. "It's the least I can do for the woman that I love... after all, you're not the only one who's gone through quite a few losses...", Ciro reminded.
"I know, but I fear I've just lost so much more in such a short time.", Storm sighed heavily, tears still slipping down her cheeks.
Ciro nodded softly, understanding what her mate meant by that, and eventually, the day became less chaotic, with the new group assigned to two new hangers, and the afternoon became a party of celebrating and reminiscing as Shadowcat, Logan, and Beast returned to Libra Haven from their jobs or dates.
Wolverine aka Logan was beyond the most shocked out of the first group of X-Men as he reunited with Rogue, a daughter he was starting to see her as, and then there was Jean, one of his beloved crushes, but he had respectfully let her go as he saw that Jean was in a relationship with Scott Summers aka Cyclops.
There was also the matter of all the young refugees that had been brought along too, that would need quite a number of things to give them even a small helping hand to the new world they were in, such as new birth records and such.
Luckily, General Monger helped out in that, and with Angel aka Warren Worthington's expertise of being a lawyer as he had trained with his father and all, the new birth records and such was settled in little time.
Soon, with seeing Jean and the others in the mornings over the next week, Storm realized that it wasn't a dream at all, and they are really here, and she got better, and Minna sensed it all, ready to be born.
It was a fairly quiet morning for Storm, mostly catching up and at least assisting those that were still having some very tough PTSD from the nightmare they had escaped from; some of the group was taking it better than others.
"You alright?", Ciro asked as she walked in on Storm as she was getting ready to take a bath. Storm smiled at her, "Yeah. My back is getting sore again. I just want to soak in some warmth and all, you know?", and Ciro nodded, "Fair enough...Do you want a little snack as well?".
"Spoiling me, eh?", Storm giggled before nodding, "That sounds perfect. Sliced bananas with peanut butter, please.", and Ciro kissed her on the lips, "As you wish, Ororo.", before leaving Storm, keeping the bathroom a wee open.
Storm removed her robe, gently and slowly got into the tub, and gave out a blissful sigh as the warm water reached her sore muscles as she relaxed and settled for the next few minutes until she felt something change, and she saw a spot of water getting dark before shouting out in pain from the first contraction.
"Ororo?", Ciro rushed in as fast as possible as soon as she started hearing Storm making those sounds. "Is Minna coming?". Storm nodded as she gave a small, hurt smile.
"Yeah... I think she is... little brat couldn't have let me enjoy my bath.", Storm joked as she felt another contraction. "Careful... she might make the birth a lot more painful if you keep saying that.", Ciro chuckled as she slowly started to get things as ready as possible.
Storm chuckled softly before feeling another contraction, "Should those contractions be longer than this at first?", and Ciro frowned lightly before dipping her head into the water to take a look, and after a few seconds, after taking her head out, "You're 3/4 dilated already.", looking at Storm.
Storm widened her eyes, "She wants out fast.", before groaning at another contraction, "But should we wait for Mo to come? I mean you said you wanted him to witness the birth of his own niece since he wasn't there for Gizmo's birth.".
"I did... but there's also the problem I don't want to leave you and you are currently in the bath... unless you don't mind privacy with him around to see you in the tub.", Ciro pointed out.
Storm panted, looking at her, "Use your phone to call him, he's playing poker with Link and Logan in the boys' hanger... while you grab a long shirt from the dresser. I feel that it's easier to give birth here...I heard the others' stories that it is really painful while on bed or whatever...I don't care if my shirt gets wet. A dark one will do fine.", before crying out at another contraction.
"Okay then... that'll work.", Ciro gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and ran into the other room. "Just hold for a minute while I take care of it!", with a call out. "I'll try but I think she's on her own schedule!", Storm called back.
Storm breathed sharply through the next two contractions, hearing the faint thump of giant footsteps as Ciro returned to the bathroom with a dark shirt, helping put it over Storm as she tried to sit up, the shirt absorbing into the water, clinging to the skin, hiding her breasts and upper body.
Mo came in, along with Jean who smiled, "Hank taught me some things, luckily. I was in the neighborhood, talking to Mo. Ciro, you go in behind her, support her. Mo, lay the towels on the rim of the tub so she won't hurt her hands if she wants something more solid to hold into than a hand.".
Ciro nodded, stepping into the tub, not caring about her clothes getting wet as she went behind Storm, with her lap giving Storm a bit of leverage, as Mo grabbed soft, lush towels from the bars, putting them on the rim of the tub.
"Good! Storm, try to raise your legs up, perfect! She really wants to come out fast, you're all dilated now. Push after the contractions, okay? We're all here.", Jean replied.
"Thanks... I appreciate it.", Storm smiled as she had another contraction. "I know they said water births were a bit easier, but it doesn't feel like it...", giving out a bittersweet chuckle. "You're pushing a human life out of you... wasn't meant to be easy.", Ciro teased as she kissed her mate's cheek.
Storm chuckled, "Fair point.", before feeling another contraction, and pushed, grunting for a bit, and Jean nodded, "Good, good, breathe and push again.".
This continued for five minutes before Jean announced, "I see her peeking!", as Storm panted, and she grabbed into the towels on the rim of the tub, and took a deep breath, and pushed, crying out in pain as Jean reached into the water, "That's it, Storm!".
Storm can feel her daughter's head coming through the walls of her vagina as she pushed a moment longer before pausing for breath, hearing Jean call out, "She got your hair, Storm!".
"Is she almost out!?", Storm cried as she was just trying to keep going with a few more pushes. "Her shoulders are a bit stuck, but just another push or two and she should be almost free!", Jean told her.
Ciro caressed Storm's hair as she kissed her cheek, "You got this, my thunderstorm.", and Mo nodded, "Yeah, you can do it.".
Storm gave a small smile, and she let go of the rim, taking hold of Ciro's hand and Mo's hand on either side, and took a deep breath, pushing as she shouted out in pain, tears falling as she felt her daughter come out, and Jean laughed heartily as she brought up a squirming, wet, slightly bloody, crying baby girl out of the water, "Here she is!", bringing her to Storm who instantly took ahold of her daughter as Jean popped the drain, lowering the water down.
Storm sobbed happily as she held her daughter, "Hello, Minna...", seeing a remarkable mess of snow-white hair on Minna's head, her skin a medium chocolate tone just like Ciro's, and beautiful hazel eyes, having Storm's nose, and Storm's nephew, Evan's dimples along Ciro's smile...