Zero Hour II
Chapter 4
by
Nina
Disclaimer: All references to characters belonging to the X-Men Universe are © and TM the Marvel Comics Group, 20th Century Fox and all related entities.All rights reserved.
PS: In my mind's eye, the X-Men should be able to run Danger Room scenarios without "monitors" if they rank high enough on the team. So, my muse wins as far as that's concerned. Also, I see Sabertooth as a psycho, so I portrayed him as one - mind games at all. Again if you have a problem, talk to my muse. She's driving.
Jean, in her own stubborn way, had a point, but the way she was going about it was both wrong and dangerous. The child needed a stabilizing influence, and perhaps his time had come to provide it. He didn't want to intrude upon Nada's mind; her secrets were more than a little alarming and worse, he saw himself in some of her memories. Fortunately, Jean did not. But now he felt he had to intrude, to prevent her secrets from tumbling to the surface.
<Nada.>
Go away.
Charles sighed, recognizing his own mental shields in her mind.
<Child, I must insist. . . >
Nada projected a red monster with jagged teeth. Fuck you. That clear enough, Chuck?
Despite her brusqueness, Xavier smiled a little to himself. The response was all too familiar - perhaps even expected, considering her father.
<You can drop your facade, Nada. Your mental avatars have no place with me here, and I don't intend on going anywhere. Now, will you listen to reason, or will you keep us from helping you?>
He felt her barrier weaken, but she was still stubborn.
Don't intrude where you're not wanted. My mind is a dangerous place, and you've already seen too much of it.
<Have I?>
He felt her sigh. My body is charging. . . I can feel it. A few days, maybe less, and you won't have to worry about what you saw.In fact, I'll bet money that you won't even remember my name. I'll be a dream. . . perhaps a gleam in my father's eye.
She laughed, but the sound was harsh. Jean was right; her mental grip was slipping. She needed a release of some sort, and soon. Charles frowned, wondering about the repercussions if she did not. Would they all cease to exist? Or would they exist elsewhere. . . or elsewhen?
<Nada, for the last time--if you'll let us, we can help you. If not - >
If not, I'll help myself.
<No, Nada.>
Charles, I've made my decision. I'll end this, if I have to. It's time. . . Time. How's that for irony?
Her giggle became manic as he pulled out of her mind. His heart sank at her implications, but her choice was hers alone. Part of her decision relieved him. He felt relieved that he wouldn't have to deal with the issues, if she decided for herself.
God help us, all.
***
"A Shi'ar teenager? C'mon. That's stupid."
"Well, she got d'hair for it, don't she? What d'you t'inks d'story, if you so smart, neh?"
Bobby shrugged, and adjusted his cards. The smoky poker table was filled with the minority of X-Men who weren't on edge or ready to take people's heads off.
"Seems to me," he grunted, talking around the thick cigar in his mouth, "that somebody's seen her before."
"Like when, Drake? Did someone just 'happen' to forget to mention that she fell out of the sky last Tuesday?"
Bobby sneered at Warren. "Think about it, feather duster. Look what's been happenin' the past few days. Pins and needles, people flaking out. Ororo doesn't look like she's slept since she got here."
"So? She concerned. Ain't a crime." Gambit slapped the side of Bobby's head. "Snap out of it. Stuff like dat go on all da time. You t'ink you Monsieur Hercule Poirot, or somet'in?"
"Who?"
Remy grimaced. "Nevah mind, boy. You ain't got no culture. Whose turn is it?"
"Boys, boys," Warren said calmly. He had an evil leer on his face. "We're X-Men, right? If we want the truth, there are ways of getting it."
Remy fanned his face with his cards "Whoo, Angel-man. You dat bored? You willin' to face d'wrath o' Stormy?"
"She won't find out. But we will."
"Uh, huh." Remy threw out a poker chip, and it bounced into the pot. "I' believe dat when I see it."
"Well, let's make it worth our while, shall we? Loser of the next hand has to find out the truth."
"That's not fair!" Bobby hissed. "I haven't won a hand, yet."
A slow smile spread across Remy's face. The vision he had of Warren sneaking around the mansion, pretending to be the king of stealth, was too good to pass up.
"I'm in on dat deal. Drake?"
Bobby sighed miserably. "Hell, why not. It ain't like we've got anything better to do, until Magneto breaks down the door."
***
"Nada. Get up. Now."
"Fuck off."
She was shivering, but she had balls. He had to give her that. "Dammit, kid, I ain't gonna mince words with you. You get up, or I'm tossin' yer nekkid butt out the window."
Storm touched Wolverine's arm, but he brushed her fingers off. He knew 'Ro meant well, but if this kid was a combination of his and Storm's stubbornness, the light touch routine wouldn't cut it.
"Forget it, old man."
"You wanna play Amazon princess? Fine. We'll play Amazon princess."
"Logan, do you think - "
He glared at 'Ro, and she glared back. "Trust me. She's our kid. She ain't gonna go for mama's little speech."
Storm folded her arms. "Fine, do it your way. You would have, anyway."
He grinned and stomped over to Nada's bedside, yanking all the wires connected to her body.The machines beeped angrily, but Logan was beyond hearing them.
"Hey, what--!"
"Trust me. It's f'r yer own good." He grabbed the screaming girl, tossed her over his back, and opened the side window.
"What the hell're you doing?Put me down!"
"You gonna talk?"
"No!" He bent down and started shoving her head through the open window. She gasped, realizing she was two stories from the ground. "Yes, yes! Dammit, I'll talk. I'll talk! Just. . . put me inside. I'm afraid of heights!"
"I bet you are."
She trembled as he brought her in, and he got a good look at her from top to toe.Hank was right. Nada was totally their kid. She wasn't that big, just an inch or so taller than he was, but she had a swimmer's build.
"Asshole."
"Go take a shower. You stink."
"You gonna make me do that, too?"
He released his claws. "If I have to. I'm sure you've been spanked by the best, an' I'm the best at what I do."
She glared at him and was about to fight back, but he tossed a pile of clothes at her and shoved her into the bathroom. "An' don't come out 'til yer clean."
He chuckled after a while, but he felt Storm's rage grow quietly behind him.
"She's fine, 'Ro."
"She'll hate you when she comes out."
"Wrong. She loved every second of it. My guess is she missed it.I probably used ta do this to her all the time, while you'd sit and complain."
"Complain?" Storm jumped to her feet. "That's no way to treat a young girl, Logan! No wonder she is so defiant. You raised her like a hellion!"
"Me? There's two parts to every story, Storm. Your chapter ain't lookin' too high an' mighty, either."
"My chapter? How rich, coming from a man who thinks violence solves every ill, from world domination to the common cold!"
"Guys. . . "
"Heh. You think 'peace' is gonna cut it with a kid whose mama hurls lightnin' bolts, then smiles at the bad guys when they squirm?"
"Uh, Wolverine. . . "
"I do not smile when they squirm! What an awful thing to say! At least I don't cut them up like last year's roast!"
"Storm. . . ?"
"Naw. You just french fry 'em. That's waaay better."
"If you think - "
Nada shattered the air with a piercing whistle between her teeth, which made Wolverine snarl.
"Dammit, do you know how freakin' loud that is?"
She nodded, grinning.
"Yes," Storm said. She folded her arms and smirked. "Definitely your child."
***
She shook, but not from cold. She could no longer pretend that this reality didn't exist, that this scenario was all a passing dream. She could no longer say that these people were not her parents, and she could no longer lock this time and moment away into the hidden part of herself that she dare not touch. This is it. This is home. Hope had begun knocking on her door, and she hated its cheery presence.
A breeze caught Nada's short locks, and Wolverine couldn't help thinking how her hair, which was as soft as Storm's, stuck out at all sides when the wind hit it. . . like his. The three of them had been quiet for over an hour, content with simply walking across the grounds until she could find the words to explain how she arrived now, in the past. She had a vacant look in her eye that was disconcerting, but their walk was calming her frayed nerves. Logan felt Nada's pulse slow down with each step, until she was almost near normal.
"You. . . used to take me over that hill," she finally whispered. Storm and Wolverine followed her gaze, and saw the hill where they had made love the night before. "Used to point out the constellations and tell me all about other alien homeworlds."
She stopped and stared into the sky. Her low, gravelly voice was actually a good combination of his and 'Ro's.Had that smoky, sultry quality that made men wild. He wondered if he'd fought off the mutant boys for her, like a good dad would've.
"Uncle Charles showed me Lilandra's picture, and I remembered squealing out the quadrant of her planet home. He was so pleased you taught me how to read and understand the stars. That knowledge really came in handy, later on."
Ororo wrapped her arms around Nada's shoulders, and the girl shuddered.
"Nada. Please, for our peace of mind, help us understand what has happened. None of this makes any sense to us, and we must know how to proceed. We may inadvertently say or do the wrong thing if we have nothing on which to base our experiences."
Her voice trembled. "I've already made one mistake, by staying around the mansion too long. Beast got my DNA print and fingered me as your child, so now I've created another alternate reality."
Wolverine shook his head. "You're not in an alternate reality, kid. Yer just too early, that's all."
Storm's shocked eyes snapped up, but he kept talking. "We're the real deal. In about. . . " He checked her over and twirled her around. ". . . 20 years or so, we'll be staring at'cha, and you'll look exactly the same. We'll laugh over this li'l incident like nothin' happened."
Nada worked her jaw and walked quickly away from them. No, don't say that. Don't even let me hope - please, no. Leave me alone. . .
Wolverine figured Nada had lots of practice holding back the tears, but she was dangerously close to shedding them now.She sat in a dry patch of grass. They followed, and sat on either side of her.
"My powers, D. . . Wolverine. They manifested late. I was about nineteen. A late bloomer."
"Probably due to yer healing factor. Does a number on the metabolism."
She had 'Ro's shy smile. "Probably. I started disappearing around the mansion, popping in and out at weird times for a few seconds. In the beginning it happened so fast - less than a second elapsed between the time I disappeared and the time I returned, and I always came back to the same place. We only really discovered the truth when one time I popped back in, wearing a different shirt than I had on five seconds ago."
"You're a teleporter?"
"Sort of. But I don't just pop in and out of space."
"Time," Ororo whispered. "You manipulate time?"
She smiled. "Yes. . . and no. When the power first came, Uncle Charles and Uncle Kurt decided to work with me on some simple teleportation methods, thinking it could help control what I did and when I did it."
Wolverine grunted. "Did it work?"
"For a year." She nervously played with a blade of grass under her fingers. "I couldn't take anyone with me, but I could bring things back. I was able to visit alien homeworlds and bring back tools, batteries, information - whatever.Hank and Uncle Charles loved it. I could retrieve small items without them having to send the X-Men off to get them."
"Like a freakin' science fiction transporter."
Nada laughed out loud. "That's exactly what you said when they started taking me out of my classes to get stuff for them. They didn't think it would matter, since in respect I didn't lose any time."
Ororo touched her hand. "So what happened after a year, Nada?"
Her throat twitched. "I don't know.My system went haywire. My powers grew to an exponential level, and I began dimensional skipping - "
"Dimensional skipping?"
"Sorry. That's what I call it. I'd focus on one place, but I'd end up somewhere else. Then I couldn't control when I came back. I'd be gone for a few seconds one time, a month the next. One time you two didn't see me for almost two years."
"I must have been frantic," Storm whispered.
Nada touched her cheek. "I'll spare the details of the hell you guys went through. Maybe, now that I've told you. . . Well. We'll just have to see."
"So, what's the story now?" Wolverine asked. "You in the middle of gettin' back to us, or what?"
She grit her teeth. "No. I 'went Omega' a few days before my twenty-second birthday. I've been out of control, unable to stop, jumping in and out of thousands of scenarios, dimensions, and times."
"I'm so sorry," Ororo said, hugging her tightly.
Her voice faltered, becoming a flat monotone. "I - I was in a. . . bad place last time. Poisoned. . . I was dying, and I had to 'will' myself home, somehow. I overtaxed my system, but I thought I made it when I saw Uncle Hank. I screwed up. Can't you tell? I didn't make it. . . I - "
Nada's body convulsed with sobs. She clung to Ororo for dear life and screamed into her shirt. "Oh, God. . . God, I just want to go home! I want to go home. . . I want my home. . . I want. . . I - Mom. . . Daddy!"
Ororo cradled her head and stroked her hair, and rocked her gently. Wolverine covered them both, but he didn't know what to say. They had to get her back. Chuck had to help her, and make it stick.
All references to characters belonging to the X-Men Universe are (c) and TM the Marvel Comics Group, 20th Century Fox and all related entities. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, duplication or distribution of these materials in any form is expressly prohibited. No money is being made from this archive. All images are also (c) and TM the Marvel Comics Group, 20th Century Fox and all related entities; they are not mine. This website, its operators and any content used on this site relating to the X-Men are not authorized by Marvel, Fox, etc. I am not, nor do I claim to be affiliated with any of these entities in any way.