Shifting Sands -- The Lone Wolf And
The Goddess
Part Six
story by D. Briganti
written by Valegra
Remy was no stranger
to stealth and secrecy. He was also no stranger to the technique of a fellow
thief. Especially one he’d studied and raised for an entire year. He knew how
to move with the night, even though he was no Wolverine. He knew how to embrace
the shadows; to become one of them. To walk the path of another, to pickup the
faint scent of passage in the air. These things he had made his job to know. He
wasn’t a tracker but he was something more. He was a man born with a
talent of subterfuge. Which made him the perfect candidate to track
Ororo’s trail.
Not a soul in the small
town that comprised the F.O.H. had witnessed his passing as he’d moved through
the place heading for the compound on the north end. When he got there, he’d
stood around waiting, following the comings and goings of the establishment. He
counted the guards at the front gate. He inspected the camera’s perched along
the electrically charged fence. Beyond the fence he counted the windows of the
establishment, noting the dimensions of the building, counting also the
openings.
There was a grove of trees
surrounding the compound. Remy walked the length of the fence hiding within
those trees. All the while he thought and planned, hoping to conceive a plan of
entrance that Ororo would have used. Once he knew the way she’d taken, there
was a chance he’d find the film and eventually Ororo. He wasn’t buying that she
was dead. Granted he wasn’t a telepath like Xavier, nor was his talent that of
Jean Gray. But what he’d used to come up with his conclusion was more
reasonable, if not entirely logical. He knew his ‘little sister’ wasn’t dead,
because he would have felt it. He would have known in his heart that she was
never coming home, that he would never see her again. But those back at the
mansion needed proof that she wasn’t dead. They needed to see her, as they’d
come to depend on that damn Cerebro too much. Remy didn’t like computers, they
only put out as much as was put in. He planned to find Ororo and take her home.
Which was why he was out there.
Following a path of
unmolested foliage, Remy moved to a tall tree, one of the closest to the fence
along the side of the building. The spot was far enough away from the main
entrance, that if he were to go over the fence and move quickly the guards
weren’t likely to see him. Also, the camera’s along the fence hardly touched
the spot with their rotation scopes. The spot was also shadowed by the moons
position behind the five story building. Ororo would have chosen this spot,
Remy was sure. Remy knew that Ororo had left the mansion carrying a small bag.
He also knew that the bag contained a small shovel, which meant that Ororo
could have buried the evidence she was sent here to obtain.
Taking a gamble, Remy
kneeled next to the tall tree he’d been standing by. Beneath it was a small
mound barely noticeable as it was covered with fallen leaves. But Remy who had
an eye for such things noticed the small blemish immediately. Reaching within
his overcoat and into the back waistband of his jeans, he pulled out a small
dagger. The silver, gold hilt of the thing would have sparkled in the
moonlight. Normally Remy wouldn’t have a dagger on him, but his circumstances
had called for one. He’d needed something to dig with, and Ororo’s dagger was
both light weight and handy. She’d tar and feather him if she found out he’d
taken it from beneath her pillow. But then he wouldn’t have known she slept
with one, if she hadn’t thrown it at him.
With the tip of the blade,
he worked the top layer of dirt off. Ororo had turned it into a hard patch of
mud before leaving it. However he didn’t have to dig long, before the X-men
insignia winked up at him. The red X seemed to glow. When Remy picked up the
compact communicator he discovered the black bag beneath it. Pulling the thing
out and opening it, he dug around the inside till he found what he was looking
for; two rolls of wrapped film. Closing the bag, Remy rose to his towering
height and threw the strap over his shoulder.
Ororo had done what she
came to do, so why the hell hadn’t she returned to Westchester? For the first
time, he began to doubt his intuition, the doubt was a fleeting one. Frowning,
Remy headed out of the trees and began to make his way silently back to the
town. Over head the night was giving way to day. The best thing to do now would
be to find a place to settle and wait. If Ororo had gotten into trouble, the
information would slip eventually. He just hoped he didn’t have to kill one of
the mutant hating towns people before he obtained the information he needed.
Ororo wouldn’t appreciate it if she found out. But then, sometimes a man had to
do what a man had to do.
As
always luck was with him. He didn’t have to wait long to find Ororo’s
whereabouts. The information came to him the very next day, literally.
*****
Sid stepped out of the
house, looking cautiously at the mob of men disturbing the view. Quickly, he
assessed the potential strength of his opponents. Hmm....about twenty, with
melee weapons and some firearms, probably couldn’t shoot a can two feet in front
of them. Sid walked forward until he was facing a heavily muscled blond man
with a thick beard and a mean expression, wrapped in a long beat up orange
trenchcoat with a white cowboy hat on his head. When he was around ten paces
before the man, he stopped. Crossing his arms across his chest, he waited.
Twenty men against his beautiful Ororo, not fair but hell it could have been
worse.
"Hey, buddy, name’s
Rex," the man began as if they were old friends and not potential
adversaries. "We, my boys and I, have come here to bargain for the mutie’s
life."
Snorting rudely, Sid
frowned at the same time revealing his amusement. So this trash wanted to play
games, okay. "What kind of a bargain did you have in mind?"
Looking relaxed as if he’d
come across a fellow mutant hater, Rex took off his hat and slapped it against
his thigh whipping a film of sweat from his brow. Taking his sweet time.
"The boys and me, we don’t wanna kill any humans. We only want the mutant.
Now as you can see, we’re packing some heavy ammo," at that point, the big
man gestured behind him to encompass the group of men with their sticks and
guns. "Bring the mutant outside and we won’t bother you any longer.
Whaddya say?" The man raised a thick brow.
That was a bargain? Silence
stretched between the men and in that time tension began to rise amongst the
other men. Some of them went so far as to remove the safety from their guns.
When Sid did next speak, his words were chopped and precise. "Now you hear
me. I’m given you and your boys to the count of ten to get your sorry asses off
my property. If you’re still here when I get to ten I’m gonna kick you and them
into the next century."
Rex's head shook slowly.
"No, no, no, no...You're not supposed to answer in this way!"
Suddenly the pleasant buddies for life expression fell to be replaced with a
darker more determined one. His lips curved into a sneer. "Don’t make the
mistake of thinking that whore you got in there is worth anything. If it's a
good lay you’re after, we got plenty of decent ‘human’ women back in
town," he stated eliciting a few chuckles from the men behind him. Their
reaction to his taunt seemed to egg him on. As he continued, Sid felt his power
growing to the fore to match and surpass his anger.
"Hell, if it's an itch
in your pants that needs scratchin’ I could probably do a better job than that
no rate mutie freak. Nine chances outta ten, you’d like it better anyway."
This statement brought on louder laughter. "Now do us all a favor go
inside your little house and get the bitch."
If Rex had been a cautious
man, he would have known he’d gone to far. He hardly had time to blink before
Sid was upon him. Reaching out, Sid grabbed the man by the neck lifting his
heavy weight several inches off the ground. Rex coughing, face going red from
lack of oxygen was helpless to free himself. When he looked into Sid’s eyes he
saw red.
The men behind him stopped
laughing. Several of them raised their guns and advanced slowly, cautious of
the man’s sanity and strength. "Hey! Let him go!" One of the more
daring of them ordered feeling safe behind the barrel of his weapon.
Sid raised his head to face
them, intentionally ignoring the fact that Rex's visage was turning purple for
the lack of oxygen. "You take your ugly faces away from my sight and I let
him go. Plain and simple, huh?" he said in a calm, almost kind voice.
Inside he was steaming wanting to tear into the lot of them and anticipating
doing just that.
One man began to smile
viciously, Sid didn’t look in his direction, but he heard every word he said.
"Well, well, we're playin' the big hero, aren't we? Don’t look now but
your mutie whore is about to get some unexpected company. Let's see how brave
you are after we've taken care of her, mutant lover!"
Sid did look at the man
then. He in turn was looking at the three men running to Sid’s cottage. When
Sid saw what he was looking at, the hot energy inside of him shot to the fore
making his hands glow white fire. "Ororo.... NO!!" he screamed
angrily, throwing Rex away as if he weighed nothing. Not wasting anymore time
on the grunting, choking man, he turned sprinting back to the house. The mere
thought of those men laying their filthy hands on Ororo sent him immediately
into a berserk frenzy. A flame of white energy enveloped him, blinding the men
running after him or standing nearby; scorching the grass beneath his
footfalls.
As Sid approached, the
three men froze, opening their mouths to yell in terror. Sid delivered a
powerful kick to one of the men’s chest. The flaming energy crackled as his foot
made contact, sparking just before sending the surprised man flying to land
with a loud thud and a moan five meters away.
Seeing the result of Sid’s
assault upon their fallen comrade, the remaining two men hesitated. Rex having
risen from the ground clutching his throat growled angrily. "What the hell
are doin', fools?!" He yelled once he’d regained his breath adequately
enough to speak. "Stop him! He's alone! STOP HIM! KILL HIM!!"
The remaining men rushed
Sid. Their firearms firing a barrage of bullets in his direction. Those with
clubs held them charging for the first blow.
Gaining his fighting stance
the young fighter unleashed a roaring, inarticulate battle cry and threw
himself into the fray. Moving faster than any of the men could have possibly
conceived possible, Sid avoided shot after shot, blow after blow, landing as he
did some vicious bone shattering impressions of his own. Blood flew and bones
cracked as more and more thugs fell from the power of Sid’s attack. Not in any
of this time was Sid put on the defensive. His anger drove him to fight to kill
and take no prisoners. For a time, a pathetically short time, the air was
filled with the sounds of flesh meeting flesh, the reports of numerous shots,
and the grunts and screams of the fallen. ‘Till finally only Sid stood his
ground staring at the last remaining man, the only one who hadn’t jumped into
the fight; the only man who hadn’t fallen under his insane attack or run for
cover as several of the men had. The thug leader, Rex.
"You'll regret this,
you mutant lover!" Rex stated breaking the silence between them.
"You’ll pay with your life," the big mans voice trembled, though Sid
didn’t know if it was from fear or rage.
Frankly, he didn’t care.
Hell, this was gonna be fun. Taking a determined step in the man’s direction,
Sid smiled wickedly. "You talk too much."
It didn’t take Rex long to
realize that he had little chance of beating the man with his fist. The welt on
his neck was proof of the lithely muscled mans considerable strength. Be that
as it may, Rex couldn’t return without the mutant witch. Deciding to pull an
Indiana Jones, Rex reached into his trenchcoat and fingered the pistol tucked
into the waistband of his jeans. "You take another step and I’ll fill you
with a considerable amount of lead. And after I do that I’ll do more than drag
that mutant freak back to my boss. I’m a much better shot than those wimps you
just went up against, I won’t miss as your dear protegee well knows."
Sid heard what the bastard
said, but he didn’t stop. Striding forward moving with blinding speed, Sid met
the man and reached for the weapon Rex had in hiding himself. When Rex did draw
the pistol, Sid dodged a punch, twisted his wrist making the bigger man drop
the weapon, and prepared to land a deadly elbow to Rex’s neck. Before him,
shrieking and squealing on his knees, Rex waited for the blow he knew would
kill him.
Suddenly, a small desperate
voice rang out from above. "Sid, no, stop! You cannot kill him!"
Sid hesitated, confused at
what Ororo was saying, and alarmed that she was out of bed. "I'm only
makin' this worthless junkbag pay for tryin' to kill us!" He returned. At
his feet, Rex listened to the drama unfolding around him. After all, the
subject under discussion was his life.
"Sid... please.
Killing him will not avenge the wrongs he has done to you or to me, but it will
make you just like him. He would kill because of his hatred, as would
you."
Sid stared at Rex for a few
seconds, then threw him as far away as he could, with a disgusted expression;
sighing, he turned his gaze upward to his bedroom window. Ororo was there,
sustaining herself with her unwounded arm on the window sill. Sid could see her
shaking from the strain. Her face was pale once again and even from below, Sid
knew her eyes would be slightly dilated. Was he going crazy or had he told her
to stay in bed?
"What are you doing up
there? You're supposed to lay down if you don't want to carry that rib fracture
with you for the rest of your life!" he yelled angry at her for putting
her health at risk in such a way.
"I heard the sounds of
battle and... I was afraid you were in danger," she replied, blushing
slightly.
Putting his hand on his
hip, Sid frowned. The woman was crazy, they were going to have to have a talk
about her method of giving promises that she didn’t intend to keep. Within him,
the white flame settled and laid dormant; waiting for the next time he needed
it. "Ororo, please lay down, I’ll be back up as soon as I get these men
off my prop..." Sid didn’t get to finish, as he heard the sound of a gun
being cocked. Knowing damn well who had the gun, and knowing that if he really
was a good shot, he didn’t have a chance, Sid spun on his heels. As he did, he
felt a blast of frigid air coast past his shoulder knocking him forward to fall
on his hands. Looking up, he heard the whiz of a bullet fly past, and watched
as Rex was lifted from the ground and catapulted back to land with a painful
thud against one of the jeeps the men had used to get out there. Sid winced for
him. Rex rose with a foul curse and got into the vehicle. Throwing it into
gear, he peeled off.
Rising shakily to his feet,
Sid turned back to the house, when he looked up at the window, Ororo wasn’t
there. Not only had she got out of bed when he’d told her not too, but she’d
also used her mutant abilities to save his life. And hell, if that wouldn’t
kill her. To hell with the men littering his lawn, if they didn’t move their
sorry carcass, the wolves were gonna have a field day. Taking a deep breath,
Sid headed into the house and upstairs, to reenter his bedroom. He looked first
to the bed and then to the window. Sitting beneath it, clutching her side, her
eyes watering from the pain, Sid knew she was feeling was his white haired
savior.
When Sid reached down, she
looked up at him, having not heard him enter. That or she was too consumed with
her pain to take notice. Picking her up slowly, Sid held her close, smelling
the sweet, fragrant scent of her. Sighing, she relaxed and allowed him to carry
her back to the bed. When he did, he tucked her in.
"Close yer eyes,
Angel, and rest. No one will ever hurt you here," he whispered.
Ororo didn’t know what to
say to that. She could hardly think. There was nothing that she knew beyond the
man caring for her. He’d just saved her life, twice, and now he was saying he
was willing to continue to do so even at the expense of his own. This man who
was a loner, who collected posters of rock stars at their most gruesome. Who
spoke of killing as if it was insignificant. This man who’d cleaned her wounds,
watched over her, bathed her when she shouldn’t have been allowed. This man
with eyes the color of the stars, and hair as black as night. Whose touch was
so fine, whose gallantry was so pure. This man who was her savior. "I am
sorry," she said. When she turned her blue eyes in Sid’s direction they
were clear and focused. "I am sorry to put you through all of this. My
problems are not your own, and yet I have put your life in danger. You should
not risk your own life to save mine. If those men return, promise me you will
not fight for me."
Frowning tenderly, Sid
shook his head. He leaned forward, closer and closer until their faces were
scant inches apart. Ororo was a temptation he’d been fighting for a long time.
He didn’t know if it was the aftermath of the fight or the crumbling of his
inner resolve that was the driving force behind his decision now. All he knew
was that he had to kiss her. He had to know if she would be as soft as she looked.
"Funny thing about
promises, Angel. Their not words set in stone or drawn in ink. Their vows and
oaths from a time where a man’s word meant everything. If we make a promise,
it’s gonna need something more to back it up. Something to seal the bargain, to
make it as concrete as any engravement or bold as any scrawl," Sid said
his voice barely above a whisper. Sometime over the past week he’d grown to
care deeply for the woman laying in his bed. Strange since he’d only actually
spoken with her for one day. But then of anyone, Sid knew that emotions were a
confusing lot. And what he felt now didn’t need to be contained, but released.
Ororo watched his approach.
He was so close, she could smell the spice of his cologne and the faint smell
of mint on his breath. Within her, her mind was fighting a battle. She was
torn. She remembered what it felt like to love someone. How she’d felt special,
and cherished. She knew the feeling of joy and returning home after a long day
to discover that there was someone there to meet her, or someone she could call
to share her problems. She missed that feeling of belonging. But she also
remembered how she’d felt when Forge left her with Mystique after asking her to
marry him less than a day previous. She’d felt rejected, confused, betrayed.
She’d felt as if Forge had left with a part of her. And when he was gone, she
hadn’t felt whole. Her past experience with love had been a tragic one, did she
really want to explore what Sid was offering knowing it could develop into something
more? Could she give herself to this man to be embraced by him hoping against
hope that he would never let her go?
Putting her hand to his
chest, she applied as much pressure as she could to push him away. It wasn’t
much, but being a gentleman, he did not fight her. On her face was a mixture of
confusion, shyness, and self doubt. "I do not wish to harm you, Sid... I
just do not think that this is the best thing for us to do... I am sorry."
Sid took her hand, smiling
sadly. "All this apologizing, Angel, is not necessary. Maybe you're right,
maybe we should leave things as they are. But I know there’s another voice
within you saying, maybe not, maybe this is for the best. It all depends, you
see, whether you heed the words that come from your head, or those that come
from your heart.
"I learned a long time
ago, that when emotion takes you, you have to go with it or you’ll lose it.
Being with you...it was hard for me to accept being in love with you, and I
know, now, what I feel is love. Though I confess I’ve had little time in my
life for handling such affairs, and besides we know very little of each other.
It may be that what I believe is love is merely lust for you, though I don’t
think it is. But I made my decision, and even if you'll never hold a place for
me in your heart, I won't regret it, because for the first time in my life I
feel truly alive You’re someone special, that makes me feel special. And until
I know for sure what emotion scrambles my brain and assaults my senses, I’m
willing to go with what I feel." Sid said all this with a neutral
expression, though his eyes were full of compassion. He wasn’t trying to force
Ororo into making a decision she wasn’t ready to make. He only wanted her to
know that he had made a decision about the both of them.
Ororo listened to the words
he spoke. Running them through both her mind and her heart. "I have also
had little time to explore my emotions concerning love. I was rejected by a man
that I was willing to give up everything for. He told me, I buried myself
within my responsibilities. That I was too afraid to live by my heart. I do not
want to disappoint you, Sid, the life I come from is complicated. But I want to
regain what I have lost. I want to feel alive and special. I want to accept
what you offer, but I do not want to hurt you," Ororo couldn’t hide the
sadness in her voice. Her head was bowed so that Sid had to reach a finger
forward to lift her chin and meet her eyes.
"Angel, we’re not
promising forever. If what we feel for each other does not change, you won’t
hurt me," he said saving face. But Ororo knew that her rejection would
hurt him. By the Goddess, she would let her soul free to love him. She would
not hurt him.
She smiled, gazing into
Sid's eyes, and put her arm around him. After a deep sigh, she closed her own.
Sid did not draw back. Ororo’s scent wrapped around him as their lips met. His
were as gentle as hers were yielding. Ororo sighed into his mouth just before
they separated. Sid saw that her eyes once again sported that mysterious white
light. They were the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen.
Ororo leaned back against
the pillows Sid propped behind her. Though she was clearly exhausted, Sid was
both impressed and proud at her effort to remain strong. "And now, I think
you must explain to me a lot of things."
Sid shook his head slowly,
"No, Angel, I would prefer that you rested. You won’t last the tale."
Ororo immediately tried to
protest. What she’d seen from the window, needed immediate explaining. But even
as she thought the thought, the room around her began to fade and her eyelids
began to fall distorting Sid’s image. "Sid...?"
Leaning forward, Sid placed
a light kiss on her brow. That was the last event she remembered before falling
into unconsciousness.
Reaching
behind her, Sid removed the pile of pillows leaving one. When he was through,
he settled her comfortably on the pillow. If he was making a mistake by falling
for her, it was a mistake he could live with. He planned to protect her,
comfort her, be there when she needed him, but most of all he would love her
whether she was ready for that or not. Rising, he drew the curtain over the
window and left the room. When Ororo awoke later, he was going to have a lot of
explaining to do.
*****
"Any word from Gambit,"
Jean asked walking into the kitchen where Logan was for-taking of a midnight
cigar smoke.
"The kid went under,
the moment he stepped out the mansion, Jeannie," the man known as the
Wolverine answered, putting out his cigar. "Gonna have to wait for him to
resurface before we go after them."
"We should be able to
do more," Jean Gray Summers protested pulling a container of milk from the
refrigerator. With one hand on the jug and another wrapped around a glass, she
froze. "Logan, I just feel so helpless. Ororo’s one of my best friends,
she’s the sister I’ve always wanted. Maybe you could..."
"Can’t do it, Jeannie,
not even for you," Logan interrupted before she could finish. He could
remember a time when he would have done anything for her. It wasn’t as if his
feelings for her had changed, they hadn’t. He still loved her, but now his
sense of responsibility was tangled tightly with his actions. "‘Ro went
down in there and ended up missing. Gambit went after her. That’s two new
faces, Jean. If I go down there, I could blow their cover, not to mention all
Xavier’s plans. No body else is goin’ out there until Gumbo calls out a
signal."
Sighing heavily, Jean
poured her glass of milk. Logan was right and she was being selfish just by
suggesting he go out there. Not to mention she’d be treading on dangerous
ground by using her feminine wiles to coarse Logan. She knew that Logan cared
for Ororo just as much as they all did. He was tense about the entire
situation, though he hid it well. "I know you’re right, Logan. I just
don’t like this waiting. Charles is still unable to pick up Storm’s mutant
signature, and now Remy’s has fallen out of Cerebro’s range. It’s like they’ve
disappeared."
story by David written by
Valegra
Valegra2@aol.com
David Briganti