M.I.A.
The Rain Whispers Series – Ame- age 5
Part One
"The bomb’s hot! We’ve got under sixty seconds people!"
"T’do what Scott? Pray? We can’t disarm it in time and Kitty’s down!"
"Get it outta here!"
‘Where’s Lila when ya need her?’
Arcade’s latest toy, a fifteen-story robot, was now lying in pieces at the bottom of the New York harbor, thanks to the X-Men.
Unfortunately, as soon as they shut down the body, the head detached and began to speak. It said it was a bomb that was now active. It would annihilate an area three times the size of New York State.
They now had thirty seconds.
"Rogue! With me."
Storm had been sustaining the bus-sized object with her winds. She now called Rogue to help her raise the hideous head even higher. Its grinning mouth now counted down the seconds.
How high we takin’ this bad boy Storm? I’m getting’ kind’a woozy here."
The two were now very high up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
"All the way out."
Rogue coughed. "Getting’ hard t’breath, Storm. We gotta hurry. Ah don’t think Ah can last too much longer way up here."
"You will not have to."
With that, Storm created a downdraft that pushed Rogue back down towards Earth.
"Storm! Let – Me – GO!" Rogue yelled back via her communicator. She was trying to break free of the winds to no avail.
Jean mind linked with Storm. The others could hear through their communicators.
"9…8…"
"Storm! Enough!" Bobby yelled into her communicator. "Let it go, that’s high enough. You’re just a dot now!"
"4…3…"
"Out!"
"Storm come back!"
"I am on my wa--"
"Storm!"
They saw the flash, but the resounding boom did not reach tem for several seconds. It shook the ground, but not enough to knock the X-Men off their feet. Except for Jean, that is, who at the flash point had dropped to her knees and was holding her head in pain.
"Jean?"
"I’m… okay, Scott. Just a bad headache. Ororo… she—she did it. She used her winds to push the head beyond the point of danger. It was on the farthest edge of the atmosphere when it detonated."
"Then where the hell is she?" Wolverine asked, looking up.
"I—She was coming back—and the wake of the blast hit her. Now…" she shook her head. "I-I’m not getting anything."
"That could mean a lot of things. The blast could‘a just knocked her out." Logan said, not wanting to add that it also could have killed her or how long of a fall it would have been if she were unconscious.
Jean stood up.
"I can get a better range from the Blackbird. We can also look after Kitty there."
* * * * *
Ninety minutes later they were still searching. The X-Men had taken the Blackbird up to Ororo’s last position, but it did not help matters. In fact, it made them feel worse. The atmosphere moved much more quickly at this dizzying height. If Storm had been in a free-fall, the Earth’s spin could have thrown her miles from their current position.
"We’re flying blind here. We should head back to the mansion. The professor and Nightcrawler should have returned from Muir Island by now. He and Jean can use Cerebro to perform an even broader search."
"Fine, Cyke. You all head back. Just drop me here with an MCU (Note: Miniature Cerebro Unit) and I’ll keep lookin’ ground level."
"No, Logan. You need to come back with us."
"You wanna explain why, Jeannie?"
Jean chewed on her bottom lip a moment. You have—another responsibility which takes precedence."
"What are ya talkin’ about? Name one thing that’s more important that lookin’ for Storm."
"…Ame."
Although it wouldn’t have seemed possible, the cabin of the hovering Blackbird actually got quieter.
Jean continued.
"Someone has to explain to Ame why her mother didn’t come home with us. I’ll tell her if you want me to… but I think Ame would rather hear it from you. Next to her mother, you are the person she feels closest to."
Logan stood still a moment, not really seeing anything in front of him. He shook his head slightly and walked away from Jean.
"Let’s get outta here." He mumbled as he took a seat and frowned out the window.
* * * * *
Under the sheets, Ame kicked her feet excitedly and with a happy grin, pulled the covers over her head. She had been partially sleeping when she thought she heard the familiar sound of the Blackbird flying overhead, but she was not certain.
However, there was no mistaking the sounds of the family moving around downstairs.
She knew the routine well. In a few minutes, after everyone had gotten settled, her mother, and she hoped, her Uncle Logan, would come to check on her.
At ten o’clock, she was supposed to be sleeping, so she forced herself to be calm, brought the covers down to her neck and closed her eyes.
A few minutes later, the shadow of feet crept under her door. Her Uncle Logan never made a sound when he walked. Even when he wore his big cowboy boots with the hard bottoms. Her mom could do that too when she wanted, but out of the small slit of her eye, she could see that there was only one person.
The door opened and she shut her eyes, but not squintingly tight. She and Jerri had spied on their Uncle Bobby once when he was sleeping. They studied how relaxed his face was and that his eyes were rolled back when they fluttered. Then they put his hand in warm water.
Logan sat down on her bed, a slight smirk on his face. ‘Not bad for a five year old.’ He thought at Ame’s attempt to fool him. She had the eyes pretty much down, still…
For a moment he forgot his reason for being there.
"C’mon, kid. I know you’re awake."
She pulled the covers back over her head.
"Aww! How did ya—you know?"
He pulled the covers down again and poked her nose.
"Ya got the eyes right, but ya gotta work on the breathin’. People breath slower when they sleep – more relaxed. ‘Least, they’re supposed to."
Ame jutted out her lip in a faux frown. She sighed.
"Is mommy getting changed?" She asked noticing that Logan was now wearing his civilian clothes.
"…Here. Sit up. I wanna talk to ya about somethin’." He helped pull her into a seated position on the bed. Ame felt a sudden pang of uneasiness. Her uncle had not answered her question. If there was always one thing she could count on from him was an honest answer. If he didn’t know it, he would say that too. But he never just pushed it aside like that.
"Uncle Logan, where’s my mom."
Logan would have sold his soul to have a fleet of sentinels fly through the wall at that moment.
"…I—we don’t know where she is darlin’, but we’re lookin’. Jeannie and the Professor are down with Cerebro right now puttin’ out a search."
"You lost her?"
"No! No, not, exactly. See, yer mom, well, she helped save a lot of people today. She got rid of a big bomb, that would’a caused a lot of damage. But when in blew up—the force of it kinda pushed her away. Now we just gotta find out where it sent her."
"Is she dead?"
‘God, she look’s like ‘Ro. She’s even got that blank face Storm uses, when things get too emotionally tough t’deal with. The kid’s shuttin’ down. Maybe Jean should’a done this.’
"I don’t think she is. Your mom’s tough. She’s been through worse. She’ll get though this."
"But you don’t know."
"…No. I don’t. But I ain’t givin’ up on yer ma so don’t you go givin’ up on her either, you understand."
Ame nodded slowly. "I understand, Uncle Logan."
"Atta girl." He smoothed her hair back. "You want me t’stay?"
She shook her head. "No. I’ll – I will be fine."
"No one would blame ya if ya weren’t, darlin’."
He placed a small object on her night table.
"I’m leavin’ my com. open. You need anythin’. You call me. Even if you don’t got a reason. ‘Kay?"
"I will."
She lay back down in the bed and he pulled the covers up for her.
"Goodnight, Uncle Logan." She said as he reached the door.
"Goodnight, darlin’."
* * * * *
Logan walked into the War Room.
"Anything?"
Scott looked up from the counsel.
"Nothing yet."
Jean looked over hat him. "We’re going slow. The amount of places she could have landed is large. We don’t want to miss anything."
"How’s… Did you talk to Ame?" Scott asked.
"Yeah."
"That bad."
"Too good. The apple don’t fall far. She’s behavin’ like I just told her the sky’s blue. Face like marble."
"What did you tell her?"
"The truth. No sense in lyin’ t’her."
Scott nodded.
"We shall all need to be keeping an eye on her throughout this." Charles said rubbing his eyes. "The longer it takes us to find Ororo—no matter what the outcome, the more difficult this will be on the child."
‘Ain’t gonna be no picnic fer us either.’
* * * * *
Jean roughly rubbed her forehead, her chin barely an inch off the kitchen table.
"You’ve gotta get some sleep, Jean."
"I can’t Scott. The longer we wait…" She sighed heavily, then slapped her hands onto the table and stood up. "I should be down there now. Charles is still working. He hasn’t stopped for five minutes."
"You aren’t good to anyone if ya end up in the med lab, Jeanie. Cyke’s right. Ya need a rest."
"‘Sides," Remy added, " ‘Lizabeth be takin’ some of d’stress off the Prof."
Jean thought about it a moment.
"Maybe I could take a few mi…"
She stopped short as Ame walked into the kitchen, her knapsack on her back.
"Ame," Logan said standing. "I told ya, you don’t have to go ta school today." After eating her breakfast, Logan thought the young girl had gone up to her room for the morning. He was planning to checking on her when he left the kitchen.
"I know. I want to go. Is that okay?"
"If you’re really sure, Ame." Jean said.
"I am. Did you find my mommy yet?"
"Not yet, honey but we will. I promise."
Ame pulled her lip in and nodded.
"Come on, I’ll take ya." Logan said reaching for her hand. "Lisa left with Dave and Jerri a couple minutes ago."
Ame said a quick goodbye to everyone then left with Logan.
"I’m going back to work." Jean said firmly, once they’d left. No one dared argue.
Ame waited until Logan had buckled her into his jeep.
"Aunt Jean shouldn’t have said that right?"
"What?"
"She said she promised."
"Oh."
"Mommy always says never to make a promise you can’t keep, even if you wish you could keep it."
"Well, your mom’s right. You shouldn’t make idle promises."
"Idle?"
"Promises that don’t mean anything. But I think your Aunt Jean was just tryin’ to make you feel better. It was more hopeful thinkin’ than a promise."
"But I’m – I am fine."
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She was sitting with her hands folded in her lap, staring out windshield.
He started the engine and drove off.
* * * * *
It was a long shot, but it was all they had. A fait trace of what they believed to be Storm’s communicator signal was pick up by Cerebro. Psylocke, Wolverine, Gambit, Nightcrawler and Colossus had gone to investigate.
The signal led them to Tennesse, and a dense forest. After a few minutes of searching, they found the communicator—or what was left of it. The formerly circular object was embedded in a tree like a bullet. It was scorched almost beyond recognition.
To Be Continued…
Well?… stormgates@hotmail.com