UNCANNY X-MEN

"Any Old Storm in a 'Port"
Rated PG-13 for language, violence, and adult situations

by R. John Burke

DISCLAIMER: The X-Men are a copyright of Marvel Comics. I don't own them, but this is only non-profit fan fiction. No money is involved and no infringement is intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Semi-sequel to "All the Summers' Pryde," but the plots are really different, so you don't have to know the first story to read this one. Takes place shortly after issue #461 of "Uncanny X-Men" (You know, the X-Babies issue), but before the House of M. (I swear, more Eternity stories coming. But I can't control the writing bug...)

--

Ororo Munroe climbed the ramp into the strange pod with some trepidation. As closely linked as she was to the Earth and nature, something so alien and artificial was bound to set her on edge. Not to mention, something so small.

Apparently the pod was a one-man craft which Cyclops and Kitty Pryde had confiscated from a hostile alien while on a minor mission a couple of weeks ago. The mutant called Storm hadn't been present for that, but she understood it had caused some... excitement. Now they'd towed the thing back for study and were keeping it in what remained of the Danger Room, while Hank and Kitty and occasionally Reed Richards or some other expert tinkered with its inner workings.

Speaking of Kitty, it was her voice that called to Storm now, from inside the craft: "C'mon, guys! Ororo! Kurt! Ray! Hurry up! You won't -believe- this..."

Storm glanced behind herself at her teammates, Kurt Wagner and Rachel Grey-- Nightcrawler and Marvel Girl. Like Storm, they seemed amused by Kitty's enthusiasm. It was nice to know that some people didn't always grow up as they aged.

Storm looked again at the tiny portal and took a deep breath. She felt Kurt's oversized fingers, touching her shoulder.

"It's not so cramped as it looks," he whispered, pointing with his free hand. "See, leibling? It has a sunroof."

He referred to one entire wall of the craft, which had been blasted by one of Cyclops' optic beams. Storm smiled and patted her friend's hand.

"I'm fine," she said, and climbed the ramp.

Kitty was on the floor inside, buried to her waist under the pilot's console, exploring the guts of the alien craft.

"No wonder you weren't up for lunch, Pryde," said Rachel with a smirk. "You've got a new favorite."

"Are you kidding? She's the best-- present company excepted, I mean." Kitty slid out of the console and poked up her head. "I mean, normally I'm just a programming person, but this ship is -so- cool, I just had to... well, take a look for yourself!"

The other three X-Men bent down and peeked into the dark space where Kitty had been working.

"There's parts in there," Rachel observed sagely.

"Ja," said Kurt. "Many parts."

"I'd even say a staggering array of parts."

Kitty propped her hands on her hips. "Are you guys finished?"

Storm cleared her throat. "Perhaps if you told us what was so important, kitten?"

"Oh. Yeah. Well... I was trying to figure out exactly how the camouflage system works... y'know, the thing that caused all the trouble for us?"

"Trouble?" Kurt said innocently. "I thought you made a lovely Scott Summers, katzschen."

"Yeah, you were nice to me and stuff." Rachel frowned. "I guess that should have been a giveaway."

"-Anyway-," Kitty said, "the thing is that what it did-- transfer our minds between bodies like that-- it shouldn't have been possible by our laws of physics."

"As opposed to all the other stuff we do," Rachel said, "which is perfectly plausible."

Kitty wrinkled her nose. "Well, there's implausible and then there's flat-out wrong, and believe me, me being Scott? That's just wrong. So the way we-- Hank and I-- the way we figure it works is that it reaches into a neighboring dimension with slightly different laws of physics-- kinda like you do when you teleport, Kurt."

"I've never turned into Scott during a 'port!" Kurt protested. "Not even for an instant!"

"Funny elf. Look, basically it's an Infinite Improbability Drive..." She paused for a reaction, got none, and sighed. "I guess most superheroes don't read Douglas Adams. I mean that it makes the illogical logical. Kinda-sorta. For a couple of days, anyway."

Kurt said, "This is all fasinating, katzschen, but what's the point? How is this of use to us?"

"Oh, that. I'll show you." Kitty held out a hand, allowing Kurt to help her to her feet, stretched the kinks from her back, then addressed the controls. "Everybody stand back..."

When the X-Men had cleared out a spot in the middle of the cockpit, Kitty's fingers flew across the controls: "See, Reed figured out how to tie directly into the mechanism, so now we can sorta control what it does. And if I press this button..."

She reached for it. Kurt took a step back. "Erm, perhaps I should wait outside, in case something goes wrong. I seriously doubt any of you ladies wants -my- body..."

"Actually, Rachel--" Kitty said.

"Shut UP, Pryde!"

Kitty winked at her. "You can relax, Kurt. It's perfectly safe. Watch."

She pressed the button. Something-- a blossom of energy-- exploded to life in the center of the cockpit. It pulsed and glowed, almost beckoning to them, its color ranging from yellow on the fringes, to orange and red inside, to impenetrable black at its core. Kitty beamed at it like a new mother. The others regarded it warily.

"Impressive," Storm said.

"Unglaublich," said Kurt.

"Cool," said Rachel. "Um... what is it?"

"It's a wormhole, I think," Kitty said. "To a whole 'nother dimension. Think about it, guys, if we can perfect this technology, the sky's the limit! We could explore the multiverse, travel through time, transport anybody anywhere... instantly!"

Kurt frowned. "Then everyone will be a teleporter. Suddenly I feel so... common."

"You'll always be special to -us-, fuzzy-elf," said Rachel, hugging him.

"How long will it take to apply this science, Kitty?" Storm asked.

Kitty shrugged. "Oh, once Reed an' Tony Stark an' the really smart guys get their hands on it, it shouldn't take long at all. Maybe thirty, forty years."

"Forty -years?-" Kurt asked.

"The world might not even be here in forty years," said Rachel. "Believe me, I know."

Kitty's face fell. "Boy, you guys sure know how to take the fun out of something. This is the future here, staring us in the face, an' you're all making jokes."

Storm gave her an indulgent smile, to lessen the sting. "It's most remarkable, kitten. You'll have to keep us informed. Now, how do you turn it off?"

As she spoke, Storm stepped closer to the portal. It was no merely artificial creation-- it was real, as much a part of the world and the environment around them as a rainstorm. It was tied into the fabric of the Universe itself, and the more she looked, the more she was drawn to it... she reached out, hesitantly...

"No, Ororo!" Kitty snapped. "Don't get any closer!"

"Fear not, kitten. I shall not touch it. I can sense the boundaries of its energy field."

"Yeah, but you never know when it might--"

Suddenly a bolt of-- something-- raced up Storm's arm, penetrating her to the core. The whole world flashed yellow, orange, and red, and she spasmed as though every lightning bolt she'd ever thrown was returning to her, in force...

Someone was screaming. Storm couldn't tell who. She was falling... further and further away from all that she knew...

...and then she was gone.

--

"--spike," Kitty Pryde finished her thought, even as Storm's body hit the floor.

"Ororo!" Kurt Wagner cried, and dropped to his knees beside her. For a moment, Storm's body had flared so bright-- almost as thought she'd become one with the powers she wielded, a force of nature. A miniature star. Now she was human again, but unconscious and didn't seem to be breathing. Kurt cradled her in his arms, then began CPR, not even wanting to think that it might not work...

-No, it cannot end like this. All these years, all these battles...- Of all the X-Men, Ororo was perhaps the strongest. She could not fall to some trivial mishap. Kurt would not allow it! He would die himself rather than watch someone he cared about... thought about as family... -loved-...

Storm gasped, and her fingernails dug into Kurt's palm.

-Thank you,- Kurt thought to God, and said a further prayer in his mind while Ororo recovered. But when he finished and looked at her again...

"Kurt...?" she breathed, her eyes wide. "By the goddess...! It cannot be!"

He laughed. "Relax, leibling. You gave us quite a scare. I think perhaps you should avoid science fairs for a..."

"I saw you die!"

"You did?" Kurt asked.

"No, you didn't!" said Rachel.

"Well, no more often than any other X-Man..." said Kitty.

"Storm, perhaps you--"

He didn't get to finish the sentence. His mouth was far too well occupied with Ororo, who held him tightly and kissed him-- no mere friendly kiss, either, but hungry, passionate, a kiss to make a man forget there was anything in the world besides the two of them. And Kurt did forget, after an initial shock. He almost couldn't help it. He'd always thought Ororo the most beautiful woman he knew, and to have her here, like this, it was...

Rachel cleared her throat. "Excuse me! Remember us? Your teammates? I'm from an apocalyptic future and my friend here walks through walls. Ring any bells?"

"I don't think they're gonna answer," said Kitty.

"Maybe they could if Ororo wasn't hogging both their tongues..."

In her own time and no one else's, Storm finished the kiss and drew back, still staring at Kurt with tears in her eyes

"Beloved," she murmured. "Never leave me again."

"I-- I-- I-- I--" Kurt stammered.

"Eloquent," said Rachel.

"Guys," Kitty said, "since when is Storm's costume green?"

"It's not." The Phoenix emblem appeared above Rachel's eye and she took a step forward, hands clenched into fists. "Playtime's over, sister. I suggest you get off him and give us Storm back before--"

Storm turned and stretched out her hand, a sudden burst of lightning lashing out to slam Rachel against the wall. "Do not test me, hellspawn! You will not keep us apart!"

"Ororo, stop!" Kurt cried, grabbing her arm. "Stop, you're killing her! What's the matter with you?"

He looked down at her-- sure enough, Ororo was now dressed in a flowing green dress more reminiscent of one of Polaris' costumes than anything their Storm had ever worn. She wore a necklace and a pendant Kurt had never seen before. And there was a scar just above her left eye...

"I will not let them hurt you again, Kurt," she said, and kissed him again before he could make an issue of it.

"Hellspawn?" Rachel murmured.

"She probably didn't mean it in, y'know, in a negative way." Kitty finished helping the redhead to her feet, then coughed. "Um, Kurt, buddy... I'm thinking that's not our Ororo."

"Ja, that much seems clear," said Kurt, when he could talk again. He glanced again at the goddess now snuggled to his chest, her arms still wrapped around him. "Can we keep her?"

--

Scott Summers rubbed at his temples, moaned softly, then looked up at the X-Men assembled around the table with him: "Alternate worlds, you say?"

Kitty nodded. "Yeah. Um, sorry about that. Even Reed Richards thought the wormhole had stabilized."

Scott sighed. "Haven't we had enough fun lately?"

"Actually, I find it fascinating," said Hank McCoy, the Beast. "Think of it. The machine must access reality itself at a Multiversal quantum level. The sort of small-scale reality manipulation we've seen may be only the tip of the iceberg. If it should fall into the wrong hands..."

"An' what if 'Ro's in the wrong hands?" asked Wolverine. "If that ain't our Storm, where is she?"

"In... in the other Storm's Universe, I guess," said Kitty. "It probably did the same thing with them that it did to me and Scott. Just switched 'em."

"Yeah, but this ain't just good fer a few laughs anymore, darlin'. Who says that other Universe is a nice place t'be?"

"It's probably not," said Lucas Bishop, their resident expert-- besides Rachel-- on grim futures. "After all, you said Nightcrawler was dead over there. Storm might be the only survivor."

"Or she might've done it," Rachel said. "She sure didn't like -me-..."

Kitty cleared her throat. "Well, you kinda Phoenixed on her, Ray..."

"Yeah, an' I'll do it again, if you get her butt out here! I'm ready for her now!"

Scott held up both hands. "Enough. Logan's right, actually. Our main concern right now is for the safety of -our- Storm. We need all our resources working on that ship."

"Kitty and I will get right to work," Hank said.

"I'll hit up the Avengers," said Logan, "see if I can get Stark on this."

"I'll contact Reed again," said Scott. "Forge, too."

"What about Kurt?" Rachel pressed. "He's still with that... woman... and I don't trust her."

Scott frowned at her. "I've sent Emma in to examine her. She'll learn whatever she can..."

"I'd like to try, too."

Kitty coughed, muttering under her breath: "Bad idea..."

"C'mon, I can be objective..."

"I'm sure you can," Scott said, "but Emma's our most experienced telepath, and -any- version of Storm is bound to be a tough read. I don't want to take any chances."

"Fine," Rachel said, "but I'm keeping an eye on them."

"The more, the merrier," Scott said. "Be careful. Now... let's move, people. Storm's counting on us. And Kitty...?"

Their junior member blushed. "Yeah, I know. Next time we find a spaceship, you can call the FF an' I'll just mind my own business."

"Please. Some of us are getting too old for this..."

--