(Fourteen)

Two hours later as promised, the X-men boarded the Lucky Dragon, relieved to finally be going home. Remy had boarded first and taking a seat in the front row, was relieved to see the control room on the screen and that Kimble and Seth were seated inside. Everything was quiet, the mood somber inside the ship.

Logan boarded a minute later and looked over the seats as he entered. Bruce was still asleep from being sedated and had been laid across the seats in the last row. He was out cold and if Fallen kept her word about staying on Earth, would have a rude surprise when he woke up. His pack with Justin's box safely inside had been crammed under his seat. Logan wasn't happy about Bruce still being on board since it probably meant he wasn't going to be the only one going along.

His suspicions were justified when he saw Valentin and Joseph arguing in the galley doorway. "When this ship gets back, I'm gonna shut those freaks down," Wolverine heard Valentin say.

"If they help her fly the ship, shouldn't you keep them?" Joseph was arguing. "We need this ship in case the Dognan return. We need a powerful space vessel. We can't fight the Dognan with our scrub fighters. Not in space."

"Fallen flies this ship, not those two freaks," Valentin snarled in disgust. He walked into the galley and his Second followed him. The argument continued, but Logan wasn't interested in listening to any more of it.

Logan finished snooping and took his seat next to Gambit. A deep sinking feeling of unease settled into Logan's gut. He tried to shrug it off and looked over to the cage. From where he was sitting, he had a good view of the inside. Fallen was on the closest of the two sticks, her head down. She had a cigarette burning but the ash was long like she was in a trance.

"De pilot, she gonna be okay to go?" Remy whispered low.

Logan turned to his teammate, trying his best to sound confident as he replied, "I suppose so, ain't nobody stoppin 'er."

Remy almost groaned aloud when he saw both Valentin and Joseph take seats a couple of rows behind them. Again he whispered to Logan. "What's dis? We're not catchin' a break on nuthin'!"

"Too late ta do anything 'bout it now. We'll deal with it."

A moment later, Henry came up the ramp. He glanced over at the lethargic pilot hanging on her stick and scowled. Now more than ever, her cage room looked like the prison that it was. Knowing that Valentin was close by, he said nothing, but took his seat next to Maylee, hoping to offer the child some comfort. She had slunk into her seat only just before Henry had taken his, turning away to face the wall. She had been hiding out during the battle and hadn't seen much of them. More than that, she was no doubt upset about Fallen's new living arrangements. It affected her and not in a positive way.

Glancing up to the large viewing screen, Beast could see that Kimble was in his usual place in the cockpit room. He was working, getting ready for the flight. He would occasionally glance up at Fallen, but was silent. His face was drawn, serious. Seth was behind him in the control room for the launch. He sat in his chair, still and quiet as he stared off into space. He seemed as sad and defeated as Fallen did, he sat doing nothing. There really wasn't anything for him at the moment, taking off was Kimble's job. Like Bruce, Seth was just here for the ride.

"Boost sequence initiated," Lucky chimed.

Kimble announced,"Boostin' in two."

"Boosting in two, aye," Fallen responded without moving. Her voice was low and scratchy.

Henry felt useless with all of this sadness and had to do something. He gently gave Maylee's shoulder a nudge, making her look up at him with a slight smile. That was better. He said nothing more but lay a gentle hand on her arm, patting her slightly. Her smile grew a bit brighter and she leaned into him, suddenly grateful to have him there. He put an arm around her and comforted her like the child she was.

Wolverine took a moment to quietly sniff out Fallen's condition. Even from this distance he could pick up Valentin's stink all over her. Her hair was tangled and dirty, she hadn't washed from Valentin's last dose of love and affection. Scores of new bruises decorated her arms and she had a nasty looking suck mark on her neck, Valentin had marked her as his. She looked terrible, but appeared calm and unhurried. She crushed out her cigarette and gripped the stick.

Kimble counted down, "Ready..Steady..Boost!"

Fallen shot of a bolt of blue Ristle energy from her hands. They boosted.

"Boost sequence complete. Do you wish to continue?" Lucky prompted.

"Yes."

"Port exit initiated."

The engine hummed into life with a low vibration. Fallen concentrated and Logan felt the ship move up. There was a thump as the landing gear was retracted, they were now floating in the bay. Using her powerful telekinesis, Fallen mentally piloted the ship out of the hanger and into Cerise airspace.

The huge screen was divided into the six windows. Two for the cock pit, the other four giving different views of their progress. Logan watched as the blue sky of Cerise turned into the black starlit backdrop of outer space. The sight of it should have made him feel excited to be traveling, but all it did was increase his sense of unease.

Lucky chimed again, speaking in his tinny voice. "Port exited. Do you wish to continue?"

"Yes," Fallen replied.

Fallen and Kimble negotiated the rest of the launch and they were on their way. Logan's unease still wouldn't go away. He looked around him nervously but nothing seemed obviously out of place.

They flew steadily for about forty minutes, placing the light brown dustball of Cerise further behind them, until they reached the jump point. Kimble had been quiet all this time, but spoke up as it was time to prepare for the jump. He glanced up at Fallen again, his pale blue eyes serious. "Jumpin' in five."

Fallen nodded. "Jumping in five, aye."

"Still with me, girl?" Kimble mumbled low, concerned about Fallen's quiet and unable to keep it to himself.

"Still here," she replied, giving him a wan, dismissive smile. She wasn't about to air her grievances in a ship full of passengers.

The time passed.

Lucky chimed, "Jump sequence initiated."

Kimble took his turn. "Jumpin' in two."

"Jumping in two, aye." The jump clock came up on the screen and began counting down. The silence was broken when Fallen barked suddenly, "Command Override Lost Cause."

Lucky responded immediately with, "Command Override accepted. Emergency procedures activated."

Kimble blinked, startled. " 'Scuze me, darlin'?"

For the first time Seth moved. He looked at Kimble in alarm. "What?"

Wolverine grunted as his seat belt locked tightly against his chest. Grids lit up on the floor like movie theater running lights. Something thumped from the lower level below and Logan's gut clenched. His hyper senses were going wild as his body surged with adrenalin and the hairs went up on the back of his neck. He just knew this was going to be bad, whatever it was.

Lucky continued to announce in his strange mechanical voice. "Ristle power overload screens deactivated. Explosion safeties disabled. Command Override options negated."

"Fallen, what're ya up to, girl?" Kimble asked nervously. When she didn't answer he snorted with impatience. "Lucky, abort jump!"

"Unable. Second Command Override required."

Kimble grinned angrily and shook his head. "Oh, yer in so much fuckin' trouble, Fallen. I ain't got the words!" He began flipping switches but didn't seem to be having any success.

Lucky had more good news to offer. "Warning, jumping without safeties activated may result in implosion during the jump. Probability of successful jump without safeties engaged, two percent or less."

"It's all right, Lucky, we'll be just fine as we are," Fallen replied, her voice sounding as far away from all right as a poor exhausted pilot could. "Leave the safeties off, if you please."

Wolverine jerked in his seat at those words, now realizing to his horror that she intended to kill them all. As unforseen as her marriage to Valentin had been, this had been that much more off his radar. Fallen had appeared much too strong to him for such a lame move as this.

Not about to take it sitting down, Logan was done with being restrained. He popped a claw and in a flash, slashed his belt, not caring that he cut himself in the process. Gambit was next to him and tried to free himself as well, but with no means of cutting his belt as Logan had, remained trapped in his seat. Logan heard Remy call out for assistance but ignored him, he was too busy trying to stop this nightmare. He stood and tried to move to the cage but was stopped by a force field.

Lucky's voice chirped from a small speaker above him. "Security grid 3 activated. You are in violation of emergency procedures, Sir. Please return to your seat."

"Violate this!" Logan snarled and slammed his fists full force against the containment field. No good. He wasn't going anywhere.

Valentin shouted. "Fallen, what is this shit? What's going on?" He didn't get an answer. He shoved against his belt and reached for his long sword, but it was secured under his seat. With the seat belts locked, he couldn't reach it.

Seth tried a different tactic. "Fallen, whatever you're going to do... Just wait a minute and let's talk about it."

"It's too late for that now," she whispered softly, her head down. She was just hanging there on the stick now, like an abused rag doll that had nothing left inside.

"Espe're, Fallen, let's talk about dis reasonable, s'il vous plait!" Remy called out. He had done his share of sweet talking, enough for him to try. He didn't know if he could charm her from this distance, his persuasions worked best when he had eye contact and skin to touch, but he had to do something. "Come on, fille. You stronger dan dis, Gambit's seen it in yo' eyes. Dere ain't nuthin' so bad you gotta go dis way!"

Fallen didn't even spare the young thief so much as a glance. Once committed to her course, she wasn't about to back down from it.

The clock was still moving, only one minute remained. Fallen closed her eyes and began to recite in a loud, scratchy voice. She chanted,"Lo, there do I see my Father...

Lo, there do I see my Mother, and my Sisters and my Brothers...

Logan recognized her words immediately as a butchered version of a Viking Death Chant and it only conformed his worst fears. "Fallen!" he cried out in a hoarse snarl, only increasing the panic of the others around him.

"Command Override Frecketeshackt!" Seth ordered in hysterical scream.

Lucky, "Access denied."

"Lo, there do I see the line of my people

Back to the beginning..."

Seth, "Command Override Zaresh didect a set!"

Lucky, "Access denied."

"...Lo, they do call to me,

Bid me take my place among them..."

Seth, "Command override Liteckt!"

Lucky, "Access denied."

"Fuckin' do sumpthin'!" Kimble snarled at Seth.

"...In the halls of Valhalla

Where the brave... shall.. live... forever."

Seth, "Command Override Seth predicta keteriackt!"

Lucky, "Command Override accepted."

"'Bout fuckin' time!" Kimble said, unable to hide his fear.

Kimble and Seth frantically began flipping switches. Some of the security grids shut off, but the jump clock continued to wind down. Twenty seconds. Kimble swore again, they weren't going to stop it. Seth turned to his brother quickly and shouted. "Go! Go, now!"

Kimble snarled in frustration and suddenly bolted from the control room, toppling his chair in his haste. He snatched a black bag from a shelf as he went, sending more items flying. He disappeared through the back door and into the system, slamming the door behind him.

"Where's 'e goin'?" Gambit asked behind Logan.

"Whatever it is, I hope he's quick about it!" Wolverine growled.

Fallen watched Seth's distress impassively and finally spoke. "I love you, Seth. I always have."

"Fallen!" Seth bellowed with a sob as he rose suddenly to his feet.

The clock hit zero and Fallen responded, a huge burst of blinding energy flamed from her tiny body and into the stick. She threw her head back and screamed.

They jumped.

To be continued in Adrift.