Taming a Beast

I was lying on my bed, just thinking about my mission and everything that had happened ever since I had gotten home when my phone began ringing. I looked at the caller ID and my eyebrows furrowed-- it told me Logan was calling. I answered hesitantly, “Hello?”

“I told you to call her on her X-Men phone!” I heard Scotty growl. Logan scoffed.

“Hey, Shiloh, we’ve got a bit of a problem.” I heard a grunt, then Logan yelled something but was probably keeping his hand over the receiver so I couldn’t understand exactly what. “That little mutant hit? Well, it wasn’t exactly a little mutant, and it’s somebody we know.”

“Oh?” I asked, already popping up from the bed and running to the hangar.

“It was Magneto. How we underestimated his heat signature is beyond me, but let’s just say that he wasn’t alone and his army is growing,” Logan said as I heard his claws unsheathe, then a scream. “We need you and the other X-Men to come now.”

“How are we supposed to get there? You guys have the plane,” I said to him. I could hear the phone switching hands and Storm’s voice started to fill up the space.

“There’s another plane. It’s just a prototype, but Hank will know how to use it perfectly,” Storm said, ending the call, whether she meant to or not. I cussed and made it to the hangar, then sent out the signal to the other X-Men: a tritone over the PA system throughout the schools. Within minutes, we were all in our suits and ready to go as Hank readied the new plane, a near replica of the one Storm and the rest of them had taken to the fight.

“It is so, so important to trust in yourself and your teammates. If you are stuck, and there is no possible way for you to get out, ask for the help of a teammate. Everybody be on the lookout for stuck teammates, alright?” I asked, pacing in front of the mostly new mutants. Jean had gone with Logan and them, leaving Hank and I as the only two original X-Men left to tame this rowdy group.

“Ready to board,” Hank said from the plane. I nodded and led the kids on there, turning to Shadowcat as I hugged her tightly, pulling away to look at the fear that had spilled across her face.

“You can and you will do this, Shadowcat. I have immense confidence in you,” I said to her before we all boarded the plane and took our seats. I sat down beside Hank to control the radio and communications with other planes and the other X-Men on the ground. When Hank took off, it was at a supersonic speed my stomach wasn’t too comfortable with, but I pushed that aside. Some of my best friends and my boyfriend were in trouble right now, and I had to go help and save them.

Hank landed in the forest near the fight scene, and I could already see bad weather thanks to Storm and fires thank to Scotty’s eyes. We jumped out of the plane the moment it hit the ground, then began sprinting towards the battlefield. I shifted and teleported, then shifted my arm into Lady Deathstrike’s as I sliced through a nasty-looking, tatted Brotherhood member.

“Nice of you guys to show up,” Scotty said, running up beside me as he tipped his eyes over his glasses, the laser slicing through three fighters. I pushed him in the chest, smirking at him.

“Yeah, to save your ass that can’t fight,” I said to him, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a fighter. More were pouring in from the opposite end of the forest, and I was distracted by that. The fighter swung his hand, but it was sliced off, then his body fell to the floor. I looked over at Logan, who wiped his claws on his thigh and looked at me.

“Shiloh...” he growled warningly. I rolled my eyes and turned.

“I can take care of myself, Logan,” I said although I could feel him following me. I slid my leg underneath a fighter that Rogue was fighting and I let her finish him off. “I just got a bit distracted.”

“Yeah, well, that one punch he swung could’ve been your demise Getting a little bit distracted could ultimately lead to your death,” Logan said, but I kept walking. He grabbed me by the arm and turned me around, saying, “Shiloh, listen to me.”

“How charming are you two,” a deep voice said from besides us. Logan quickly pushed me behind him, unsheathing his claws as we both faced Magneto. “A little mutant couple. Xavier would support this. Wolverine, I wasn’t aware that you were capable of love.”

“Never towards you,” Logan growled as I gripped his biceps to keep him from lunging forward.

“Tsk, tsk, you really shouldn’t be rude and fight in front of a lady, especially in front of one as beautiful as her,” he said, looking at me over Logan’s shoulder. Logan looked a bit confused-- I had stalked Magneto for quite a while-- but it hit him, thank God. The reason Magneto had no idea who I was is the same reason I was so tired all of the time. I was shifted the whole time I interacted with Magneto. “Who are you, darling, and why are you not part of the Brotherhood?”

“Don’t tell him any of that,” Logan growled, staying posed to attack in front of me.

“Now you’re telling the beautiful girl what to do?” Magneto clicked his tongue. I put my hand on Logan’s lower back, and he unsheathed one of his hands and threw it back to touch me comfortingly. “Logan, you really must learn your manners around women.”

“When you’re threatening that women like you are right now, I have every right to act rude in front of her,” Logan said evenly, running forward and roaring. Magneto, of course, labeled the iron in his body and threw him down. I shifted into Nightcrawler, teleported, and slid the helmet off of Magneto’s head and onto Logan’s. I teleported again to the shadows, and Magneto looked stunned.

“You’re a shifter, but you possess the power of the ones you shift into,” Magneto called out. “Very impressive. You must come join the Brotherhood, my darling. You’d be of great use in our organization.”

Logan got up from his heap on the ground and unsheathed his claws. I called out, “Don’t kill him!”

Logan whipped around and asked, “What?”

“Just take him prisoner! We have a cell on Hank’s plane,” I said, walking out from the shadows since if Magneto tried anything, I knew Logan would stop him. Logan growled uncomfortably and then I took a tranquilizer out of my pocket and stuck it into Magneto’s thigh. He fell limp in Logan’s arms and I helped guide him back to the plane as we placed him within the cell that kept the powers restrained within.

“What do we do with him now?” Logan asked me. I was already walking towards the phone at the front of the plane as I picked it up and dialed Xavier’s office number. He picked up on the second ring.

“Hello?” His rich voice asked.

“Professor, we’ve got Magneto captured. I didn’t want to kill him because...”

“You don’t have to explain it to me, Shiloh, I understand perfectly, and I have to say I’m very proud of you. I’m glad you’ve learned that if killing is avoidable, then avoid it. Excellent job. I just told the other X-Men to retreat and return to the planes they came in on. Wolverine's going to have to go back to Storm’s. Again, Shiloh, I’m very proud of you. Good work,” Xavier said before hanging up the phone. I turned to Logan and stuck out my tongue, knowing that he had heard the whole conversation.

“Oh, hop off it,” he said bitterly, beginning to walk off of the plane. I ran after him and slid in front of him, throwing my arms around his neck. He scowled down at me until I batted my eyelashes, then smiled as he leant down and pressed his lips hungrily to mine.

“This is just getting gross,” Colossus’ deep voice said from behind us. We separated quickly and saw that everybody who had flown my plane was standing behind us and just watching us make out on the ramp leading up to the plane. I blushed and Logan squeezed my hand before taking off through the forest back to Storm’s plane.

Gambit shook his head, a smirk on his face. “So unprofessional, Professor.”

“Keep your thoughts to yourself or else I will tell Xavier about the little visit I got from your student,” I said to him threateningly. He pretended to zip his lips, lock it at the corner, and throw the key over his shoulder. I smirked at him, patting his chest. “That’s right, dear Gambit.”

“Can we please just all get inside so we can get home?” a particularly beat-up and tired Iceman said. “I want to go home and just fall on my plush bed and sleep until forever.”

“That makes two of us,” said the physically exhausted, yet usually energetic, Colossus. He had a strip of blood running down his cheek that I, being the motherly teacher I was, reached over and wiped off with my hand. He winced as my hand touched the cut.

“Shiloh!” Hank yelled. I ran to the front, Gambit and Rogue right on my heels. He was staring at Magneto in his cage, who smiling up at us. “You did not tell me we had a prisoner.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t fit it in to the conversation,” I said as the other X-Men finally all made it to the door, gawking. “We’ve got to get him back to the mansion immediately so we can put him on lock-down. This cage was genius, Hank, just like you.”

“Yeah, well... let’s get going,” Hank said gruffly, always unable to take a compliment. I took my seat behind the radio as everybody scuttled back to their seats and we took off, flying home.