Archangel - Warren Worthington

Chapter 27

I stared at the two of them for a second before the realization hit me, "Oh my God" I said a little too loudly

"Cassidy, what is it?!" Warren rushed to me, completely forgetting about fighting Avalanche and abandoning Kurt, "Are you hurt, what happened?"

I think it's so sweet that Warren cares about me, but sometimes, I worry that he doesn't focus enough on himself. I would hate for him to get hurt because he was too worried about me. After all, I've done super well in training and even though I'm not a mutant, I can handle myself...most of the time

"No, no" I shook my head, trying to reassure him "I'm fine it's just..." I trailed off and pointed at Peter and Jubilee who were still just staring at each other

Warren's jaw dropped when he saw them, "What the hell-"

"Focus, X-Men!" Magneto shouted, still trying to win the fight with Juggernaut

Finally, Jubilee and Peter snapped out of it. The two of them scrambled up and continued fighting Pyro who up until that point was being held back by Scott with a little help from Jean. 

I can't believe I hadn't realized Jubilee liked Peter up until now. I feel like such a bad friend for not catching on, but then again she's never even hinted to me that she has feelings for him. I've been really focused on Warren and I that I never realized that the two of them would be so good for eachother. Peter could use someone like Jubilee to get him to loosen up and relax every once in a while. As soon as we get back to the X-Mansion I am making it my personal mission to get them together!

Warren went back to help Kurt and I turned my attention to Magneto. He was really struggling to defeat Juggernaut because they both had such strong powers. Jean was doing really well helping out the rest of the team fight Pyro and Avalanche. However, Magneto looked like he could use some help. I knew exactly what I had to do. Juggernaut had his back turned to me, so I could take him by surprise. He's a lot stronger than me, so if my plan backfires then I'll really be in trouble. I just have to be confident and remember my training.

I took a few steps back and then launched myself at Juggernaut. He stumbled forward as I tackled him. Magneto noticed what I was doing and quickly moved out of the way. He sprinted over to Warren and began yelling instructions at him, but I couldn't understand anything he was saying.

Juggernaut was flinging me around wildly, trying to get me off of him. I was literally holding on for dear life with my eyes shut tightly. Suddenly, Jean's voice came into my head.

"Cassidy, let go now!" She said frantically

"What?!" I said back "Are you crazy?!"

If I let go now, I would fall into all of the rubble and metal shards down on the ground.

"Just do it!" She pleaded "Now! Let go now!"

I shook my head, but let go anyway. I had to trust my team. As horrible as this mission was going, I still had to trust them. I opened my eyes and yelped as a piece of metal laying on the ground pierced my thigh when I fell on it. There was no way I could control where I landed and this probably wasn't the worst thing that could have hurt me. It would have been way worse if I landed on the support beam.

I watched as Warren reared back his wings and shot metal shards at Juggernaut who was taken off guard. The shards hit him spot on and he crumpled to the ground. The rest of the X-men finished off the last of the rioters and by the end everyone was pretty banged-up from all the fighting. I hadn't stood up yet and was really not looking forward to having to deal with the pain of this metal piece being pulled out of my leg. I took a deep breath and pushed myself up off the ground. I grit my teeth as I was met with a stinging pain once my feet hit the ground. I limped over to the rest of the team who all had tired eyes and were breathing heavily.

"Is everyone ok?" I asked once I made it over

The team nodded and Magneto looked at my leg with concern on his face, "Do you want me to help you with that?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind" I chuckled, trying to stay positive even though my leg was hurting really badly

The team looked down at my leg and when Jean noticed the piece of metal she frowned.

"I'm really sorry, Cassidy" She apologized, "I didn't think you would get hurt like that when I told you to let go. It's just that Warren was going to aim his shards at Juggernaut and I didn't want you to get sliced by them"

"It's OK" I tried to smile but just ended up grimacing from the pain "I know you didn't mean for me to get hurt" I assured her

"This is probably going to be miserable for you" Magneto said, not sugarcoating anything, "You might want something to hold onto"

Warren walked up to me and extended his arms, wrapping them around me. I smiled and leaned into his embrace, his warmth comforting me already.

"I'm surprised you aren't freaking out more" I chuckled "I always thought you would literally kill someone if I ever got hurt on a mission"

"Honestly, that's what I feel like doing" Warren rubbed my back soothingly

"Ready?" Magento asked as he readied himself

"Ready" I replied

"I can't watch" Jubilee said as she covered her eyes and turned away

Magneto pulled the metal out in a swift motion and I felt a sharp sensation in my leg. I felt a few tears pool in my eyes but tried not to let them fall. The rest of the team was silent as they watched me with sympathy...well, except Jubilee. She was still facing in the opposite direction, refusing to look.

"Ow" I whimpered and gripped Warren's arm tighter

Warren took a sharp breath in and ran his hand gently through my hair. I could tell he was upset, but in that moment there wasnt anything I could do to comfort him. I was trying hard not to cry because I knew that would just make him feel worse.

"It's done" Magneto sighed as he discarded the piece of metal onto the ground.

"Finally, we can finally go home now" Jubilee said with a sigh, a panicked look still dwelling in her eyes

"Before you go, I just want to thank you" Magneto spoke up as we began turning away, "There's still a lot of work to be done here and a lot of damage to be fixed, but it would've been 10 times worse if you all hadn't been there to help. I'll forever owe you for that."

"No need to thank us." said Scott, "We're X Men, it's what we do."

The team shared a look of content and fulfillment. We were all proud of how our mission turned out even though it did get off to a rocky start. We knew it could've been a lot worse, but we didn't let it get to that point. Scott was right we are the X-Men!

- edited 8/17/20 -