บท 299: Back to Earth (I)...

[POV Ororo]

I groggily opened my eyes and and I felt like I was ran over by a giant truck... Everything felt different and I knew for sure that my body was different or something in my body was different.

"Ororo... Thank God, you are finally up" I heard Nemuri's voice and she swooped beside me and sat down.

"What happened to me? How long was I out!??" I asked her in a confused tone and tried to get up but Nemuri pushed me down.

"Don't get up... Your body needs rest" Nemuri said softly, she has rarely shown this side of her. "What is the last thing you remember?" Nemuri asked me softly and smiled at me reassuringly.

The last thing I remember... I remember helping the others with the Shields when suddenly the alarms started to blare. All of us heard woman's scream sailed through the shuttle... I knew Nemuri's voice and Susan was the only woman other the Nemuri and I on the ship so it must be Susan.

All of us shot towards the Susan but before we could have even taken a step... We were thrown away by a bright glowing smoke. Pain shot throughout my body... It was like my body was being melted and I collided with the wall... That is the last thing I remember.

I knew that the pain was because of the bright glowing smoke... But the shuttle was airtight so it couldn't have been smoke... It must have been the Cosmic Clouds... That is the only conclusion I can derive for now but Nemuri would definitely know much more.

"It was the Clouds wasn't it??" I asked Nemuri who simply nodded her head.

"Yeah... It was the clouds. Reed's prediction was wrong" Nemuri said and turned her head. I also followed her gaze and found that the others were there too, they were still knocked out.

"What happened to me?" I asked Nemuri after gathering my courage.

"I don't know but Fleur and Momo had said that you body is changing and they think that it became a solid construct made up of lightning" Nemuri finished hurriedly. It took me a couple to seconds to digest all of that.

"I don't understand..." I said weakly... I clearly understood what Nemuri said but I needed to know more... A better explanation would be really nice.

"Umm... Why don't I call Fleur and Momo? They will be able to explain this much better" Nemuri said and I immediately agreed... They are the ones who would be able to give me more details along with a better explanation.

Nemuri pulled out her phone and Face Times Momo. Momo picked up the phone and Flash Stepped into Fleur's lab. "How are you feeling, Ororo?" Momo asked me.

"Really bad and sore... I think that a truck ran me over" I said dryly. Both Momo and Fleur cracked a small smile seeing that I was still making jokes even in my current predicament.

"Nemuri, I need you to use these spells" Momo said and a text message appeared on Nemuri's phone which contained a list of spells.

Nemuri nodded her head and started casting the spells on me... I didn't even know what kind of spells these were. But before Nemuri started casting the spells she placed the phone on the table beside my head so that both Momo and Fleur can watch the results.

Fleur told Nemuri to stop after she had casted three spells. "It's just like we had thought... Ororo is no longer a human... At least not physically" Momo said and I felt like my whole world collapsed around me... What kind of being am I now??

Please don't tell me that I will grow tentacles like I had seen in one of the videos Nemuri was watching. That was really disturbing and sick... "Ororo... You don't need to worry from what we have found out your outer appearance isn't going to change in the slightest" Fleur said in reassuring tone.

"So, what exactly happened to me?" I asked them in a worried tone.

"You are basically a lightning bolt shaped like yourself... Everything inside you have turned into lightning including your bones, muscles, and organs" Fleur said and Momo nodded her head when she heard Fleur's statement.

"We need to do more tests for anymore information and we don't want to guess anything" Momo said going into her scientist mode and I simply nodded my head. I know that freaking out won't help in the slightest.

I am really upset... If everything inside me had turned into lightning... Will I ever be able to sleep with Reo again?? Or will I even get pregnant?? When my thoughts were going in darker direction, I felt Nemuri patted my shoulder reassuringly.

"Don't worry Ororo... Everything will be fine..." Nemuri said with a reassuring smile on her face. I simply nodded my head in understanding.

"Where are we now?" I asked Nemuri.

"I have already set course for Earth... I don't think that the others would be up before we touch down" Nemuri said and I nodded my head in understanding.

"What about the readings?? Please tell me that we got something... I don't want to go back empty-handed" I asked her in an desperate tone. I don't know to what extent I or my body have been affected but I didn't want to go back empty-handed. If the Project was a success then there was something positive about the Project.

"Yes... The Project was a success... Currently the five of them are going through Evolution or whatever Reed called it... I have diagnosed them and all of them have mutated in some way after being exposed to the Cosmic Clouds" Nemuri said in an excited tone.

"I feel really bad for them... They will no longer be able to live with humans" I said with pity in my voice.

"Yeah... But this is also good... Since the Project was a success, I would have taken them to work in Elysium but this would make the chat much easier" Nemuri said with a smug grin on her face.

She must have done some underhanded things to them. Some kind of trap in the contract or something similar... I am really glad that Nemuri is on our side. "Were you knocked out too?" I asked Nemuri who shook her head.

"No... No... I was the one who blared the alarm and I was coming to save you but the Cosmic Clouds were really fast and it reached you guys before I could. I found Susan first... I knocked her out and then I found all of you. I picked you up too and carried the two of you to the infirmary" Nemuri explained with a smile on her face.

"What happened to you? Did the Cosmic Clouds affect you?" I asked Nemuri who gave me a smug grin and raised up her hands. On her one hand deep purple flames burst and on her other hand an ice cube of deep purple colour formed.

"The Cosmic Clouds kick started my bloodline powers" Nemuri said in an excited tone.

"Enough of that now... You need to take a rest. I will be going to the cockpit... I don't want to crash the ship into a mountain or the ocean... We will be entering the atmosphere in a few minutes so hold tight" Nemuri said and got up from her seat. I nodded my head in understanding.

Nemuri pointed her finger towards the others laying on the bed and with a few waves of her hand, all of them were strapped on the bed. At least they won't fall off the bed now. Nemuri turned towards me and waved her hand in similar manner and I was strapped too.

"Hey!! I can hold onto the bed on my own" I exclaimed but Nemuri smirked at me and left the room. I wanted to struggle but the pain in my body was too much for me to keep moving.

Fleur told me that my body was a lightning bolt... So, I just imagined it and my whole body turned into lightning and the straps passed through my body and appeared over the bed. My whole body was crackling like lightning... This is bad... I need to stop or I might blow a hole in the ship.

I thought about turning normal and once again I was back in my human form. I pulled myself up from the bed with some struggle... I walked out of the room while supporting my body with help of the wall. I finally arrived in the cockpit and saw that we were about to enter the atmosphere.

"You should have stayed in the bed, you know" Nemuri said... She didn't even look away from the control panel and addressed me.

Her senses are really sharp... I am pretty sure that I didn't make any noise while I was coming here. I walked up to Nemuri and plopped down beside Nemuri's seat. "I wasn't able to hold myself back... I needed to help you. Two novices are much better than one novice" I said and activated the panel in front of me.

"Looks like your powers will come in handy... And I guess you are right and I won't deny any help at this moment" Nemuri said and grinned at me. I grinned back at her and we finally entered the atmosphere and the ship started to shake.

After some really intense minutes of turbulence the ship finally calmed down and we were finally able to land the ship without any hitch with the help from Control Room...