ONE BROTHER
"Murdock..." Logan said quietly.
Matt Murdock knew that Logan was standing right beside him - of course - so he didn't react when Logan spoke. Instead, Matt simply raised the glass containing his once-a-week Scotch and took a sip.
"Not your kind of bar, Logan," Matt replied calmly. Like many blind people, Matt had the habit of not looking at someone when he spoke. Logan smiled briefly and sat down at the table without bothering to ask permission. What Matt had said was true. The bar they were presently gracing with their presence had ferns, for Pete's sake. And there wasn't a pool table or a girl dressed in biker leathers anywhere on the premises.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Matt continued dryly. He and Logan respected one another, but they were a long way from being friends.
"I need a hand with something," Logan replied as he caught the attention of a nearby waitress.
Matt waited until Logan finished ordering a beer and the waitress was gone.
"What kind of a hand?" Matt asked warily.
"Someone I know was in town yesterday - and his car got boosted. There was something important in the car. You know this part of town better than anyone, so I figured you might have an idea where the car ended up."
A slightly alarmed look appeared on Matt's face, but he refrained from asking any further questions as the waitress brought Logan his beer. Logan paid for his drink and tipped generously. Then he took a long, appreciative drink from the bottle - ignoring the glass the waitress had left for him.
"So what's missing?" Matt asked worriedly. The X-Men dealt with things that were pretty big. The kind of things that could result in millions of dead people if something went wrong.
"A photo album."
Matt relaxed, "So... this isn't business?"
Logan shook his head, "No. It's personal. But it's the important kind of personal."
Matt took another sip from his drink, "Do you have all of the vitals?"
Logan spoke without hesitation, "He was driving a black '69 Corvette, license plate '14387A'. He was in town picking up some stuff that had been left with an old friend. It was personal stuff that he thought had been lost a long time ago. After making the pickup, he parked the car near the Intrepid Museum to take care of some business. When he got back, the car was gone."
Matt thoughtfully nodded his head, "I might be able to help you. There's a really ambitious chop-shop operation working that area. They've been on my list, but I haven't gotten around to them. A classic 'vette would be right up their alley."
"Where's the chop-shop?" Logan asked mildly. But his superficially innocuous tone of voice didn't fool Matt. Matt could hear the sudden acceleration in Logan's heartbeat and a subtle change in Logan's voice as adrenaline and other "violence now" chemicals surged into his bloodstream. Whatever this was about, it was important to Logan. Important enough to have him on a rather dangerous edge.
"I'll check it out," Matt replied quietly.
Logan didn't say anything for a long, strained moment.
"Okay," Logan finally said. Matt could tell that had cost Logan.
"I'll see you here, tomorrow night. Same time," Matt continued.
"Okay," Logan said again. Then he drained his beer and left.
Matt half-expected Logan to follow him. But it didn't happen.
The next day, Logan was waiting in the bar for Matt. Logan was sitting at the same table. A Scotch on the rocks was occupying space before an empty chair.
Matt sat down and took an appreciative drink. Logan had correctly nailed what brand of Scotch Matt had been drinking by scent alone.
"I think I got it, but you need to check," Matt said quietly. Then he put his briefcase on the table, clicked open the latches, and turned the briefcase so it was facing Logan.
Logan pulled out the photo album and flipped it open. The first photo was of five kids - an impossibly young Scott, Hank, Bobby, Warren, and Jean. They were dressed formally and standing under a sign that read, "The Xavier Academy for Gifted Youngsters." They all had big, goofy grins on their faces.
There was a date written in pencil next to the photo. Logan frowned thoughtfully. He wasn't positive, but he was fairly sure he had spent that day strapped to a stainless steel surgical table in the Weapon X facility.
Logan turned a few more pages. Jean was in all of the photos, of course. Scott and the others occasionally appeared as well. A slight smile appeared on Logan's face as he examined a sun-splashed and slightly out-of-focus Polaroid of Jean on a beach. She wasn't wearing a stitch of clothes and she was laughing as she pointed at the camera.
Except for that picture, there was nothing in the album that an outsider would have found interesting. The value of the album was strictly personal.
Logan closed the book and picked up his beer.
"I owe you one," Logan said.
"Don't worry about it," Matt replied.
Back at the mansion, Logan tracked down Kitty. She was in her office, reviewing the syllabus for her "Introduction to Computer Programming" class.
"What's up?" she asked Logan as he walked in the door. She had a habit of arching one of her eyebrows at somebody when she asked them a question. Whenever she did that, Logan wondered if Kitty knew she had picked up that mannerism from Ororo.
Logan handed Kitty the photo album and said, "Put this where Scott will find it, but not Emma."
Puzzled, Kitty opened the book and flipped through it. Then a slight blush appeared on her cheeks and she closed the book with a decisive snap.
"This is from the stuff Scott had stolen the other day?" Kitty asked curiously.
Logan nodded.
"And this is what he's so bummed out about?" Kitty continued.
Logan didn't reply. He simply looked back at Kitty.
Kitty let out the eternal, puzzled sigh of a woman confronting the mental and emotional vagaries of the testosterone-soaked half of the population.
"How did you get it back?" Kitty asked.
Logan shrugged, "I talked to a smart shyster who knows some people. He helped."
Kitty shook her head and then got to her feet. Then she leaned forward and kissed Logan on the cheek.
"How does that old saying go? 'It takes two men to make one brother?'" Kitty said with a fond smile.
With the photo album tucked under one arm, Kitty turned away and phased into the wall - not bothering to wait for an answer.
She wouldn't have got one.