Bad Things:
CJ was a powerful Omega level mutant, and she preferred to stay in the background. She wanted no business with the X-men or the Brotherhood, but life had different plans for her. When her dreams become reality, Cole realizes that her freedom comes with a hefty price.
Again, I know, I don't need to be uploading a new story, but I couldn't help myself.
I've been a fan of X-men ever since it was a cartoon, and I've just been loving the movies. Since I'm obsessed, I've decided to write my own fanfic. In this story, I picture Victor Creed the way Tyler Mane portrayed him, but in flashbacks I see him as Liev Schreiber.
I hope that you enjoy this story.
*More information, along with credits and disclaimers, can be found below.
Chapter 1: Subject 1033
She should have told the Professor about her dreams. For some reason, though, she kept it to herself.
In that moment between dreams and reality — when CJ traveled through space and time, aimlessly floating to wherever her subconscious would take her — something lodged itself into her brain. She opened her eyes, spaced and dreamy, expecting to find herself in her dorm room with her snoring roommates.
That's when she realized that she was in an unknown territory.
The lab was like something she had seen on TV. Scientists were in white lab coats; some were pressing buttons and some were writing down vitals. CJ hadn't bothered to watch her steps and be as stealthy as possible. Why bother, when she — whose ability to travel through space and time without being detected — was just a ghost; a simple fly on the wall that no one noticed?
CJ blinked at the amber eyes that seemed to be staring at her. It took her a second, but CJ realized that those amber eyes, that belonged to a man, were who the scientists were monitoring. He was strapped down to a lab table, and the metal chains that kept him in place had to have been other worldly because the man didn't come across as someone who would be easy to control. Wires were injected into his skin and tubes were shoved up his nostrils. CJ had seen enough through Logan's mind to know what was going on. She got the same sharp annoyance, like splinters prickling at her brain, from the amber eyed man that she would get from Logan.
The beastly man's hair was long, tangled and blond. Some strands were a dirty blond and others were pure white. Two sharp fangs peeked out of his mouth and his fingernails were replaced with talons that looked like they could do a lot of damage. He stared into CJ's now alert eyes for what seemed like eternity, growling just a bit, breathing heavily in a way that made his chest puff up.
Can he see me?
CJ had never experienced someone staring so intently at her. Sure, there had been moments when a person would comment about feeling as if though something was watching them, but never had they stared directly at her, and never for such a long period of time.
The man look slightly familiar, a bit taller and bigger, but he was somehow was familiar. The man's name was on the tip of her tongue. CJ went out a lot, the perks of being eighteen and her own guardian, and she saw a lot of faces. Of course, the man on the table wouldn't have been a face or a name she'd easily forget; and those amber eyes would have haunted her dreams until she saw them again. Even though she had a feeling that she had seen him before, it was evident that she was familiar to him as well.
A doctor blocked their line of sight and a gut wrenching roar filled the surrounding space. When CJ could see the man again, he was fighting against his restraints and his eyes — that had been a glowing amber — turned into a pitch black that promised nothing but death. CJ took a closer look and noticed that they had cut him like someone would gut a fish; from his lungs down to his lower stomach. There was a substantial amount of blood, but there was no mark, not even a scratch. He had healed….just like Logan would have.
CJ didn't like the thought of the beastly man being hurt. She settled further into the background, watching as the doctors fretted over the man, and snooped for some evidence to figure out who he was.
All too suddenly, CJ's eyes opened. Cold darkness swallowed her and CJ buried herself deeper into her pillows and blankets. Jubilee had the common cold and she read off the internet that cooler room temperatures fought off germs. So as CJ shivered, Jubilee, Kitty and Rogue slept just fine. It was four in the morning, and a Sunday, so CJ should have been sleeping, but she found herself thrashing out of the blankets and nearly freezing her ass off. What she would have given for the heat to be on.
It took about thirty minutes before CJ felt anything close to being awake. By the time she emerged down the steps and into the kitchen, weak winter sunshine spilled through the windows. She opted for her favorite dark washed jeans and a grey T-shirt. A burgundy hoodie was tied around her hips and Chuck Taylor's that had seen better days adorned her sockless feet with no makeup. It was still too early to put effort into her appearance, so her soft black wavy locks of hair hung without a care.
CJ never bothered much with her appearance either way. She wasn't attending the school just for people to care about what she looked like.
She smacked the kitchen lights on. Last nights dishes were put away nearly into the cupboards, but some still lingered in the sink. Logan was seated at the island, drinking his secret stash of beer. "Hey, kid."
CJ snorted, snagging a cup of freshly brewed coffee. If the other adults hadn't been so strict, CJ would have swiped one of Logan's beers, not that the gruff mountain man would have minded (they had drank together on multiple occasions outside of the school), but CJ settled for the warm taste of caffeine. She wiped her mouth and belched surprisingly loud.
"Ladylike." Logan nursed on his second beer once he had finished the first. He had always been an early riser, but CJ noticed the way he was dressed.
"Going out today?" That's what she said. What she meant was, going on a mission?
Logan drowned his beer. He set the empty bottle down, but didn't reach for a third. It wouldn't have given him a buzz, but he tried to only drink two. When he had more than that, that's when you knew something was bothering him enough for him to attempt to get drunk and forget whatever it was. "I won't be back for dinner. You should order a pizza or something."
Which meant he was going on a mission — something that was dangerous. And that he was going in alone. The Professor must've gotten some kind of intel to be sending Logan off on his lonesome. He may have healed from virtually anything and was hard to kill, but that didn't mean he couldn't be knocked unconscious. Plenty of people trying to "understand" mutations, like the Friends of Humanity, would have loved to get their hands on Logan. He was the perfect test subject; just like that beastly man in her thoughts….
CJ had noticed that Logan had been gone every night the past week, always reappearing when students were supposed to turn their lights out smelling of cigars. Logan had never gone out to fetch a potential student; he was too gruff and rough around the edges to coax people into attending. He was intimidating at first glance, and his social graces could have used a few improvements.
Logan only went out on missions. In fact, CJ was certain that a large part of him craved the danger.
"I could come along."
"CJ." There was a warning in his tone. His dog tags glittered around his throat, winking in the morning light.
"I'm old enough and you might need me." That, and, Logan was no telepath, and he couldn't bend space and time at his will. CJ could do that, though.
She heard the stubborn whine in her voice and coughed to cover it. That definitely didn't make her sound like she was eighteen. CJ never wanted to be an X man, and she still didn't, but she didn't like the thought of Logan being alone. She had grown attached to the antisocial man, and he had done the same with her. He had taken Rouge under his wing, but he viewed CJ more as a little sister than a puppy that needed training.
"Maybe next time, kid." Logan glanced over at her, through his untamable cropped hair. "I'll be back late. Don't wait up."
CJ was about to protest, but Logan just gave her a look to shut her up. He knew that she waited up for him some nights, just like he waited for her whenever she stepped foot outside of the school's grounds. Both knew what a shitty experience the world could throw at them, and both worried that one of them would snap someday.
"Fine." It was pointless arguing with Logan once he had set his mind to something. He was like a boulder; he wouldn't budge without a great amount of force.
"You should have some breakfast."
Eat something? When he was about to go God only knows where on a mission alone? Was he joking? Logan's sense of humor had always been dry.
Her stomach growled. "Do you want some eggs?"
That was the only thing CJ knew how to make minus the essentials of breakfast that every kid knew how to make. Her dad use to make eggs every morning before he left for work. He had liked them sunny-side up and CJ's mother could never do it right. She was always breaking the yolk, even when her father had tried to teach her the proper way to do it. On Sunday mornings, when he didn't have to leave for work, he would prop CJ and her siblings up on a stool and teach them how it was done. It was always CJ, her siblings and their dad on Sundays. Her mother was still passed out in bed, out cold from the pills she took with her white wine. They certainly had never been a loving couple. On TV, in those old black and white sitcoms, the husband would come up behind the wife and put his arms around her easier and nuzzle at her hair. The children would sit there and yell at how disgustingly cute they were. And they all would laugh. That never happened in CJ's household.
Logan shook his head. "No thanks, kid."
CJ turned on the stove and cracked open the egg into the pan.
"How's school going?" Logan asked.
"Okay." CJ caught a glimpse of herself in the reflective backdrop over the stove. Her dad had been a light brown, almost an auburn color, even his stubble had been brown and gold. CJ took more after her mother with her wavy black hair and hazel eyes. The rest of her was up for grabs. Her grandmother always said that she had her nose, but CJ couldn't see it. The old lady had gone senile a few years before she finally kicked the bucket. Both her parents had been relatively tall for their genders, but somehow CJ came to be only petite at about 5'2" and the shortest out of her family. She had been into cheerleading up until her junior year of high school so she had a slim yet athletic figure. Most girls went through a gawky phase, but CJ didn't remember her's. Her mother had swore that she looked like a baby bird, ugly and uncoordinated, and that's why she had been signed up for cheerleading. It didn't bother CJ too much, though. Her mother had always been more into her daughter's appearances than having daughters with their heads screwed on right.
Her mother had always stood by F. Scott Fitzgerald's words, quoted from the most selfish, shallow, and in fact, hurtful, female character to ever be created, Daisy Buchanan — that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.
"How ya sleeping, kid?"
"Fine." It was a lie and Logan knew it.
He raised an eyebrow. "Just fine?"
"It's the same old stuff, Logan." She slipped her egg onto a plate. "I'm fine."
His look, however, didn't waver. "Maybe you should talk to the Professor," he said as he stood up.
"Maybe." CJ watched as Logan stood up and cracked his back. It sounded more like metal rods twisting. He was wearing his usual outfit; a tight fitted T-shirt that showed off his muscles, his dark jeans that showed off his legs that were toned to perfection and his usual mountain boots.
He ruffled her hair. "I have to get going. Don't cause too much trouble while I'm gone, okay?"
CJ rolled her eyes. "Okay. Bye. Whatever."
"And don't forget to talk to the Professor," Logan said as he stamped out of the kitchen and down the hall, no doubt to let Rouge know that he was leaving. The last time he had disappeared without letting the Southern Belle know where he had gone, Rouge had tore him a new one.
After Logan had been a long gone, and she finished her second egg, CJ slammed the front door and put her hoodie on. She pulled the hood up, shoving her hair back. She hadn't brushed it out yet and putting it up in a ponytail would only serve to make the knots worse. The dry winter air wasn't helping at all with her frizz, it only made it worse.
She trudged off to the back of the school to the track field. It wasn't the perfect morning for a run; it was a wet blanket of cold that surrounded the school and her breath was immediately turned into white smoke. The chill nipped at her face and hands.
CJ still ran around the track. Running was her stress reliever and a way for her to avoid all her problems at the moment. She remembered when she was a child, and her old brothers use to chase her around the house, that she thought she was a bird; wishing that she picked up enough momentum to fly far, far away. She wasn't really sure how she got into running, but she knew she'd never do it for sport. Her parents had tried to convince her to run track and field in high school, but CJ refused. There was just something about running that made her feel free and she didn't want to be timed, or awarded for doing something she loved. Even though the air tasted like iron and she was shivering through her clothes, CJ kept on pushing her legs for go faster.
She might as well get a few laps in before she would be covered in snow up to her knees.
By the time she had finished, CJ was sitting on the dewy grass. The yard was slowly growing weeds and tall grass again along the fence, which was flaking and peeling off. Some parts were missing, like a gapped tooth smile, from fights and Logan's survival training class. Other than that, everything else was sturdy and the mansion was even sturdier. The Professor didn't believe in letting the place acquire that aged old, haunted abandoned look. He thought it would give off a bad impression.
CJ walked back into the school with her head down and her hands stuffed into her pockets.
She didn't see Logan again for weeks.
~Page Break~
"CJ?" Storm's voice droned through her name.
She had her cheek resting on her fist, staring out the window at the graveled entrance of the school, waiting for class to end. The pencil sat nearly between her fingers and drummed softly against the blank paper in front of her. She looked away from the window and noticed that the silence in the room was directed at her as everyone stared.
She hated that.
There had been a rumor going around the school for as long as CJ could remember that Storm — who's real name was Ororo Monroe — was the descendant of an ancient line of African priestesses, all of whom have white hair, blue eyes, and the potential to wield magic.
She surely looked it. Storm was one of the beautiful woman CJ had ever seen in her life. One certainly felt like they were in the presence of a goddess when they were next to Storm.
Storm taught Earth, Life & Natural Sciences. She grew a love for the subject after she discovered her mutation and came to America to be taught by the Professors and others at the time. Storm wasn't a tough teacher, but she wasn't a soft one either. She genuinely wanted to help those who let her, but she could become a shark — ready to strike like a finely made machine if she was pissed off.
"Did you hear what I said, CJ?" You could hear the warm, motherly tone in her voice. "The Professor wants to see you."
A tidal wave of whispers ran through the room. CJ couldn't help but wonder if she was the only mature on in her college course classes, minus Piotr, who now went by the Americanized version of his name, which was Peter.
"Now?" CJ asked.
"Yes, now." As CJ gathered her books, Storm said, "I'll have someone give you the homework."
CJ mumbled her gratitude as she stumbled out of the classroom. She walked the halls swiftly, skating pass a couple of children who were no more between the ages of five and ten, racing towards the back doors. It was probably their recess. When she came to the Professor's office door, she didn't bother to knock. She opened up the door and made herself comfortable in one of the chairs. The man in the wheelchair didn't look surprised at all.
"Ah, Cole, just the person I wanted to see," he said warmly. Cole, like CJ, was her other nickname.
"Professor," CJ responded with a shy head nod. "Why did you call me?"
His smile didn't waver. "Logan expressed his concern about you and you're sleeping habits before he left."
CJ pressed her lips together. The mention of Logan made her want to ask the Professor where he was, but she bit her tongue. She was, in her mind, cursing Logan for talking to the Professor behind her back.
"He was worried about you," the Professor said. No doubt he had read her mind. "Is there anything you wish to talk about, Cole?"
She was about to shake her head, but the look the Professor gave her made her reconsider. He had a knowing look on his face, and CJ figured that he already caught a glimpse of what was keeping her up at night.
"I'd rather show you." She got comfortable in the chair, expecting to be there for a while, and she opened her mind up to the Professor; dropping her sloppily built walls to keep telepaths out.
The sensation was warm and firm. Her mind blazed with the memory in welcoming for the Professor to see. It was an amazing and awe-inspiring experience whenever the Professor dove into her head. The memory played before CJ's eyes again, clear as day like it had been doing for the past few nights. It was amazing to witness the Professor observing, looking around in the memory freely without restraints. Surprisingly, though, he hadn't been all too interested in the man being experimented on. Instead, he circled the scientists, walked around the machines and focused on the file paper that CJ had took noticed to as well. When he gathered all the information that he could from CJ, he removed himself from her mind.
Now, the sensation of a telepath existing the mind wasn't as welcoming when they entered it. Since it wasn't CJ's first experience with it, the sensation wasn't painful like it had been. Instead, it left behind a dull ache, almost as if someone was pressing down on her brain with enough force to make it ache. And like many people, it left a lingering headache.
The Professor didn't speak right away. He relaxed into his chair and stared at CJ for a while. She wasn't sure what to make of his expression. It was unreadable.
"Yes," he finally breathed. CJ almost didn't hear him. "That is interesting indeed."
"Do you know what that place is?" It wasn't the question she wanted to ask, but she had to start somewhere.
"I do actually. I've seen it before — in Logan's memories. Those nightmares he has always contain quick flashes of that place. With the same people as well."
CJ's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "So they're experimenting on mutants like Logan?"
The Professor gave her a grave look. "Sadly, I don't believe those like Logan are the only ones that those people experiment on. However, those with an enhanced healing factor are probably more desirable to them."
"Because they can't be killed?"
"They can't be killed that easily," the Professor corrected her. "Very few things could actually kill Logan. In fact, there are only two methods that we know of that could truly kill him."
CJ figured that taking off Logan's thick head was one of those ways, but she couldn't think of another. Not even Logan knew what could really kill him.
"And that man—" the Professor continued. "—I do believe I know who he is."
CJ didn't hesitate to ask. "Who is he?"
"If I'm not mistaken, you and Logan both know who he is, too." CJ doubted that. The type of people she use to hang out with certainty didn't run in the same crowd as Logan had. CJ didn't even think that Logan hung out with people before he came to the school. He gave off a strong leave me alone or I'll take your head off, bub vibe to everyone. "You've just forgotten."
"You're not going to tell me who he is, are you?"
The Professor chuckled. "No, I don't believe I will. Like Logan, it'll be up to you if you wish to remember or not."
CJ rolled her eyes. She wondered if the Professor ever talked without throwing a damn riddle in. "Where is Logan, anyway?"
"The thoughts you've entered weren't by mistake, Cole," the Professor said quickly. "I was given information a few months ago by an unusual source about a secret facility that kidnaps and experiments on mutants. I wouldn't deem the source reliable so I just had Logan look into it. Then that exact night you experienced a memory, or someone's thoughts. And I do believe that same person who was able to reach out to you is the same person who the source is searching for."
CJ felt more than a little lost. "But why reach out to me?"
"Why can you do the things you do? Yes, apart of it is because of your mutation, but why can you solely control space and time? Why can't you walk through walls like Kitty, or create ice like Bobby?" When CJ shrugged her shoulders, not having an answer, the Professor said, "It's because there's no real answer. I don't know why that man reached out to you, but all that matters is that he did. And, because of that, we're one step closer to finding him."
"So we're saving him?"
The seriousness fell away from the Professor's face. "I hope that we can, Cole."
Oh, it's that kind of saving.
"And if we can't?" She asked hesitantly.
"Not everyone can be saved." The Professor smiled softly at her. "Is there anything that you gathered that I might have missed?"
"They call him Subject 1033," CJ said.
The Professor nodded his head. "Yes, I saw that, too."
CJ tilted her head to the side, trying to remember what she could. "There was a dog tag," she said. The Professor encouraged her to elaborate. "Like…like Logan's."
"Can you recall the numbers?"
CJ didn't hesitate. "976 357 200 118."
Information/Credits/Disclaimers:
-All characters and events belong to Marvel Comics, Stan Lee (writer), Jack Kirby (artist), and the producer (Lauren Shuler Donner) and the production and distribution companies.
-This chapter was not overlooked by my beta.
-This is set about five years after the events of X-Men.
-CJ is my main OC and she is portrayed by Kat Graham, an actress who is well known for her role as Bonnie Bennett on The CW supernatural drama The Vampire Diaries.