This is the long overdue sequel to 'Alpha Strike Team'! As always, read, review and enjoy!
Ororo hurried up the stairs into the medical wing. Jean, Scott and the professor were behind the glass screen watching three men in the room on the other side. One of them was either asleep or unconscious, lying on the bed. He had black hair that was styled into two peaks and was covered in blood. He was wearing Kevlar and a shoulder holster.
"Who are they?" murmured Ororo.
The two other men were sat on one bed, their eyes flickering around the room and then returning to the unconscious man. One was huge, easily 6'7 with thick black hair and sharp blue eyes. He also had two handguns at his hips, two mid-thigh and a shotgun holstered in his back. The other man was blue with curly black hair, gold eyes and a tail. He had swords on his hips.
"They appeared on the doorway." said Jean. "The unconscious one is missing an arm. The other two took the guns off his body. I stopped the bleeding and stitched him up. They said they wanted to be alone with him."
Xavier added, "I couldn't get a read on any of them. To have such powerful mental blocks…"
Ororo frowned as the unconscious man's eyes opened. They were dark brown and shot around the room in seconds.
"You look like дерьмо." said the big man conversationally.
"Do me a favour Pete. Shut up." growled the other man.
The blue man smirked. "I guess it is true vat zey say now. You are indeed 'armless."
Pete laughed and the other man glowered at him before glancing at the glass pane.
"Двусторонний зеркало?"
"Da. We are in the X-Mansion."
Ororo stepped into the room and watched their reaction. The armless man sat up, suddenly seeming more alert and the Russian and the German were standing in front of him.
"And you are?"
The blue man was polite but Ororo could practically sense the wariness.
"My name is Ororo Munroe."
"Piotr. This is Kurt and the armless wonder is Logan."
Logan gave Piotr a brief glare but it didn't seem heartfelt. He hopped off the bed and rubbed the bandages irritably. He moved so that he was stood in the gap between Piotr and Kurt and slightly forward of both of them.
"So who's watchin' on the other side of the glass?" asked Logan.
"Jean Grey, Scott Summers and Professor Xavier." said Ororo, surprised that they'd realised the glass was two-way.
They walked into the observation room. Scott stretched his hand out to shake Logan's. The other mutant glanced at the hand but made no movement towards it. Scott flushed and dropped his hand. Ororo exchanged a glance with Jean.
"Hello Logan. I am Professor Charles Francis Xavier."
A brief spasm passed Logan's face. "Hi Charlie."
Xavier scowled and Ororo felt the temperature drop by ten degrees.
"Logan, you may call Professor, Charles, Professor X or just Xavier but you may not call me Charlie."
Logan shrugged. "Sure thing Chuck."
Piotr and Kurt laughed in sync. It was slightly terrifying. Xavier seemed to give up, recognising it as a battle he'd never win. Instead he instructed Ororo and Scott to give them a tour of the mansion. So off they went.
"This is the greenhouse."
Logan looked bored, searching his tattered Kevlar outfit for something. Piotr was listening intently, apparently finding it all fascinating. Kurt was playing with his tail. Logan triumphantly pulled out a cigar and then started searching for something else. Kurt let out an exasperated sigh and pulled out a lighter, lighting the cigar.
"When are you going to carry your own?"
"Why would I do that?" asked Logan, grinning. "I've got you and…"
His voice trailed off and Kurt and Piotr both stiffened. Scott didn't ask, though he very much wanted to. They moved on, showing them their rooms and providing them with clothes. The trio got dressed and re-emerged in time for dinner.
"This way." said Ororo.
Logan couldn't summon up any enthusiasm for his dinner, despite how nice it looked. His mind was turning over the day. Nick, the only father he'd ever really known, was dead. Clint, the only brother he'd ever really known, was dead. Natasha and Wanda, the closest thing to sisters he had, were dead. He'd stayed and worked at SHIELD because his family lived there, not because he firmly believed in SHIELD itself.
"So what are your powers?" asked Kitty, in awe of the muscled man sat next to her.
The giant Russian shifted uneasily in his seat. "I am called Colossus. Kurt is Nightcrawler and Logan is Wolverine."
"That didn't answer my question." pouted Kitty.
Piotr glanced at Logan who nodded. "I turn into metal. Kurt teleports and Logan heals and has six metal claws."
Kitty giggled. "He doesn't heal very well."
In her defence, she wasn't thinking clearly. Logan gave her a look that she seriously suspected could kill and said something apparently unflattering in another language. Kurt and Piotr winced and half-smirked. The three of them left their plates half-full and rose to their feet.
"We'll go to our rooms now." announced Kurt, teleporting the three of them away.
He deposited them all in Logan's room. He settled on the chair and Piotr flopped onto the bed. Logan on the other hand was currently living up to his name and pacing like a caged animal.
"So what do we do now?" asked Piotr in Hungarian.
They'd worked out a code, about three months into being SHIELD agents. Russian, German and English in front of people, in the comfort of their homes. Hungarian, Romanian and Thai on the job when they were worried people were listening in. It had been Kurt's idea and they'd drawn languages out of a hat.
"Three options." said Logan. "Go back to SHIELD missing half our family, go rogue or stay here."
A heavy silence fell over the room, broken by Kurt's tail swishing back and forth.
The teleporter offered his opinion first. "I zink ve should stay here. Ze only thing left at SHIELD for us is death. Here we could do some good."
Logan humourlessly asked, "Get rid of some of the red in our ledgers?"
Piotr's face twisted. "I agree with Kurt."
"I know. That's why we're staying. Go and… ah fuck try and get some sleep."
Logan watched his two best friends teleport out of the room and collapsed on his bed. He peeled the bandages off and stared up at the ceiling blankly. The day was finally catching up with him and it felt like his world was turning inwards. Clint's dead. The words buzzed round his brain like a mantra. Clint was the only other person he could speak Feral to, the only other person that understood the curse of being Feral. Clint was… Clint was everything Logan should have been to Victor. And now he was gone.
In the privacy of his room, Piotr undressed himself slowly, carefully examining his bruises. The only major injury he had was a cut where a stray bullet had hit while he'd been in the Danube. He held his yin-and-yang necklace and felt like crying. Natalia, his little sister, was dead and he'd been forced to leave her in Budapest. She was his light, the way Clint had been Logan's. And now she'd left him.
Kurt held his golden cross tightly and prayed. He couldn't find any reason for Wanda's death. None whatsoever. He pulled the small velvet box out of his uniform. It was in a special pouch, one that was supposed to hold lockpicks but since he could teleport to the other side of a door, they weren't a necessity. He opened the box and stared numbly down at its contents, gleaming away in the light. He was going to ask her after the mission. In front of the other four, he was going to get down on one knee and ask. He'd imagined it a thousand different ways and then he'd picked the moment. And now he'd never be able to ask her, never see her face light up and never hear her answer.