X-Men: Beginnings and Endings, Part 1
Summary: An X-Men: the Movie sequel. I've seen stories based on this concept before, so I'm not claiming that this is an original idea or anything. This is just my humble opinion of what should happen in a sequel.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gambit (damn), or Rogue, or any of the other X-Men. They are Marvel's, and the movie is Fox's. I am not making any money from this (damn again), so please don't sue.
Author's Note: I know that a lot of things in here don't parallel the comic book world as well as they could, but hey, they don't in the movie, either. This is my first fic, I know it sucks, but it gets better. I promise.
~*~
Wolverine pulled up to the X-Mansion on his motorcycle, surprisingly glad to see it after his year long absence. He was tired; he hadn't slept for a long while. He hadn't eaten, either. He planned to check in with the professor, perhaps see how Jean was doing, get something to eat, and then sleep. For about a week.
Professor Charles Xavier opened the door before he could knock. The telepath must have sensed his presence. "Logan! What a pleasant surprise!"
"Good to see you again, Chuck," he replied gruffly, trying to hide the fact that it was good to see him again.
"Tell me, was your journey successful?"
"I found out a lot, if that's what you mean. Not a lot of it was anything I wanted to know." He paused as they passed a large, muscular… man, completely covered in blue fur. "Who or what the hell is that?" Logan asked.
"That is Henry McCoy, also known as Beast. Henry, could you come here a second please?"
"What is it, Professor? I have some specimens I'd like to look at in the lab." He glanced at the petri dish he was holding. "Fascinating." His accent was Midwestern, but he spoke with an eloquency that was not common to the area.
"This is Logan. I believe you've heard of him?"
"Ah, yes. The infamous Wolverine. It is a pleasure to finally meet you."
Logan grunted in response.
"Henry was one of the first members of the X-Men. He returned a few months ago, after a long leave, similar to the one you just came from. He works in the infirmary and laboratory."
Logan looked the man up and down. The fur was quite unnerving, and when it was paired with fangs and an altogether animal-like appearance, he really did look like a beast. His hair, or rather, longer fur that happened to be at the top of his head, went back into points, similar to Wolverine's own hair.
"Love the hairstyle," he remarked dryly.
"Why, thank you. It appears to be altogether rather similar to your own."
Is this guy for real? Logan thought derisively.
"It was a pleasure conversing with you, Logan, but I'm afraid that I really must go," Beast excused himself.
"What did you find on your trip, Logan? Did you go to the compound that I located?" Xavier asked, continuing their earlier discussion.
"Yeah, I did. That was the place, all right." He grimaced, flashes of what happened to him there coming back. "It was called Weapon-X, I was called Weapon-X. The ultimate, human weapon. They experimented on other mutants, too."
"Any names you recognized?"
"Well, Sabertooth, for one."
Xavier raised an eyebrow. "So you were once his ally."
"I guess… I don't really remember anything about him." He thought for a minute, reviewing all the new memories the compound had brought. "We worked for the government together, I think. But I don't… I can't tell what memories go where, I don't know where any of them fit." He frowned, creasing his forehead in thought. His countenance changed abruptly into one of self-directed anger. He had been telling the professor too much. "I couldn't find out too much before I had to come back here."
"Why did you have to come back here?"
"Ran into this band o' mutants. Said they were going toward New York. Didn't seem like good guys, so I guessed I should come back here and warn you people."
"Could you describe these people, Logan?"
"Uh, there were about six? Seven? Maybe more, I don't really know. One guy- big guy- with harpoons, or something. A lady with green hair. And some person made out a' crystal or something. Some kid with freaky eyes, too."
Charles nodded. "I'll have to check Cerebro. Please excuse me. It is wonderful having you back in the mansion. Your presence was missed by many, myself included." He rolled his wheelchair to the wing containing his mutant-finding computer.
Logan headed toward the kitchen, his stomach rumbling fiercely.
"Logan? Is that ya in the kitchen?" called a female voice with a soft Southern accent.
"Marie?" He didn't know why he bothered to ask, her scent was unmistakable.
She ran into the kitchen, a blur of brown and white hair. "Ya came back!" She hugged him tightly; he belatedly returned the embrace.
"How are you, kid?" He pulled away to get a good look at her. She was obviously becoming a full grown woman. She has to be nearly 18, if not already, he realized. She was taller, walked with more confidence. She had also, Logan couldn't help but notice, filled out a bit since he'd last seen her.
"Good, Ah guess. How're you? Did ya find what'cha were lookin' for?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I guess I didn't really know what I wanted to find."
Marie seemed to accept that answer. "Got somethin' for ya." She found the chain around her neck with her gloved fingers and pulled, revealing dog tags previously hidden under her shirt. "Ah believe these are yers."
"Thank you." He took them from her, the metal still warm from her skin. "So how're classes?"
"Pretty good. Ah graduate in spring. Ah get ta go on mah first mission soon."
"That's good."
"And a lot a' people got sick with the flu. Ah had it real bad. But Jean and Hank took care a' us."
Jean… "How is she?"
"Jean? She's good. Ya didn't hear the news?"
Logan ignored her. "I'm gonna go say hi to her, okay, kid?"
Rogue smiled knowingly. "Alright, ya go and do that."
~*~
Charles Xavier entered Cerebro and put on the helmet, scanning the New York area for the band of mutants that Logan described. It sounded like Kodiak Noatak, Lorna Dane, the mutant known only as Prizm, and perhaps Remy LeBeau were involved somehow. All of them could be very dangerous under the wrong circumstances. And if the other mutants they'd fallen in with were equally powerful… well, Charles hoped that they weren't.
He finally found the four mutants, along with five others and a very dark presence. He focused in on them, trying to find a location or any clue to the others' identity. They were in an underground laboratory. The exact surroundings were unfamiliar, but Xavier would recognize the experiments, the torture, the pain, anywhere.
"Sinister," he whispered, leaving Cerebro for the meeting room and calling his team there.
Storm, Cyclops, and Jean all immediately who he was talking about. Wolverine, however, wasn't following.
"What is sinister?" he asked.
"Sinister is a very powerful mutant who wants 'genetic perfection' of the mutant community," Professor X explained.
"I thought once we took care of Magneto that'd be it," Wolverine grumbled.
"I am sorry to disappoint you, Logan. But there are mutants working for less than honorable causes everywhere that we must face." He turned to the group of X-Men. "Sinister has had a team of operatives formed, the Marauders." A picture of each Marauder came up on a screen as Xavier talked about them. "Arclight, who has the ability to send shockwaves through any object or living being. Blockbuster, who has superhuman strength and is nearly invulnerable. Harpoon, who can transform objects into dangerous energy. Prizm, whose crystalline body can channel and amplify energy. Riptide, who can spin at an incredible rate and employs shuriken. Scalphunter, who can create all kinds of weapons. Vertigo, who can project a field of her namesake. And Polaris, whose powers are similar to Magneto's. The most dangerous of these are the leader, Sabertooth, who you have encountered before, and another of Sinister's men separate from the Marauders, Gambit, who can convert the potential energy of an object into kinetic energy."
"Come again on that last one?" asked Logan.
"He can charge an object with kinetic energy, which causes it to explode when it comes in contact with another object." Storm was staring sadly at the picture the professor had called up on the screen.
"You know this creep or something?" Wolverine couldn't get past the teenager's eyes. Blood red irises, on coal-black. Looked like Lucifer himself. Definately the kid he'd run into back in Canada.
"He was a good friend," Ororo defended him. "He saved my life."
"He saved your- how?"
"A couple years back, the Shadow King- that is another one of our enemies, Logan- captured and de-aged me. He gave me amnesia, so I could not remember who or what I was. I ended up in New Orleans, where I had to resort to robbery to survive…"
~*~