First thanks to everyone who's reviwed so far
And to answer your question X00001, Deadpool will star in this fic, although I'm not sure how big as role he'll get
Deadpool: What? I aint good enough for your fic? C'mon I got tons of talent, just look (pulls out a unicycle and does a hand stand on it), I'm destined to be a star, talent thy name is Wade Wilson
Me: Damm it, that's the third time that's happened today (grabs broom) get back in the fic (whacks Deadpool with it), now remember Deadpool we had a long talk about this, you need to stay in the fic or you'll get a fifty percent pay cut (not that you're getting paid end )
Deadpool: Yea, and I called my agent
Me: You've got an agent?
Deadpool: Well, I kidnapped one
Me: O.K, that does it, get back in the fic or you be co-starring in a Fullmetal Alchemist fic (evil grin) with Major Armstrong
Deadpool: Noooo! Not the pink sparkles, anything but the sparkles, O.K, O.K I'm going (teleports away)
Me: Heh, works every time, now for the disclaimer (Deadpool teleports back in)
Deadpool: He doesn't own the X-men, or me, so long suckers
Me: Remeber, Sparkles
Deadpool: Right, but you'll need to catch me first, (teleports away again)
Me: Sigh enjoy the chapter while I go look for him and try to get him back in this fic, he's probably taunting the Avengers again
Chapter 2: Watch out, there's vampires about
The building looked the same as it always did, built from white bricks and gleaming brilliantly in the autumn sunshine, the sections he'd been informed had been damaged in the recent incident had already been rebuilt. The pool at the back glittered with the reflecting sun and the trees that lined the edges of the grounds were a mix of deep red, firey orange and bright yellow, the autumn season definitely had the Institute in its chilly, temperate grip.
The helicopter touched down outside the Institute, the down force from its blades pressing down on the green grass. It's doors slid open and a man in his late thirties with greying hair, wearing his usual secret agent style attire as well as his traditional eyepatch and chewing a toothpick. Nick Fury paused while the two SHEILD agents he'd brought with him disembarked before walking up the shingle path to the front doors. He waited a moment and adjusted his eye patch before knocking sharply on the door. A few minutes later the door opened and Kurts eyes widened with shock when he saw the three grim looking soldiers in front of him
"I swear I didn't do it, they never even proved I was anywhere near the chem lab when that flour bomb was set…" he blurted out
"Take it easy kid, I just need to talk to Wolverine, know here he is?"
"Oh, right. He's in the longue"
"Thanks" Fury replied as he brushed past Kurt and strode confidently into the mansion, the other two SHEILD agents flanking him. El Ninio and Strike Force X were hanging out in the living room watching TV with their mentors when Fury walked though the open door.
"Logan" he said curtly, remaining close to the door in case he needed to beat a retreat if Weapon X was in a bad mood
"Fury" Wolverine replied with a note of hostility in his voice, rising and extending two of his claws, from past experience he knew when the Director of SHEILD made house calls, something very bad had happened, or was about to. Luckily Fury knew how to break the tension
"Hey Zander" he said to Stormcaller
"Hey uncle Nick" Zander replied, to looks of amazement and surprise from almost everyone present
"Any chance we can talk in private?" Fury asked
"Sure" Wolverine replied, standing up and leaving the living room with Fury and the other agents
"What?" Stormcaller asked the others, who looked like they'd seen a pig fly past the window
"You didn't tell us your uncle was the freakin director of SHEILD" Solaris said
"Well, me and my parents don't really talk about uncle Nick, he made us promise not to tell anyone, matters of national security and stuff. Plus we don't really see him aside from at Christmas, he always gives really cool presents" Stormcaller replied to further looks of shock and amazements from the others, including Storm.
"I hope my nephew's not been too much trouble here" Fury said, trying to distract anyone who might be eavesdropping on the conversation
"Wouldn't know, Storm's his mentor, not me" Wolverine replied gruffly. Neither of them had noticed a strange looking silver mist following, creeping along the floor behind them. Or that a certain blue elf was nowhere to be found.
"Right, I'll make a note to ask her if I see her next time I'm here" Fury said. They reached the helicopter and climbed inside, as soon as the other two agents had gotten in and closed the doors the chopper started up and took off, leaving the Institutes grounds and heading into the cloudy grey sky
"O.K, what was so damm important you had to drag me all the up here to talk about it?" Wolverine asked. Fury pressed a button on a console inside the helicopter, a HYDRA logo appeared on a screen set above the console
"This is, I'm guessing you remember it?"
"My memory's not that bad Fury"
"Good, now do you know who this is?" Fury asked, pressing another button, an image of X-23 popped up on the screen. Wolverine rounded on Fury, immediately extending his claws
"What's this about? Is SHEILD after her again?" he snarled. The two agents raised their rifles but at a gesture from Fury they immediately lowered them again
"Relax Logan, SHEILD's not interested in pursuing someone who's 'dead'" he said, Logan looked at the other two agents
"They know?"
"Yes but don't worry, I trained these two myself from when they were raw recruits at SHEILD training camp, they won't say anything"
"If you vouch for them that's good enough for me, now what's this all about?" Wolverine asked. Furys face darkened
"We've been having problems tracking down HYDRA, some of their higher ups have friends in powerful places and they've gone underground, well, more underground then they were before. Their motto is 'slay one of our heads and two more shall take its place', looks like that's not as cliché as it sounds"
"They're after the kid again aren't they?" Logan asked, Fury nodded
"Yeah, and they're not messing around now, they've sent a couple of high end mercs to get her. We caught Taskmaster and Deadpool a few months ago, so far niether's cracked, but it must be getting to Deadpool, all he goes on about is yellow boxes, we also got a couple of their own guys, Gauntlet and Omega Red but HYDRAs contacts sprung them" Fury told Wolverine
"If you've already got them then why tell me? Sounds like you've got it under control"
"They've sent someone else, someone much, much worse" Fury said, he brought up another image on the screen. On it a large group of SHEILD agents opened fire on a figure dressed in black, the figure moved almost too fast for Logan to see, in half a minute, all the SHEILD agents were lying on the floor, dead.
"Who's that?"
"We don't know"
"You don't know, you're SHEILD, you always know"
"Well we messed up this time, so sue us. All we know is he goes by the name Hellblade, he's one of the most elusive mercenaries in the world, and he's probably a mutant"
"Probably?" Wolverine asked sceptically
"Well you saw what he did to my agents, what else is he gonna be? He worked for the US government in world war two in Europe, alongside Captain America, and you"
"Me?" Wolverine asked, then he remembered the dream and kept quiet
"The footage I just showed you was from one of our safe houses in Oregon, he took out thirty of my agents to get to the HYDRA informant we were hiding there, all in less than twenty two minutes, from crossing the state line to killing the informant"
"And HYDRA's sent him after the kid?"
"From what SHEILDs contacts can tell us, yes, apparently he's worked for HYDRA a lot"
"Why're you telling me this?" Wolverine asked
"I figured the X-men could do a better job of protecting the kid than SHEILD could, plus our HYDRA contacts told us he was heavily involved in training weapon X-23. The kid wants answers right?"
"Yeah"
"Then if anyone can give them to her, this guy's the best bet" Fury replied as the helicopter descended back down to the Institute. It landed and the doors opened
"Well, so long Logan, good luck" Fury said
"Wait, we aint alone" he said and reached down below the helicopter and grabbed something. He then dragged Nightcrawler from underneath the chopper by his tail and held him upside down
"Enjoy the ride elf?" Wolverien asked
"Very much, thank you" Kurt replied nervously, unable to think of anything else to say
"What did you hear?" he demanded. The silver mist rose up from the floor of the chopper and reformed into Katie
"Pretty much all of it"
"Did anyone else hear anything?" Wolverine asked
"Nope" said a voice over a two way radio Kurt had strapped to his belt. Logan grabbed the radio and pressed the button
"That you Rogue?" he asked
"Damm it" Rogue cursed over the airwaves
"O.K you three, you're not going to say anything about this to anyone, especially not to the kid, or you'll be grounded until you graduate from college" Wolverine said
"O.K O.K we won't tell anyone but shouldn't you tell the Professor about this?" Rogue asked
"I'm gonna, just make sure no-one else finds out about this" he told them
"No offence Logan but I think you could do with keeping your students on a tighter leash" Fury said, smiling, he knew now his nephew couldn't have been sent to a better place
"Yea, so do I" Logan replied as he stomped up to the mansion, the three students trailing behind him
In the corridor outside her room X-23 paused, adjusted her hair, and proceeded downstairs, after all, she'd took on the best HYDRA had to offer, how hard could talking to a few mutants be?
In chapter 3 – X-23s attempts to make friends don't go too well, and her creator makes a house call
To be continued, please review while I keep looking for Deadpool, he's not with the Avengers and I think he's trying to hot wire the X-jet, again