"Hurry it up!"
Christopher walked to the other side of the field, scowling. All around him the members of the Hellions scurried about, trying to get through the obstacle course with all of their limbs. He'd designed it along with Logan to test their strength, stamina, and ability to think under pressure. One wrong step would send them careening into mud or paint.
In private he allowed himself to think that they were a good bunch. With or without their powers they knew how to fight and they knew how to move quickly. They had freed one facility and helped several of its inmates rehabilitate and kept them from having panic attacks. However, as their superior and drill sergeant he'd only admit that when the job was done. A nod of the head was going to have to suffice until then.
Christopher took another step and winced. He was able to walk now; the immediate medical attention that he had received after his injury had seen to that. However, he had to do so with the aid of a cane. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to walk at all. Part of him rebelled against the idea. A drill sergeant with a cane. What a joke.
Some of his new trainees had certainly thought so. On the first day he'd seen one of them start smirking. He'd put them into a headlock, just to show that he could still do it. The fellow members of the new taskforce had just stared. There was no reason for them to intervene; they were far too shocked.
He understood that his new troops were mutants. Only one or two were humans. If they wanted to they could mind control him into doing an Irish jig on his bad leg. They didn't though. Magnus had allowed him to have some say in who would be part of the new battalion. He'd picked mutants who had been prisoners of the MRD themselves.
Magnus had approved of his choices, and the reasons behind him. Christopher felt that former prisoners would understand what was at stake when they did their job. They would be able to commiserate with their fellow mutants. Another reason, one that he knew was purely selfish, was that they would know that he had led the Starjammers into freeing two different facilities. That meant that they would respect him.
Those that didn't stepped into line after the incident on the first day. Christopher hadn't let his leg determine how strong he was. He was still a former special forces member and he kept his body in perfect shape. It was a bitter feeling knowing that if not for his leg he could go back to doing his old job.
However, his leg wasn't healing. Cain hadn't broken the bones in his leg and hip; he had shattered them. Christopher was lucky that he still had that leg, luckier still that he could walk on it. Sometimes he didn't feel lucky though. It was one of the reasons that he testified at Cain's trial when it was finally decided that Genosha could have custody of the prisoner.
Christopher was also under the impression that Cain had tried to murder Moira. That just gave him another black mark into what was turning into a very big book. Kidnapping and imprisoning mutants carried a minimum sentence of twenty years in Genosha. They had added resisting arrest, aggravated assault, and attempted murder. Altogether the charges added up to eighty years in a maximum security Genoshan prison. He had narrowly escaped execution.
He'd heard enough about the facility to know it was enough to keep Cain restrained. He had tried to murder the woman about to marry the Prime Minister and worked for the MRD. He hadn't been down there to examine his new quarters himself though. Christopher wasn't the gloating type. He was somewhat bitter about his leg, true enough, but overall his life wasn't bad.
His sons were safe. That was the most important thing. Alex could go around producing red light all he wanted to, doing tricks with it. It was hot though, so he had to do it outside. He hadn't set anything on fire, but it was Alex so it was only a matter of time before he did something.
As for Scott, Christopher still didn't know if he was a mutant. He thought that there was a good chance. His brother was one, so that was probably indicative of what he'd be. Charles had told him that it didn't necessarily mean anything, but Christopher was glad that they had all their bases covered. He was through taking chances.
In some ways it was probably good that he was off the battlefield. He had a family. He didn't want his sons to become orphans and his wife a widow. Christopher had fought in wars and fought well, but it might have been time to call it quits. His leg injury, no matter how much he hated it, could very well be a blessing in disguise.
"How's it goin' Summers?"
He looked over his shoulder at Logan. He had to admit that the man was, in some ways, his equal. They were both soldiers and held similar ranks, only Logan's was more of a ceremonial title. Logan had more vicious methods than him, but with those methods came efficiency. Christopher had been attached to a government when Logan had generally gone his own way along with his brother.
Christopher admired that ability as long as it wasn't taken too far. He'd heard that Logan's brother, Victor, had taken it too far. He was supposed to be in the same prison as Cain on a different level. Before he'd met him he had, of course, heard rumors that Logan was only a few steps away from snapping himself.
After meeting him he'd dismissed the rumors. Christopher was a soldier and he knew the difference between someone who used violence to achieve a goal and someone you'd have to shoot to stop them from massacring a village. You could see it in their eyes, in the way they carried themselves. When he'd shaken hands with Logan and looked at him, he'd know that there was nothing to worry about.
Logan was crude and blunt, but he wasn't going to he a killer? Without a doubt. Was he a monster? No. Perhaps he'd seen something in his brother that he hadn't liked and had decided to be his antithesis. Either way he was married to a woman who was about to have his child. That could change a man. Christopher expected that that had a lot to do with his refusal to give into his more vicious nature.
Logan worked at the school training the Acolytes, some of whom had become Hellions after graduation. Even though they had only spent a few months in the program they tended to do better under Christopher's training. It only made sense for the two of them to work together.
He'd looked over Logan's Acolyte program appreciatively. Only high school students were allowed into it. The program gradually became harder. It didn't require the members to keep their grades up as much as other members of the school. Christopher could appreciate that. Other students at the school had to keep a 3.0 GPA in their classes. Acolytes only had to maintain a 2.5.
It made sense to them. They were waking up at five a.m. to be taken for laps. When everyone else had gone to sleep they were still up. This was generally only present in the seniors, but the rest had this to some degree. He'd also been very admiring of the Danger Room simulations. The area had been aptly named.
Logan was also valuable for other reasons. Whenever a move had to be shown that required legwork Christopher couldn't do it. Logan would be the one to show them how easy it was to break a bone with just your foot, how to properly break down a door, useful pieces of information that Christopher couldn't display.
Sometimes he wondered how Logan saw him. A broken soldier perhaps? He couldn't be sure. Logan had been a soldier and a fighter for far longer than Christopher. He had over a century on him and experience fighting as a mutant. It only surprised Christopher that he hadn't taken over the Hellions himself. It was probably only his desire to get some semblance of normality that had made him choose the Acolyte program.
"They're still having problems getting over the barricades," Christopher grunted, "I don't see how they're going to get anywhere if they can't do that."
"How are they doin' on zip lines?' asked Logan.
"Good," said Christopher, "I don't think that it's going to come down to how well they use zip lines though."
Logan smirked.
"You'd be surprised how important they can be," he said, "Had some friends in a few major operations a couple of years ago. Used zip lines to infiltrate. Worked pretty damn well, 'specially since the second time they had a distraction."
"Such as?"
"Our Captain allowed himself to be captured," shrugged Logan.
"Isn't that risky?" Christopher asked.
"He could take care of himself," Logan said, "He was the one the other side wanted and we all knew that."
"Hm," said Christopher, "Was he a mutant?"
"Might as well have been," Logan said.
Christopher slid his eyes from the Hellions over to Logan.
"I heard a rumor you were with the Howling Commandos during World War II," he said, "That true?"
Logan gave a short nod.
"So your Captain would have been-"
"Steve Rogers, yes," Logan said, "One of the only men I ever saw who could outstare Vic. Wasn't scared."
Christopher digested the information that he was standing next to a war hero for a minute. Logan looked over his shoulder at him.
"Somethin' wrong?'
"No, not at all," said Christopher, "It's just hard to remember that you're older than you look sometimes. Much older."
"I carry it well," Logan smirked.
In front of them a Hellion tripped on the barricade and slid into a mud pool. Christopher sighed in irritation, squinting his eyes to ascertain his identity.
"Rankin!" he shouted, "Over here now!"
Pulling himself out of the mud Rankin jogged over to Christopher and Logan. He stood at attention despite his apparent exhaustion. He was always good for protocol.
"You trip like that on the field and you kill yourself, your buddies, and anyone you nearly rescued," Christopher snapped, "Do you understand me?"
"Sir yes sir!"
"So don't let it happen again!" Christopher ordered, pounding his cane into the ground, "Now back on the course!"
"Yes sir!"
He watched as Rankin jogged back.
"First time I've ever seen him trip," Logan observed.
"He's going out for the X-men one day," said Christopher, "Once the Hellions are done he'll be snapped up I'm sure. Or before then. Depends. I'd hate to lose him, but once we get those other two facilities there won't be much more need."
Logan nodded his head and slid his gaze back to Rankin.
"So why would he trip?" asked Logan, "And if it's his first time, why were you so hard on him?"
"Feeling merciful this morning?" Christopher said.
"Just curious."
Christopher shook his head.
"He had a late night with that pink girl," he said, "Lost a couple hours of sleep, he's clumsy. I'm hard on him because he's leadership material. He'll probably command his own squad one day. As such I can't let that happen again."
Logan nodded before wrinkling his brow in thought.
"By pink girl do you mean Clarice?" he asked.
"Yes, I suppose I do," Christopher said, "I've always been bad with names. She's going through law school, isn't she?"
"She wants to be a diplomat," shrugged Logan.
"Good luck to her," Christopher said, "It's easier being a soldier though. Much less complicated."
"Most of the time," said Logan.
"Most of the time," agreed Christopher.
From one of the buildings a young man came running up, his hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. From his build and uniform Christopher could tell that he was one of the human office workers. At least, he thought so. He hoped that with so little stamina and such a thick build that he wasn't a field man.
Christopher and Logan watched him come up, neither of them making a move.
"There's a message for you Lieutenant Howlett," he panted, wiping sweat off his forehead, "It's from your wife."
They really needed a more efficient system of taking messages. Genosha was coming up with so many technological advances that it seemed wrong that they hadn't fixed the simple problem of how to make portable phones. Walkie-talkies and radios just didn't do the trick if you weren't on field work.
"Yes?" asked Logan.
"She's having the baby and her sister's driving her to the hospital-"
With one movement Logan pushed the unfortunate man out of the way. Christopher watched with amusement as he ran across the field. He remembered his reaction the first time he heard Katherine was going into labor. It had been similar, but he'd hadn't had increased speed and stamina to help him.
There was, however, one thing that he felt Logan should know before he left earshot. It was something that new fathers often forgot.
"Bring a book or something!" Christopher called after him, "And I know you want to, but don't run any red lights or anything! Trust me when I say that it's going to take a lot longer than you think!"
Logan made a dismissive gesture with his hand before disappearing from sight. Christopher smiled. He probably wouldn't have listened either.