"Charles, I need you to read my mind." Wolverine said as he barged into the office while the Professor was looking at Logan's test results.
"Logan, I need to talk to you first." Charles said as he wheeled around to talk to the older mutant.
"Charles, I need you to do it now! I think that kid might be telling the truth. I heard him mention his mother's name, and a whole bunch of memories came flooding back. I just can't make a lot of them out." Wolverine told him.
"Logan, I know the boy is telling the truth." The Professor said.
"You already ran the DNA test?" Wolverine asked him.
"I have, Logan. You can look at the test results yourself. A 99 match." Charles told his friend while handing him the test results he had been looking at earlier.
Wolverine took the sheet of paper and read what was on it. After a minute or two, Logan took a seat in one of the near by chairs and let out a small groan.
"He's my son. I don't get it, Charles. If I loved his mother, why would I leave?" Wolverine asked as he grew more and more frustrated.
"The memories you've experienced. Have any of them been out of the ordinary?" the Professor asked him.
"Yeah, there's one. I'm with this Japanese woman in an open countryside. She asks me not to leave, but I tell her I have to. Something about a mission and that I'd come back for her. THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE! IF I SAID I'D COME BACK FOR HER, WHY WOULDN'T I?" Wolverine shouted as he jumped up and threw the chair he was sitting in out of the Professor's window.
"I'm guessing this is why you wanted me to read your mind?" the Professor asked while making a mental note to replace that window in the morning.
"Charles, I need to know why I didn't know about him." Wolverine said as he began to cool off.
"Take a seat then. And please don't throw this one out the window." Charles said as he wheeled over to Wolverine.
After Wolverine made himself comfortable, Charles put to fingers to the mutant's head, closed his eyes, and began to concentrate. In a flash, both were seeing the recovered memories. The woman was beautiful beyond compare. Images of both of them together, and they actually seemed to be happy. Every private moment from happiness to sadness seemed to be coming into order. Then the last memory Logan had moments before. He kissed the woman goodbye, and left with a heavy heart.
Then a new memory began to surface. One that Logan had repressed. The settings had changed. It was years later, and the small house was nothing but a pile of burned rubble. Logan seemed to be in a state of shock and scrambled through the debris. He seemed to be franticly looking for something, almost anything. Logan found something in what might have been a bedroom. A small oak box with Logan and the woman's name carved into the top. Logan opened it and found pictures of him with the woman. That's when Logan discovered something else. There two things left in the box that seemed to tear Logan's heart in half. One was a birth certificate to a baby boy. The other item was a photo of the woman with a two year old toddler. Logan crumpled both items in his hands as his claws came from his hands and he began to savagely attack everything he saw. Trees, plants, the remaining beams of the house, anything that was in his way was soon destroyed. Logan then fell to his knees before looking into the sky and shouting out:
"YURIKO!"
Charles broke contact with Wolverine as soon as the memory ended, and Logan started gasping for breath.
"What the hell was that?" Wolverine asked the Professor.
"A repressed memory. From what I can gather about it, you assumed both were dead. The mission you talked about must have led to the events that gave you your adamantium skeleton." Charles said.
"Sometimes I think my head would be perfect for soap opera hacks." Wolverine groaned and placed his head in his hands.
"Logan, what's important now is that you've found each other. He's alive and well, and he needs your help. He's frightened of his abilities and he needs all the help he can get. I won't tell him that you're his father. I'll let you decide when he should know about his parentage." Charles told him.
"How do I do it? Charles, I don't know how to be father. I don't know what to do." Wolverine said.
"You've done well with the students here. Many of them see you as a father figure. For now Logan, just try to help him. Just show him how to use his abilities." Charles told him.
Wolverine just seemed to think for a minute or two. This was some major news for him. Wolverine knew how to be a soldier, a fighter, and a teacher. But a father? Things were going to be pretty interesting.
Logan was out of the infirmary by early morning and was walking around the grounds. He was wearing another old pair of jeans and a green long sleeve shirt, along with his gloves. His leg felt perfectly fine and gave him no trouble at all. It did bother him that he had a new set of scars to his ever growing collection. Every night, it was same set of nightmares. He always lived through every single moment.
"Hey, aren't you the new kid?" a voice asked behind Logan. Talking was something he didn't do in the morning. He preferred to be alone.
He turned around to see a girl with brown hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a pink shirt over a white T, and a pair of faded blue jeans. It was the girl that was with Rogue when they busted open his door.
"Who wants to know?" he asked her.
"I'm Kitty. I was just wondering how you were doing. I kind of saw the sheets after Rogue took you to the infirmary." She said to him. From the way she moved, it looked like she was a little nervous.
"I'm doing fine. It isn't the first time it's happened and I doubt it'll be the last." He told her.
"Listen, if you need any help finding something just look me up." She said, noticing how withdrawn he was acting.
"Thanks, Half Pint. I'll think about that." He said and started to walk off.
Logan was fixing to walk off when he noticed the weird look on Kitty's face.
"Is something wrong?" he asked her.
"Nothing. It's just that, Professor Logan is the only one who calls me that." she said.
"Oh. Listen, what all do you know about him? Professor Logan?" Logan asked her.
"He keeps to himself a lot. He's also one of the toughest teacher's most of us ever had. But what ever you do, don't touch his bike. I heard some SHIELD agent had to take early retirement after Professor Logan was through with him." Kitty told him.
"Shield?" Logan asked her.
"Long story. You know, a few of us were going to head into town to get some pizza and a movie. You want to come with?" Kitty asked him.
"No thanks. I don't do well in crowds." Logan told her.
Logan turned around and started to walk away when he heard something. It started off small but was growing in volume. Logan started to look for it when he glanced above Kitty and saw a large branch of the tree they were under was breaking. Kitty looked up in time to see the branch snap and start falling towards her.
"LOOK OUT!" Logan shouted and dove for her.
Logan was amazed when instead of pushing her away, he actually went through her and hit the ground head first. When Logan turned around, he saw the branch fall and Kitty passing through it! She stepped through the branch and looked at a stunned Logan.
"Sorry about that. I should have told you, I phase through stuff. Are you okay?" she asked him.
"Um- I'm fine. I think." Logan said as he rubbed his sore head. That's when he noticed that the glove on his hand was missing as he felt bare flesh against his forehead.
"Oh crap! Where's my glove? Where is it?" Logan asked himself as he looked for it.
"Let me help you up and we can look for it." she said as she reached for his bare hand.
"WAIT, DON'T!" Logan shouted, but it was too late.
Kitty grabbed his hand and his other ability immediately kicked in. He saw the veins in her hand start to bulge as their skin made contact. Logan's veins started to bulge as felt her powers flow from her and into him, as well as dozens of memories flashing before his eyes. Logan instinctively jerked his hand away, and saw Kitty fall to the ground with a slight moan.
"W-what happened?" she asked, feeling like she had just run a ninety mile marathon.
"Oh, Christ! I, like, got to get you to the infirmary!" Logan said as he got up and noticed the way he talked had changed slightly.
He found his missing glove and quickly put it back on as he picked up Kitty in his arms and made a mad dash back to the mansion. Logan was focusing getting her to that hospital wing as soon as possible. He reached for the door as soon as he jogged up the steps, only for him to almost fall as he phased through the door.
"Not again!" Logan muttered to himself as he found his way to the infirmary like it was the back of his hand.
Hank McCoy, or Beast as he was known, was doing a few experiments in one of the labs when he saw someone run past the lab's entrance with Kitty Pride in his arms. Hank followed the figure and saw him lay her on one of the infirmary beds as he looked for something.
"May I help you with something?" Hank asked the young man.
Logan was stunned for a moment when he saw the blue ape like creature, but felt a sense of comfort like he knew him.
"I-I told her not touch me. I tried." He said as he tried to regain his breath.
Hank went to Kitty and saw that she was almost unconscious. Hank immediately started checking her vitals to make sure she wasn't seriously injured.
"What happened?" Hank asked the young man.
"I-I tried to tell her. Something always happens when someone touches me." Logan was repeating as fear and panic started to set in. His instincts were telling him to run, to get out of there as fast as possible.
"Young man, I know you must be upset. But I need to know what happened to her." Hank said in a firm but still gentle voice.
Logan shook his head to try and sort out his memories from hers to try and get his head straight.
"She touched me. Her powers, like, sort of became mine." He told her, noticing he was still talking like her.
"Don't worry, I understand." Hank said as he started to check her vitals again.
Logan saw Kitty on the bed, now unconscious. All she did was try to help and look what happened. Every time someone tried to help, something bad always happened. He was a pariah. Nothing good ever happened. Before Hank could ask Logan anything else, Logan ran.
He was just looking for somewhere to hide or a way to get out. He ran through the hallways trying to find an exit. Panic was jumbling the memories he just received from Kitty and was more lost than a lab rat in a maze. Logan saw a large door was opened and hoped that it was an exit. He ran through it right before it closed behind him, and saw something that amazed him. He was in a large room that was shaped like a sphere with what seemed to be silver panels lining it. The platform extended to the middle of the room where a man sat at some sort of desk with an odd shaped helmet with wires connected to the top of it. The man removed the helmet and turned the chair he was in around to look at Logan. It was Professor Xavier.
"Professor, I'm sorry. I – I didn't mean to,"
"Logan, it's all right. I saw everything and you didn't do anything wrong." He told the young man as he moved the wheelchair towards him.
"She was just trying to help me. I didn't mean to hurt her." Logan said as he began to shake and a few tears ran down his face.
"Logan, she not hurt. She'll be unconscious for a while, but she'll be just fine." The Professor said as Logan slumped against a wall and slid down until he was sitting on the platform.
"She'll hate me, though. That always happens. As soon as people discover my powers they hate me. They either run away or try to kill me. I DIDN'T WANT THIS!" Logan shouted as he leaned his head against the wall. Logan didn't even hear the door he had entered open and a tall, broad figure enter.
"Kid, none of us asked for this. If I had it my way, I'd be somewhere where no one could find me. And I'd also be without certain attachments." The man said and knelt down beside Logan.
The young man looked up to see Wolverine kneeling in front of him. Logan didn't know how, but this guy seemed to understand what he was going through.
"How can you stand it? I mean all those people hating us? And- and these damn things!" Logan growled as his claws came out of his right hand. Logan grimaced as they came out, but soon felt the pain die away.
"Honestly, I don't know. I don't even feel pain anymore when I use them. I just learn to deal with it as it comes." Logan said as he took a seat beside the young Logan.
"My best friend is scared of me because of these. I try not to use them, and something happens to where I have to. Sometimes I think the pain gets worse." Logan said as he started to get more control of his emotions and wipe away a few tears.
"You'll get used to them, trust me on that." Wolverine told him.
"I guess you'd be that expert on that, huh?" Logan asked him with a slight smirk.
"I might be." Logan said and actually smiled.
"We're here to help you, Logan. This is a safe haven for mutants. You can stop running." Professor Xavier told the young man.
Logan let out a deep breath and retracted his claws back into his hand. He popped his knuckles and stood back up.
"Out of curiosity, you wouldn't happen to have a place where I might be able to vent? Would you?" Logan asked the Professor.
"Oh, I've got just the right place in mind. Besides, it's about time the students got back into shape." Logan said with a smirk.
"Uh-oh." Logan didn't need to be psychic to know that Wolverine had something in mind, it probably wasn't good.
"Please tell me you don't actually go out in public dressed like this?" Logan asked as he looked at the navy blue uniform he was wearing, with two large circles on the shoulders that an X in the middle of them.
"If you can design something better, give it a shot." Jubilee said as stepped into the hall.
"Or you could just wear yellow spandex." Boom-Boom said to Logan.
Logan just glared at the girl and extended the middle claw on both hands toward him before following Rogue, Scott, and a few others into a large room.
"He can't do that, can he?" Bobby asked Jubilee. Jubilee just shrugged and followed the rest of them.
Logan looked at the large room with his eyes as big as saucers. Logan could swear that the room was as large as a football field. Logan found it very hard to believe that a room like this was built by a school.
"What is this place?" Logan asked as the rest of the students gathered inside.
"This is the Danger Room. You wanted a way to vent, and you're going to get it. Welcome to morning exercises." Wolverine's voice echoed across the room from the control room.
"Wolverine's in the control room? Uh-oh." Boom-Boom said.
"What's so bad about that?" Logan asked.
As soon as Logan spoke, Wolverine's idea of an obstacle course began. A few large spikes came out of the ground in certain areas, along with a few swinging maces, tentacles, and did he see two giant hammers smashing together on the laid out track?
"This is exercise?" Logan asked, his voice going a pitch higher.
"Don't worry, it's easy after ya get used to it." Rogue said as she stepped onto the starting line with the other students.
Logan joined the others at the starting line and stretched his legs. He had a very bad feeling about this. He mainly had a bad feeling about the two large hammers that were pounding together near the part of the track that said Finish Line.
In the control room, Professor Xavier, Wolverine, and Beast were watching the students taken on the obstacles on the track. The rest of the kids who had been there for a while were doing good and using their abilities if needed, while Logan had just barley gotten by the spikes by the skin of his teeth.
"Are you sure it was wise to have your son go through this? He did only arrive just yesterday." Hank asked him.
"The sooner he knows what he's dealing with, the better." Wolverine said as they watched.
Rogue had been through many obstacle courses like this before and was hardly breaking a sweat with this one. She took a moment to check on Logan and saw that he was having a bit of trouble.
"Rogue, vhat's wrong?" Kurt asked her.
"I'm going to help out Logan. Don't worry, I'm right behind ya." Rogue told him.
Logan thought he had cleared all the spikes when one almost hit him in the crotch and caused him to fall over. Expecting to feel the impact of hard ground, Logan was surprised when he felt someone catch him under his arms. Logan regained his balance and looked to see the person who had helped him was Rogue.
"Having fun yet?" she asked him with a bit of sarcasm.
"Oh, loads of fun." Logan answered as both of them continued on the course.
Half of the students had already finished the course with Logan and Rogue bringing up the rear. The trouble started when they got to the moving tentacles. Sixteen tentacles moving at random patters and built in motion sensors were doing their best to knock the duo down. While Rogue was having an almost easy time dodging the flailing limbs of metal, Logan was receiving too many close calls for his own comfort. Logan glanced up to try and see how many more obstacles there were, and saw Rogue dodging and darting from the tentacles. Despite his efforts, Logan couldn't help but notice how nice her butt looked in her spandex costume. Too bad he didn't keep his eyes on the tentacles.
One hit him right in the face, knocking him to the ground as he let out a loud groan of pain as he felt blood flow from his nose.
Rogue turned to see what had happened when one tentacle hit her across her back and another knocked her to the ground. Logan saw her fall, but one tentacle grabbed his arm when he tried to move. He tried to pull his arm free, but the tentacle was holding on to him tight, and its grip was tightening the more Logan moved.
"Hold on, Rogue!" Logan said as he pulled harder.
Two more tentacles shot our and each grabbed one of Logan's legs, and another shot out and grabbed his other free arm.
After regaining her footing, Rogue saw the situation Logan had gotten himself into.
"Logan, don't move! Just,"
Before Rogue could finish, another tentacle knocked her down again and was wrapped around her waist.
"ROGUE!" Logan shouted as he saw her becoming wrapped up by the tentacles as well.
Logan began panting wild like a mad Rhino and started to growl as his temper began to boil. Like a thermometer inside an active volcano, his temper began to rise quickly and boiling over Logan's limits. His fists were balled as he began to pull at the tentacles with all his muscles tensing. He saw Rogue was starting to have a hard time breathing as it looked like the tentacle that had her was beginning to tighten it's hold her. That did it. With a loud yell that sound like a beast in a mad rage, Logan's claws came out from his fists. With all the strength he could muster, he jerked his arms forward and ripped the tentacles that were holding his arms in half; causing the wires to spark. Without the computers and wiring to control them, the tentacles loosened and fell free from Logan's arms. Logan slashed the two tentacles that were holding his legs, then ran and severed the one that was holding Rogue. He retracted the claws and ripped the tentacle off of her.
"You okay?" he asked her.
"Yeah, I'm all right." Rogue groaned as she regained her breath.
"Just follow me." Logan growled as he sat the rest of the course and extended his claws.
Before Rogue could object, she saw Logan take off in a fast sprint and headed toward the three large flying maces. With a loud shout, he sliced the cables that were holding two, and sliced the last one almost in half. Rogue quickly caught up to Logan just when they reached the two large hammers. Instead of staying on the track, Logan ran off of it to part of the machine that was pushing the hammers and shredded it into scrap and causing it to short circuit. As Rogue crossed the finish line, the machine that operated the hammer that Logan slashed exploded. Logan wasn't hurt by the blast, but almost looked like a living reflection of Wolverine when he was angry. Fists balled, claws out, and a look of pure rage with him growling almost every exhale.
"Anything else?" he asked them. The students just shook their head no as they looked with stun eyes at the young mutant. "Good." He growled as he retracted the claws and fell on his back, completely exhausted.
"Wow." Bobby, a.k.a. Iceman, said.
"It looks he's got my temper." Logan said as he watched the whole exercise.
"You say that like it's a bad thing, Logan." Charles said.
Wolvine just looked at Charles with a raised eyebrow.
"Charles, you've got to be kidding me. What usually happens when I get that mad?" Logan asked him.
"Good point. What about his strength? Usually only I or Colossus are that strong." Hank said.
"We know he has similar abilities to Rogue's. It's possible he has come into contact with other mutants and retained some of their powers. Rogue is almost the same way, but it's possible he hasn't come into contact with that many." Charles said.
"I'll tell you one thing. It looks like introducing him to Rogue was a good idea." Wolverine said as he watched Rogue help Logan to his feet. Wolverine left to go talk to the students while Charles wheeled over to Beast.
"Hank, can you help me on something?" Charles asked him.
"What do you need me to do?" Hank asked him.
"Logan, young Logan, has a photo of his mother. I want you to search any known data bases for her. Her first name is Yuriko." Professor Xavier told him.
"I'll do what I can, Charles. But you do know there aren't any guarantees." Hank told him.
"I know, Hank. I just feel like it's the least I could do for him." The Professor said as he exited the control room.
Logan was catching his breath while the other students were talking about his sudden actions. Logan was trying his best to ignore them, but it was a little hard to do with so many people talking right next to him.
"Man, what you did was so awesome!"
"Heaven help anyone if they get into a fight with him."
"I wish I had claws."
Rogue saw Logan was becoming more and more upset as he listened to everyone. She knew he was fixing to loose it again and had to get him out of there. But everyone was too close and Rogue couldn't get to him.
"WOULD YOU ALL JUST STOP IT AND SHUT UP! THIS ISN'T COOL! IT ISN'T AWSOME! HAVING THESE FUCKING CLAWS IS ONE OF THE WORST THINGS IN MY LIFE!
"You think I like having these things? You think its fun? Didn't any of you see what happened to me last night? I have nightmares EVERY NIGHT! I keep reliving what those bastards did to me every single night! And it wasn't fun, it was hell! THEY CUT ME OPEN! THEY PUT THIS SHIT IN ME WHEN IT WAS MOLTEN! LIQUID METAL! THAT MEANS SUPER FUCKING HOT!
"And let me tell you another thing. These things are in my arms! There aren't any sheaths they go into, there between damn muscle and bone! It isn't cool at all! I heal fast, so the pain's always fresh! These things rip through my arms! They cut muscle and skin! You want to experience this? Then cut your arm open and stick a gallon of lemon juice and salt in the wound!" Logan shouted as he stormed out of the Danger Room and past a very pissed looking Wolverine.
"Rogue, you and Kurt go make sure he doesn't do something stupid." Wolverine told them. After Rogue and Kurt ran past, Wolverine looked at the rest of them.
"Hasn't it ever occurred to you that some mutants haven't been so sheltered? You know all that anti-mutant crap out there? Not to mention some of the people living on the streets are also mutants who don't have anything to turn to? A lot of mutants have to deal with that every single day. They don't have the benefit of some place safe, or people to look out for them, or a place to learn how to control their powers. And a lot of them aren't thrilled about their abilities. And to make sure you understand that, you get to run the course the way I use it." Logan said with a sadistic smirk. All the students just gulped as they saw the very dangerous looking smirk on Wolverine's face.
Logan was sitting underneath a near by tree and just letting his mind wonder. He had cooled down some time ago and was starting to regret his little outburst earlier. They didn't know what he went through and had to deal with. It wasn't their fault. Sometimes he could be a real jerk. That's when heard some sort of popping sound and smelled something that almost made his nose hairs curl. He looked up to see the young blue mutant on a branch above him.
"Gutten Tag. Wolverine told us to see if you vere all right." He said as Rogue took a seat next to Logan.
"Sorry about the blow up. I've got a short fuse, and it doesn't take a lot to set me off." He told them as the blue mutant bamfed off the limb and bamfed to Logan's other side.
"A lot of them probably had it comin anyway. Ya cooled off yet?" Rogue asked him.
"Yeah, I think so. That's just going to take some getting used to." Logan said.
"You get used to it after a vhile. Just be glad Wolverine decided to go easy on us today." Kurt told him.
"That was going easy?" Logan asked him with raised eyebrows.
"By the way, with the tentacles, all ya had to do was stop movin. I tried to tell ya earlier." Rogue told him.
"Just tell me I won't have to pay to replace that stuff? It's bad enough when I tore apart that bar in Canada." Logan said to himself.
"You tore apart a bar?" Kurt asked him.
"Never mind. So what do they call you?" Logan asked the mutant sitting beside him.
"My name's Kurt Wagner, but they also call me Nightcrawler." He told him.
"Nightcrawler? No offence, but you look more like an elf." Logan told him.
"Wolverine calls me that sometimes." Kurt said with a grin.
"If he starts to bug ya, just slap him upside the head" Rogue told him.
"Hey!" Kurt said.
"Well what are big sisters for?" Rogue asked Kurt.
"Sister? He's your brother? I don't see the family resemblance." Logan joked.
"Legally, I'm his sister." She told him.
"Oh. Can I ask you two a question?" Logan asked.
"Shoot." Rogue responded.
"Do I have to wear these dorky looking things?" Logan asked as he pinched part of the uniform he was wearing.
The two snickered for a little bit before answering.
"You can try and design your own. Ya got anything in mind?" Rogue asked him.
"I might have one or two ideas." He told them.
Two days later, the students training that morning was taking place outside. It was nice for a change, and the students liked the fact they didn't have to face Wolverine's personal obstacle course in the Danger Room. Most of the students were still sore from the day Logan had his little temper explosion.
"All right, half-pints. This is mainly to test your powers. These are non lethal weapons being fired, so you don't have to worry about loosing a limb. Wait a minute. Where's Rogue and Logan?" Wolverine asked as he noticed the two were missing.
"OVER HERE!" Rogue called out as she stepped out from behind a large tree. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have something to show ya. Due to his complete hate for the standard uniforms, we thought it was time for something a little different. Thanks to his little imagination, and a some help from maself, I give you the new Logan." Rogue said as Logan stepped out from behind the tree.
He was wearing black from head to toe, with thin lines of yellow making the shapes of angular muscles on the top half of the uniform. A silver colored belt was wrapped around his wait with the familiar circle with the inside X as a buckle. Silver colors decorated the area where his abs were, and on his shoulders.
"Interesting look. You got a name to go along with it?" Wolverine asked him.
"I don't have anything permanent yet, but I have thought of something." Logan said.
"Well, spit it out." Wolverine said.
"How does Panther sound for now?" Logan asked him.
Wolverine seemed to think about it for a little bit. He looked back up and took one more look at Logan's costume.
"It sounds fine." Wolverine said to him.