Authors Note: i hope you have enjoyed this fic so far, and i apologiesfor the lack of pace in the last couple chapters, stuff is going to acceleraterapidly in this and the coming chapters so i hope you guys are ready. also, i will be answering comments in the authors notes before every chapter, so look here for answers to your comments in the future.

Icespirit5: Thank you for the advice, i added those changes that you suggested, but as for the money issue, i have increased it, but understand that i'm keeping it low because i just don't think that a small apartment building in Alaskawould charge that much. Also, both the Whittier and Begich towers are real, so if i have facts wrong please tell me. Thank you for your kind review, and i hope you enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: all marvel characters belong to marvel, not me. i only own Alarick, Steven, and the story line. Dale belongs to Robbospades and is used with their permission.

as always, Moonfly7, signing off.

(pov switch jean aka phoenix)

At breakfast

Kitty had been begging me to read Alarick's mind all morning, but i had waved her off, telling her i would do it at breakfast. Breakfast came, and we all came down to the table, and just like every day for the last month, there was a plate of baked goods sitting on the table. No one really knew who had made the cookies, just like we didn't know who had made every other plate of goodies that appeared every morning. What we did know, was that every dessert was vanilla flavoured, and they were always absolutely delicious.

I got downstairs with Kitty first, and we waited for Alarick to come down, and when he did, i waited until he and everyone else was preoccupied with breakfast. Then i probed his mind, it wasn't my normal probe, no. I wanted to know just why Alarick was the way he was, and i knew that would take a deep mind probe, where i would have to delve into Alarick's memories. For everyone else, only a second would pass before i would be finished sifting through his memories, but for me, i would be seeing all of the important memories for Alarick, ones that housed core points in his life.

I took a deep breath and dove in, and i was hit by a torrent of memories. I focused my search and found a set of memories that were Alaricks most important, profound, life changing moments. What i saw surprised me. There was not a single important memory that pertained to his childhood, in fact, the earliest important memory he had was when he was fifteen, when he met a tall, grey skinned, pointy eared, blue eyed thirteen year old named Dale.

Every important memory for Alarick had to do with this same person, and each one showed one of two things, either Dale and Alarick were getting into trouble, or they were sharing an important, almost brotherly, moment. Dale was like Alarick's brother and vice versa, they treated each other as equals and were best friends.

I saw Dale teaching Alarick how to bake, using only vanilla flavouring, and then i saw Alarick teaching Dale how to grill, fry, and generally prepare steaks. I witnessed Dale and Alarick's first self defense practice, and i saw how they progressed after it. When Alarick and Dale were first forced to kill in self defense, i bore silent witness to it all. And i was privy to their move to Alaska, and the fun and sometimes somber times they had there. i also saw the sordid attack by Magneto and Dale's death by brain aneurysm, which lead to Dale's subsequent burial beneath the roots of a tree.

I had seen all i wanted to in Alarick's mind, but even as i pulled out of his memories and thoughts, i gained flashes of random intervals in his life, some many years ago, some a few days ago, and others thoughts he was having right now. I shook my head as my psychic self pulled clear, and i finished my breakfast quickly, before i nudged Kitty with my arm and dragged her to our room.

"Well, what's his deal?" Kitty asked me impatiently.

I quickly explained all i had seen, which bewildered Kitty Pryde to an extent i had never before witnessed.

"Oh, Jeane" she sighed "he's had a terrible life, and the only person that has actually made it fun and interesting for him is dead, that's why he's so horrible to everyone."

But i shook my head "your reasoning is sound" i told Kitty "but the events of his life really have had no effect on his personality, as far as i can tell, being an A-hole is just how he reacts to people he doesn't like or trust. And Kitty? He only likes two people in this whole school, and that's Steven and Kurt. and he doesn't trust either of those two, he likes them, and he respects them, but he doesn't trust them, or anyone else."

Kitty nodded, and went quiet for some time, and then she said, in a very inquisitive voice:

"Do you think Alarick is the one baking all those vanilla things,? i mean, his friend taught him to make stuff like that."

"Not only do i think you're right, i know it. I saw him baking, and doing...other things this in his head, every morning, and then he just leaves the food for us, apparently eating vanilla stuff like this reminds him of Dale and makes him sad." i replied "let's talk about something else, i kinda wish i hadn't seen in his mind now, and i just want to move on"

To her credit, Kitty quickly changed the subject unto some mindless drabble about shoes. And we were totally absorbed by it, but in the back of my mind i couldn't help but think of all i had seen in Alarick's head.

(pov switch, alarick)

I came down stairs in the morning, earlier than everyone else like usual, and pulled my chair up to the table. I took a look at the vanilla snaps i had left on the table, i reached for one, and then pulled my hand away, not wanting the taste that reminded me of many nights and days with Dale.

I ate breakfast like normal, laughing inwardly at all the praise my cookies were getting. Halfway through breakfast i felt someone pull out of my brain in a hurry, they had been careful going in, and i hadn't felt them. But they must have seen something they didn't like and pulled out quick. Dale used to probe my mind for fun all the time, so i knew what getting ind read was pretty easy to stop and recognise if someone wasn't being sneaky when they read me.

I decided not to worry about it though, since i figure seeing everything in my brain is punishment enough. I walked away from the table and waltzed into the hall that led to my room, and promptly leaped out of an open window, taking the fall running, i used its added momentum to sprint to the woods faster than i normally could.

The woods is where i found myself everyday after breakfast, only Xavier new where i went, and that was only because he had to track me down one time. I spent about an hour in the woods, in which time i caught and released five separate deer, back in alaska i would have hunted them for food. But i had plenty of food nowadays, and i didn't kill for sport, i just hunted for sport, it was catch and release really.

I had been in the woods for an hour when i heard the sound of breathing, and when i focused, i could just barely make out quiet, careful footsteps. I knew these kinds of footsteps well, they were the footsteps of a predator on the hunt, a predator a lot like me. I abandoned the trail of the large group of deer i had been tracking, and turned my abilities to the almost imperceptible trail of the silent stalker nearby.

I followed the "predator" for a good thirty minutes, before i broke cover into a glade that surrounded a pond. This doesn't make much since, because if this hunter was like me, then the only reason they would be leading me to a clearing is if… i quickly whirled around towards a small rustle of leaves, from which a screaming wild woman with two metal claws on her hands launched herself at me.

I ducked on instinct and then moved to the side as fast as i could, and, while she was still in the air, bashed my elbow into her back.

I jumped away as the clawed girl began to stand up. I made the come at me gesture as i got into a fighting stance, a smile spreading across my face as i realized this fight would break my "no fighting fast" i had been lamenting earlier.

"Come on then" i yelled as she rushed me with her claws out.

(pov switch, Laura kinney aka X-23)

I went into the woods after breakfast to hunt, i planned to stay out there for a while since it was a saturday, and we didn't have classes. The woods was the one place i felt at home, and since everyone else thought it was to buggy in here, i always had the place alone to hunt. I respected the animals i hunted, since they were more like me than people, i didn't kill them, but i did knock them unconscious, and then go to hunt more.

I was in the woods today, using my smell to scent more prey, when i smelled an highly unfamiliar smell. The smell was vaguely human, but had a strange earthy metallic smell, the same smell that both i, my father, and a wolf on the prowl shared, it was the smell of a predator on the hunt. I followed the smell for half a minute, before i realized that i wasn't hunting this thing, whatever it was was hunting me.

"I can work with that" i whispered as a smile spread slowly across my face.

Smiles were rare for me, but the opportunity to fight an obviously highly intelligent apex predator set my heart beating in joy. I let the thing follow me for about a mile and a half until i broke into a clearing and hid inside a hunting hide i had constructed many months ago. And in a few seconds the predator following me stealthily left the woods, and right as i prepared to attack, it became apparent that it had figured out the ambush. When i jumped, i hadn't had time to look at the thing chasing me, and was surprised both when i missed, and when i felt a very human elbow knock me to the ground.

When i stood to fight, i took stock of my opponent. What i saw surprised me, but i didn't show it, because right in front of me was a man who seemed almost as in touch with his animal side as me and my father. He had a mane of wild, reddish brown hair, black fangs and claws, and brilliant eyes. One eye was a beautiful, deep purple, like a polished amethyst gemstone sitting in a crystal clear pool. That eye showed deep knowledge and intelligence, it also held depression and loss, like the owner knew what true pain was. The other eye was a bright, manic orange, it looked like the center of a blazing fire, a fire that was in a munitions factory that threatened to destroy half a city block. This eye held the spirit of a trickster and adrenaline junky, someone who new how to cut loose, and often did so to much, but it also held rage and a burning desire for revenge that could melt adamantium.

When i pulled my eyes away from his, i saw the two shoulder holsters, each holding a very distinctive handgun, glock seventeen's, good, accurate, semi-automatic pistols. And from the looks of the guy in front of me, he knew how to use them.

And as i waited for him to make the next move, he made the "come get me motion with his hand and yelled:

"Come on then"

I charged him, and right as he jumped out of the way, i released the two adamantium claws on my feet and kicked out at his chest, clipping him with the razor sharp adamantium.

As i dropped out of the air from my jump, i flipped my hair out of my face and took a look at the person i had just dropped. To my surprise he was already standing back up, and he wasn't bleeding, instead, i could see a small, almost imperceptible scratch going across the otherwise unmarred black surface of his claws, a scratch made by a successful attempt to block my claw stroke.

"You hit hard" he said as he lunged forward with his naturally grown claws, which i blocked with my own, longer, unnatural, adamantium ones.

"Thanks" i replied as i pushed him away and dropped into a fighting crouch. "You have nice claws, i'm surprised i didn't sever them."

And with that i slashed at him with my claws, which he blocked, and while he was blocking my claws, i put my shoulder into his ribs, feeling them crack like twigs under the force of the blow.

The wild haired man backflipped out of combat range and landed, but instead of releasing a cry of pain from his ribs, he laughed, the laughter speckling his lips with blood.

"And here i thought this would be a quick fight" he said, a grin of what could only be described as violent joy spreading across his face "This is just what i needed!"

We went back and forth several times, trading in the banter for smoother, faster blows. He broke half my teeth in an uppercut, and i dealt him a black eye with a whip kick across his face, both injuries were healed by our respective healing factors fairly quickly.

We fought for a ten minutes, in which time i could tell his broken ribs had not healed yet and were slowing him down. Taking advantage of this, i kneed him in the chest, furthering the cracks in his ribs, and then i grabbed him in a headlock, all the while grinning, enjoying fighting such a good opponent.

He began to go slack in my arms, and then suddenly filled with life and jabbed his claws into my abdomen, rolling away as i released him into the dirt.

As my healing factor took care of my wound, i turned to him, while he was still on the ground, and when i began to make my way to him, i heard two loud blasts at almost exactly the same time, and then i felt two bullets hit me in the chest.

"There" i heard as fell to the ground "now we're done" he said, as i heard him pull himself to his feet, and tread away.

(pov switch, alarick)

Fifteen minutes later

I walked back to the mansion after my combat in the woods, a tired smile on my face, i hadn't had good fight in weeks. So that fight was perfect therapy even if i didn't get to cut loose with all my abilities. Maybe leaving a random girl in the woods to bleed out from bullet wounds isn't the nicest thing ever, but i had already seen some of the extent of the strangers healing factor, so i didn't waste more than a seconds thought on it.

Instead, i made my way towards my room,hoping to change into clothes that weren't covered in sweat and blood stains. It wasn't out of any fear of being seen in such a state that i sought to change, no, i wanted to change so that if an enemy who had a heightened sense of smell suddenly attacked me, they couldn't track me by the smell of my sweat or blood. I was, however, interrupted right as i put my hand on the door handle to my room.

Xavier had pulled his wheelchair silently up behind me, and put a restraining hand on my shoulder.

"I have something i need you to do, Mr. Holter" he said easily "come with me" and with that he walked off, and, curious, i followed.

Xavier led me under the mansion, to a room that housed cerebra, the mutant detection machine that Xavier used to find other mutants. When we got in the room, there was a five foot three black haired man standing on one of the walkways that lead to the machine.

"This, mister Holter, is Logan, alias: Wolverine" Xavier explained with a wave of his hand "and you will be accompanying him on a mission today, one of great importance for one young mutant, we do not know who they are, or what they can do, but we know that they are in imminent destress and are in need of the assistance of the X-men. However, i do not wish to attract any unwanted attention from either the hellfire club, or magneto's brotherhood, so i am only sending you two."

This statement didn't faze me very much, and i simply nodded.

"Let's get going midget" wolverine ordered as we walked off, throwing me a training uniform as he walked past.

I tossed the uniform in the trash can in my room when i went to change, and instead opened my closet and looked for the clothing i needed, this was easy, since i only owned to outfits, the everyday clothes i was wearing, and my special rough'em up battle gear.

This consisted of a pair of military surplus olive green combat pants, a tan muscle shirt with a thin layer of kevlar, and a aviator's jacket that had had its sleeves ripped off during a training session once, the aviators "vest" was also kevlar lined.

I discarded my normal cleats into one corner of the room, and i pulled on my favourite footwear in the world. They were antiques, belonging to the only family member i had ever had that i actually cared about, my great-grand uncle herschel. He had worn them in world war 2, they were military issue horsehide metal studded sole tank driver boots, and the completed my combat ensemble.

I then made my way to the hanger, where wolverine roughly shoved me inside, mumbled something about not wearing my uniform, and then he took the plane into the air.

Once we were in the air Wolverine flicked on the autopilot and pulled out a holographic projection device.

"Listen up kid 'cause i'm only saying this once" he growled in a vaguely canadian accent "were landing in a forest just south of the town, it's a small town, in central kentucky. We don't know what this mutant can do, or what they are like at all. We know that its a girl, and that her name is elizabeth, other than that we know nothing, so we go in expecting trouble, yah get me?"

"Of course" i said, slightly surprised, this guy thought a lot like me "that's how i treat every day, why do you think i walk down stairs with both pistols drawn, and only enter a room after everyone else?"

"I haven't been here a while kid" Wolverine answered " and i've had more on my mind than random scruffy students."

And with that apt description of me, he opened the Blackbird's bay door, and turned to look at me.

"The plane will auto land, but we are going down in style get ready to…" he was interrupted by me leaping out of the plane without a parachute.

As i fell, i heard the sound of a five foot three Canadian man jumping after me.

Authors note: as you can see we get a bit more action in this chapter, so i hope you guys feel a bit more satisfied, if you think this word length is to short, please let me know for the future. (for reference the word length of this chapter is about three thousand words) as always,

moonfly7, signing off.