Chapter 7

a/n: Thanks to Jedi Padfoot, Ryla, and the ever faithful RhiannonUK. Your reviews are appreciated. Please feel free to point out where I can improve

Disclaimer: Their not mine.

Her first thought was that she was going to have to take that job in cryptography. Breaking codes had to be better then waking up feeling like she'd been trampled by buffalo. Every breath she took was painful...must have cracked some ribs. Oh yea...that big hairy guy...what was he, some kind of mutant linebacker. Opening her eyes slightly, she noticed that her left foot was fitted with a soft cast. The room looked like some kind of medical facility, but nothing like she had seen at SHIELD. Just then a door opened to her left and she heard voices.

"...you didn't have to break every bone in her body. We need to find out what she was doing here. With all the damage you did she won't be able to talk for a week."

"Will you lay off Summers. What the hell was I supposed to do, hold her damn camera while she got on the bike. Besides I only hit her once."

"Logan a broken foot, three fractured ribs, and a dislocated shoulder. Henry said that it's lucky that her lung wasn't punctured. She's a woman damn it. We don't go around beating up women."

"She's a fucking spy dickhead. I don't give a shit if she's Mother Teresa. I did what I had to do to keep her from gitin away. I didn't go lookin for a fight, but she wasn't gonna just give herself up. Do ya think that because she's a woman that ya don't have ta worry. I think ya forgot that we live with a woman that could kick both our asses six ways ta Sunday."

"That's different and you know it. My God Logan you have to show some restraint. She hit the motorcycle so hard the handlebars were bent. Look I don't like this any more than you do. We don't know who she's working and it makes me sick that someone thought Jean's memorial made a perfect time for spying on us..."

"Will ya listen to yerself. Get it through that thick head of yours. The kind of people that dame works for ain't gonna play by yer rules. Ya know Summers I'm beginin ta think..."

Suddenly all conversation stopped. Lying perfectly still she strained to hear any sound or movement, but the room had fallen silent. Then the voice of Hairy whispered in her ear, "Rise and shine darlin. Now ya wanna explain what ya was doin spyin on us. Or were ya just out for a little bird watching."

Her eyes snapped open. He was standing by her bed arms folded across his chest scowling at her. Another figure came into view. It was Glasses and he looked almost as pissed as the Hairy guy. Yea that job in cryptography was looking better all the time. After this fiasco she'd be lucky to be serving dinner at the SHIELD cafeteria. "I don't know what your talking about. I stop by the side of the road to check my bike and you assaulted me. I think you're the one who needs to answer some questions mister."

Before Logan could reply Scott stepped forward shaking his head. "If you think you can bluff your way out of this your wrong. We have video tape of you entering the grounds of this school yesterday morning. Too bad we were all so preoccupied with morning Jean that nobody noticed at the time. Then there is the camera you carried and the fact that you were dressed as you were... no I think that the police are the last people you want to see right now."

The door to the infirmary opened again and a man in a wheelchair glides into the room. "Well hello my dear. I am glad to see that you are finally awake." Xavier paused and looked at Scott and Logan. "I wonder if you two would mind waiting outside while I talk to our guest?"

Though phrased as a question they both knew that it was no request. Logan stared at the woman and growled. "Too bad darlin, I was lookin forward to gettin ta know ya better."

With that he followed Scott out the door.

Xavier moved his chair to her bedside. "Let me introduce myself. I am Charles Xavier, the headmaster of this school. And you are Lisa Donald an agent of SHIELD."

She just stared at him dumbfounded. How the hell did he...oh yea that Xavier... the one they warned her about. Her hand shoot up to her head but the cap was gone.

"Is this what your looking for my dear?" Xavier held up the device that was supposed to shield her from his power. "Do not be alarmed. It was not necessary for me to actively use my abilities to glean your surface thoughts. In fact your equipment and the manner in which you entered my property tells me all I wish to know about your mission." Xavier pull a cell phone from his coat pocket and placed it in her hand. "All I require of you is that you call Colonel Fury with this phone. I will do the rest."

Lisa had a feeling that environmental services would be best she could hope for. With shaking hands she dialed. Of course she didn't know Fury's direct phone number but after a minute talking with her operations supervisor she heard the gruff voice of the Boss on the line. "HelloColonelFuryIhavesomeonewhowantstotalkwithyousir."

That done she handed the phone to Xavier and laid back in bed closing her eyes. Maybe it was time to get out of the spy business.

"Hello Nicolas it seems that I have one of your people here as a guest. I am afraid she seems to have been injured while visiting us. Would you mind explaining to me what she was doing here and why you have chosen to renege on our agreement.?"

Nick Fury was not a happy man. He had been awoken at midnight when Donald's supervisor had been told by the extraction team that contact had been lost. Since then he had stewed in his office waiting for the man who was on the phone to get in touch. "Look Xavier I promised you that SHIELD would refrain from conducting operations against your people or any mutant that you would vouch for. Our agreement was never going to prevent us from gathering intelligence. Charles it's not that I don't trust you but we are under tremendous pressure to find out all we can about the mutants that are out there and what powers they have."

Xavier's voice was cold in reply. "Colonel Fury, did it ever occur to you that a memorial service was an inappropriate time and place to conduct a spy operation. Especially when the institution that you are spying on is the only reliable source you possess for the information you want. It escapes me how photographing the people who attended the service would give you any further insight. Have your people developed special mutation sensitive film? Now because of your recklessness a young woman has been seriously injured and the staff of my school are even less inclined to trust non-mutants then they were this morning."

Fury was in a corner and he knew it. Time to eat some crow. "Charles you know where I stand on this. SHIELD appreciates the value of the information you supply. We're both working for the same goal and I am doing everything I can to turn around the hotheads who want to blow everything up. But you have to work with me. Your people can't go around causing incidents like this. Donald is a duly authorized government agent and cannot be assaulted while performing her duty."

"Yes an authorized government agent...William Stryker also fit that description despite everyone's present desire to distance themselves from his actions. Nick I truly regret the injury Ms. Donald has suffered, but considering what we have gone through in the past week Logan is to be congratulated for showing the restraint he did. You should stop to consider that the incident as you call it was the result of actions by your organization. I must warn you that regardless our desire for peace between humans and mutants we will not tolerate these kinds of intrusions even from those that we consider friends."

"Don't threaten me Xavier. Look you don't have many friends right now so you better make sure you don't lose the ones you got. Why don't we just chalk this up to a unfortunate misunderstanding. I'll send around a car for Donald and we can just forget this ever happened."

Xavier was not happy, but he was pretty sure that Fury would think twice about going behind his back again. "Of course Nicolas, but please wait until morning so your agent can enjoy a few more hours of rest. I do regret this misunderstanding and I am sure the next time you need intelligence you will feel free to simply ask." With that he cut the connection. Sighing he looked at the now peacefully sleeping agent Donald. He felt no anger toward her, after all she was simply doing her job and had meant no one harm. Now for the hard part, explaining all this to Scott and Logan.

The argument had been as heated and prolonged as Xavier had anticipated. Fortunately he at least had been able to beg off till morning. Being apparently old and infirm did have advantages. Right now however he was not feeling in the mood to celebrate. Both men had been incredulous that their prisoner was going to be simply released and Xavier felt he had no choice but to explain the complicated relationship that he had with SHIELD. Scott's reaction to this new (for him) piece of information was unfortunate if not surprising. Accusing Xavier of leaving him "out of the loop" regarding something so important Scott stormed out of the office while he faced a glowering Logan.

"Ya know I don't see much the kids way but he's right on this Chuck. Don't ya think it's about time ya stopped treating him like a student. How the hell is he gonna lead your merry little band if ya don't tell him what he needs ta know?"

Xavier frowned, not used to being placed on the defensive. "It was not my intention to undermine Scott's leadership, but I was asked to tell no one of the connection I had with SHIELD. You see it is rather unofficial as the head of the organization happens to be a friend of mine."

"Maybe ya ought a tell this to Scooter. Frankly Chuck the less I know about all your connections the better I feel."

Logan got up to leave but Xavier gestured for him to stay. "I have taken the liberty of asking the senior students to come to my office so that we may discuss their training. They should be arriving shortly." Not wanting to sit down again he walked over to the window staring out across the lawn. Some of the youngest kids at the school were playing a game of soccer. Most mutants manifest their power at puberty, but a very small group were either born with them or manifested at a very early age. The school now had eight students under the age of ten. They had very little in the way of any useful power. It was their physical appearance such as tails, gills or a not normal skin or hair color that marked them as different. Logan shook his head. How long would these kids survive once the shit hit the fan? Xavier had talked about the need to find them someplace safe. He wondered in what dream world that place was. Hearing the door open he turned to see Rogue and Kitty walk in. Soon the other students arrived the last being a disheveled looking Jubilee who came in and flopped down on the coach between the other two girls. Apparently the kid wasn't a morning person. Heh heh he thought that's gonna change.

Xavier waited until everyone was settled before addressing them. While the Professor thanked them for all the hard word they had done to return the school to something approaching normal Logan took the time to study them as individuals. He already knew where Rogue and Jubilee stood. They had as much as told Xavier that they would no longer participate in the schools self-defense class unless Logan taught it. He knew Rogue's power through bitter personal experience. Unless she was able to gain some kind of control over her mutation she would not be able to join the X-Men. What Jubilee's "gift" was he had no real clue. Rogue had described it as a light show. What the hell was she going to do with that in a fight he had no idea. Peter probably had the most raw power but really didn't know what to do with it. Despite his offer to help the night of the attack Logan knew from some talks with him that he feared harming people when in his armored form. Having studied to be an artist he had little knowledge of combat techniques. Kitty's power cried out for stealth training, she would make an excellent ninja. The biggest wildcard in this was Drake. Logan had the sense that the kid was a follower who asked to join the team because people (read Rogue) expected that of him. There was no limit of useful things he could do with his ability, but if his heart wasn't in this it was time to find out now. Chuck was finished patting them on the back...walking over from the widow he stood behind and to the left of Xavier.

"...which brings us to the reason I have asked you to meet me today. All of you have expressed to me a desire to join the team once your education here is complete. More recently several of you have told me rather forcefully of your desire to learn how to defend yourselves in a more competent manner. While I had thought to limit your training until you were graduates of the school I believe in light what has happened that it would be unwise to wait that long. This being the case I have asked Logan to oversee a program designed to improve your conditioning and fighting skills. At the same time Ororo and I will work with you each individually to help gain more control over your mutant abilities. We will all work together on how to use those abilities in a combat situation. Now I am sure there are questions but before we get to those Logan has something to say to you."

"According to Chuck you're here because ya want ta be X-Men. Well were gonna find out just how bad ya want it. I'm askin Chuck to block out five hours a day for your training starting day after tomorrow through the end of summer. Anything he has planned for ya will be extra. Tomorrow I wanna meet with each of ya one on one so I'm sure ya don't have any questions. One more thing. I consider ya all adults and I know Chuck feels the same way. That means we ain't gonna tell ya to do something ya don't want to, and that includes training with me. I ain't taken this job unless all of ya agree to do this. So take some time to think about it. Get together and make sure your all on the same page. Any questions?"

Jubilee almost shoot off the coach. Logan had noticed her looking at him several times with an odd expression...almost like she...nah he had to be imagining that. God he was a sick fucker sometimes. "Dude I'm on board with you handlin the training...you already know that. But five hours...why so freakin much?"

"Well kid it's not just learning how to fight. Ninety minutes a day is gonna be set aside for a conditioning program. Chuck hired some kinda expert in fitness and we're setting ya each up with your own exercise plan."

"God Wolvie I'm already in great shape. You really think I need help with something like that. Of course if you want to spot me in the weight room I won't fight too hard."

"Kid I'm talkin about fightin shape. You, Rogue, and Kitty need to learn how to workout in a way that adds muscle. The guys need to concentrate more on flexibility. Plus ya all need to work on endurance. This stuff is important. I'm not the best one ta teach this that's why Chuck is bringing in help. I can stay in good shape doin pretty much nothing. If I want real improvement...well I gotta do things that would be too much for any of ya ...except maybe Pete."

The next question came from Bobby Drake and was addressed to Xavier. "Professor I thought that Mr. Summers was going to be responsible for this. Can you explain to us why things have changed?"

"That is an excellent question Robert. Logan's experience and abilities make him the logical choice to provide instruction in hand to hand combat. Scott will still handle team training but you will not begin that until toward the end of the summer. It was felt that the fighting and conditioning were our first priorities. I feel very strongly that all of you must have the means and knowledge to defend yourselves and that is what I am relying on Logan to provide for you."

"But sir I don't understand...we already have a self-defense class three times a week with Mr. Summers. What difference will another class..."

That was as far as Bobby got before Rogue angrily interrupted. "What the hell are you talkin about Bobby Drake? We need to learn about fightin, not how ta throw drunks and defend ourselves from muggers. Tell me Bobby, if that class was so good how come none of us except Logan could do anything against those creeps when they came? I am not gonna stand around and wait for us to become a target again. Next time someone invades my home I'm gonna kick their ass."

"Rogue you know that class was only teaching us the basics. I still don't see why we need to start over instead of building on what we already know. No offence Mr. Logan but I don't know if I want to be trained by you. What I want is to learn how to use my powers, not punch somebody out."

Xavier started to reply but Logan beat him to it. "Well kid did ya ever stop to consider what would happen if ya had to fight someone your powers don't effect. Hey let me tell ya it's more likely than ya think. For example I'm willin to bet a dozen Cuban cigars that no matter what ya did to me I could still knock ya out or worse before ya put me out of commission. Of course even if that's not true I would think you care enough about Rogue to want her safe. Using her mutation is always gonna be a last resort. Then there is the fact that at times you'll be goin up against people that ya can't use your powers on unless yer willin to take a chance on killin em."

"Logan is right Bobby...if you are to join the team it is imperative that you all be as proficient as possible fighting without resorting to use of your gifts. I now realize that my decision to withhold training from you until the end of summer was the wrong one. Logan is the best one to correct this deficiency, better even than Scott. While I will not force any of you to accept my decision I must ask that you trust me."

Bobby was feeling a little flustered with the entire groups attention focused on him. He was never comfortable rocking the boat and he was not willing to make Rogue any madder at him then she already was. "You know that I trust you sir. I'm willing to do what ever you think is best. I really want to be an X-Man and if this is what it takes you can count me in."

A few more questions and the students filed out to grab some breakfast. Logan wasn't happy that Drake had caved so quickly. It was obvious that the kid didn't trust him and he would have to find out why. Kitty was another problem. She hadn't said a word the entire time and had refused to meet his eyes whenever he looked at her. He wasn't really surprised, after all he had barely spoken with her during his short time here. What the fuck was he doing. His whole remembered life he had avoided any kind of situation that asked him to form attachments and care for others. Training them wasn't what scared him. They were smart kids and he was sure they would work hard. What scared the hell out of him was the feeling he had that leaving this place would be the hardest thing he ever did.

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Fury thumbed through the report on his desk, really just a transcript of the answers Donald had given to some questions he had asked her in the infirmary. When he had heard the name Logan during his little chat with Xavier his curiosity was aroused. His first thought was coincidence. Lots of people go by that name. After all it had been twenty years. Still he was interested enough to see Donald right after she was retrieved from Xavier's. He asked her to give him a short summary of what had happened and tried to be casual when she recounted the man who had brought her down. Damn it he wished he had a photograph. Still as he recalled the appearance of his Logan and listened to Donald describe the man who had caught her he realized that there was more then a passing resemblance. Certainly this warranted further investigation if only to eliminate the small chance that is was him.

Then one off hand question changed everything. As Fury got up to leave Donald's supervisor asked her how they had spotted her. The man wanted to know what flaw in their technology the mutants had been able to exploit. Donald looked a little reluctant to answer but finally spilled the beans. "Well sir according to this Logan guy they never saw me."

Fury turned and stalked back to her bed. He looked down at her and could see the confusion written on her face. Suddenly it was all clear. He asked the question that he already knew the answer to. "Then how the hell did he manage to capture you if he couldn't see you?"

"Well I asked him that same question as he was helping me into the car. He just looked at me taped his nose and said, "This never lies." What does he mean by that sir?"

Fury just shook his head and left. When he got to his office he opened the safe where he kept files that he didn't trust to the SHIELD computers. Flipping through them he finally found the one he was looking for. The one marked Logan.