Hey everyone! New chap thank you SO MUCH, everyone who reviewed: TamaRose, Sybretooth, Marmarloves1D and VampWolf, and to those who alerted/added. I didn't even expect people to be active after such a long wait. Thank you!
"Morning, Kid," Logan entered the kitchen and greeted Pete, however, not getting any reaction back. "Kid?" Logan called again, "you okay?"
"What? Ow, Logan, hey," the guy nodded.
Logan sat down at the isle with a sandwich he just took from the fridge, and saw Colossus was looking at his phone, concerned with something.
"Everything fine?" Wolverine repeated.
"Yeah, why?"
"Doesn't seem like that to me, but if you say so," Logan huffed and took a bite of his sandwich.
Pete remained silent for a while and then suddenly spoke.
"Jean doesn't answer my IMs."
"Huh?" the older man frowned. "IMs?"
"Yeah, we've been texting each other now and then… but since three days I didn't get any response."
"Yeah, global tragedy," Wolverine huffed.
Pete gave him a look.
"Oh, come on, Colossus," Logan looked back at the guy. "Princess doesn't answer, so what? Why would she even keep contact with you after she decided to leave us…"
"She didn't betray us!" Colossus exclaimed. "Jean had to leave!"
"Yeah, family event! That's inescapable, for sure," Logan snorted.
"How can you know, you never had a family," Pete said shortly.
Wolverine didn't respond.
"Sorry, Logan, I didn't mean to…" Pete started after a while.
"It's okay, you re right, after all," Logan interrupted.
Colossus sighed and looked at his phone again.
"Come on," the other man rolled his eyes. "How long has she been gone anyways? Week?"
"Nine days," Pete replied swiftly.
Logan gave him a look: "Counting hours already? Okay-okay," he noticed the guy's reaction and raised his hands. "But honestly, Pete, just give it a break. You're starting being weird."
"Thanks for the advice," Colossus replied and stood up. "See you later!"
Logan shook his head watching Pete leave and turned his attention back to the sandwich.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
"I will do my best to be back as soon as possible…"
Wolverine was walking down the hallway when he overheard T'Challa's voice.
"… I'm sorry it turned out this way, Ororo."
"It's okay, it's not your fault…"
"What is going on here?" Logan frowned as he entered the lobby and saw T'Challa and Ororo there. He also spotted a big bag on the floor near T'Challa. "Why does it look like you're leaving?" Logan raised an eyebrow.
"I am," the other man replied calmly.
"Ow really?" Wolverine folded his arms on the chest. "Perfect timing, you know."
T'Challa didn't respond.
"What did you geniuses find out that it makes you run like rats?" Logan continued.
"Logan!" Storm gave him a warning look.
"I must travel home for a while, but I will be back as soon as possible," the other man was seemingly calm, but the tension showed.
"I've heard it somewhere recently," Wolverine snorted.
"Logan, stop it!" Ororo interfered. "T'Challa has to sort things out in his tribe, and then he will be back," with that the woman gave Logan a 'and you shut up' look.
Logan snorted again and shook his head.
In the meantime, Ororo and T'Challa were looking at each other, not saying a word, and that was lasting for a while… until Logan interfered. "Weren't you going already?" he asked loudly.
T'Challa gave the other man a look that was hard to define, then he smiled at Storm once again and grabbed his bag. "I will be back soon, I promise," he said loudly.
"Wish you a nice journey," Logan plastered a smile on his face, and Ororo said nothing.
"Okay, did you have to do that?" the woman turned around when T'Challa left, and she looked angry.
"Do what?" Logan asked innocently. "Spoil your good-bye? Ow, you guys wanted to kiss? Then you should have told me that, I'm not that heartless, I would have understood…"
"Stop it, please," Storm shook her head. The anger was gone, now she only looked tired.
"Sorry, 'Ro," the man was now speaking seriously, "but the fact he left us just like your beloved little genius… although I'm not sure which genius is more beloved to you now," Logan huffed.
Ororo gave Logan a tired look as she passed by him and headed towards her office.
"Sorry, 'Ro," Logan repeated, "really, I didn't mean to offend you, but I don't trust T'Challa…"
"T'Challa would never betray me!" Ororo stopped and looked straight into the man's eyes. "Never!"
"Why are you so sure?" Logan raised an eyebrow and looked at Ororo attentively.
"Just trust me Logan."
They have entered Ororo's office.
"Okay, how about you just tell me who he is? Isn't that what you were supposed to do long ago actually? I don't even know how you knew him before Furball brought him here, but now you act like that is how it's supposed to be, you trust him, you listen to his advices… Maybe it's time you tell me something, since he's gone anyways?" Wolverine closed the door and leaned his back against it.
Ororo smiled a little. "You are right, I should have done that long ago… so… T'Challa was born in Wakanda – that's a nation that consists of several tribes – Wakandas. He is actually the king of these tribes – well, Black Panther – it is the ceremonial title. We have met there, in Wakanda, long ago. I was only a teen back then," the woman smiled to her memories. "But after all he had to become a king of Wakanda – and I decided I want to join Professor here in New-York, se we separated. Later on he helped me to bring my family together – well, those who survived the tribe wars in Wakanda – and to bring them to America… but I never saw him since. That's pretty much it," Ororo shrugged. "Ow… about his powers… well, his initial abilities were enhanced by a special heart-shaped leaf – the sacred plant of Wakanda. As a king, he gets to eat it, and now he has enhanced senses, strength, intellect… well, now that is really it."
"Do you love him?" Logan asked suddenly after she stopped. The question was a surprise even to him, he had other questions in his head, but somehow this was the one that escaped his mouth.
"I do," the woman answered simply, looking right into Logan's eyes. there was a smile on her face that said 'I am finally happy'.
Logan smiled back. "I'm happy for you, 'Ro…"
"I know it's not the best time for that now," Storm interrupted him, "and I swear that won't affect my… well… duties here anyhow, but… when I look at him, I have that sensation in my chest… it's like… it's hard to breathe…"
"'Ro, 'Ro, wait," Logan raised his hands stopping her. "I'm really happy for you, I mean it!"
"Ow…" the woman stumbled. "I thought that was irony…"
Logan huffed. "But that 'hard to breathe' part… Honestly?" he snorted.
The woman laughed shyly and shrugged.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Logan was walking down the hall, when he felt someone's stare on his back. He swiftly turned around and saw this girl, Marlene, standing at the corner and looking at him. He gave her a small smile and turned back to keep walking, but then something pushed him from the inside. He stopped and frowned, concerned.
Okay, I will do that… just to keep my conscience clear. Not for any other reason.
Wolverine swiftly changed his direction and headed towards the girl.
"Hi, Marlene," he smiled again.
"Hello," she whispered barely hearable and looked down at the floor.
"How are you… um… doing?"
"Good," Marlene was still looking down.
"And how is the search going?" Logan lowered down on his knees near the girl.
The girl bit her lips but didn't respond.
"Marlene?"
"Um, good as well…"
"Marlene?" Logan looked at the girl suspiciously. "You want to tell me something?"
The girl finally looked up at him. "Uh… um… do you know how Miss Jean is doing?"
"Jean?" Logan raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
The girl remained silent again.
"Look, Marlene, what is going on?" Wolverine felt he is getting angry. He took a deep breath not to scare the girl, but it didn't help much. Marlene flinched and now she was looking scared.
"Nothing," she whispered and moved away a little.
Logan took another breath.
"Marlene, listen to me," he spoke. "If you want to tell me something – and you do – you should do that now."
The girl looked at her feet again.
"Is that something about Jean?"
No response.
"She went after Magneto, didn't she?" Logan guessed suddenly.
Marlene looked up at him. "you knew that?"
"Of course I didn't! I would never let her do that! Stupid girl!" the man exclaimed standing up. "Not you," he added, "her… so you found Magneto's camp?"
"Well not exactly… I was just telling Miss Jean the places I found," Marlene responded quietly. "with radiation, the ones I feel… and Miss Jean was analyzing it, and found it…"
"… and she decided to go there alone, very smart," Logan huffed angrily. "Now come on, can you show me what you have showed her? is that all on the map?"
"Yes, the same we have been using for training."
"But why you never told anybody?" Logan couldn't help asking.
"Miss Jean told me not to…" Marlene whispered quietly. "I'm sorry…"
"It's not your fault, kid," Logan smiled comfortingly.
"But is Miss Jean okay?"
Logan didn't manage to answer because the girl spoke again.
"Is she calling you?"
"She is fine, I'm sure," Logan gave the girl the most comforting smile he could. "Miss Jean is smart, she will be okay…"
"Will you look for her? Will you bring her back?" Marlene was looking up at him intently.
"I will," Logan sat down before the girl again, "don't worry, I will bring her back to the mansion."
"Thank you," Marlene smiled.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Now where the hell is that map?
Logan has just entered the lab and was now looking around. After several minutes of searching he found the map on one of the shelves and unfolded it.
Come on, kid, couldn't you've made it easier?!
The map looked like it has just been taken from the set of some bad conspiracy-theory movie, all covered by dots and lines.
Well at least in a conspiracy movie there is a thick red dot indicating the main point… and here there is none.
Logan was looking at the lines and dots, almost hating Jean for leaving. What was she thinking anyways? That she can just go and bring Magneto down? With all the mutants that surround him? with that teleport?
… yeah, and that other genius had to leave too… how the hell will I find her?!
Focus, Logan… right the night she left you saw her going to her room with some papers! That could be it!
The man swiftly left the lab.
Logan entered Jean's room and instantly spotted some papers on the table. These turned out to be some tables with coordinates. Logan swiftly looked through them, they looked all the same except for the last page – there was a handwritten line.
Canadian Rockies. And the last coordinates in the table were underlined.
Canadian border again… couldn't he choose a coastline for a change?
Logan huffed, grabbed the sheet of paper and left the room.
When he was heading towards the lobby, adjusting settings of a portable GPS-device, he heard Mystique's voice.
"You too?"
"Excuse me?" the man stopped and looked back where Mystique was standing.
"Leaving. First Jean, then Panther, now you…"
Not that the woman looked worried about any of them leaving.
"I will be back before you can notice. Bye," Logan swiftly turned back. "However…" he continued after a while, "you will be filling in for me during the classes," the man gave her a grin. "But if when I come back, any of the kids has even a scratch – I will tear the skin off of you, understood?"
"Ow, how beastly," Mystique narrowed her eyes and smiled ironically. "What should I tell Storm when she asks?"
"That I will be back soon… ow, and take care of the kids… you know… just in case," the man added. "See you soon!"
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
It was about 10 pm when Logan reached the closest place to the location that is possible to reach by car.
Time to get into the forest… again…
The man shut the car door and looked at the GPS-device. He had to go west.
"Well, west it is, then," he murmured, not taking a cigar out of his mouth, and started to walk.
After a couple of hours of walk in the snow – thankfully it was only on the ground, it wasn't snowing – the GPS said he is close enough. Logan switched it off and smelled the air, but there wasn't any side smells yet.
The man slowed down his pace and started to look around more often than before. suddenly he heard wind blowing from a side and getting stronger every moment. It was blowing out the snow and still increasing it's speed.
Logan became alerted. He let out his claws and smelled the air again, but there was no use. Because of the wind, he could only smell pine trees and snow.
"And here we met again," a female voice came from an emptiness right in front of him, and a second later, a woman appeared before him. he recognized the same brunette from an army base.
Logan bared his teeth and stepped towards the woman, but she made that swift move with her palms again, and Logan was blinded.
"Bitch," he gritted his teeth, pressing fingers to his eyes.
"Morgan, finish him!" the woman said loudly, and at that second something heavy hit Logan's head and he collapsed.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
"He's heavy like shit!" Logan heard a male voice complaining.
Wolverine kept his eyes closed but he could feel he is standing – well, he is kept standing, his arms and legs secured.
"Shut up, Morgan, you already brought him here," another male voice responded. "Now we need to adjust the device to him… here, take this one and hold it like this…"
"What the hell, Matt? I am not your fucking servant!"
"Morgan, just shut up and do the heavy lifting, since your brain is useless anyway…"
"What did you say?!"
"The truth, Morgan… just pure truth," the other guy huffed. "Now bring that fucking device here!"
Some seconds later, when Logan has already been feeling better and less torn away from the reality, he could hear and sense the two guys were behind his back.
"Okay… it should be here, here, here and here…" one of the guys was murmuring.
"Don't you want to take his shirt off first?"
"Ew, Morgan, how pervy," the other guy snorted.
"What?!"
"Morgan, learn some other words, seriously, your 'what' just kills me," the guy was speaking lazily, like he didn't care about what he was saying or who he was speaking to. "O-kay, now I need you to lift this and…"
Logan felt some metal tearing his skin and went deep into it in several places along his spine. He flinched and jerked, but couldn't get the metal off.
"What the fuck?!" one of the guys screamed.
"Morgan, keep him from moving!"
Logan finally opened his eyes and saw he was in some kind of a lab. But the pain in his back wouldn't let him inspect the surroundings properly. He was just jerking, his body was convulsing, trying to get the alien thing off of itself, but without success.
"Take that thing off of me!" Logan practically roared.
"Yeah, sure!" one of the guys answered and finally Logan could see him. he was tall and skinny, looking at Logan with a mix of disgust and scientific interest.
Logan looked at his hands and saw they are secured by a thick metal to some sort of a metal frame, same as his legs.
"Morgan, go call Magneto, tell him Wolverine woke up," the guy commanded.
"Matt, what the…"
"Morgan, just go already," Matt didn't even look at him.
Another guy, Morgan, walked past Logan through the exit – or whatever a huge doorframe without a door could be – and Logan realized he also saw the guy in the army base.
"Where the hell I am? What did you do?" Logan looked at Matt angrily.
"Did you really have to ask?" the guy responded in the same lazy tone, walking to some monitors. He then pressed some buttons, and Logan felt pressure in that thing that was attached to his spine.
"What the hell is that?!" he coughed.
"I don't see the point in answering, you don't look intelligent enough to understand anyway," the guy didn't even look at him.
Logan bared his teeth, but a wave of pain in his spine wouldn't let him speak. He closed his eyes for a couple of minutes, and when the pain got slightly lighter, he looked up and opened his eyes.
The room looked like a lab indeed, with monitors and strangely-looking devices everywhere, and the walls, ceiling and the floor were covered by metal.
Another wave of pain hit the man's spine and he bit his lip not to let a sound out.
Soon enough, he heard steps and Morgan came back into the room, accompanied by Magneto himself.
"Wolverine!" Magneto smiled, as if he was a host welcoming a guest. "Nice to see you again, especially on my territory now…"
"Go fuck yourself," Logan choke out.
"How rude," Magneto shook his head disapprovingly.
Suddenly a wave of stronger pain shot through Logan's spine, as if all his nerves were squeezed. The man bared his teeth and flinched, this time he couldn't stifle a groan.
"Oops, sorry," Matt said, though not sounding sorry at all, "settings still in progress… it will get better soon," he huffed, "or not…"
Logan was breathing heavily, his head down, eyes shot close. He tried his best not to let his body convulse, but there still were spasms.
"Magneto, you called me here? Anything urgent?"
A familiar female voice made Logan open his eyes and look up.
"Oh my… Logan?!"
Jean was standing before him, near Magneto and Morgan. She was looking at Logan with wide eyes, scanning him from toe to his head.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" she whispered.
"What a smart question," Matt huffed.
Jean's eyes immediately narrowed, and nostrils flared. She shot a glare at Matt, and the guy replied with a crooked smile.
"Apparently, Wolverine has come here looking for you…" Magneto looked at the girl. "So thank you for that unexpected, yet nice present," he smiled and stretched his hand towards the girl.
A smile touched Jean's lips as well, as she grabbed Magneto's hand. Logan's brain seemed to have switched off, and he was watching the scene before him absentmindedly for a while. His eyes were mechanically recording Magneto's hand covering the girl's, wrapped in black gloves with silver edging. Only several seconds later Logan grasped the whole thing.
"I should've known," he spat.
The girl just huffed as she stepped closer to Magneto. Her face now showed no trace of the confusion that was there first seconds she came into the lab and spotted Logan.
"I always knew there's something wrong with you, kid, even though everyone worshiped you," Wolverine was speaking with disgust.
"Stop calling me 'kid', for God's sake!" Jean huffed.
"'Kid'?" Magneto raised his eyebrow. "Seriously, Wolverine, only you are smart enough to call someone that powerful 'kid'," he laughed sardonically.
"Yeah, I should have guessed sooner that was all her plan, then I'd call her 'bitch'," Logan huffed.
"That was all my plan? What are you talking about?" Jean frowned. "Ow… you thought I did all that on purpose? Gave Magneto his powers back?"
Logan narrowed his eyes. "You will deny that?"
"You are just as un-smart, as ever," she gave him a fake smile. "Initially I really had no idea about Magneto, X-Men, or any of your business… and it was all an accident. Then," the girl continued, "I really wanted to help you defeat Magneto," at these words she looked up at the man beside her, who was still holding her hand, and smiled apologetically. "But you, Logan, were giving me such hard times, that I thought 'why the hell?'"
"What?" Logan frowned.
"Why the hell should I help you with anything if you are treating me like a stupid child, unable to do the right thing? You would want to control my every step, make me do just what you want me to, and not more… the point is," Jean raised her eyebrow. "That what I'm really capable of is simply beyond your understanding, so again, why the hell should I spend my time on you?"
"I would actually say, why the hell would someone as gifted as you," Magneto spoke and Jean looked up at him, "waste your time on someone like the X-Men, always too stupid to truly appreciate the precious gifts they have," the man stretched his hand and tucked a strand of Jean's hair behind her ear. "Precious," he repeated.
The girl was looking up at him, smile on her lips.
"Not that I care, kid, but last year he was calling the other woman 'goddess'… and she died eventually," Logan said through gritting teeth.
"You killed her, to be exact," Magneto looked at him. "and well… we all make mistakes. But if one learns from his mistakes, it's not hopeless. Yes, I called Phoenix a goddess," he gave a little chuckle that almost made Logan roar. "But… only meeting Jameela, I had a chance to understand how wrong I was. What could Phoenix do? Destruct. Damage. Kill. And these are not what defines God. Power of creation – that is God's power. And that is Jameela's power."
Magneto smiled at the girl once again and squeezed her hand. Jean returned the smile.
"Got what you wanted, huh, princess?" Logan huffed darkly. "Someone finally calls you a God… to bad that that someone is the biggest shit world has ever seen, but if you're okay with that…"
"Logan, shut up finally," Jean gave him a look.
At that very moment a wave of pain went through the man's spine. He bared his teeth as convulsions traveled through his body.
"'Logan, shut up' accomplished," Matt chuckled.
"Matt?! What the hell?" Jean exclaimed angrily.
Logan looked up and saw the girl staring at Matt with fury.
"What?" the guy shrugged. "You wanted him to shut up – he shut up…"
"I didn't tell you to shut him up like that!"
"Since when do I have to do what you tell me?" Matt snorted.
"Ow, rebellion already, huh, princess," Logan chuckled.
The girl made a face. "Not your business."
The man snorted in response. He was already getting used to constant pain and pressure in his spine, the bad thing is that it was getting stronger sometimes.
"Jameela, I believe we must go now," Magneto spoke. "Matt can take care of Wolverine."
The girl looked up at him and then back at Logan.
"Come on," Magneto made a step towards the door.
He was still holding the girls hand, and after a second she followed.
"Matt, I believe you know what to do," Magneto looked at the guy when they were already reaching the exit.
"Sure thing," the guy nodded.
"See you soon, Wolverine," Magneto was saying on the go, without looking back. "Don't go anywhere," he added.
Jean also didn't look back. Finally they left the lab.
So, Logan found Jean with Magneto... and more to come! Just couple of apologies:
sorry for Magneto holding Jean's hand so much – there is another reason (okay I'm revealing myself now…) other than sloppiness, so please, don't freak out about that.
and one more sorry about describing T'Challa's abilities and overall story so late (should have definitely done it in earlier chapters, what was I thinking?!) and so brief. That is not the main point of the chapter, nor the story, plus I only know that from Wikipedia… so sorry, I'm really not a fan of X-Men comics.
Reviews, please?
